Vegetable Calzones

Have you guys missed me? Wondered what happened to me? Did I drop off the face of the earth? Go into labor early? Nope...just haven't had to cook dinner for the past four nights. I have to say it's been awesome. I don't remember what happened Wednesday night that I didn't cook. The husband brought home some frozen pizzas from Whole Foods that were quite tasty. Thursday he had a big celebration at work and ate a bunch of food around 2:00 and wasn't hungry, so the boy and I had mac and cheese and hot dogs. Friday night we went to an Oktoberfest. One of our friends' companies was the main sponsor, so he hooked us up with wristbands for free food and drinks, so the boy and I took the husband and stayed to have free dinner, then we came home while the husband imbibed on free beer. Last night we went to my aunt and uncles, and my uncle grilled up some amazing steaks. Oh man, were they good.

So, now that you're all caught up on our goings-on for the past few nights, on to tonight's dinner. This was originally slated for Friday night. Since I had all the veggies for it, I figured I should make it tonight while they were still in good condition. This was from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks. Not that I'm doing WW right now, but it has good recipes in it, and I hadn't used it in awhile. There's no notes on it, so I don't think this is something I've ever made before.

Vegetable Calzones
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine the water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture and the egg through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.

Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine the mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, basil, and pepper in a medium bowl.

Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.

Punch down the dough. Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the surface and cut into 6 pieces. Knead each piece lightly, then with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each into a 6-inch circle. Mound one-sixth of the cheese mixture on half of each circle, then brush the edges lightly with water. Fold the dough over the filling; crimp the edges to seal. Transfer the calzones to the baking sheet; make three 1-inch slashes on top of each with a sharp knife. Bake until golden 20-23 minutes.

*****

They're in the oven now and almost done. I'm excited to try them. I'll tell you everything I did when I write the review (I know, I know...I still haven't done those for the last two dinenrs I made).

*****

The calzones were good, but they could have used some more fillings. Maybe less ricotta and more mozzarella? I think next time I'd add more veggies, too. Mushrooms, black olives. Also the dough needed a little something, but I don't know what. I'm not much of a yeast user, so I really don't know how much tampering you can do with a yeast dough. I think maybe a little more salt or some Italian seasoning would have helped. Also, I only had enough filling for five calzones, not the six called for in the recipe. I don't know if I overstuffed or what, but it worked out. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today, and it reheated decently. Definitely better the first time, but not bad. I'd make these again, just tweak them a little so there was more flavor.