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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
What he did not know what I was going to do, was ride my bike to campus and meet him there, so that took an extra 10 minutes. Since it was a beautiful day, I had to soak it up as much as possible and I thought, why not take a bike ride? On my way back home, I took another route and stopped by Grand River. Since the snow has melted, all the rivers are a bit on the high end, even to the point of flooding. Our area park was completely flooded! SNOW and ice took on a different form. God’s wondderful creation! Here is what the river looked like:
Ever since we finished our gospel and spirituals concert on Saturday, I can;t take the songs out of my head. I relive the moment since it was a most electrifying concert for me personally. There is something so different when singing regular hymns and sacred music to gospel and spirituals. It is like the whole body, mind, and spirit are involved and transport you to the actual time and place that perhaps made the slaves sing, long time ago. I thank God for freedom despite some people not having it in many countries.
What are you thankful for??
In addition to continuous music rolling through my brain, I enjoyed the glorious day. It was super sunny with blue skies and the temperature was magnificent. I wondered if I was going to get to enjoy it since work tends to run a little late some times. NO worries! I called Ryan and asked if he could spare some time between studying and he said he could. We played racquetball for an hour! So energizing indeed!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Some guys had just gotten out of the river after river rafting! The waters looked pretty scary for that!When I got home, I knew it was time to get dinner ready! Since Ryan had eaten HIS lunch at 10:45am he was about to gnaw off my arm from hunger. When I told him what I was making, he said he would be patient till dinner was ready. What a great man!
I had taken a poll earlier in the afternoon, because I could not make up my mind whether to make a polenta pizza or calzones. I finally decided and went with calzones.
I worked on the dough first so I could let that rise a bit while preparing the ingredients for the filling.
I had all the ingredients to make Ryan a pepperoni and provolone calzone with sliced tomatoes and black olives. This is what his calzone looked like:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I finally decided to make some mini meatballs using Match “Chicken” and to use Teese.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Teese is another vegan cheese out in the market and I had a promotional coupon to buy one and get another free. I thought that was a good way for me to try this product. I then added some green olives, sliced red and orange peppers, and some red onions.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
A while back, Foodbuzz sent me two bottles of Bertolli sauce to try as part of their Tastemaker program. I used the Bertolli Arrabbiata sauce, which is a spicy tomato and red pepper sauce, to add a bit inside the calzone, but eventually it was placed on top of the calzone as soon as it came out of the oven! YUM! This sauce is delicious and I can’t wait for it to be in stores!
Once the dough was split in half and rolled out, I added the ingredients to each half and baked it. While it baked, I made a spinach and romaine salad with radishes and a balsamic vinagrette.
Ryan devoured his monstrous calzone and claimed it was SUPER delicious, just what the doctor had ordered!
I liked my calzone, but I was not completely convinced about the Teese. I believe it would had been better if I had left it out and just had the other ingredients cook inside the calzone. If you like Teese, then this recipe would work with or without it! Make sure to have good marinara to add to the top of your calzone!
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
“Chicken” Meatball Calzone with Arrabbiata Saucemakes 2 BIG calzones
Dough
3 1/4 cups King Arthurs whole wheat-white flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 envelope yeast or 2 1/4 tsp
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup olive oil
Add yeast, sugar and 1/4 C. of the water to a small bowl and let set 5 minutes.
Add flour, salt, oil and the rest of water along with yeast mixture and mix well. Turn out onto a floured board and knead dough until smooth.
Allow the dough to rest in a bowl while preparing calzone fillings.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and place pizza stone in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a pizza stone, put a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and DO not place it it oven. Wait for calzones to be finished.
Filling1/4 cup red onions, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced
1/4 cup green olives, sliced or whole
1/2 cup colored peppers
3 Tbsp Bertolli Arrabbiata sauce
10 small Match “chicken” meatballs (preparation below)
1/2 cup Teese mozzarella (I used cheddar since the store ran out)
Match “Chicken” preparation
1 cup Match ground “Chicken”
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasonings
1 tsp basil
1 tsp gound garlic
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp dried onions
Place ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Make 10 meatballs and cook in skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes.
| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
After the dough had rested, I split the dough in half and rolled it out on a cutting board. Can also be done on a flat surface. I sprinkled some cornmeal on the cutting board.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I then used a rolling pin to flatten the dough to a 12′ diameter. I added the ingredients on the center of the dough:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Then I folded one end over to the other end and lifted the bottom portion of the dough to the top part of the dough to seal:
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
I sprinkled some more cornmeal on top of the calzone and placed both finished calzones on the HOT and preheated pizza stone in oven. I sprinkled some cornmeal on the pizza ston as well.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
Bake calzones for 20 minutes. When calzones are removed from oven, serve immediately and our some of the Bertolli sauce on top and enjoy with a green salad.
I cut mine in half since it was so big.
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| From An Opera Singer in the Kitchen |
