Add to favorites

Plan Z Phase: This is a Z3.5 (ZReboot 3.5) recipe.

This is an easy way to make a quick, cheesy, Italian calzone. Rookie cooks can handle this one. The pie crust bought from the store is there for convenience. A better bet would be your favorite homemade crust or one made with almond flour but every once in a while I made an exception for the ease.

Once your weight has solidly stabilized you can handle something like this; just not every day.

If you serve yourself ¼ of the finished product you’re talking about 20 grams of carbs. That’s not bad if you are low carb the rest of the day. And if you serve this with a simple side salad it’s much like having a piece of quiche. A nice meal.

Servings: Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 1 Tbl of olive oil
• 1/3 lb of loose Italian sausage or 1 sausage cut open with the meat scraped out
• 1/3 cup of diced red pepper (you can do yellow, green or orange, your preference)
• ¼ cup of minced shallot or onion
• 1/3 tsp of garlic powder
• ¼ tsp of Italian seasoning
• ½ cup of spaghetti or pasta sauce. I find one with no sugar. I even found one that is a little jar made with cherry tomatoes so there’s not so much left over. You could use crushed canned tomatoes, too.
• ¼ cup of diced pepperoni
• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg, whipped thoroughly with a fork
• 1 – 2 Tbl of grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Let your pie crust set on the counter to warm up and loosen up. This makes it easier to roll out.

While this is going on, you’ll make your filling.

In a saute pan, add your olive oil and begin heating on medium. Put in your diced Italian sausage. Continue to break it up as it cooks. Halfway through cooking, add the peppers and the onion. Cook until meat is no longer pink and veggies are loosened. Add the seasonings, the sauce and the pepperoni bits. Cook until heated. Then add the mozzarella. Stir.

Roll out your pie crust on a sprayed cookie sheet. Pile the filling on one side with the majority of it close to the center.

Take your fingers and dip them in water and dab that water along the edges of the pie crust. Gently fold the pie crust over and line it up so it will stick in a half moon shape. Take a fork and seal the edges of the pie crust.

Brush the whipped egg across the top of the crust. If you don’t have a pastry brush you can do this with a spoon. Just don’t use much. You’ll have leftovers for sure. It only takes a little.

Dust with the grated Parmesan. Put in your oven and bake at 400 degrees (or 375 convection) for 20 minutes or until browned to your liking.

Remove to a cutting board. Slice into 2, 3 or 4 pieces; shaped like pizza triangles or pie slices.

At some Italian chain restaurants, they would serve you the whole thing. That’s serious overkill 🙂

Enjoy!

Cheers,