I love carbs more than any human ought to, so it should come as no surprise that I’m obsessed with pizzas and calzones.

I recently had a very tasty calzone at Vinny’s Pizza near my office, and decided that making them at home would be pretty satisfying. This time, I was right! I filled mine with chicken, onions, ricotta, and mushrooms, which is a non-traditional style compared to their chicken alfredo. However, I didn’t have time to make a proper alfredo, so I added more mushrooms and garlic for extra flavor. Ta-daa!

CHICKEN CALZONE

Ingredients:
1 ball of pizza dough (I cheat and use Whole Foods from their pizza counter)
1 1/2 tbsp. grapeseed oil
1/2 onion, medium chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 lb. chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tsp. each: oregano, basil
1/2 tsp. each: fresh ground pepper, rosemary
1/2 cup cooked spinach
Ricotta and parmesan to taste (I use a lot, but others prefer less or none)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 500F. As hot as it will go! Prep pizza stone in pre-heating oven, or lightly grease a pizza pan then sprinkle with cornmeal.
2. Cook in a large nonstick frying pan – oil, chicken, mushrooms, onion, garlic, herbs. When cooked through, add cooked spinach (I use frozen, so it’s easy).
2. Divide dough into two pieces. For each piece, stretch out dough in whatever manner works for you. I like to pull it gently into a rough circle, then lift it up by one edge, and moving the dough through my fingers by the edge so gravity does the real pulling.
3. Lay out on a nonstick surface (floured counter, silicon mat, etc.) and shape into an oblong. Put half the filling on the bottom half of each piece of dough. Fold into a half moon shape, seal by pressing firmly down and then rolling the seam up toward the filling and pressing gently.
4. Bake at 500F for 10-20 minutes, depending on how hot your oven actually is.