New Recipe Experiment

I shorted myself a meal this week ... in other words, I only bought groceries specifically for five meals when I should have done six. It's not really a problem except that I am in the process of stocking the freezer for when Selah arrives. I didn't want to have to dig into my reserves which would then have to be replaced. So I'm being creative tonight with dinner! I raided the freezer and pantry, etc. and came up with ...

Chicken Parmesan Calzones

I started with my basic pizza dough crust ...

1 2/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons dry milk powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons yeast

All that goes in the bread machine to be rescued an hour and twenty-five minutes later. (This recipe makes 2 crusts.) Of course, you could use your own recipe or store-bought dough.

For the calzone filling, I made a basic white sauce ...

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk (if I'd had chicken broth, I'd have used 1 cup broth, 1 cup milk)

(When I melted the butter, I threw in a chopped clove of garlic, too. Yum!)

To which I added ...
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
about 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Other delicious additions would be chopped onion, zucchini, red pepper, mushrooms, ricotta cheese ... whatever your family likes!

To put it all together, I divided the dough in half, setting one half aside for the freezer. The rest of it I divided into fourths. I rolled out each section into a circle -- not too thin! Each circle was topped with a touch of olive oil, some mozzarella cheese, and about a fourth of the filling. I folded the dough up over the filling, making a bun, and placed them seam-side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Into the oven for 15 minutes or so on 375!

I served them with warmed spaghetti sauce for dipping. The whole family liked them, from Papa to the kids! Success. :)