Spicy Cappicola and Sun Dried Tomato Calzone

Making a good pizza crust is something that I struggled with for a LONG time. Without fail I would pull my pizza out of the oven as the cheese was golden brown and bubbly, only to find my crust was hard as a rock. I used multiple recipes, boxed crusts, etc., and could never get it right. Finally my mom let me in on a little secret: her dough recipe. It's brutally simple, and doesn't use any oil, which sounds weird but it works. I make this stuff in a double batch and keep it in the fridge for the week, so whenever I want a pizza I can just grab a chunk of dough and go to town.

Not only does it work great for pizza, but it works great for calzones as well. It was perfectly airy and chewy, with a slight but not overpowering crunchiness on the outside. I love playing around with different calzone ingredients (mainly because I know how I like my pizza and don't want to mess with it), and have come up with some combinations I've really enjoyed. This Spicy Cappicola and Sun Dried Tomato Calzone is no exception. The ham gives it a salty kick, and the fresh mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes provide a perfect subtle Tuscan flavor.

Spicy Cappicola and Sun Dried Tomato Calzone
Serves 2

Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water

Calzone:

• 4 slices cappicola ham
• 2 oz sliced fresh mozzarella
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp minced garlic

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine crust ingredients in a large bowl, adding the water last. Using your hands (that's right), knead the dough, adding flour one tablespoon at a time until the dough doesn't stick to your fingers anymore. 

Lightly coat your crust with a little cooking spray, and let your crust rise anywhere from 1-6 hours. The longer you let it rise, the better!

Punch your dough down every few hours.

Divide dough in half after it has risen, coat it with flour, and roll it out into two thin circles.

Top each with half of the calzone ingredients, filling only half of each circle and leaving about 1/2 inch of space between the filling and edge of the crust. 

Fold the crust in half. Use a fork to seal the edge of the calzone, and brush the top of each with the egg white. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cornmeal, placing the calzones on it and putting it in the oven. 

Bake at 400 until the tops are golden brown and the bottom is crispy, about 15-20 minutes.

-- Optional step for maximum deliciousness: brush your calzones with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top before serving. --

Seafood Fra Diavolo Soup

Belated Happy New Year to everyone! It occurred to me earlier this week that I got away from a lot of stuff I enjoyed during the last few months of 2013. I didn't cook as much as I would have liked, I didn't get to the gym as much as I would have liked, didn't play as much music as I would have liked. This happens to me every year at that time. It's just a bad few months for some reason. At least I recognize it and can work on it, right?

In any case, this is me getting back on track (both in life and this post). I want to be more consistent about posts, so I'm going to start hoarding them and trying to bring one out once a week. I've been trying to think of more creative ways to do seafood. This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite Italian dishes, shrimp fra diavolo. Fra diavolo, which is Italian for "brother devil", is the name given to spicy Italian sauce typically served with seafood.

I'm all about simplicity, and excuses to use new Christmas gifts, so I busted out my CrockPot for this one. Throw it on low and forget about it for 6 hours. With how cold it's been here the last three days (-25 with the windchill on average), a spicy, warm soup was the perfect thing to come inside to. 

Seafood Fra Diavolo Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1 cup diced green pepper
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1/4 pound scallops
• 1/4 pound shrimp
• 1/4 pound salmon
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tbsp italian seasoning
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp salt/pepper

Dice onion, garlic, and carrot.

Cut shrimp, scallops, and salmon into small cubes.

Combine all ingredients in a CrockPot.

Forget about it on low for the next 5-6 hours.

Stay warm!

Protein Packed Pico

Good weekend. The Badgers dominated and the trip was great, the Pack dug deep in the depth chart to put together a solid performance in a win, and I've been eating pico de gallo all day. Pico is arguably one of the top three greatest foods in the world. My roommates and I eat this stuff like it's going out of style.

Alyssa's mom got me a Vidalia Chop Wizard for my birthday, and it's pretty much the most game changing kitchen item I've ever used. I always hate doing all the dicing when I make pico, and this takes my prep time and cuts it by about 75%, plus everything looks professionally diced into perfect little squares. If you don't have one, you should.

Protein Packed Pico

10 Servings

• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup rinsed black beans
• 3/4 cup cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper 
• 1/4 cup diced cilantro
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• juice of one lemon
• optional: 1 diced jalapeño with seeds

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Dazzle your friends.

Roasted Red Pepper Italian Beef

This is something I've been trying to get around to making for probably two years. I always put it on the back burner, pun intended. Now that it's starting to cool down a bit, it just feels like Italian beef weather. Something about fall also says crockpot time, even though it's always crockpot season in my kitchen. This is a great "forget about it" meal, which is perfect for a lot of my nights. It might also make a great idea for your next gameday party or tailgate (which should be this Saturday for the Wisconsin at Illinois game). Side note: I'll be at that game. Should be a good time!

Get ready for some of this

A few of these

And a LOT of pushups

On Wisconsin!

Roasted Red Pepper Italian Beef

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs beef chuck roast
• 1/3 cup peperoncini
• 1/3 cup roasted red peppers (jarred is fine)
• 1/3 cup diced onions
• 1/2 bottle dark beer
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt

Brown roast on all sides in a pan over high heat

Combine all ingredients in crock pot

Cook on medium 6-8 hours or high 4-5 hours

Overnight Pumpkin Spice Steel-Cut Oats

Breakfast is an easy one to skip, so I'm all about quick eats in the morning whenever I can (Check out my Microwavable Mini Quiche!). Overnight oats are a popular breakfast item among healthy eating bloggers, and with good reason. They take less than five minutes of total prep time and are ready to grab on-the-go in the morning. For the pumpkin spice I mixed in a spoonful of Pumpkin Butter from one of my favorite websites, along with some pumpkin pie spice.

If you're fresh out of steel-cut oats or aren't sure how you feel about them, I've made this with normal oats and steel cut oats, but the steel cut gives you considerably more texture, which I'm a fan of. You might have heard that steel-cut oats are better for you, but I'm going to have to call shenanigans on this one. Nutritionally, both steel-cut and old fashioned oats are almost identical, and the slightly lower glycemic index of steel-cut is basically negligible. If you're a fan of the more traditional oats, by all means substitute them for the steel-cut. 

Overnight Pumpkin Spice Steel-Cut Oats

Serves 1

• 1/2 cup quick-cook steel-cut oats
• 3/4 cup fat free milk (try it with soy or almond milk!)
• 1 tbsp Pumpkin Butter
• 2 tsp flax seed
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp light brown sugar (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a small jar.

Refrigerate overnight. 

Grab on-the-go in the morning!

Autumn Apple-Nut Green Beans

Yikes. It has been A LONG time since I've gotten a post up. With school starting up and trying to fall into a routine with school, work, volunteering, and just having a social life, blogging took a bit of a back seat. But I finally took some time for it the last few days. I loaded up at the farmers market on Wednesday to bring you some great recipes filled with fresh ingredients and fall tastes that I think you'll really enjoy.

I came up with this a while ago and it has been sitting in my posts, half finished, until now. I love green beans, but I don't always love them prepared the same way: steamed. On my way home from work tonight, I was trying to come up with a way to prepare some green beans that would bring a different twist to one of my favorite fresh vegetables.

Someone once told me to put nutmeg on my beans, but just the nutmeg wasn't enough and I didn't really care for it. I decided to build off that a bit and came up with these little guys. They have a terrific fall tone to them that just works now that the weather is starting to crisp up. Enjoy!

Apple-Nut Green Beans

Serves 2

• 2 cups green beans
• 1/2 cup diced apple
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp Craisins
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash and trim ends off of green beans. 

Layer ingredients on top of tin foil. Fold foil up to create a packet of the ingredients. 

Bake packet in oven 45 minutes or until beans are slightly tender. 

Game Day Garlic Fries

This past weekend my parents came down and my mom loaded me up with potatoes from her garden. There's a million and one ways to prepare potatoes, and I don't know about y'all, but I LOVE french fries. What I don't love is how unhealthy they can be. Luckily, with a little tweak here and there you can enjoy crispy, delicious french fries right from home and with very little guilt.

The best thing about these is they involve almost no effort, taking about five minutes from the time you start prepping them to the oven. Tonight they paired perfectly with some Italian beef I threw in the crock pot yesterday (recipe coming soon!) to satisfy my bar food craving without the guilt. If you like them, let me know in the comments!

Game Day Garlic Fries
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes, cut lengthwise into strips
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil (I like grapeseed)
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix together with your hands (Yes, your hands. Get all up in those fries.)

Spread on a baking sheet, allowing space between each of the fries

Bake for 30 minutes or until crispy, turning fries once or twice