Mini Whole Wheat Calzones

Being that I am half Italian, it should be no surprise that I LOVE calzones! I haven’t eaten one in years and thought this just might be a great recipe for me to lighten up.

The beauty of calzones is that you stuff them with whatever you feel like and whatever you have on hand.  Leftover veggies, meats, cheeses…they all work!!  I made this one with spinach, peppers, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.   Use your imagination!

I also used whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe’s.  If you’d like to make your own crust, I like this recipe from Eating Well.  I added ground flax seed to the Trader Joe’s dough to up the nutritional value.  The beauty of it is that you can press it in the dough and picky kids don’t even notice or taste it! I am always thinking 🙂

Mini Calzones

Ingredients

1 whole wheat pizza dough (or make your own)

1/2 cup ground flax seed

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup tomatoes, sliced

1 cup spinach

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 cup fresh mozzarella (or more if desired)

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

 

1. Take dough out of refrigerator and place onto well greased or floured baking tray.  Let it sit there for 20-30 minutes so dough can rise.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. While dough is sitting out,  place vegetables into skillet with oil and garlic.  Stir in basil and cook until spinach is wilted.  Set aside.   
3.  Divide the dough into 4 pieces for larger and doughier calzones or 6 for smaller, thinner calzones. 

4.  Sprinkle ground flax on all sides of each quartered dough.  Place the dough into a flat circle, then using a rolling pin, roll from the middle of the dough outwards.  If the dough starts to shrink back to you, let it sit for another 5 minutes and roll again.

5.  Start to fill your calzones.  Place fresh mozzarella right on dough and then add veggies, making sure you leave at least a 1 inch border around the edges.  

6.  Fold the top of the dough over, forming a pocket.  Press the edges tightly to seal.  

7.  Next take an egg and scramble it in a bowl with 1 tablespoon of milk (egg wash).  Brush all over calzones to give it the golden brown, glazed look.   Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven.  Serve immediately.  (These can also be frozen for later meals)   

Oh and save the leftover veggies for your omelet for breakfast 🙂 E N J O Y !