Easy Calzones

If I want a winning recipe, I often look to the Pioneer Woman.  She rocks, doesn't she?  I make pizza pretty much every other Friday night.  We love pizza, but I am easily bored and I need to keep lots of variety in my life.  On our last pizza night I got really wild and crazy and made PW's calzones instead of pizza.  They were pretty darn easy and very yummy!  I think that next time I might saute up some peppers/onions/etc. to throw in some of them.

Easy Calzones

16 whole Frozen, Unrisen Dinner Rolls (I Use Rhodes) Note: Can Also Use Frozen Bread Loaves.

1 Tablespoon Butter

1 whole Medium Onion, Diced

1 pound Breakfast Or Italian Sausage

1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

15 ounces, fluid Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1-1/2 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese

2 whole Eggs

1/2 teaspoon Salt

Black Pepper To Taste

2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Parsley

Marinara Sauce, For Serving

1 whole Egg Beaten

Preparation Instructions

Place frozen rolls (or frozen bread loaves) on a baking sheet to thaw. Cover with a tea towel and let thaw and rise for 2 to 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. Add sausage and cook until brown, crumbling the sausage as you stir. Add Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Remove from pan and allow to cool on a plate.

In a separate bowl, combine ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella, eggs, salt, pepper, and parsley. When sausage is cool, stir it in. Set aside.

When rolls are thawed and risen, roll them out on a lightly floured surface until paper thin. Spoon 3-4 tablespoons (approximately) filling onto half of the dough circle. Fold half of the dough over itself, then press edges to seal.

*Note: If you want a larger calzone, use frozen bread loaves and use about 1/4 to 1/3 of the loaf for each calzone.

Brush surface of calzone with beaten egg, then bake for 10-13 minutes, or until nice and golden brown. Serve with warm marinara sauce.

Source: Pioneer Woman

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I just adore all things containing buffalo sauce, I have already posted recipes for buffalo chicken nachos, dip, and wings.  That is why I knew, when I came across this yummy recipe for Buffalo Chicken Pizza that is would be a hit.  At least with me;)  OK, and my husband.  While my kids love wings, they refrained from giving this pizza a try.  They are very boring with their pizza though, for them it is pretty much straight up pepperoni or cheese.

Give it a try!  Tis' the season for buffalo wings, right?  Why not buffalo chicken pizza!

Here it what you will need to get started!

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Pizza Crust (you can use store bought or homemade, I use my homemade)

1/4 c. Franks Red Hot Sauce

1/4 c. Blue Cheese Dressing

1/4 c. Ranch Dressing

10 oz. Chicken, Shredded (I like to boil and shred mine for this recipe if I don't have leftover)

1 c. Smoked Cheddar Cheese, shredded

1 c. Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese, shredded

1/4 c. Gorgonzola, crumbled

Franks Red Hot Sauce, for drizzling

In a bowl, mix hot sauce, blue cheese dressing, and ranch dressing.  Spread over dough as a sauce.  Top with 1/2 c. each of cheddar and jack cheeses.  Add chicken on top, then remaining cheeses, including Parmesan.  Drizzle liberally with hot sauce.  Add crumbled Gorgonzola on top.  Bake until just beginning to brown.

Note: As you will see if you click on my recipe for homemade pizza dough, I bake my pizza at 500-550 degrees (as hot as my oven will go).  And I pre-bake my crust until it is just beginning to brown before I put on my toppings.  If you are using a different crust, I encourage you to follow the baking instructions for your particular crust recipe.

Source: How Sweet Eats  

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

I was just browsing through some photos from last month and I found the photos of these Stuffed Pizza Rolls. I can't believe I forgot to post them!  I made them one day for my kids for lunch.  My kids are forever wanting me to buy the prepackaged pizza rolls, but I know those are so incredibly bad for them.  These might not be health food exactly, but I feel much better about serving them.  I think that they taste oh so much better too.

