Tag Archives: pizza

Entrees, recipe, snacks

Skinny Mini Calzones

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This month’s Recipe ReDux theme is “Small Bites” and I’ve been craving pizza, so here’s a fun twist for you to try! My sister and I used to love snacking on Pizza Rolls and 3D Doritos (remember those??) when we were kids. These  mini calzones are like the adult version of Pizza Rolls. Kids would probably love them too, of course!

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Skinny Mini Calzones

  • Servings: 8 palm-sized calzones
  • Print

Ingredients

1 lb pizza dough (homemade or store bought. I’m partial to the Trader Joe’s Herb dough!)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 cup finely diced onion

1/3 cup diced mushrooms

1/3 cup chopped spinach, frozen

6 ounces light mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 ounces salami, diced

1 tablespoon fresh chopped basil

Flour, for rolling the dough

1 egg white, in a small bowl

1 cup marinara sauce


Directions

  • Set the pizza dough out on the counter to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Heat the olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over high heat. Sauté the onion for about 1 minute, until beginning to caramelize. Add the mushrooms and chopped spinach. Sauté for 1 minute more. Set aside.
  • Make the filling by stirring together the cheese, sautéed veggies, salami, and fresh basil in a bowl.
  • Cut the dough into eight 2-oz pieces. Work with one piece at a time: Make a ball our of the dough piece and set on a lightly floured surface. Press the ball into a disk and roll out into a 6-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Scoop a large spoonful (about 1/4 cup) of filling onto one half of the circle. Fold it over to form a half-moon shape and press the edges to seal it. Place the calzone on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Crimp the edges with a fork and brush with egg white. Repeat with the remaining dough pieces.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with warm marinara sauce for dipping.


Each dough ball should look like this:

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And then you fill it like this:

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This is how they should look before they’re baked:

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Once they’re fresh out of the oven,  you can enjoy these cute little calzones with marinara sauce!

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As always, check out other Recipe ReDux posts below!

breakfast, recipe

Breakfast Pizza

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There’s a restaurant in Las Vegas that serves a delicious breakfast pizza on the weekends. If you’re in town, I highly recommend checking out Honey Salt for a great mimosa brunch on the patio. Even if you aren’t a Vegas local, you can recreate Elizabeth Blau’s tasty breakfast pizza at home with this simplified replica I came up with. Did you know you can buy raw pizza dough at most pizzerias for just a few bucks? This is great news for making pizza at home easily! Just call your favorite pizza shop and ask. I got the dough for this recipe from Trader Joe’s. They have a great wheat dough ball that’s only $1.19.

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Ingredients:

(serves 4)

1 lb dough ball of your favorite pizza dough (preferably whole wheat!)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Splash of milk (about 2 tablespoons)

6 oz reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

8 large eggs

1 tablespoon butter

Salt & Pepper

Grated parmesan, parsley, and/or hot sauce for garnish

Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes, uncovered.
  2. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and shape each portion into an individual pizza crust. Place all four on a large baking sheet or two smaller baking sheets that will fit side-by-side in the oven.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Sauté the spinach for about 2 minutes until hot and add a splash of milk. Continue to cook until most of the liquid is absorbed. Season with a dash of salt and pepper.
  4. Extend the spinach mixture evenly among the four pizza crusts, spreading it as close to the edges as you can.
  5. Top each pizza with about 1.5 oz of shredded cheese. Bake for 12 minutes or until the cheese is becoming golden and bubbly.
  6. While the pizzas are baking, whisk the eggs vigorously in a medium mixing bowl. Scramble slowly in a medium nonstick skillet coated with melted butter over low-medium heat. Scramble until nearly finished, but not fully cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Top each pizza with an equal portion of the eggs and return to the oven for 1-2 minutes more, or until the eggs are fully set.
  8. Serve with your favorite garnish and a side of fruit. I topped my pizza with freshly grated parmesan, parsley, and sriracha sauce. Enjoy!

I was nervous about the timing of baking the crust, adding the cheese, and knowing when to incorporate the scrambled eggs, but it ended up being a very intuitive process. The basic idea is that you’re baking a pizza 90% of the way through and adding eggs that are 90% finished, then finishing the last 10% of the cooking process with all ingredients combined. I think you’ll like it!

Here’s a close up of the eggs and cheese, pre-hot sauce.

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Make it a little messy for a nice plated look:

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Nutrition information, per individual pizza without garnish:

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recipe, snacks

Supreme Pizza Quinoa Bites

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By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by California Ripe Olives and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.

Football season is upon us! Here’s a game day snack that makes football worth watching! Have 4-6 of them and make it a meal that works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Bite sized foods are just the best, and these are nutritionally balanced so you can feel good about munching on them. These mini pizza bites get a flavor boost from California black ripe olives, which contain monounsaturated fat, vitamin E (0.25  mg per serving), iron (.49 mg per serving), vitamin A (60 IU per serving), and fiber (0.5 grams per serving). If you have a can of these in your pantry, think beyond the typical Greek salad and try out these  pizza bites!

