Pizzeria Classic: Easy Calzone

It's been a while since I've had pizza, so I knew I had to change that immediately. I didn't feel like buying all the ingredients for a homemade dough, so I tossed a bag of Trader Joe's whole wheat dough into my shopping bag and decided to crack it open tonight. I thought of a bunch of ideas (some of which you'll be seeing in the near future) but wanted something a little different. I figure I could either make personal pizzas, one large pizza, or something else entirely. So, I divided the dough into fours and went with the last option. Tonight called for something I haven't eaten in years, since I devoured an extremely large, greasy, pepperoni filled one from Pizza Hut. Tonight called for a calzone.


Spinach ricotta and pesto calzone
Ingredients
- 1/4 ball of whole wheat dough (homemade or bought)
- 1-2 tbsp herb almond pesto (recipe to follow)
- 1/3 cup spinach ricotta mixture (recipe to follow)
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- Pinch of oregano + basil + red pepper flake, for the top

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Roll out dough into a thin round either using your hands, a rolling pin, or in my case, a plastic cup.
- Layer a tablespoon (or more if you'd like!) of pesto evenly across the entire round.
- Place the spinach ricotta mixture on one half of the dough. Dip your finger in water and wet the edges. Fold the empty half of the dough over the other half, and using a fork, seal the edges. Make sure to poke holes on the top to let steam escape. Brush the top with olive oil and add seasoning.
- Bake for 10 minutes, allow to cool, plunge into some marinara and mangia!

The uncooked calzone should look like this beauty:



I think pesto is beautiful. I'm weird, I know.

Herb almond pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup basil
- 1 cup parsley
- Heaping 1/3 cup almonds, toasted
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- S&P, to taste

Instructions
- Add all ingredients aside from oil in a food processor. Turn on low and slowly add olive oil until sauce reaches your desired consistency. Easy!

For the ricotta, I used the recipe from the PPK but didn't press my tofu, omitted the basil and added an unmeasured amount of lightly steamed baby spinach. It was perfect.




This was out of control good. When it bakes it becomes crispy and golden and the kitchen smells vaguely like pesto. The ricotta mixture was moist so it was bubbly and had a texture EXACTLY like real ricotta. I definitely recommend not pressing the tofu because the moisture works really well here. The calzone didn't fall apart at all, and if the tofu was pressed then I think it would have been too dry.




Pizza Hut, eat your heart out.

Sweet Potato Rustica

Happy pizza Friday, everyone! I have a beaut' to share with you today.


Sweet potato & rosemary pizza
Ingredients
- 1 serving yeast free dough
- 1/2 sweet potato, very thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Rosemary (as you know, I rarely measure herbs)
- S&P, to taste
- Opt: red pepper flakes

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425.
- Using a mandolin, slice sweet potatoes as thin as possible. If you don't have a mandolin, cut them as thin as possible with a very sharp knife. Set aside.
- On a floured surface, roll out dough to desired thickness and shape. Place on baking sheet, pizza stone, etc.
- Spread the dough with a bit of olive oil. I just measured out 2 tbsp and used a pastry brush to spread, which made an even and thin coating. Dot pressed garlic on top and spread around.
- Top with an overlapping layer of sweet potatoes. Spread another thin, even layer of olive oil and top with rosemary, S&P.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden and sweet potatoes are just slightly crisp.




There's something gloriously satisfying about this pizza. I don't know whether it's the rustic shape that this dough produces, or how simple and easy it is, or how robust the flavor is from just a few ingredients. The sweet potatoes are still delicately soft and sweet, which tastes beautifully matched with the green, nutty olive oil and herbaceous rosemary. All in all, it was an incredibly gratifying, beautiful, and decidedly rustic meal.

Yeast-Free Pizza

I had pizza on the brain today. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I had plans for the morning of doing yoga, eating my overnight oats and making the dough so that it could rise all day. However, after scouring all the cabinets, I discovered there was no yeast. Having no way of getting to the store to buy some, I decided to throw something yeast-free together and pray it worked. Well, it did. It definitely did.


Yeast-free dough
Ingredients
Makes 1-2 large pizzas, or 4 individual ones
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1 tbsp ground flax
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups water (105-115 degrees)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp agave
- 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add oil and agave to the measuring cup containing water. Slowly add to dry ingredients.
- Mix with hands until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball.
- On a floured surface, knead the dough 10 times. Roll into a ball, cover with a drizzle of olive oil and allow to rest at room temperature for 2 hours. It won't rise, but it will give the gluten a chance to do its magic.
- On a floured surface + rolling pin, roll out desired size and shape of dough. Bake for 8 minutes. Top with desired toppings and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until dough is crisp and toppings are cooked through.


My toppings? Roasted garlic, oven dried tomatoes and basil. Yes, I'm a freak and eat plain roasted garlic and onions. I wouldn't want to kiss me either.


Roasted garlic: Preheat oven to 400. Cut the tops off 2 heads of garlic. Drizzle both with a tiny bit of olive oil, cover in foil and roast for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then squeeze the cloves out using your hands. Mash with a fork until (mostly) smooth.



Oven dried tomatoes: Preheat oven to 225. Half 1 cup cherry tomatoes and toss in 1 tbsp olive oil, S&P and dried oregano, to taste. Line on a greased cookie sheet and cook for 2-3 hours, or until tomatoes look like the picture above.


I ended up with this funky shape which I'm calling "rustic". Spread the roasted garlic mash, toss on some tomatoes, basil ribbons and sprinkle with red pepper flakes, oregano and S&P, and call it a day.


