Dough Woes

Last night I went to Chrissy's condo for dinner. The original plan was to get some take out, but she surprised me with calzone fixings to make at home! We all know how much I love calzones. When I got there she had sliced the tomatoes and mushrooms, washed the spinach, and was baking eggplant slices. She'd also left her pizza dough at room temperature for the day to allow it to rise. I'd never seen this before. To me it looked like dough-colored cotton candy in a bag, and I had no idea how to approach it. So I ruined it. Not on purpose of course, but as I kneaded the dough and added flour, the dough just got worse and worse and more holes formed. I didn't capture the horror on film, but it was a mess. Chrissy definitely regretted putting me on dough duty.

We split the dough into 2 pieces, put 1 down on the cookie sheet and topped it with tomato slices, mushrooms, eggplant slices, mozzarella cheese, and spinach. We then added the second piece to the top and pinched the pieces together to close it.

Baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, and voila...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And taste is in the stomach of the eater...or something like that ha. My point is that even though this wasn't the best looking calzone, it was damn delicious!

Yum! For dessert we had pumpkin whoopie pies that Chrissy picked up at her local bakery. They were sooo good.

Chrissy and Michelle even sent a whoopie pie home with me for Pat!

Next time its my turn to cook for Chrissy! Happy weekend!

Calzone, Cookies, and Costumes!

By the time Friday finally came around, I was exhausted from the week and starting to feel pretty sick. Two of my co-workers were sent home by Occupational Health on Thursday with viral infections, and my throat felt scratchy and raw, and my body felt run down...I didn't want to get what they had! I "sat down" when I got home from work on Friday to wait for Pat to get home, and within minutes was asleep. He woke me up and I was starving and wanted something warm and cheesy. So my Italian Tofu Veggie Calzone was born...

I used:

• 1/2 dough ball (Trader Joe's has the freshest, easiest to form pizza dough!)
• 1/2 summer squash
• 1/2 zucchini
• 1/2 package extra-firm organic tofu
• 4 mozzarella medallions
• marinara sauce (also Trader Joe's!)
• olive oil
• chicken broth (optional)
• spices

Let your dough sit out for at least 20 minutes before forming. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

First I cooked the zucchini and summer squash. I didn't want to use a lot of oil in this recipe, so instead I cooked it in a little bit of chicken broth. Oil or spray can be used as substitutes.

Then I sauteed my tofu (cut into strips and extra moisture patted out with paper towels) in a little bit of olive oil, garlic powder, basil and rosemary.

I stretched my dough ball out and spread some marinara sauce on one half and added the mozzarella medallions (if you're using fresh mozzarella like I did, make sure to pat out the water from the cheese before adding it to the calzone so you don't make the dough soggy).

Next add your cooked zucchini and summer squash:

Then add your sauteed tofu:

Then add another layer of sauce and close the calzone. Be sure to cut a few small slits in the dough to let steam escape.

Cook at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes. It should be nicely browned on top when finished.

What this calzone was lacking in appearance it certainly made up for in flavor! It was hot, melty, cheesy and delicious! Just the Italian I was craving, but with a healthier twist!

If you're not a tofu lover this would also be very good with chicken breasts instead.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling sicker, but also determined to get my 12 mile run in. I fueled up with steel cut oats (a heartier, higher fiber oatmeal), whole wheat toast with peanut butter and banana, and several large cups of green tea.

I drizzled Organic Blue Agave Sweetener on the oats.

For my run I drove over to a shopping plaza on the border of Nashua and Hollis. I planned my route so that I'd run into Hollis, by all the fields and farms I love, into the center of town, and back. Even though just a few miles from the highway, huge stores and chain restaurants, when in Hollis you feel like you're out in the country and far from it all.

Lull Farm!

There was some great signage on my run...really made me feel like I was out in the country:

Ahh, I love fall!

After my run I showered, ate, did a little relaxing (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) did a little shopping, and finally did a little baking. For the holiday I made Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate and White Chocolate Chips! I looked at several recipes for pumpkin cookies and used a combination of ingredients and made a few changes of my own.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together brown sugar and softened butter:

Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla:

Mix together:

The dry ingredients:

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Separate batter equally into two bowls. Add chocolate chips to one:

And add white chocolate chips to the other:

Mix chips into batters, then spoon batter onto a sprayed baking sheet.

I tried to roll these cookies into nicer balls, but it wasn't happening. Even after spraying my hands they were too sticky! So I left them as they were and baked for 10-12 minutes.

