Spinach Artichoke Calzones

Every Friday night is pizza night at our house.  Sometimes I make it from scratch, sometimes I order it...either way I like not having to think about what to make for dinner.  Although my family loves this tradition, every once in a while I get the itch to try something a little different. When I found the recipe for these calzones, I decided they were pizza-like enough to count for our tradition, but with a fun new twist that would add a little pizazz to our Friday night fare.  

I normally make the crust for this type of dish from scratch, but I've never had much success getting the dough the right thickness for calzones before, so I stuck with the tubes of pizza dough from the refrigerated section to save my sanity.  The kids grumbled a little at first about it not being their normal pizza, but seemed to have no problem eating them all anyway.  

The ingredients:

2 cups low-moisture part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 package (10-oz) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

1 can (15-oz) quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained and coarsely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 -3 tubes prepared , refrigerated pizza dough (10-oz. each) **the recipe says "2", but I had enough filling to use 3 whole tubes**

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups tomato, marinara or pizza sauce, warmed, for dipping

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine ricotta, nutmeg, black pepper, parmesan cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, and garlic in a bowl to make the filling. 

Roll out both tubes of pizza dough out on 2 separate nonstick cookie sheets (I ended up with enough filling for 3 tubes of dough) and cut each dough into fourths.  

Spread each fourth with mozzarella cheese and mound filling over half of each rectangle, then fold dough over top of filling; pinch edges to firmly seal.  If the dough tears, remove a little filling and repair. 

Repeat process with each of the remaining calzones, spacing them evenly on a baking sheet.  Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm with tomato or pizza sauce for dunking.  Add a tossed salad and you've got a complete meal!  The recipe claims it only makes 4 servings, but I ended up with 12 small calzones, which was probably more like 6 servings.  

Enjoy!