Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Cheeseburger calzones

this recipe came to be today as the result of a combination of a couple other things i made in the past, and some internet research from the doughboy's website....

here's how it starts...i used TWO tubes of crescent rolls...to make 8 cheeseburger calzones...
i separated the crescents into quarters, and sealed the seam in between two triangles to make a total of 8 rectangles, which i pressed out to be a bit thinner and larger.



while i was doing that, i was also browning 1.5lbs of ground beef, that i added some tastefully simple 'onion onion' seasoning blend to...



to create good cheeseburger flavor, i added mustard and ketchup right to the browned ground beef, after it was fully cooked (grease drained as well) and no longer pink...



i laid out the crescent rectangles on my baking stone, such that half of the rectangle was hanging off, ready to be folded over...and then i piled on the meat mixture.  (given that i was making 8 calzones, and they didn't fit, i did have to use two baking stones...)

 

my next step was some dill relish...my kidlets LOVE dill pickles and dill relish...the best part of a burger from the golden arches is biting into that pickle...except that...well, you usually don't just 'bite' into the pickle..the whole thing comes out at once, and, since the usual 'kid-sized' burgers only come with ONE magical disk of dillness, you get ONE bite that includes your favorite element.  SO - i could have just sliced up some pickles and put one little disk on each pile of cheeseburger mix....instead, i opted to pile on some dill relish, to help spread the love.  also - i opted not to mix this in like the ketchup and mustard, so that i could better control the dill flavor and distribution.


next up...the cheese part of the cheeseburger calzone...i used a 1/2 of a slice of good 'ol american cheese...


then i folded over the other half of the calzone dough and pressed each one closed, as best i could, with a fork...prevents leakage, of course...in theory....


next, i popped them in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, until they were golden brown and HOT


yum!  ready to eat!

let's face it....it's a very 'kid' meal...so i accompanied it with some homemade mac & cheese from a box and corn...


and can i just say...that my son, who does not really like anything new, turns his nose up at everything but mac & cheese...took one bite of this and said it was "awesome"...do you hear that, folks?!  he said it tastes just like the double cheeseburgers he gets from mcdonalds....while it's not the healthiest meal i make, i will take that as a huge compliment, and a great replacement for a meal from the arches!