Week 49, Recipe 5: Grilled Pepper & Sausage Calzones

NOTES:

• We do a lot of pizza/calzones in the summer. Mainly because you can use it to fill/top with whatever veggies you've got from the garden or were on sale/in season at the farmer's market or grocery store.
• For weeknight meals, make your pizza dough ahead of time (see link to my recipe below) and freeze extras. I pull out a dough and place in a greased bowl covered with plastic wrap the night before we want to eat so the dough has about 24 hours to thaw in the fridge. Let set at room temp about 30 minutes before rolling out. It works great!
• This recipe is modified from Cooking Light Magazine, July 2009.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pizza dough
• 1 sweet onion, cut into 1/2-inch thick round slices
• 1 red bell pepper, quartered
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, quartered
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage links (turkey or pork)
• Pizza sauce
• 1-2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat grill to medium high and oven to 500.
2. Coat veggies with oil and place them, along with sausage links, on a grill rack or grill pan coated with cooking spray. Grill veggies about 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Grill sausages until cooked through, turning occasionally.
3. Remove veggies and sausages and cool slightly. Cut onion slices in half and peppers into 1/2-inch wide strips. Cut sausages diagonally into thin slices.
4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface; divide dough into 4 equal portions. Roll each portion into an approximate 9x5-inch rectangle. Spread one half (leaving a 1/4-inch border) with pizza suace and top with peppers, sausage and cheese. Fold other half of dough over filling. Press edges together with a fork to seal.
5. Place calzones on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat calzones with cooking spray and bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before cutting in half. Serve with remaining pizza sauce for dipping.