Cassie’s Ruminations

Chicken and Basil Calzones

This recipe is from the pages of Cooking Light. I’ve had it bookmarked for some time and was recently reminded of it. You can find the original recipe here. I made minor tweaks. Mine are far from pretty, but as these were delicious, I’m sure I’ll get more practice making them 🙂 I made a little bit of tomato basil salad, but next time I think I’ll make a full green salad. We were both hungry today after long days, so we each ate two instead of one, but with the low calorie count from the rest of the day, we weren’t too worried 😉

Chicken and Basil Calzones
Serves 4

non-stick cooking spray
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 pound ground chicken
1 small can tomato sauce (8 oz)
½ tsp dried oregano
⅛ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
10-15 fresh basil leaves, chopped (about ⅛ cup)
1 (13.8 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Spray a large skillet with non-stick spray. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the garlic. When it starts to sizzle and turn fragrant, add the chicken and cook until browned, breaking up into small chunks. Turn the heat to low and add the tomato sauce and seasonings. Stir to combine and remove from the heat.

Unroll the pizza dough and divide into four equal pieces. Stretch each piece slightly into a rectangle. Spoon a quarter of the filling onto one of the dough rectangles and fold the dough over the top. Pinch the edges together, folding inwards, to seal the calzone. Repeat with the remaining 3 dough pieces.

Place the calzones on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.