Healthy Spinach Calzones

A super yummy & easy dinner!

(adapted from this blog)

Makes 2 large calzones
Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb pizza dough (You can buy it frozen or make it yourself - I used a mix)
• 1 10 oz frozen package of spinach (be sure to defrost before starting)
  
• 1/2 cup fat free Ricotta cheese
  
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 1 t basil
  
• 1/8 t salt
• 4 oz mozzarella cheese
• Sauce for dipping (marinara or garlic butter are both great)

Preheat the oven to 425.

Separate the dough into two balls. Stretch and roll out the dough with a rolling pin.

Drain any excess water from the defrosted spinach and put in a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, salt and mozzarella cheese.

Pour half the mixture on each piece of rolled-out dough. Fold over the edges of the dough and seal the edges. Then pierce the top with a knife a few times.

Put calzones on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for about 20 minutes until crust is firm.

Serve with dipping sauce such as marinara or garlic butter.

For a quick garlic butter sauce, melt some butter in a pan under low heat. Mix in minced garlic or garlic powder. If you want a golden, tasty crust on the calzones, brush on dough when they have 10 minutes left to bake. Or use garlic butter as a dipping sauce for serving.

Yum! I'm definitely making these again soon!

Chocolately Drizzle Coconut Cookies

Who doesn't love yummy cookies? These are chewy, sugary, chocolately goodness! I had some extra coconut lying around from another recipe so this was a perfect way to use it up and make a sweet snack. (Adapted from here)

All amount have been doubled for a larger recipe. If you only want a few cookies, I would suggest doing half of this recipe.

Ingredients:
• 2.5 cups flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• vegetable oil
• 1/2 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

Time to break out the giant baking bowl! (You know, the one you keep in the back corner of the cabinet that you only need a couple times a year for some giant recipe.) Combine butter, brown sugar, sugar and eggs. Add vanilla and mix until light and fluffy.

Gradually pour in the dried ingredient mixture from the first bowl.
Add coconut and mix well.

Using a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet.
Bake until light brown and toasted for about 10 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, pour vegetable oil and chocolate chips in the microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave for 40 seconds and stir to melt the chips.
Keep microwaving in 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted.

Using a spoon, lightly drizzle chocolate on cookies once they're cool.
The chocolate will take a few hours to harden.

Enjoy and indulge! These are great dipped in milk!

BSI - Blogger Secret Ingredient

Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes

It looks like it's going to be a week full of recipe posts because I have a ton of them to share while I was on a cooking kick recently. But I'm working on a lot of new crafts for my craft room and will soon have those to share as well.

Anyway, last weekend I woke up on Sunday morning and had a vision that came to me in a dream: ricotta pancakes! We had some leftover ricotta from another recipe so this was the perfect excuse to use it up and make a yummy surprise Sunday breakfast.

Makes 8 pancakes.

Ingredients:
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1 1/2 T sugar
• 2 T lemon zest
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 T honey
• 1/2 t vanilla
• non-stick cooking spray
• powdered sugar (optional)
• syrup (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon zest, and salt.

Mix ricotta, milk, egg, honey, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat until stiff. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until combined.

Heat a pan over medium-high heat, and spray the surface with non-stick cooking spray. Use a ladle or measuring cup to pour batter onto the griddle. Cook pancakes for about 3 or 4 minutes and then flip them. Cook until both sides of the pancake are golden brown.

Top with powdered sugar and syrup.

Mmmm! Perfect breakfast!


In other foodie news, I won the BSI Blogger Secret Ingredient Challenge! See the turkey & spinach meatloaf that won the award! If you're into ground turkey, check out some of the other yummy recipes that were submitted. I'll definitely be trying some of these!

Linking up to:
What's on the Menu Wednesday

Super Easy Spinach & Cheese Bread

This bread turned into quite the drama the other night. I noticed we had some extra spinach in the fridge, so I figured I would try it really quickly on a Sunday night. I was super tired, stressed, and just wanted a yummy snack. So I started measuring out my ingredients and when I went to grab the cheese, all I found was an empty container IN THE FRIDGE! Crap, I'm in my pajamas, it's pouring cats & dogs, and I didn't wanna go outside. I called my parents to see if they had any, but they were out too. So I had to resort to running out in the rain just for cheese. I kept thinking how pissed I was going to be if this bread turned out bad. Luckily for me, it was super yummy and I'm glad I finally got my cheese!

So here's my super dramatic bread recipe...and I hope yours is drama-free!

Ingredients:
• 1 c water
• 1 t onion powder
• 1 t butter
• 1/2 c crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese
• 1 t salt
• 1 package instant yeast
• 3 cups flour
• 1 t sugar
• 1 c chopped fresh spinach

Combine all the ingredients in the breadmaker.

Use the fastbake or quick bread setting to get your yummy bread more quickly. Honestly, who wants to wait hours for bread? It smells so good as it bakes and I get very impatient.

I couldn't resist! I had to grab a piece as soon as it came out of the machine. Mmmm...all nice and warm!

Linking up to:

Market Yourself Monday on Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Tasty Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table