Easy Individual Vegan Calzones

If you want to thrill a child, make his/her dinner into a nifty looking, little package. It works every time. Out of this bit of wisdom the Individual Vegan Calzone recipe was born.

I took pizza dough from the freezer, enough to make four thin crust pies. I divided the dough into about 18 equal size balls. It doesn't have to be 18. I came up with that amount because I knew Jim and the girls would eat at least two and I wanted enough to use for lunches on Monday.

The filling was a variation on the filling from the Tofu Spinach Lasagna recipe from the Compassionate Cook by Peta. Here's my version:

Easy Vegan Calzone Filling
1 pound extra firm tofu
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 Tbs soymilk
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp seasoned salt
1 Tbs dried basil

Drain the tofu. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mash with a fork to combine. The goal is a crumbly, ricotta-like texture.

I rolled each individual pizza dough ball out, placed some of the filling in the center. I added about two tablespoons of tomato sauce, folded the pizza dough over the filling and placed it on a greased cookie sheet. I baked them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. The baking time is going to vary based on how big your calzones are and how browned you like them.

They were a big hit both hot for dinner and cold for lunch the next day. The only flaw with using this filling is it tends to be a bit watery and, although that doesn't seem to affect the final product, it makes a mess when you're assembling them.