Easy Personal Pita Pizzas

"Any pizza is a personal pizza if you try hard and believe in yourself"
- Bill Murray, via Twitter

That quote has always cracked me up, but seriously who doesn't love a pizza catered to what you love? I was always the whiny kid picking the mushrooms and olives off of the supreme pizza while complaining that the residual olive flavor had ruined any hope of a good-tasting piece of pizza. Don't even get me started on picking those things out of spaghetti sauce. I could make a meal last hours if there was an errant vegetable in my sauce. Thankfully I've embraced vegetables as an adult and gotten creative about sneaking them into my kids meals. Its true...learn from the past or be doomed to suffer through the behaviors your children surly inherited from your own olive-hating DNA.

Tonight we went vegetarian with our pizzas, but you could easily add any protein you like: chicken, turkey pepperoni, thinly sliced steak, ground turkey sausage, ham/ bacon or even shrimp. Basically any fully-cooked protein will work. We are a pretty basic bunch so (not so) plain cheese works great for us.

Here's what you'll need per pizza:
1 Joseph's Pita
1/2 tsp olive oil
2-3 shakes of dry garlic powder
2 tbsp marinara or pizza sauce of your choice
2 tsp basil paste or fresh herbs
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese or part-skim mozzarella
1/2 tsp dry parsley
drizzle balsamic glaze

Protein of choice (optional)

Veggies of choice (optional)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil and lay pitas on the sheet without overlapping the edges.
3. Spread olive oil over the pita concentrating on the "crust" edge, then sprinkle crust with garlic powder.
4. Spread marinara sauce and herb paste over the oiled crust.
5. Top with any meats you might be adding and sprinkle cheese evenly over the crust.
6. Sprinkle top of pizza with dry parsley.
7. Slide your cookie sheet in to the oven and lower temperature to 425 degrees.
8. Cook 8-10 minutes or until cheese begins to brown and bubble.
9. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and enjoy.

*Note that if you add vegetables with a higher natural water content, like zucchini and tomatoes, they will affect the crispiness of your crust. I prefer to de-seed fresh tomatoes to cut the moisture content or better yet try sun dried tomatoes.

**If you want to take these to the next level, try thinly slicing fresh mozzarella in place of the shredded cheese and broil on low for the last minute or two of the cooking time. So good!

If you are unfamiliar with any of the ingredients this recipe calls for, here is a little help:

Perfect Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

I'm a big fan of any weekly menu plan that uses the same protein for more than night of dinners to feed our family. This recipe fits the bill perfectly. It tastes great as is as the main protein on your plate or with a few simple additions, its the perfect filling for pork enchiladas, tacos, soups, BBQ sandwiches, Hawaiian pineapple pork, Italian pork sandwiches and whatever else you can dream up. Dang, now I'm thinking how great this would be on a salad with pear, pecans and Gorgonzola cheese. We need more meals in a day...am I wrong?

This recipe is one I often recommend to folks new to food prepping. Mainly because it couldn't be any easier. When I started meal prepping I would often feel overwhelmed by the process because it seemed like too many elements to juggle and keep strait. Was that chicken for lunch or dinner? Did I put the garlic in the right dish? That's the beauty of this recipe. You put the pork tenderloin in the slow cooker, top with the seasonings, add the vegetable broth and forget about it. In fact, leave the lid alone. It is cooking, I promise.

Here is how to make the recipe:

First of all, I highly recommend using a slow cooker liner when you make anything in your slow cooker. It makes clean up a breeze and saves you a lot of soaking and scrubbing especially when you're making chili or dips. Back to the recipe-- Place your pork tenderloin in the slow cooker and liberally salt and pepper the meat then sprinkle evenly with the remaining seasonings.

Add vegetable broth and cover. Cook on low setting for 5-6 hours. Prepare for your house to smell amazing.

Regardless of the size of your tenderloin, you really need a relatively small amount of liquid to cook the meat. As you can see, even fully cooked, there is still plenty of liquid and I feel that cooking the meat in too much liquid changes the texture of the tenderloin in a not-so-great kind of way.

After the tenderloin is fully cooked, remove it from the slow cooker, reserving the cooking liquid. Shred the meat with forks while it is still hot. It should fall apart easily. 

After you've shredded the meat pour 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid over the shredded pork and give it a little stir. You are ready to eat! Serve it up or portion it out for lunches for the week.

And here is the best part. When you are done, just lift out the slow cooker liner and throw it in the trash. Occasionally there is some minimal clean up needed even with the liner, but usually I can just do a quick rinse and its done.

Here's the Recipe: Perfect Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin
1-2lb pork tenderloin
salt- season liberally
black pepper- season liberally
1/4tsp garlic powder
1/4tsp cumin
1/2tsp dry mustard
1/2tbsp dry parsley
1c vegetable broth

Cook on low 5-6 hours