Blogger's Dinner Club

A few weeks ago my great friend and I had an idea. We (okay, I) were lamenting about how miserable our kids were about dinner and eating what we make (again, that would be my kids) so we came up with the idea of posting weekly about a dinner, with recipe, we made that our kids liked and actually ate without lots of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (really, I don't know what it's like at her house at 6:30 pm, but that is what you'll find over here).
Anyway, I said I'd start off and was supposed to post a recipe right away. It took me until today to make something that truly got NO complaints!! So, here it is:

Make Your Own Calzone
(To make it easy, you can use a bread machine!)
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp yeast

Egg Wash: 1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp water

Fillings: cheese, pepperoni, ham, pineapple, marinara sauce, chicken, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta cheese...the options are endless. The idea is that everyone gets to put their favorite things on their own calzone.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line two jelly roll pans with silpat liners. Load bread machine in that order (set to dough cycle), or combine dry ingredients (not yeast) in a large bowl. Stir in olive oil. Blend yeast with 1/4 cup of the warm water. Pour the yeast mixture and remaining 1 1/4 cups warm water into dry mixture and blend well. Let dough rise about 1 1/2 hours, or until double (or let it sit about 1/2 hour longer in the bread machine, keeping warm).

Cut dough into 6 equal pieces and give one to each family member to roll out into a large, thin circle on a floured surface.

Let everyone add whatever they want to half of their circle, then fold over the other half and seal edges tightly. Place 3 on each cookie sheet and brush with egg wash if desired. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes. The adult favorite over here is the pesto, chicken, sun-dried tomato, feta cheese, and olive. Yum! Let me know how your family likes it.