Sausage, Egg, & Spinach Breakfast Calzones

Recipe: $4.85 | Per Calzone: $0.20 | Yield: 24 Calzones

You should be jealous that you don’t have these waiting for you in your freezer. Or just hop on down to the recipe and make it happen.

These babies are just bomb diggity. Why don’t we always always have mini calzones in the freezer? One day last weekend I woke up late, didn’t have time for breakfast, and arrived at work at 8:30am to discover that my lunch break was pushed back to 3:00pm. I don’t know about you, but that’s a really long time for me to wait for breakfast. Luckily I’d grabbed two of these mini calzones on my way out the door, and shoved them in my face before my first lesson. Saved!

You can get super creative with your fillings. We went with “breakfast sausage,” which is really just ground beef or pork seasoned with sausage-like seasonings, with onion, frozen spinach, cheese, and scrambled eggs. I also used a bit of this amazing Habanero Sauce I discovered at a nearby foreigner’s store (Kaldi). This may or may not be “real food approved,” but the ingredients list is in Japanese, so I chose to accept the delicious spiciness and not fret.

Future possibilities:

• classic: ham, egg, & cheese
• sun-dried tomatoes, feta, basil or pesto, & eggs <—want want want! I have pesto in my freezer!
• spinach, bacon, white cheddar, & eggs
• southwestern: black beans, salsa, bell peppers, & eggs

The only downside to this recipe is the time it takes to form 24 mini calzones. Once I got into it, it was very easy, but it does take 20-30 minutes. I recommend rolling out half the dough balls, filling and closing them, then baking them (or setting them aside) while you roll out and fill the second half. Or if you’ve got a friend nearby, have him/her fill while you roll. Assembly lines are the key to success. And having a Harry Potter movie playing in the background.

When it’s Thanksgiving morning, or even the morning after Thanksgiving, and you don’t have any more room in your brain to make breakfast, pull out one of these babies from your freezer and you will be so so happy. Thanksgiving breakfast is basically everyone’s least favorite meal to think about, amiright?

Usually we’re all staying at my aunt’s house (!!!!) in New Jersey (!!!!). It’s the morning of the biggest meal of the year, but right now, you’re hungry, but not sure what to do about it, because your dad is already peeling potatoes and the kids are running back and forth from the garage fridge to the kitchen and then you just find a bag of fresh and beautiful NEW JERSEY bagels, so you sneak over to the toaster and abscond with the cream cheese and then just hope nobody notices you until your brain has woken up enough to be a nice person. No? Not everyone else? You guys wake up in your own beds and eat a leisurely breakfast and lounge around until you drive over to the Turkey-maker’s house? Or you’re just a normal person who doesn’t obsess about food 24/7? All right then, you do you.

Sausage, Egg, & Spinach Breakfast Calzones

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• Author: Caitlin
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins
• Total Time: 42 mins
• Yield: 24 1x

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Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough (recipe: Whole Wheat Pizza Dough or try Overnight Pizza Dough by Good and Cheap)
• 1/2 pound beef or pork
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon fennel
• 1/8 teaspoon sage
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne or red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 package frozen spinach, chopped = 1 cup thawed/cooked and chopped
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup shredded cheese – try cheddar, crumbled feta, pepperjack, etc., OR ricotta!

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Instructions

1. Brown the ground beef/pork and season with the salt, fennel, sage, cayenne powder/red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Drain and set aside.
2. Sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add the chopped frozen spinach and stir until thawed and combined Mix with the meat and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs. If the pan is dry, melt 1/2 Tablespoon of butter (or use a little oil) and add the eggs. Scramble over low heat until the eggs are mostly cooked. It’s okay if they’re just a bit gooey still because they’ll cook again in the oven.
4. Mix together the meat & spinach & onions with the eggs and 1 cup cheese.
5. Divide the pizza dough in half and place half aside, keeping it covered. Divide the working half into 12 even balls. Roll each out – much thinner than pizza dough. Fill with almost 1/8 cup of the filling, then pull the dough closed. Use a little water around the edge to help it seal, then seal the edge by pressing a fork around the edges. Repeat until all calzones are formed.
6. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake on 500ºF for about 12 minutes, or until the top is browned.

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Notes

You don’t need to pierce the top of the calzone, and you don’t need to use an eggwash. Some recipes call for these options, but I found them both unnecessary.
Use whatever fillings you like! I’m looking forward to feta, pesto, & sun-dried tomatoes, or broccoli & white cheddar.