Homemade Calzones - Wonderful!

Hello - sorry to be gone for so long but I was sort of on a vacation at home while my grandchildren's educator parents were on their spring break.  Gavin was with us for one over nighter and Elizabeth was here one evening while her parents went to a movie.  Other than that,  I was home alone and found so many things to keep me busy as well as plenty of time for just relaxing.

One thing I did,  actually did it twice as they turned out so very good,  was to make homemade from scratch calzones.  They are delicious warm from the oven.  They are also delicious when they have been frozen,  then reheated in a microwave for 90 seconds.

Mine were filled with browned up hot Italian sausage,  mozzarella cheese, bell peppers and onions and just a little homemade tomato sauce. 

the dough is really easy to roll out and has no weird ingredients.  

baked ones.


I divided the dough into 10 pieces but I think making 12 would be big enough for a  main course helping.
I also plan on making much smaller ones to have for my grandchildren.

I like the Italian ones but also plan to do some taco ones, breakfast ones and maybe some cheese and veggies ones with no meat.

after they cool,  I bag them in freezer bags and freeze.  Jeff has taken them in his lunch box several times and I like something easy for my lunch too.

this dough recipe is from the Fleishmans yeast site.

Dough
3 to 3-1 / 2 cups all-purpose flour  

(both of my batches have used 3 1/4 cups flour for the right consistency)
1 / 2 cup cornmeal
2 t yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1-1 / 4 cups water
1 / 4 cup olive oil

Directions

Combine 1 cup flour, cornmeal, undissolved yeast and salt in a large bowl. Heat water and olive oil until very warm (120^o to 130^oF). Gradually add to flour mixture. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.    I do the dough in the bread machine on the dough cycle  

Divide dough into 10 equal pieces; roll each piece to 6-inch circle. Place 1/3 cup filling of your choice on one half of each circle. Fold dough over filling; pinch seam or press with tines of fork to seal.  I think they seal better with just a little water rubbed on to one side too

Place on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 400^oF for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. Serve warm.

Homemade Pigs in Blankets

I know Dawn from a homemaking list on YahooGroups and also read her blog.  She posted about making some good homemade calzones recently

The dough recipe is found HERE at Bread World.

The dough is basic yeast dough that also has some cornmeal and a little more olive oil than a normal crust recipe.  The oil makes it really easy to roll out and the cornmeal gives it just a little crunch.
I wanted an easy meal last week on a night when our grandson was here for supper.  I remembered 3 packs of Hebrew Kosher hot dogs in the freezer but did not think going to the store for buns or crescent rolls was something I wanted to do.  (with high gas prices and a toddler or 2 with me on most days,  I just don't drive to the store unless I have to,  I like doing things at home with things I already have and this recipe fits that plan perfectly)
So I just mixed up a batch of this calzone dough in the bread machine.  Half of it very amply wrapped up those 7 hot dogs.  I rolled out the other half  for a parbaked pizza crust.

We liked the pigs in blankets very much and the pizza crust was good too.  I plan to make some calzones for the freezer soon.

Rice Taco Salad

This is a recipe I cooked often when all our children were at home.  It is easy, thrifty and everyone likes it.
The recipe is from either Grit or Cappers -my grandmother was an avid reader and she saved these weekly newspapers for us.

It's been a while since this I made this recipe.   Then last week,  I saw a cup of leftover rice in the fridge so I made a half-recipe of Rice Taco Salad for just the 2 of us.   It does not use a lot of spice - just salt, pepper, a little cumin and garlic but it really is delicious.

I put my helping on top of some tortilla chips. This recipe is great for using up leftover rice.   We did not usually add the avocado the recipe calls for,  other than that,  I make the recipe just as it is written..

Everyone liked eating this recipe but I think Nina is who asked for it most often.

Fixing, recycling and making

We have more wear and tear to our towels than we used too.  I am assuming it is because things are just not manufactured with very high standards anymore.
This hand towel had a hole and some fraying at the bottom along that plain part on a towel.
To save the rest of the towel,  I trimmed off the entire bottom, then enclosed that cut edge with some wide black bias tape.
I think it looks pretty good - it will hang in the hall bathroom that has yellow walls and mostly black and white accessories.


I also had to big bath sheets that had very frayed edges but the inside part of the towels were in good shape.
I decided to recycle them into wash cloths.

I cut away the bad parts of the towels, then cut 12 inch squares - you can tell they are not all exact but close to 12 inches. 

I cut 12 inch squares from a vintage yard sale sheet and sewed them to each wash cloth,  then turned them right side out and sewed around the whole thing, close to the edge to seal up the turn spot and to keep them from getting too wonky as they go through the wash.

Those towels were so big,  I ended up with 16 wash cloths.  

We have been using them for about a month and like them just fine.  

These go in the master bathroom that is mostly white with a little blue in the curtains.  

The bibs I made earlier worked so nicely on Gavin and Elizabeth.  They really enjoy picking out the animal they want to wear.
Elizabeth's momma, Nina,  requested some big girl bibs for Elizabeth to have at home so I sewed up 6 bibs that next evening.  3 of them are a "Pooh" print and 3 of them are dessert themed fabric.  I used fabric I already had - the thriftiest way to do things right now - besides not spending money on the fabric,  I also did not use any gas for a trip to the store.

Bibs really are quick and easy to sew up,  if you need some for your toddlers or maybe a baby gift,  give them a try!

Ironing - frugal ways

some of my son's dress shirts before ironing

I iron most every week.  

My son would rather not iron, but since his job requires him to wear dress shirts every day 

and his big law school debt,  he is currently ironing his own dress shirts.

He brought over 11 dress shirts to iron after Sunday lunch.  

He has taken them to the cleaners several times but it expensive.  I don't like the idea of my clothes being put in big tub of chemicals with many other people's clothes - ick!  So I never use the dry cleaners, even if it was  really cheap.  

Liquid starch - mix with water in a spray bottle
1 part starch to 2 parts water

A while back he tried adding the liquid starch to the rinse water in the washing machine.  He was not crazy about those results ( I am not sure why,  just that he did not want to do it that way again)

Since I was out of aerosol spray starch,  I mixed up some Sta-Flo in a washed out spray bottle.  

ironing in progress

some of his finished shirts -
and, Yes, he does only wear white or light blue dress shirts 

I thought his ironed shirts looked really nice.  So I tried the mixed up starch on my blouses too.  

My ironed blouses

I like this new to us way to iron.  I think it is cheaper than aerosol  cans but I have not done the math because I don't know many uses you get from aerosol compared to the liquid spray.  I do know that not using the aerosol cans is better for the environment.  

I've also read that mixing up, maybe it involved cooking?, corn starch with water can also be put in a spray bottle to use instead of liquid or aerosol spray starch.  Anyone tried this?  

For now,  I think I will keep using the StaFlo starch mixed with water for my ironing.  

any other ironing tips for us?