Two days of cooking

[spiderwoman]

I've been on this crazy cooking craze this last while... especially lately. Yesterday I made a huge batch of calzones and tonight I made another huge batch of lasagna. I sampled some of each fresh, and froze the rest for future eatings. I think I'm turning into a squirrel or something. Anyhow... I took many photos while cooking both, and figured I would share! First... the calzones.

Ingredients for my calzones!
 

I made 8 calzones and put a little something different in each one of them, so none of them is the same. I don't know what is in which, so it's a fun surprise each time I eat one. I used three cheeses; mozarella, édem and marble cheddar. For meat there is pepperoni and ham, as well as some spinach, orange peppers and mushrooms. I also threw in some leftover pineapple bits when I spotted them in the fridge. The pasta sauce was for dipping, since I had no marinara or pizza sauce, and was too lazy to make my own. I went out and bought pizza sauce today though... tastes better to me that way. And those bags hold frozen pizza dough that I got at the grocery store, but had I had more time, I'd have just made my own.
 

Filling the calzones.
 

After rolling out a small ball of dough (bigger than a golf ball, smaller than a tennis ball) into a flat circle, I placed my desired toppings in the center. It's important not to put too much, or else you won't be able to close it, or the dough will rip. And well, then you may as well just make pizza. Or you just shouldn't be in the kitchen at all haha...
 

Four finished calzones, before being popped in the oven!
 

After filling them, I folded the dough over, and used a fork to press the dough together. You can see all the little lines around the outside edge, from the fork pressing down. I poked a few air holes on the surface, wiped them each down with a bit of olive oil, placed them on an oiled sheet, salted and peppered and put them in the oven. They were in the oven at 375F for 10 minutes, and then I broiled on high to get them a nice golden brown.

 

 

Here is the first batch, straight from the oven.


And all eight, cooling on the rack. I didn't leave them there so precariously, the light was just better XD


Here I am about to enjoy one of my calzones, with heated sauce on the side. Yes, it's my coffee table.


Omnomnomnom... mozarella, pineapple and ham inside this one!
 

And yep, that's basically all there is to it to calzones. Basically anything can go inside them that can go on a pizza. Just make certain if it's meat, that it's cooked ahead before going in because it might not cook properly. Things like bacon, for instance, should be either avoided, or cooked ahead of time.

Now! On to the lasagna! A few weeks ago, my friend Tina had me over at her place and showed me the basics of lasagna making. It was a lot easier than I thought it was, and decided to try my hand at it. Most people bake lasagna in large pans, but because I live alone and rarely have guests over, I opted for smaller pans that would hold 3 servings, instead of 12 for example.

My lasagna ingredients!
 

Lasagna is another one of those foods you can pretty much throw anything into. Here I again have three cheeses; trusty mozarella, the édem again, and some ricotta. There's also spinach, a green zuccini, some fresh basil, mushrooms, more of that pepperoni (if you got it, use it!) and some ground beef. I threw in the left over ingredients from the day before into one of the lasagna's too, so one of them has some ham and orange pepper haha... I used the pasta sauce from the day before, since I'd only used a bit when eating, and added a can of tomato paste to it.

I browned the meat, and drained the fat. Then I heated the sauce, and mixed in the meat.
 

I wound up having to add water to the sauce because it was waaaay too thick. Plus I ran out, and had to open another huge can of Hunts' to finish off all the lasagna. I also added the basil, chopped up into small pieces, as well as small chunks of zuccini. I added salt, pepper and garlic powder to the sauce, for taste. Add whatever spices you like when making it though, its your sauce after all!

Here you can see the finished sauce, with all added goodies. I was spooning it to cover the bottom of the pans.
 

I used 'instant' lasagna, meaning I didn't have to boil it ahead of time. It basically softened in the oven, absorving moisture from the sauce. I actually didn't know that was the kind of lasagna I'd purchased... It wasn't bad though. However, I still plan on trying it with the boiled kind of noodle next time.

Here are the four lasagnas. As you can see, none is the same! The white stuff is the ricotta.


Here they are finished and ready to hit the oven! However, I froze three of them, just like this, covered in tin foil.
 

When freezing lasagna, you can either cook it and then freeze it, or freeze it uncooked and cook it afterward. I chose to freeze them uncooked, so I could avoid burning them if I went to reheat them later or something. To cook the lasagna, I set the oven to 400F, covering the lasagna with tin foil. I left it in for 45 minutes, removed the foil, and let the cheese bubble and turn golden, for about another 15 minutes. Then you can take it out of the oven, and let it cool. While it cooled, I used the still-hot oven to make some garlic bread.
 

Mm-mm! Hot from the oven!


And enjoying my first piece of home made lasagna. Pretty good for a first try!
 

And that folks... is what I've been doing after work for two days. I am such a total weirdo. But cooking is so much fun! And now I have all this great food in my freezer! Screw eating lame ass frozen dinners from the grocery story. I'll take my cooking over that any day. It's cheaper, tastes better, and you can make it any way you want it!

Well, it's getting kinda late so I should probably be heading to bed soon... cheers!