Today I have teamed up with Olivari Mediterranean Olive Oil to celebrate “the little things” in life. It is truly the little things that really make my life so wonderful, mainly my wonderful family.
I am beyond blessed to have a supportive, loving husband Ashton and beautiful, smiley baby girl, Ava. This recipe for pizza dough and calzones is something I have made numerous times for friends and my family. The calzone toppings are different each time but it is always packed with flavor and a hit with everyone! My favorite thing…cooking in the kitchen with my husband while my daughter watches and plays in her highchair! :SIGH: It really is the little things in life!
Don’t get stressed and rush through life. Enjoy and appreciate the little things!
My loves: Ava and Ashton.
Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups flour (all white or mix white and wheat flour)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast
- 3 tablespoons Olivari Olive Oil
- 1 cup very warm water
Directions:
- Combine yeast, sugar, 1 cup flour, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add
the warm water and oil and mix. - Stir in remaining flour slowly until
dough is soft but not sticky. - Knead until smooth.
- Let the dough rest for
at least 30 minutes before making the calzone.
SCROLL DOWN for the Calzone recipe!
Recipe adapted from http://www.squidoo.com/homemade-calzone
Olivari Extra Virgin Olive Oil give this dough a mild, delicious smell and taste.
There’s nothing better than homemade!
Start with the basics: yeast, sugar, salt, and some flour.
Add warm water and Olivari Olive Oil to your dough. A awesome feature to their bottles?
A pop up spout! No more gushes and spills when pouring olive oil!
Now continue to add flour to the dough until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides.
It should be soft and shouldn’t be sticky. Knead the dough with your hands and then let rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile time to prepare the filling…..
Cheesy Chicken Calzone Recipe
I also included pictures below of my Spicy Three Meat Calzone (with onions and peppers sauteed with cayenne infused olive oil and ground beef, ham, and spicy pepperoni along with shredded pepper jack cheese). Or use whatever toppings you want- as long as you have olive oil, pizza sauce, and cheese you can’t go wrong!
Ingredients:
Makes one calzone, 2-4 servings.
- 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tablespoons Olivari Olive Oil
- 2 oz black olives, sliced
- 1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 5-8 oz pizza sauce (additional for dipping)
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- garlic powder/salt/pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat a skillet over medium with 1 tbsp Olivari olive oil and add sliced onions.
- Heat until softened and darkened then add another tablespoon of Olivari olive oil along with garlic and mushrooms.
- Cook for a few minutes until fragrant and caramelized. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.
- In another skillet heat one tablespoon Olivari Olive Oil over medium.
- Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides and place in heated pan.
- Flip and cook until juices run clear and cooked through. If if is a thick piece try slicing before cooking or add some water or broth to the pan after searing and cover and steam for a few minutes.
- Remove from heat and chop or shred chicken.
- Now roll out your dough- flour your surface and rolling pin or roll your dough out on a piece of parchment paper (be sure to flour the paper too!).
- Roll the dough the length of a baking sheet with the sides long enough to hang over the sides, shaped like a rectangle.
- Move the dough to a greased baking sheet.
- Spread the center of the dough with pizza sauce then top with onion mixture, black olives, and chicken.
- Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Now cut the dough in strips on both sides and fold in the strips in a crisscross lattice pattern, stretching and overlapping.
- Brush top of calzone with remaining 1 tbsp of Olivari olive oil and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Bake for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and dough is golden. (This step is optional, you can skip the cheese as I did in the above picture)
- Serve with additional pizza sauce on side if desired.
- Delicious served with my Olive Garden Salad!
Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp Olivari olive oil.
My favorite ingredients in just about everything!
Sweet yellow onion, garlic, and meaty baby bella mushrooms.
Once the onions have cooked down, add more Olivari olive oil and mushrooms and garlic.
Season chicken well then sear off in a warm skillet with (yep, you got it…) 1 tbsp Olivari olive oil.
Now the toppings are cooked time to roll out the dough…
Always flour your counter before rolling dough. Also flour your rolling pin and hands. This will keep it from sticking and (I promise) make it less messy! Also you can try rolling the dough on a piece of parchment paper so you can easily lift and move to the baking sheet once rolled.
Look at this beautiful dough! I made enough in this picture for
2 calzones so yours should be smaller.
You can roll out the dough on a floured surface or on parchment paper.
Once rolled move to a greased baking sheet.
Add your toppings. Top pic is my Cheesy Chicken, bottom pic is my Spicy 3 Meat.
Cover in delicious shredded cheese.
Using kitchen shears or a pizza cutter cut strips on both sides.
Crisscross the strips all the way across and fold in the ends.
Don’t be intimidated by the lattice crisscrossing of the dough. It is easy and as you can see above it doesn’t have to be perfect. Once it’s baked it will be golden and impressive and of course covered in cheese!
Brush with remaining tbsp of Olivari Olive Oil (or you can use butter or an egg wash).
Bake for 20 minutes then remove and add Italian seasoning and shredded Parmesan.
Perfectly golden and filled with cheesy goodness!
Hope you enjoy these calzones and remember It’s the little things!
Olivari Olive Oil is celebrating “One Year of Little”. Visit their Facebook page to learn why the little things are everything.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Olivari . The opinions and text are all mine.
Thanks for the information, we will add this story to our blog, as we have a audience in this sector that loves reading like this.
I can't wait to try this recipe! This is one of our faves! Thanks for getting your hands on this recipe and sharing!
Marlene
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