Pizza and Calzones

One of my favorite ways to clean up the fridge {and save money} is to make pizza or calzones at the end of the week.  You can throw so many things on those ~ you don't have to eat a standard fare pizza.  Oh no! Feel free to get creative!  Go gourmet and make your own creations!

Check it out!  If you look closely you can see

the steam rising off my calzone!

For a pizza or calzone you will need pizza dough. Making your own dough requires a little bit of forethought, but it really isn't that hard to make.  Plus, it uses fairly inexpensive ingredients to help you save some "dough"!  Ok, I just couldn't resist!  I had to throw that in for you!  

Here is my favorite pizza dough recipe:

Pizza Dough:

2/3 cup lukewarm water

1 pinch sugar

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups unbleached white flour

1 tsp salt

To make dough:

Stir together 1/3 cup water and sugar in a large bowl.  Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and let stand until foamy {about 10 minutes}.  Stir in the remaining 1/3 cup water, the olive oil, flour and the salt.  Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface for about 10 minutes or in a food processor for about 5 minutes.  Put dough in a deep, oiled bowl and turn to coat it with oil.  Let dough rise, covered with plastic wrap in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.  Punch down the dough and form into four balls.  Each will make a serving size pizza.

Ok, so now you have your dough ready.  Now is the fun part of creating the toppings for your pizza or stuffing for your calzone.  Like I mentioned above, a lot of times I throw on whatever veggies are still hanging around in the fridge.  A little bit of spinach?  Sure!  White bean  puree?  Why not!  I've even been known to throw on some steamed sliced carrots!  But you could always throw on some leftover chicken with barbecue sauce too.

If all this seems a little too adventurous, you can always use your favorite toppings or find some new variations in cookbooks.  But I am going to give you two of my favorite recipes that I was considering giving Adrienne when she asked me for some cost~friendly meal ideas. 

First up ~ a butternut squash pizza!  This is a great recipe to use up some of the root storage vegetables throughout the fall and winter.  Come to think of it, your dough ingredients can all easily be stored in your food storage too!  Score! 

Butternut Squash Pizza

1 cup sliced onion
1/2 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and sliced thinly
1/2 tsp dried rosemary, sage or herbes de provence
salt and pepper to taste
3 tbsp olive oil {1 tbsp reserved}
2 tbsp parmesan cheese {ok or more if you feel like it needs it! And um, mine usually does because I um, really love cheese!}
Pizza dough

Preheat oven to 400.  Combine onion through olive oil {except for the reserved tbsp} in a roasting pan and mix well.  Roast for 20 minutes, or until onions are beginning to brown and the squash is tender.  Roll out pizza dough and place on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.  Distribute squash mixture evenly and bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until crust is firm.  Take out of oven and sprinkle with parmesan and drizzle with reserved olive oil, then enjoy!

My other favorite recipe is a zucchini-tomato calzone.  It is wonderful in the summertime when the garden is overflowing with fresh home grown tomatoes and zucchini!  But if you are having a hankering for this on the off season, the tomatoes and zucchini aren't too expensive and it still makes quite a tasty meal!

Zucchini Tomato Calzone

2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1 small zucchini, grated {or about 2 cups}
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 medium tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped basil
pizza dough

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan over medium high heat.  Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes or until softened.  Transfer to a plate.

Heat the other 1 tbsp olive oil over high heat and once it is very hot, add the grated zucchini and garlic.  Stir often and make sure it doesn't burn for about 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the parmesan, salt and pepper.

De-seed the tomatoes by cutting in half crosswise and squeeze the seeds and juice out.  Chop them into a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Roll out pizza dough and place a layer of onions, followed by tomatoes then zucchini into the middle.  Sprinkle with chopped basil.  Fold dough over and moisten edges with water and press edges together with fingers to seal.  Place on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal and bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

So there you go!  Those are two of my favorites.  What are some of your favorite pizza/calzone combinations?  Do tell!  I'm always up for trying something new!