The recipe: "Hungry Girl 300 Under 300", page 238
or http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1517
When I originally set out to make these calzones, I was thinking to myself, "Is it really worth all of this effort to make a pizza pocket, when I could just heat up a frozen Lean Cuisine one for the same amount of points?". Well, not only was it fun to make these individual calzones, but it was a favorite for everyone in my family, including my 2-year-old son. The dough came out perfectly - soft, but not doughy - unlike the frozen versions that end up a little chewy around the edges. And the filling had plenty of veggies and the right amount of pepperoni.
It did take a little bit of time to assemble the calzones, so if you are looking for a quick dinner, this is not it. I was also a little skeptical of using the Pillsbury pizza dough, since all of their doughs taste the same to me, but it ended up tasting great. I had to have my husband open the dough for me, since I am a chicken when it comes to sudden, loud noises. The pop you hear when you open one of those dough containers makes me jump every time. He opened it for me like the good husband he is, and the pop was barely even audible this time. He looked at me with his "really?!" look, like I was ridiculous for not opening it on my own. Once I got the first calzone assembled, the rest were quicker. It was a little difficult to eyeball 1/5 of the filling, but they all ended up being about the same size. The dough was a little bit difficult to stretch out for each calzone, but with a little bit of work I got them stretched out to a big enough size without ripping. When I was done, I was proud to say they all looked pretty good!
It was fun to eat something for dinner that tasted like pizza, but wasn't greasy or fattening. We added a salad to the calzone to round out the meal. Since I had plenty of points left for the day, I even went back for seconds, and so did my husband. We actually had no leftovers, which rarely happens!
The only complaint I have is that there was not enough sauce for dipping. I ended up opening a jar of marinara to use for dipping, and my husband and son also used ranch dressing to dip theirs in. In the photo, the little amount of sauce in the cup is actually half of what was left for dipping in the recipe. But, there are 5 calzones to eat! You could definitely eat these without the sauce and they would still be good, but I like a lot of sauce. For no extra points, you can have extra crushed tomatoes, or for one point you can have plenty of low-fat marinara on the side. I opted for the extra point, since I wanted more sauce for my calzones. Overall, a good dinner that I will be repeating in the future.
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