Kids Dish

A guest post from my good friend Blythe

Because of the heat this summer I have been trying not to use the stove and am completely avoiding the oven. I use our toaster oven when I have to bake something. Last week I made broccoli calzone in the toaster oven and shared it with my husband and 15-month old son. My son really enjoys the crust – no surprise there, he loves all bread products.

Broccoli Calzone
Ingredients:

2 broccoli heads cut into large florets

1 12 oz. container of ricotta cheese

½ c. mozzarella cheese (fresh or shredded)

1 egg

10 fresh basil leaves (substitute: dried basil)

15 fresh oregano leaves (substitute: dried oregano)

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

Salt and pepper to taste (I always skip the salt)

1 ball pizza dough (I buy mine at the supermarket, but I know local pizza places sell it too)

Steam or boil the broccoli for about 7 minutes. I prefer steaming to keep the nutrients in the vegetable, but boiling will work too. You don’t want to over cook the broccoli because it will be cooked again in the calzone. Preheat the toaster oven to 400. Grease the toaster oven’s broiler pan. In a large bowl combine all ingredients except the dough. Set aside. Stretch the dough out with your fists rotating them quickly around the periphery, then transfer it to the broiler pan. Scoop the filling onto half of the dough piling it high. Fold the vacant half over the filling pinching the edges together to hold in the filling. Bake for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Serve with marinara sauce.

I love this dish because I can get Aidan to eat broccoli which is otherwise impossible.

toaster oven baking, broccoli calzone, recipe