Mushroom Calzones

I may have said this with the Strawberry Gooey Butter cakes, and I am sure I will say it again, but let me say now...I play with recipes...cooking doesn't always mean you have to follow the recipe every time. The recipe is a guide. Sure, there are times when I am first trying something (ie cheesecake) that I have to follow the rules this one time...but luckily for recipes such as calzones...it's not a perfect science.

This recipe is a perfect example of that. The mushroom calzone recipe here was found in my Vegetarian times magazine. You are supposed to use the previous post to make the filling. Since the Mushrooms are a filling, you can play with the recipe. You want to like what you stuff the calzone with...right? and sometimes, if you are cooking on the fly, you may not always have stuff on hand or be able to pick it up in the store.

In this recipe...when I made it, I replaced the roasted red peppers with sundried tomatoes (I LOVE SUNDRIED TOMATOES), I didn't use the red pepper flakes (I was afraid the kids wouldn't even tried it if I did). Gruyere cheese is hard to find for me...so I didn't bother...between the goat cheese and the parmesan cheese, this recipe was good. Finally, I could not for the life of me find whole wheat pizza dough balls, let alone regular pizza dough balls. Lucky for me, I have a bread maker and a husband that likes to make pizza dough. He made the dough, so it turned out the be a family effort to make this. Kevin ended up loving this recipe and he felt that one was plenty enough for him.

So enjoy!

½ recipe Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, or 3 roasted Portobello caps

6 3oz balls whole-wheat pizza dough

1 ¼ cups jarred roasted red peppers, rinsed, drained, and chopped

¼ cup grated low-fat Gruyere cheese

1 tsp. Red pepper flakes, opt (very optional)

2 TBS. Grated Parmesan cheese (opt)

Place oven rack in lower one-third of oven, and preheat oven to 450. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray. Cut stuffed Portobello mushrooms into 1-inch pieces, and set aside. Roll dough balls into 7-inch rounds on floured work surface. Divide roasted red peppers among centers of dough rounds, and sprinkle each with 1 TBS. Gruyere cheese. Top with mushrooms. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes (opt), then 1 TBS. Gruyere cheese and tsp. Parmesan (opt). Brush edges of circles with water, and fold over filling. Press edges to seal, and roll slightly upward to form rope shape. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and bake 12 minutes or until golden-brown.