19 | January | 2012 | Live. Learn. Love. Eat.

Do I ever have a fun recipe for you today!

After last nights post, confessing my baking addiction on the blog and then signing off to eat some more brownie bite cookies, I wanted to try and eat a bit more healthy today. I woke up early and made a big quinoa salad, with spinach, carrots, tomatoes and cucumber.

It was not my cup of tea. And, it also did not appeal at all to the kids.

Sometimes I see other vegan blogs where people seem all healthy and then I get this idea that I would like to eat more dishes like quinoa salads and things (vegetables), but the reality is that I just love to bake and I also love to healthify (<– my own word) and veganize the foods that real people and real kids actually want to eat. I like to eat and I like to enjoy the food that I eat, so I now have a whole bowlful of quinoa salad in the fridge and a belly full of whole wheat vegan calzones!

This is something that I have wanted to make for a while. It is pretty much pizza in yet another delicious form because we all love pizza around here (as you could probably tell by now). I like to make things that my kids will actually eat and that your kids would actually eat too, so there will be no quinoa salad recipe today.

Whole Wheat Pepperoni and Green Pepper Pizza Calzones

Makes 5 Calzones

Ingredients

1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (below)
3/4 cup your favorite pizza sauce (I used Kraft)
1 cup grated vegan mozzarella cheese (I use Earth Island)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 green bell pepper, diced
20 slices vegan pepperoni, diced

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough –

1 tablespoon dry active yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 /2 teaspoon sea salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

1. Place the yeast in a large mixing bowl.

2. Combine the syrup and warm water in a 4 cup liquid measuring cup and pour the syrup/water over the yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the mixture becomes bubbly.

3. Whisk in the sunflower oil and sea salt.

4. Add the flour 1 cup at a time. Sprinkle the last 1/2 cup of flour in with your hands and knead the dough a little to incorporate the flour and form a large ball of dough.

5. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, heat the sunflower oil in a medium skillet on medium heat and saute the diced green pepper 7-10 minutes, until soft.

Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface. Separate the dough into 5 equal balls. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Flatten down each ball of dough with your hands into a 7 inch circle.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons of pizza sauce onto the dough.

Sprinkle on some cheese, peppers and pepperoni.

Fold the dough circle in half, pinching the edges of the dough together where they meet like a giant pierogi.

Use a fork to press the edges together even better.

Place each finished calzone on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and into the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden.

These were so scrum-diddily-umptious!

They turned out pretty big too so one is very filling, although they are so yummy that you will want more. I doubled the recipe, so we have a lot! No one around here seems to mind that very much though.