  
Ingredients:

(Serves 2-3 as a meal, 3-6 as a snack)

-1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked

-1 cup water

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-1/2 cup onion, diced

-1/2 cup zucchini, diced

-1/2 cup California ripe black olives, about 10, diced

-1/3 cup roasted red pepper, diced

-1/3 cup cooked and drained lean ground turkey

-1/2 teaspoon dried basil

-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

-1 teaspoon garlic salt

-1 egg

-4 egg whites

-1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

-1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

-Cooking spray or olive oil for greasing muffin tins

-Pizza sauce, for serving

Preparation:

1. Begin by rinsing and draining the quinoa well in a mesh strainer. Combine the rinsed quinoa and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes and remove from heat.

2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10″ skillet, add the diced onions and zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in diced black olives, roasted red pepper, cooked ground turkey, basil, oregano, and garlic salt. Set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in egg, egg whites, mozzarella cheese, and cooked vegetable/ turkey mixture. 

4. Scoop the mix into a well greased muffin tin (12 cups) or mini muffin tin (24 cups). Sprinkle each with a bit of feta cheese and bake. The regular muffin tins will require 25-30 minutes and the mini muffins will require 15-20 minutes. 

5. Remove carefully from the tins using a spoon and serve warm with pizza sauce. 

  
I hope that you’ll enjoy these Mediterranean inspired supreme pizza bites this football season! They reheat easily in the microwave and store well in the fridge or freezer. 

protein, recipe

Grain Free Pizza Sauté

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Do you crave pizza as much as I do? Last week Colby baked a frozen pizza and tried to hide it from me. He knows how bloated and miserable I get when I eat it, but he also knows how much I love it! When I came home, the whole apartment smelled of my favorite food. Colby urged me to cook something else instead of searching the fridge for the leftover pizza. Here’s what I came up with:

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This sauté of turkey, bell peppers, spinach, onion, and marinara sauce topped with shredded cheese really hit the spot. It was quick and easy to make, which is key when you’re craving pizza fiercely!

Ingredients:
4-6 oz lean ground turkey
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs dried Italian herbs
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
Large handful of spinach
1/2 cup good marinara sauce
2 tbs shredded parmesan or mozzarella (exclude if strict paleo)

1. Brown the turkey in a skillet, breaking it up into little chunks with a spatula. Once cooked through (no longer pink inside), set aside.
2. In the same skillet, heat olive oil. Add the diced onion and bell peppers. Sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Add the Italian herbs, ground turkey, and marinara sauce. Cook until heated through.
4. Serve with a sprinkling of cheese!

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While it’s not quite pizza, the flavors are spot on and the protein in the turkey will keep you feeling satisfied.

food, restaurants

Due Forni Date Night

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I finally got Colby to take a break from studying for a date night! We had dinner at Due Forni and saw The Conjuring at the theater. It was a Groupon kind of night- $10 for $20 at the restaurant and $6 Fandango movie tickets. I love good deals! Both the movie and the restaurant were great. Go check them out!

Due Forni features two types of brick oven pizzas. The Neapolitan style is chewy, baked at 900 degrees for 90 seconds. The Roman is thin and crunchy, baked at 500 degrees for 3 minutes.

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The cocktails sounded really tasty. I wanted something citrusy, refreshing, not too sweet. Our waiter recommended the Sicilian sunrise, made with blood orange foam and a shot of limoncello.

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Last night was perfect for dinner on the patio. It’s rare to get such mild weather here in July! I think it was only 90 degrees out with a light breeze. The overcast 6pm lighting was perfect for pictures. My eye candy:

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And me!

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We split a creamy Caesar salad:

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Then Colby had to finish this drink that I’m holding. I should have picked white wine instead- this pretty cocktail was too sugary for me.

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The highlight of dinner was sharing the Due Forni Neapolitan pizza. The crust was nice and chewy with a bit of charred flavor from the oven. The sausage, roasted peppers, basil, and bufola mozzarella were great toppings!

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I love pizza! It’s definitely my favorite food even though eating it makes my stomach puff up to six-months-pregnant-size for a few hours afterward. That’s why I wore a loose fitting shirt and looked forward to relaxing in the movie theater after dinner! Maybe I’ll get over the $4.75 up charge and try the gluten free crust next time.

The movie wasn’t exactly relaxing. The Conjuring was terrifying! I was clenching Colby’s arm the entire time because the suspense never died down! Great movie. I’m glad we trusted the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and checked it out. 90% positive reviews can’t be wrong!

Now that the Nevada Bar Exam is less than 2 weeks away, Colby and I will probably have our next date after it’s over. This also means our beach vacation is coming up! Follow me the next two weeks to see how I get ready to feel confident in a bikini.

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The preparation will consist of Crossfit for strength and conditioning, trampoline fitness for extra cardio, and 5-6 small, clean meals per day. Details soon :)