Fallen Off a Cliff

For most of my marriage, my wife did much of the cooking. Early on it was me. When she first stayed home with the kids and later moved into a position where she got out of work well before me, she did much of the weekday cooking.

Since I started the blog, her cooking has dramatically tapered off. Well…not tapered as much as fallen off a cliff. She still does a little dabbling (more baking than something else), but cooking a family meal is extremely rare.

One of her regular stand by recipes was Quick Calzones. Using frozen pizza dough, fresh veggies, pre-made sauce and some cheese, this recipe gives you a homemade calzone without all of the extra work. It had been too long since we’d had it, so I decided to give it a try.

This recipe is really too easy to play with. Like a pizza, put whatever you want in it. My wife and I like banana peppers, but my youngest son does not, so they ended up in two-thirds of the calzone.

A great dish to make for the kids too.

Again, put whatever you want inside.

I had laid my dough out a bit too early so it was pretty rough to stretch out. I pulled, yanked and rolled. Eventually I got it, with a few holes here or there.

Fill the bottom half first with sauce, then toppings (including cheese) and then a bit more sauce. Leave about 1″ around the edge clean to seal the calzone.

Folded back over. I thought about cleaning it up but decided it looked more rustic this way. I sprinkled some Italian seasonings and garlic on the top dough before baking.

Cooks up nice and crusty.

Crusty Calzone

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 lb frozen bread dough, thawed and at room temperature
• 1/4 cup pizza sauce
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

Turkey Sausage Filling:

• 1/2 lb turkey smoked sausage, sliced very thin
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 4 ounces grated pizza cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°.

Roll dough into 10×14″ rectangle and place on baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick coating. Spread pizza sauce on half the dough, and sprinkle with garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Top with filling ingredients. Fold Doug over and press edges together to seal in filling. Bake for 20 minutes.