To Have and To Hold One’s Own Calzone

Calzones have been a favorite of mine since college. I loved ordering up my very own little piece of yummy for a number of reasons. 1) It was cheaper than ordering a whole pie. 2) It was the perfect amount of food after getting home at 2 a.m. when the bars closed. and 3) It was in one cute little package that prevented broke roommates from hovering around and sneaking “just one slice”. Yes, the calzone was perfection to me.

Since going vegan I hadn’t really thought about my beloved calzones too often. Mainly because places didn’t offer a vegan calzone (yes, I know, hold the cheese and there you have it) but it seemed more worth our time perfecting pizza like this instead. I seemed to be just happy in my little calzone-less world…until we moved to Upstate New York about a month ago.

We live just west of Ithaca and people kept telling us about Pizza Aroma and their amazing vegan calzones. Outside of Eugene’s own Pizza Research Institute’s P3 pizza, (which Rahzh blogged about for his veganniversary), I haven’t been all the impressed with the vegan pizzas that are being made out there so really didn’t go running at the first whisper of calzone. I was indeed quite skeptical.

Pizza Aroma is definitely a no frills pizza-on-the-go sort of joint but don’t let that fool you. What was served up for us was a made to order, hot and fresh, honest to goodness, yummy yum yum, worth getting in the car and driving a half hour (40 minutes with a damn detour) for vegan calzone. Made with black olives, spinach, roasted red peppers, eggplant, fresh garlic (ooo the garlic!), roasted garlic sauce, olive oil and Follow Your Heart mozzarella cheese. This, my friends, is something to have and to hold, behold:

And the bonus was they were HUGE! We each ordered one and while Rahzh was so excited and rallied through eating a whole calzone, we could have easily shared one. Mine made for a really great second lunch later in the day. The only critique we had of this dish was that the cheese could have been melted just a little more but outside of that it is definitely worth the hype. NOM.

Scrumptious Pizza Made Simple

When both of us became vegan we got pretty used to eating pizza without cheese but after a trip to Seattle and indulging in one made at Juliano’s we decided it was worth another try to recreate the pie we know and love. We’ve tried different doughs (we know we can make it but we are going for really super easy here), different “cheeses” (after much debate Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet is by far our favorite!), and even different sauces. After a good amount of trial and error, we share another comfort food with you that has become the Sunday night favorite straight out of the Little Kitchen That Could.

Ingredients:

16 oz pizza dough (we like Eugene’s very own New Day best)
3/4 block Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative grated (Vegan Gourmet is the best we have tried, but if you prefer another brand of Vegan cheese use it.)
16 oz pizza sauce (we use 16 oz canned tomato sauce and add spices such as Garlic Powder, Oregano, Basil, Onion Powder, Red Pepper flakes, Black Pepper to taste)
1 Tbl Earth Balance (or oil of choice)
1 1/2 – 2 cups sliced mushrooms (we also like to use Tofurky Italian Sausage, LightLife Smart Bacon, or LightLife Smart Deli Pepperoni)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the dough on a standard cookie sheet (you can use whatever type of stone or pan that you prefer). Next, evenly cover the dough with grated Vegan Gourmet (Monterey Jack is our favorite). Next, spread the pizza sauce on top of the Vegan Gourmet. We have found this to be the KEY to a nice melted cheese. Bake for 15 minutes. While the pizza is cooking saute the mushrooms in Earth Balance. Take out the pizza and cover with the mushrooms and then put back into the oven for 5-7 minutes. What comes out is pure tasty!