Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. For instance, right now we are trying to rid our house of some food items that are not exactly primal in nature. They’re not bad per se, but we’d like to zero in a bit more on our protein sources.  So to review, last night I made a ton of fresh chunky salsa to put on top of some grilled fish. This morning I drained and sauted the leftover chunky salsa and used it to top a nice frittata. Oddly enough I had just a little bit left and I hated to see it go to waste. So I did what I do best – I improvised based on the ingredients I have on hand.

The results? Stunning, if I do say so myself: a paleo-ish pizza!  Now I have to admit that while the ingredients in my creation today are not exactly paleo that with a few modifications they easily could be. Here’s what I had on hand:

  • Leftover salsa – the last of it, I promise!
  • Turkey bacon – 6 slices
  • Sliced ham lunch meat – 2 slices
  • Greek cheese
  • Fresh baby spinach, wilted

First I fried the turkey bacon until it was nice and crisp. This is the “crunch” of the pizza, so it’s critical to get it crisp. Once that was finished I placed them on a paper towel to drain and become even crispier. They I took the ham and overlapped it slightly in the pan to make a figure 8 shape. I grated the cheese on top of the ham and then placed the bacon on top of the cheese. After heating up the leftover salsa, I placed that on top of the bacon and put a bit more cheese on top. Then I topped everything off with wilted spinach. To recap: ham, cheese, bacon, bit of cheese, chunky salsa, bit of cheese, wilted spinach.

The bacon is a nice substitute for the crunch of the crust and the salsa provides the tomato “sauce”.  I sliced it into 4 rectangular slices and shared with my wife – it was a huge hit

Next time I will have better quality ingredients on hand for the protein: bacon and ham with no nitrates.

Get in your refrigerator and pantry – you might be surprised what you can cook up!