And the finished product:

These may not be the prettiest cookies you've ever seen, but they are quite tasty! The consistency was more cakey than cookie, and they tasted light enough to have several (which I did). I am normally not a fan of white chocolate (I just used it because I thought the different chips would contrast nicely) but white chocolate with pumpkin was quite good! Since these were cakey, I bet they would have been great to use for whoopie pies...pumpkin chocolate chip whoopie pies...now that sounds dangerous!

Pumpkin Cookies with Chocolate and White Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 large egg
• 3/4  cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Cream together brown sugar and butter with wooden spoon. Then mix in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla.
-In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

-Combine wet and dry ingredients until mixed well, then split the batter in half in two separate bowls.

-Stir in chocolate chips to one batter and white chocolate chips to the other.

-Drop by spoonful onto a baking sheet (spray first!) and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Pat was a marathoner:

I was an In-N-Out worker:

I was bummed that we missed all of the costumes on Saturday night, but Pat's cousin was nice enough to put hers on for me on Sunday morning. 

Jules was a blue Lego! So creative, and nicely made by her and her dad. She even had a bag for Halloween candy stapled inside...very resourceful!

We got home Sunday afternoon with just enough time to hit the gym (legs and shoulders weights) before the Patriots game.  Using the other half of the dough from my calzone on Friday, I made a tomato, goat cheese and mozzarella pizza for a half time snack:

And for dinner we had trout, spinach, and pepino melon:

Spinach: sauteed in olive oil and garlic

Trout: Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise, cover in seasoned panko crumbs, and baked at 350 for 12 minutes

(Lemon on side for fish)

What is a pepino melon you say?

This was grown in Ecuador, and said to taste like a mix between a banana and a pear. I couldn't picture something tasting like that, so I had to buy it. Indeed it smelled like a mix between banana and pear, but the taste was so mild that it didn't really taste like much. After eating it I did some research (probably should have been done before) and found that its good with lemon or lime juice and some salt and pepper. I wish I'd known that, considering I had a lemon on my plate! Next time...

Well there's my weekend wrap-up. Hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Calzone

That's right...spaghetti and meat sauce in a calzone! Talk about major carb-loading! I wish I had the excuse of a long run or a race tomorrow, but I don't. I was thinking about what food I had in my fridge today, and I remembered the half dough ball that was unused from last night, and the meat sauce and pasta we made for dinner on Sunday. At first I thought that pasta in a calzone was a crazy idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I craved it.

This evening after work I went for a 40 minute tempo run, as my half marathon training program dictated. I usually follow Hal Higdon's training programs for half marathons, and have followed his program for one of the marathons I've run.

Tempo Runs: This is a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace. A Tempo Run of 30 to 45 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, build to 15-20 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. Hold that peak only for a minute or two. (Taken from Hal Higdon's training guide).

I have a pretty hard time with tempo runs outside...its hard for me to judge my pace gradually increasing and then decreasing, even with my trusty little Garmin watch. These are much easier when you can control the speed on the treadmill, but I prefer to train outside. So today I did my best, and ran my butt off in the middle of the run!

Now onto the Spaghetti and Meat Sauce Calzone...

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make sure your dough sits at room temperature for at least 20 minutes (this makes it easier to stretch and mold).

Start with a bowl of spaghetti and meat sauce:

Heat in pan on stove or microwave until very hot. Mix in sauce and cut pasta:

Stretch out your dough:

Spray pizza pan or sprinkle some flour on pan so dough won't stick, then lay dough on pan:

Add pasta and sauce to dough, spreading evenly:

Close calzone, pressing outside together to seal. Paint lightly with oil, and add any toppings you desire (I used fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, and fresh grated Parmesan cheese). Cut a few slits in top of calzone so steam can escape while cooking.

Bake on 400 degrees for about 16 minutes. Take out when crust has browned nicely.

We sauteed some spinach in a little bit of olive oil and garlic (first saute garlic in the oil, then add spinach and cook for a couple minutes on medium).

And dinner is served! Such a fancy meal deserves special glasses for skim milk and chocolate milk :)

We found that the calzone is best with some extra marinara sauce on top (this is meatless sauce...Trader Joe's makes amazing marinara). Look at that bite!

To make this calzone EVEN better...I would recommend a layer of fresh mozzarella cheese inside the calzone, and perhaps some marinara inside too!

For dessert - cantaloupe with cinnamon sprinkled on top: