Ham, Spinach, and Sun-Dried Tomato Calzones

I made these for Doug & I. They were actually quite easy and very tasty.

From Cooking Light (I should give them credit since you're supposed to actually buy the magazine to get this...


Refrigerated pizza dough makes this easy to put together. Spoon warmed bottled marinara sauce over the calzones before serving, or serve sauce on the side.

1 cup part-skim ricotta
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
3 ounces lean ham, chopped
6 oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, drained and chopped
1 (13.8-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 450°.
Combine first 9 ingredients.

Divide dough evenly into 5 pieces; pat each dough piece into a 5-inch circle. Spoon about 1/2 cup spinach mixture onto half of each circle, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Fold dough over filling until edges almost meet. Bring bottom edge over top edge; crimp edges of dough with fingers to form a rim. Place calzones on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 14 minutes or until browned.

Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 1 calzone)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 356(32% from fat); FAT 12.5g(sat 5.6g,mono 4g,poly 1.5g); PROTEIN 25.2g; CHOLESTEROL 37mg; CALCIUM 497mg; SODIUM 967mg; FIBER 3.2g; IRON 3.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.3g

Now, a couple of notes:
1) Stretching pizza dough looks so easy on TV. Not so. Be patient, stretch it slowly.
2) I had extra filling. I baked it in a small oven safe dish. The pizza dough I used had 160 calories per serving (if you're keeping track of that sort of thing). So 1/2 cup of filling only has 196 calories. It will make a nice dip or I'll have it on garlic bread.
3) I had dried sun-dried tomato bits on hand. If this is all you can find just soak them in water to soften them. Then drain, chop & use.


Enjoy!