Mangia!

I went to Publix yesterday and found pizza dough BOGO. Publix pizza dough is a gift from above. The salt to my pepper. The sunshine on a cloudy day. My silver lining. It's delicious and so handy. So, I picked up two bags of their dough and went on my merry way. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go down the pizza road, so I settled on calzones.

About two hours before you plan on cooking, take the pizza dough out of the bag and place it in a large bowl with a few drips of EVOO so it doesn't stick. Put a dish towel over top the bowl and let it rise a bit.

Closer to dinner, go ahead and cook up the toppings of your choice. We went for a supreme-type calzone, sans sausage for mine. I browned some sausage for Hubs' and also cooked up green pepper, onion, and mushroom.

While all this is happening, combine 1 egg, 7-8 oz of ricotta, 3/4 cup of shredded mozzarella, and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Add a dash of salt and pepper and a rough chop of a handful of fresh parsley. Stir this until combined.

Now comes the fun part. And by fun, I mean the part I'm absolutely awful at. I have a slight the biggest issue when it comes to rolling out pizza dough. I don't know why it's such a struggle, but it always is! Roll your pizza dough fairly thin. Remember, you're going to be tucking all the goodness inside of it, so you don't want a Marshmallow Man-esque pouch of dough surrounding it. My mom (who is a genius in the kitchen) recommended I used EVOO instead of flour on my surface, which has helped tremendously.

 

 

Once it's rolled, use a pizza cutter to cut the dough in half. There are your two calzones! This makes two hefty calzones, so if you'd like them smaller, try cutting your dough in thirds or quarters.

Fill half of each pillow of deliciousness with a good portion of the cheese mixture and your toppings. We included mini pepperoni and the toppings I cooked up earlier.

 

Flip the other half over and pinch the edges closed. You want this to be pretty secure or you'll end up with an explosion. Which may be delectable, but will also be a mess. Bruch the top of 1 beaten egg, as well to get it nice and brown.



Cook these bad boys on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Heat up marinara sauce and dig in! I'm not kidding when I say these bad boys will blow your mind.

 

 

 

-L



I Love You a Bushel and a Peck...

Last night, I was able to FaceTime with one of my oldest friends and favorite people in the world. We talked and laughed for two hours and it just warmed my heart. I truly have missed her more than I can put into words. It's so nice to have those friends where you can just jump back in, like no time has passed. In our conversation, she mentioned my blog! (Say what?!) and that I inspired her to make a make-up brush jar with all the gliterry goodness I posted about here. She made one for herself with the most amazing copper sparkles and even made a turquoise one for her roommate! I was so excited and in turn, felt inspired to craft myself today!

Hubs and I have been married for almost four months, but we have lived in our home since October of last year. While we adore each other, it's so easy to get into an everyday routine that leaves little time for spontaneity, random acts of kindness, and moments to show each other how much we love them. I've seen some nifty frames with little, "I love you because..." phrases and thought this would be the perfect way to encourage some thoughtful conversation between D and me.

I started with some cardstock and a delish frame I found at Home Goods. The cardstock was a whopping 0.38 with the 40% off sale at Joann Fabrics right now and the picture frame was 5.99! I spent a total of $6.79 on this project, which I have to say, is a steal :)

I chose cardstock that will match my vision for the kitchen, so it can stand the test of time in there. It's a nice seafoam green/periwinkle and the frame is a distressed cream color. Love!!

I used Word (my personal favorite) to create the lettering for the frame. Many people don't know that I'm a self-proclaimed fontaholic. I can't get enough. I spend more time choosing what font to publish something in than I do on the actual creation of a document. It's a bit ridiculous. Anyways, the font I used for this particular project is called Pea Missy Cursive. One of my all time faves! I used a size 28 font for a 7x5 frame.

I then printed the lettering on the cardstock. Make sure you don't choose super thick cardstock as it won't go through your printer (found that out printing some things I made for a wedding recently. Oops!).

I don't have a ruler at home. Can you believe that? I'm a teacher with no ruler in her home. I can tell you I have about 80 in my classroom though! I digress. Because of my lack of ruler, I used Word to create a 7x5 rectangle and printed that, as well. I cut that out and lined it up with my cardstock and cut the cardstock the same size.

Then, simply put the cardstock in your snazzy frame and bam. Mind. Blown. I set mine on the little breakfast table we have in our kitchen and seriously? Complete perfection. It's sharing the spotlight with some beautiful flowers! :)

 

I hope this proves to be an exciting and fulfilling little project! :)

-L