Saturday, September 16, 2006

Banana bundles and calzones

These are Banana Oat Bundles from Vive. I've been saving up bananas for a week so I could make them! They were so easy to make, and so delicious--soft and moist, like little muffins. The sweetness was just perfect. One thing I love about Dreena's recipes so far is that they're not deathly sweet, but just sweet enough to be tasty. The bananas add some natural sweetness on their own, and the spices come out really well in these. They will definitely be a staple "cookie" recipe around here!

And here we have a calzone! Melissa blogged about calzones a couple of days ago, and I've had them on my mind ever since. We had some pizza dough that we had risen, punched down, and frozen a week or so ago. So we unthawed it, kneaded it for just a couple of minutes, and let it sit for about 45 minutes before we worked with it. The dough worked really well for us that way, and we had skeptical about freezing dough but now we know it can be done with great results!

We filled the calzone with some leftover marinara sauce, some tofu ricotta that I whipped up tonight, and some green peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, black olives, and yellow onion. Crimped the edges, scoured the top, and baked it 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Bob brushed the top lightly with some olive oil when it came out. It was delicious, dipped in some extra marinara sauce. The filling was a little watery, so next time I will press the tofu (I didn't have time tonight), and maybe cook the mushrooms down so that they release some of their juice. Here's a picture with all that goodness spilling out:


I did make the Black Bean Stew from VWaV, and I didn't take a picture because it came out just the same as before--tasty! I love it with blue corn chips. Tomorrow may have to be a study day, but maybe breakfast...? Peace!

9 comments:

KleoPatra said...

Sweet Laura, i am lovin' the calzones. I have also been thinkin' about them as well since Emmy (vegan diva) and Melissa (West) have blogged about them recently! That is so great what you did with 'em. The one you show the inside of is making my mouth water... and i'm at work so i better knock it off 'cause i don't want to short-circuit the system here at the noozpaper!

The banana oat bundles are beautiful as well and i do appreciate a recipe that doesn't add needless, pointless sugar beyond what's really and truly "necessary" ya know? Oil/margarine as well! Let's keep it tasty and healthy. Your bundles are gorgeous and i imagine they taste fantastic!

bazu said...

Wow, homemade calzone. I am filled with awe- looks great!

Anonymous said...

Your Banana Oat Bundles look delicious!

And the calzone... I'm totally impressed!!!

urban vegan said...

That calzone looks especially amazing. Can you send one my way?

Kate said...

Calzones, its been so long since I had one. It looks so perfect in the picture, you are skilled. I linked ur blog if you don't mind.

Anonymous said...

Wow - nice looking calzone. I haven't had one of those in ages. I've been wondering what tofu tastes like in calzones and pasta dishes -- does it melt like cheese?

MeloMeals said...

Your calzone looks amazing...

I love freezing dough.. it works so well...

the banana bundles look good too... I've heard different things about them.. I'm sure my kids would love them.. (I'm not a fan of banana)

laura k said...

Thanks for all your comments!

Midwest Vegan, the tofu didn't melt, but it's all mashed up so that the consistency is still a pretty decent substitute for melted cheese--no stretchiness, though...

Melody, your kids probably would really like the banana oat bundles. Our non-veg family members ate them up today when we took them over to their house! You definitely would have to like the taste of banana, though!

Anonymous said...

yum! i love the way your calzone looks! i will try the banana oat bundles, my girl like bananas so this recipe is a must!