Calzone making & playin pool

Alright, I have to tell a little secret, we have been at the new home for a little over a year, and for at least one whole year we have had a cookout or deep fried a turkey or something every single month with the neighbors, heh heh heh selfish motives on my part truth be told, you see, we have a pretty handsome neighbor, and I have an equally gorgeous sister, both of who are very much single I might add (and they are gonna totally KILL ME for this) but oh well, here goes!

so trying to be discreet for a year hasn't gotten me too far, I see the little looks that seem to go on when one thinks the other isn't looking, yeah, really, I didn't miss it, I seen it happening but still - nothing, hmmm

so I decided it was about freakin time someone else stepped in, so after we got sis moved into her place, I called her up and said, hey, wanna have a get together? I will bring the makings for calzones and since you have a pool table, we can eat, hang out and play pool?

she says all excited  "OK that sounds great!" 

I calmly say "OK cool, I was gonna bring a friend"

silence on the phone

still silence on the phone

oh yeah, SHE KNEW who I meant, you KNOW she did

so I say "you know who I mean?"

she says "yes"

hmmmm

silence

alright already, she caved in, said ok go ahead and set it up, WOOP WOOP OK FINALLY!

so yeah, here we are all eating and playing pool, and for the first time I think in over a year, those two critters spoke to each other and realized they actually had tongues in their faces!!

and ya know what? everyone had a blast!

 heh heh heh there's the handsome neighbor critter on the left and my handsome critter of a hubby on right

heh heh heh and there is the sister!

 calzones!

little pool playin

so how about a recipe for the Calzones?

Pizza calzone

 

dough:

1 package yeast

1 cup warm water, I just let my tap run till it feels almost hot

2 tablespoons oil – I use canola, but any oil will work

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2-3/4 cups flour, plus extra for rolling up the dough

*any spices you want in your dough, sometimes I add black pepper, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, etc. extra flavorings depending on your mood. (special note, you can also skip making the dough homemade if you buy the pizza in the tube!!, for 4 of them you would need 2 rolls of crust, just unroll and cut into half, 2 rolls of pizza tubes would make 4 squares. so yes they can be square instead of round dough pieces!!

 

fillings:

1 large jar of spaghetti or pizza sauce, and yes, if you like a certain brand or say Prego with mushrooms and onions, by all means use that!! I use my homemade spaghetti sauce, its multi purpose for me LOL

anything you would like on a pizza will work, for me I use: mushrooms, olives, peppers, pepperoni, salami, ham slices, sausage cooked like for sausage gravy, and lots of mozzarella cheese, provolone works wonders in these as well, garlic, you name it, whatever you like on a pizza! you can add anything in the middle of these that you want!

 

 

for dough, dissolve yeast in warm water, I put mine directly into my big mixer and stir once, then add the sugar, oil, salt and 1 cup of the flour, and any other spices or seasonings you want to try in the dough.

Now mix in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle, again, mine is in my old kitchen aid stand mixer, I mix until the edges pull away from the sides of the bowl, if it’s still sticking to bowl, I add a little more flour at a time until it decides to stick to the beater ha ha.

 

now turn out your dough onto a floured surface and gently roll in flour to coat the dough, knead maybe 3 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic like, now cover the bowl with saran wrap or a damp towel and let rest for about 5 minutes, it will rise some.

 

When ready, divide dough into 4 equal chunks, roll into circles, usually around 10 inches or so, not really thick, but not too thin either. you just need them big enough to add your fillings to one half of the circle or square, depending on how you did your dough. Make sure to keep it on half of the dough, because you will be folding the other half over top.

I start with some sauce, all my meats and olives and such, then add a ton of cheese, my favorite cheese for inside these would be hot pepper cheese, but I like my calzone to be a cheesy gooey hot mess!!

 

once you get all the fillings on it, be sure to add plenty in there or you will be disappointed when you got more dough than fillings HA HA

gently pull one side over top of the fillings, I wet the edge now a little bit so the dough sticks good around the edges, take a fork and kinda pinch or seal the outer half edge.

 

I put the extra sauce in a saucepan, turn on to simmer just to get it warm, I dump this over top of calzone when done cooking or use for a dipping sauce.

 

Preheat your oven to 375.

Place your calzones on cookie sheet or on parchment paper on cookie sheet (easier cleanup this way).

I brush melted butter over the top and put a few slits on top so steam can escape, just a couple though or your good cheese will sneak out.

cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on how brown you want the outside, usually for us here it’s around the 20-22 minute mark. Don’t go too long or the bottoms get a little hard.

 

when done, I serve mine with the extra sauce dumped over the top of them, also the kids like to sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top of their sauce, anyway you make it is good, as long as it’s what you like inside!!

 

ENJOY!!!