Calzone

You may or may not like my choice of toppings but here it is. Pizza tends to be a very personalized thing. I like that we can change each calzone to meet everyone’s tastes. It is not a slop of (too much) melted cheese like most pizza is. Less cheese actually means it is healthier. I like that I can put as much sauce on it as I want while I eat and my kids can have no sauce (they hate it).

This is often listed as a 30 minute meal. Yes, it does bake in about 10 minutes. I would never make it on a weeknight even with my shortcuts of prepared sauce and dough because the assembly just takes a little time.

The picture above is my favorite frozen pizza dough. I can make my own, but let’s be real… I work and have 2 kids under 5.

The other good part of this meal is my meal planning. This takes a lot of ingredients but only a very small amount of each. The leftover veggies are great for meals later in the week. For example… a pasta dish or mushroom sauce over steak.

1 jar prepared pizza sauce

8 ounces tomato sauce

cooked italian sausage

pepperoni

Diced onion

Diced green bell pepper

basil

mushrooms

shredded mozzarella

1 egg beaten mixed with 1 tablespoon water

corn meal for non-stick surface and rolling

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Place the pizza sauce and tomato sauce in a pan and simmer it on low. This will give a very rich tomato flavor.

Divide the thawed dough into 3 pieces. Place some corn meal on a cutting board and stretch the dough as thin as possible without breaking it. You can use a rolling pin or your hands. Try to maintain an oval shape.

Layer the toppings as you see fit on 1/2 of the oval. Fold over the un-used half of each oval. Press the edges firmly together. Transfer to a baking sheet or pizza stone. A pizza stone really does crispen the dough more. (I got lazy tonight and had soggier “baking sheet” crust.) Using a sharp knife, pierce small holes in each top dough. See my examples below.