I was incredibly skeptical about this pizza. I thought it would taste awful and I'd toss it aside, microwave a sweet potato and have a puss on my face. A dough without yeast? Preposterous. Well, let me tell you, it was great! I couldn't notice a big difference between this and a regular whole wheat dough, but this was slightly thinner and crisper (which I love). I thought it would taste like a tough cracker, but it was still relatively doughy and tender.

I'm glad I have a good alternative when I run out of yeast and must eat pizza!

Grab That Dough

And make some pizza. I have been craving pizza for days. I could taste the doughy, chewy dough and all I wanted was for it to be in my mouth. Tonight I finally got my wish.



The dough is homemade! The first time I've had, and helped, make dough from scratch. The recipe was modified from here, but subbed whole wheat for 75% of the flour, agave for honey, and added a tsp of ground flax. Oh, 1/2 tsp each of rosemary and thyme was added as well. There was enough for two hefty personal pizzas.

I topped mine with my white bean spread, but modified a bit. This time I used:
- 1 15oz can (no salt added) cannellini beans
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp reserved bean liquid
- Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp oregano
- S&P

Then layered on lightly caramelized onions, crimini mushrooms and fresh basil. Baked at 475 for 12-15 minutes until the doughy, chewy crust is complete.


This pizza was superb. The dough was perfectly dense and chewy, the onions left an interesting sweet taste on the palette and the lemon worked really well in the "sauce". I was apprehensive about combining lemons with onions and mushrooms, but it all worked quite well; the freshness of the zest combined with the fresh basil was quite lovely and bright.


I had two pieces plus:


Mocktails a la Kath (sparkling mineral water + lime)

and a salad monster


Now I'm sipping tea while watching I Love Lucy (marathon on Hallmark!). Wonderful Sunday indeed.

Delicious Daiya

My day was simply wonderful. Short, but wonderful. I woke up to one of my famous yogurt bowls, went on a relaxing 5 mile walk, laid out in the sun and did lots of yoga (see last post). Really, it doesn't get much better than that.

Or does it?


Yes, yes it does.

After finally devouring the rest of my chili, I had to make something else. After eyeing Daiya for a long time, I decided to give it a try. I woke up this morning and thought "pizza margherita!", so pizza margherita is what I had.

Farm fresh tomatoes, fresh local basil, garlic and Daiya mozzarella. The verdict? Daiya is awesome! It tastes, smells, and has a stretch similar to the real deal. My mom tried it and she even said it tasted like real cheese. It definitely lives up to the hype.


Pre-cooking

There really isn't a recipe for this. I just stretched out another ball of Trader Joe's whole wheat dough and spread it with a thin layer of sauce, thinly sliced tomato, basil leaves, minced garlic, and seasoned with dried oregano, red pepper flakes, and S&P. I popped it in the oven at 400 for around 10 minutes and it was perfect. It is reminiscent of the pizza I had in my pre-vegan days, but fresh, healthy and not loaded with grease.


Now, I'm normally a 2 piece girl, but while I was putting the leftovers away a piece called out to me. It was loud and pleaded with me to eat it, and well, I couldn't say no. My stomach and tastebuds thank me. I love when ridiculously simple and easy dishes come out tasting amazing.

My Brain Child

I wanted pizza. Not just any pizza, but this combination that has been brewing in my head for days. Poblano peppers, onions, and fresh corn.



I wanted to make my own dough, I really did. However, I didn't think we had a bowl big enough to allow for proper rising, so I decided to let Trader Joe's do the work for me. My failure at rolling totally made it look rustic and homemade. Or sloppy.


My portion

Roasted poblano & corn pizza
Ingredients
- 1 package whole wheat dough (or any dough you prefer)
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 small ear corn
- 1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4-1/3 cup sauce*
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast**
- Sea salt, to taste

* = Lazy moment. I just used Trader Joe's pizza sauce and added 1/2 tsp of cumin and 1/2 tsp of chili powder to it. It worked well enough.
** = Another lazy moment. If I wasn't so hungry I would have made a cheeze sauce of sorts, but I felt the nooch did the job well enough.

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Roast pepper and corn (make sure to wrap the corn in foil). Pepper should be ready in 8-10 minutes, corn will be done in 15-20 minutes.
- Turn oven down to 425.
- Set pepper in a paper bag and allow to rest for at least 5-10 minutes, or until charred skin comes loose. Peel, remove stem/seeds, cut into strips and set aside.
- Stand corn cob in a medium bowl. Using a sharp knife, cut downward on a couple rows of corn. Repeat until all the kernels are in the bowl.
- Roll dough evenly on a 12" pizza pan using your desired thickness. (I like mine fairly thin with a doughy crust).
- Spread thin layer of sauce on dough. Pile on toppings.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!



This was ridiculously good pizza. Smokey, slightly sweet and not overly spicy. If I were to make it again, I'd definitely make my own sauces and attempt to make my own dough. However, Trader Joe's did not disappoint.

I also tried something new to drink with it - Hansen's soda. I gave up soda months ago because I didn't find it necessary, but I really wanted to try this. The packaging seemed promising and I like that it's all natural; it seemed like a "healthy" diet soda.



It was delicious. Best soda I've ever had. However, I just noticed the "Splenda" insignia, which confuses me because it claims it doesn't contain aspartame. I won't be drinking this often, but I think it'll be a nice treat.

I'll be trying another treat later tonight. Stay tuned!