Creamy Chicken Calzones

When you're broke and hungry, bread seems to fill a person up quite well.When you have bread, cream, and chicken, creamy chicken calzones fill up a person even better.

I wanted pizza, I tell you! Alas, no cheese or pepperoni in the house. Although I did have soup, I didn't want to eat it. I wanted something bread-y and delicious.

Creamy Chicken Calzones

6 chicken tenderloins

2 cups cream

a few tablespoons of flour

all the spices your heart desires (garlic, onion, chives, parsley, pepper)

Any veggies you want (onion, mushroom, spinach, artichokes, peppers)

pizza dough (recipe to follow)

Mix the flour into the cream. Cook cream in a large saucepan with all the spices. Cook on medium heat (you don't want to burn the cream!) until it is very thick. This will take quite a while...10-20 minutes. If you are brave, turn up the heat but stir often! If it gets TOO thick, thin it with a bit of milk.

Boil the chicken tenderloins until they are white all the way through (perhaps about 10 minutes. Cut one open to check it.) Cut up chicken into small chunks and add to the cream and continue to cook. Once very thick, remove from heat.

Roll out pizza dough to a 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness. Place a spoonful of creamy chicken mixture onto the pizza dough. Cut a square around the creamy chicken mixture big enough so you can fold over the dough to the other side and make a pocket. Pinch the edges of the dough together tightly and roll up to resemble a pizza crust if you wish.

Then, I sprinkled more spices over the top of the dough. For a little extra flavor, I added a small spoonful of pizza sauce on the top, just to give it zip.

Bake for about 15-25 minutes, depending on how crusty you like your dough.

Cut and enjoy!

Be sure to taste test the cream sauce. The one thing I regretted is not being able to add cheese (didn't have any at the time) and that it wasn't heavy enough on spices. Go crazy! Add onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach! Give it more zip!

Quick Pizza Dough:

3/4 c warm water (105-115F)

4tsp sugar

1tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic

1 tsp active dry yeast (1 pkt)

2 - 2 1/4 c flour

Sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water. Let bubble up (takes about 5 minutes)

Once bubbly, add yeast to the flour, salt, and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Use a mixer initially to mix it together. Once it starts to get thick, take out and knead by hand (fold it over itself many times, pushing out the air and making it smooth and elastic).

It should not be overly sticky or dry. If it is really sticky, add a tad more flour. If it is really dry, add a bit more water. Be warned---going overboard with adding ingredients will alter the texture/end result! You should be fine.

Once dough is smooth and soft, place in a bowl that has been smothered with the olive oil (easier to get out once it's risen). Cover and place in a warm draft free place until doubled in volume.

Once doubled, it is ready to use. Roll out to desired depth.

(for pizza-- add toppings and sauce, bake about 10-20 minutes depending on how you like your crust. more time for crusty crust, less time for soft crust.)

ENJOY!

I'm not one to like intricate recipes. I look for simple ingredients with many spices. Hope you enjoy.

On another note, I made a chocolate cake today and homemade fondant. I'm excited to see how it all comes together into a chocolate layer cake. *Mario Brothers Themed Decoration?!*

Have a grand day!