Pizza Pockets

 

Hi all!  Happy Hump Day!

So, the other day when I was grocery shopping I saw these and for some reason just had to get them…they looked so good.

 

 

I have had Lean Pockets before and enjoy them for a quick and easy lunch, especially when I’m at school and have about 10 minutes to scarf down something quickly.  However, like my brain often does as soon as I finished my premade meal, a switch went off and I thought…I could make these at home, they are basically just calzones, and in fact, why haven’t I yet?

Bingo.  That’s all it took.

I bought some pizza dough, read a few online recipes to get the general “gist” of the calzone process and went for it.  The results were amazing and I fell in love with this easy and delicious method of pizza making – perfect for a weeknight meal.  It tasted just as good as a restaurant version (maybe even better) and I can’t wait to try different fillings and combinations! 

So, without further ado, here you go!

 

 

Easy Cheesy Calzones

Print this recipe!

1 ball pizza dough (usually found in the bakery section of your supermarket).

--you could also use tube pizza dough I would imagine

1 (15 oz.) container part skim ricotta

1/4 C parmesan cheese

1/2 C reduced fat mozzarella

1 t dried oregano

2 eggs (one for cheese filling, one for the topping)

garlic salt for seasoning

filling ingredients – I used caramelized onions, turkey sausage and diced tomatoes in this version.

*all of these measurements can be adjusted to your tastes, I usually just “eyeball” it, but the approximate measurements are above.

Directions:

Take pizza dough out of the refrigerator and let rest on the counter for about an hour before assembling calzones.  It makes for easier rolling (trust me).

 

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Begin sautéing any of the vegetable/meat fillings if using any other than the ricotta mixture. In a medium bowl combine your cheese mixture by adding the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, 1 egg and oregano.  Mix to incorporate.

 

 

If you are using any additional fillings add them to the cheese mixture and combine.  I sautéed 1 sweet Vidalia onion, half of a can of diced tomatoes and a few turkey sausage links for ours and it tasted AMAZING.

--Tip:  If you want to do different fillings for different kinds of calzones (some cheese, some sausage, etc), leave the extra filling out of the cheese mixture and just add on top of the ricotta mixture when assembling.

 

 

I didn’t take very many pictures of the assembly process, but here’s how I did it:

On a floured surface use 1/4 of the pizza dough and roll into a circle – as you can see from the picture below I didn’t quite divide my dough evenly – it looks like I was getting ready to feed the three bears!

Place about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of filling one one side of the rolled out dough and then fold over to form a half circle shape.  Press down with a fork along the edges to seal.  Repeat this process until all of the dough, or filling, or both are gone (I had a little filling leftover, which can be saved for a another dish later in the week, used on top of crostini or just discarded).

In a small bowl whisk 1 egg and brush over the calzones with a pastry brush and dust with garlic salt (optional).  The egg will help seal the calzones together and will turn the “crust” into a golden brown color when baking.  YUM.

 

 

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving (the filling gets very hot).

 

 

Serve with your favorite marinara, pesto or garlic sauce on the side for dipping.

 

 

PS-  They are even great left over!  I just took a break from writing this post to have some of our leftovers for lunch and it was just as good as last night.  Deeelish!