Calzones with Olive Garden Inspired Salad

 

This recipe is pretty involved, but if you're like me, you already make Ragu meatballs and homemade pizza dough all the time, so it has become easy for you to make friggin' delicious calzone's in a snap. Here's how:

The Ragu meatballs really should be their own recipe on my blog, but I don't have a recent picture of them, so I'm just going to put that recipe in this post for you. 

I did, however, already create the pizza dough recipe - yay! So please see that for the dough. That recipe makes 8 individual pizza's, or 8 individual calzone's. 

~ All 3 of the below recipes make 8 servings. ~

Ingredients for the Ragu:

• 2 pounds organic grassfed ground beef. 
• 45 ounces Ragu brand Traditional Old World Style pasta sauce. 
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes. 
• 1 Tbsp. Oregano. 
• 1 Tbsp. Basil. 
• 1 Tbsp. Garlic powder. 
• 1/2 Tbsp. Onion powder. 
• 1/2 Tbsp. Thyme. 
• 1.5 tsp black pepper. 
• 2 Tbsp. EVOO. 

Directions for the Ragu:

1. Make 2 inch meatballs out of the beef (about 12 meatballs per pound). 
2. Place them into a 9x13 inch casserole dish. 
3. In a separate bowl, add all of the remainder of the ingredients, and stir to combine. Pour this over the meatballs. 
4. Cover the casserole dish with cheap aluminum foil, and place it on a baking sheet to prevent spills. 
5. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 hours. 

Ingredients for the Calzone's:

• 1 recipe pizza dough, formed into 8 pizzas.  
• 24 ounces grated mozzarella cheese. 
• 1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers, minced (they come sliced, then you mince them). 
• 8 ounces Belgioioso brand Parmesan cheese, finely grated (grate it by hand, or in a food processor, then run the grated cheese through the blend attachment to create a fine grind. You might as well do this twice, because you'll need more grated parm for the separate Olive Garden Salad recipe). 
• 1/2 cup water. 
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder (will be used to brown the top of the calzone's like a pretzel). 
• 1 stick of butter, melted. 
• 3 Tbsp. garlic powder. 

Directions for the Calzone's:

1. Use a cutting board and a serrated knife to chop the meatballs. Transfer them back to the sauce. 
2. Add mozzarella to the sauce, along with the pepperoncini peppers, and 8 ounces of the grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. 
3. Lay up to 2 pizzas at a time onto a baking sheet lined with nonstick foil. 
4. Scoop 1 cup of filling onto one side of each pizza, leaving 1 inch of space around the edges. Pile high, if necessary. 
5. Roll empty side of pizza over pile, then roll edges of filling side up over the top layer of the dough. 
6. Poke holes into the top of the calzone with a fork (10-12 times, evenly spaced, away from edges). 
7. In a separate bowl, combine water and baking soda and whisk to form a slurry. 
8. Use a basting brush to paint this over the top of the calzone's. This will allow it to brown like a pretzel. 
9. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes. 
10. Remove from oven and use a basting brush to paint each calzone with melted butter. 
11. Sprinkle tops evenly with about 1 tsp garlic powder. 

Meal Planning Tip: If you don't need all 8 calzone's at once, you can either store the filling, and the pizza dough, and the baking soda slurry, separately in the fridge, until you're ready to bake it.* Or you can prepare all of the calzone's up to step 8, and freeze them by placing the baking sheet into the freezer for 2 hours, and transferring the frozen calzone's into a freezer bag. If you're freezing them, they need 35 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Don't forget to baste them with butter and garlic powder after they are baked. *These will store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, and in the freezer for 6 months.

Ingredients for the Olive Garden Inspired Salad:

• 2 red onions, sliced. 
• 1 can whole black olives. 
• 18 ounces cherub snacking tomatoes. 
• 2 heads of ice burg lettuce, sliced into ribbons, and each ribbon chopped into thirds. 
• 1 small head purple cabbage, prepared the same way as the lettuce. 
• 1 pound bag of carrots; peeled, trimmed and grated (either by hand, or with a food processor). 
• 1/2 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers. 
• 8 ounces Belgioioso Brand parmesan cheese, finely grated. 
• 1 cup Olive Garden brand Signature Italian Dressing. 

Directions for Olive Garden Inspired Salad:

1. This is going to end up serving 8, and I like to meal plan, so these directions are written in a way that you can store this in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 
2. If you're serving this immediately, cut all of your tomatoes in half, and you can combine all of the ingredients into a large bowl and toss it all together. 
3. If you're only making a little at a time, you can combine everything, except the tomatoes, parmesan, and dressing. Cut the tomatoes in half when you are going to use them. They don't keep well in the refrigerator after they've been cut. 

Meal Planning Tip: Also, the salad wouldn't keep in the refrigerator, if it were already mixed with the dressing. And the culture in the cheese might wilt the vegetables as well. That's all you have to keep separate; the dressing, the cheese, and the tomatoes (because you need to slice them in half when you're ready to use them).