MEATLESS MONDAY

Nothing very exciting for Meatless Monday. I made Baked 3-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese. Richard grilled eggplant and fresh pineapple slices while I watched the calzones that were baking.







Our daughter had surgery this week so I've been baking and cooking for them. Today I made calzones from scratch. I have the best dough recipe. It can be used for PIZZA, CALZONES, or FOCCACIA. I've used it for all three and it's really delicious and so easy to make. The dough turns out perfect every time! I like those no-fail recipes!

STEP 1- After the dough has risen, punch down and divide into sections and let rest for 10 minutes before rolling out. For calzones place ingredients on one half before covering with other half of dough. 

I have a Kitchen Aide stand mixer that I use to mix the dough so I don't even get sticky hands when I made it. The recipe makes 2 to 3 pizzas depending on the size. I made 13 good sized calzones from one recipe.

STEP 2- After filling one half, fold over dough and press. Then roll and press to seal, and place on parchment paper cookie sheet.



It was a bit of a challenge making the calzones. My daughter is a vegetarian so hers had to be meat free. Her husband and daughter wanted ham and cheese and they like green peppers and onions but not black olives, feta cheese, spinach, or mushrooms which I was putting in Leah's (daughter). My son doens't like green peppers and only a few onions and prefers pepperoni. By the time I got to Richard and mine I just put in whatever I had...which ended up being all of it!

I had recently checked out a cookbook from the library that had a "freezer food" theme. Calzones happened to be one of the items in the book. It suggested partially baking the calzones for about 20 minutes before freezing, and then finishing the baking when you wanted to eat them. I haven't done it this way before but it made sense to me so I'm giving it a try. I hope it will be good since I'm giving most of these away. I made 9 for the 3 of them and kept 4 for us.

STEP 3- If you have cooked these until done, then just EAT and ENJOY. If you have cooked them partially, they will need to cool before wrapping in foil and freezing for later use. Even though these look golden, the inside dough is not completely baked and will require an additional 12-15 minutes before they are done. 

Aren't they beauties?? They smelled amazing when they were baking. It was a perfect day for the dough. It rose fast and light. It's a very nice dough to work with. The measurements are perfect and the dought doesn't stick to you fingers when you are working with it and doesn't require additional flour to roll out.



I hope you will be tempted to give this recipe a try. Remember- this recipe can be used for pizza dough, foccacia, or calzones. If you want to try grilling pizza, roll out your dough and transfer with a 'peel' onto the grill. Let the first side get grilled and then flip and top with your pizza toppings. Close the grill to melt the cheese or cook your ingredients. Enjoy!