Here is what you will need:

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

1 roll Refrigerated Pizza Crust (thin crust)

Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Pizza Toppings of you choice- I kept it simple this time with just pepperoni that I diced up per my childrens' request

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tsp. Italian Seasoning

2 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan Cheese

Warmed Marinara or Pizza Sauce, for dipping (I used my homemade pizza sauce)

Preheat oven according to refrigerated crust instructions, usually 400 degrees.  

Unroll your pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Pat or roll the dough so it is about 12" by 8".  You are going to want to cut it into 24 squares, so just eyeball it if you need to.  Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 24 squares.

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square, just eyeball how much.  Keep in mind that you will need to be able to enclose the toppings in the dough.  Note: Do not put pizza sauce on squares!  It is for dipping!

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully life up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings.  Pinch to make sure that each ball is sealed shut and then place them, seam side down, in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).  

Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the rolls lightly with Olive Oil and then sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with the Parmesan cheese.  

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Keep an eye on them!  Doughs vary, so you might even want to check them after 10 minutes.  

Serve warm with pizza sauce on the side for dipping.  

Enjoy!      

Source: Our Best Bites

My Very Favorite Pizza Crust

My family, like so many, LOVES pizza.  We have basically always had pizza at least every other weekend.  We used to order our pizza from a pizza chain.  About 3 years ago, we moved a few miles out of town and get this...no one would deliver pizza to my door.  I was flabbergasted.  Since once I am home, I am usually too lazy to get back in my vehicle and drive back to town, I had to come up with another plan.

Luckily, I discovered a deliciously easy whole wheat crust from a friend.  It is also fairly healthy, which is wonderful.  I still make this one on occasion.  I probably would have stuck with it forever, except that my oldest complained one day, "can't we make a crust that is more like Pizza Hut?"  So, for a time I tried Pizza Hut copycat crusts.  Then I discovered that, for us, Pizza Hut did not in fact make the holy grail of crusts.  That is when I began to branch out.  I am so glad I did because, for us, this crust is perfection.

When you make it for the first time, do not be alarmed, it is EXTREMELY wet compared to every other pizza dough I have worked with.  It can be difficult to work with if you don't know a few tricks.  For instance, DO NOT try to roll it out with a rolling pin.  That will only lead to lots of stickage and frustration.  In my experience, it is best to work with this dough while it is warm, with your hands, slowly stretching it out to size. It is soft and pliable so you can finish stretching it out to fit the pan after you place it on your pan.

Please be advised: I used weights for the flour because that is a MUCH more accurate way to measure flour.  Also, you may want to keep an eye on the dough the first time you make it because it does typically hit the top of my bread machine. I just wipe the top down with a damp cloth when it does this.

My Very Favorite Pizza Crust

Makes 2 large pizzas

2 1/4 c. warm water

3 tsp. yeast

3 tsp. sugar

24 oz. bread flour (about 4 1/8 cups)

5.25 oz. semolina flour (3/4 c.)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

Place warm water, yeast, and sugar in bread machine.  Let sit to make sure your yeast is active (you will begin to see small bubbles forming).  Add all of your dry ingredients  and start bread machine on dough setting.  Once the bread machine is done kneading,  add 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil to the pan, close the bread machine, and let it finish the dough cycle.  

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Roll out the dough (I prefer to work it with my hands) and place it on two greased pizza pans.  At this point I like to brush each pizza with about 1/2 Tbsp. of EVOO.  Bake for a few minutes, just until crust barely begins to turn golden.  Put on your desired toppings and bake until done.

Make Ahead Tips:  Make several pizza crusts ahead of time and store in the fridge for up to 5 days (the dough will just get tastier with time).  Let rise once, punch down, and store in a ziploc bag until ready to use.  Let dough come to room temp. before proceeding.

You can also let the dough rise, then freeze it for future use.  Let it thaw for a couple of days in the fridge, or for about 4-6 hours on the counter.  Bring to room temperature before proceeding.

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 16
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 185.7

• Total Fat: 1.4 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 219.7 mg
• Total Carbs: 38.1 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.0 g
• Protein: 5.3 g