The Wiltin Rose: Calzones and Sea World

Thursday night is usually pizza night here at our house. I make the dough in my bread machine and then we add whatever toppings sound good. The thought hit me last week that I just might be able to use my pizza dough to make homemade calzones. I did a small amount of research for the fillings and such and below you can see the results. Pretty yummy. I made 1 significant mistake...too much oregano...but other than that, they were delicious and I'll definitely make them again!

We spent Friday at Sea World. Steve needed to interview a local PR person for one of his classes and the PR person for Sea World San Diego just happens to be an ex-Navy PAO so it was perfect. Steve got his interview completed while the kids and I walked around viewing some of the exhibits. The best (to me) was the manatee exhibit with the shark tank running a close second. (We walked through the shark tank 3 times because the kids enjoyed going through the glass tunnel and seeing the fish overhead). The Shamu show was a hit, too.

Today is a quiet day at home. High of 65F and very cloudy. I think rain is on the way. Hopefully I can get the kids over to the park for a few hours before it starts.

Calzone Recipe

I used a standard 2 lb pizza dough recipe that is in my bread machine book. Separate the dough into 4 or 6 equal parts and flatten (pull or roll, whichever you prefer - I tend to just work it with my hands and not roll it with a rolling pin) until it is the size you want. Divide filling into 4 or 6 equal parts and put in the center of each dough circle. Fold over, securing edges by pressing with a fork. Brush the top of each calzone with egg and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. (I just throw down some corn meal instead of greasing)

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes. Serve hot with pizza or spaghetti sauce on the side.

FILLING:

1/2 cup ricotta
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I always use canned)
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1 egg, beaten

The above is the original recipe. Things I did differently: 1/2 cup cottage cheese because I did not have ricotta on hand, 1/2 cup ham in addition to the bit of pepperoni I had on hand, 1 box spinach - thawed and squeezed dry, oregano leaves - I used 1 tbsp but that was way too much, 1/2 tbsp minced garlic, 1 egg in the filling to hold it all together.

Homemade Calzone...YUMMMY!

Up close photo of the gooey goodness!

This turtle was near the entrance welcoming kids to Sea World

Larger than life "Fido".

A mouth at the shark exhibit.

The Commerson's Dolphin tank was beautiful!

Tinna touching a starfish.

Look in the background and see if you can guess who is getting wet...hey...it's WILLIAM! We had already changed shirts once. Thank goodness I took *3* shirts along for him. He went through all of them within 1 hour.