Week Eight: Day Three (recipe!)

I fully intend to start posting at least one recipe each day for something I enjoy for my 500 calorie meal!  Last week I made spinach calzones one night and every single member of my family LOVED them!!  This made me happy for several reasons...the major one being my kids ate spinach!  The second major reason being that each calzone ended up only totalling 367.5 calories - and they were BIG!!  So, I am sharing this recipe below.  The recipe makes 8, so if you are cooking for one person, I would recommend halving it and only making 4.  I ate mine the next day reheated and it was delicious...there was one leftover after that and the boys ate it within the next couple of days, so it held well in the refrigerator.  I don't know much about freezing foods, but I don't see why these couldn't be frozen and then tossed in the microwave at your convenience!

Tasty Spinach Calzones
10 oz pkg, frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 oz Canadian bacon, chopped
1 T garlic powder
1/2 t salt
15-oz. part-skim ricotta cheese (I think I used whole, so the calories are probably less than I calculated!)
5 oz. shredded Italian cheese blend (I truthfully used cheddar and mozzarella)
1 t dried Italian seasoning (didn't even use this)
2 - 11 oz. refrigerated French bread (canned, Pillsbury)
Pasta sauce (not included in my calorie calculation)

Saute first 5 ingredients in large, non-stick skillet, coated with cooking spray, 6 minutes or until bacon is browned.  Remove from heat.  Combine ricotta, italian cheese, and italian seasoning; stir into spinach mixture.  Unroll each bread loaf on lightly floured surface and cut each into 4 rectangles.  Spoon heaping 1/3 cup of spinach mixture onto half of each rectangle.  Fold dough over filling, pressing edges to seal.  Crimp edges with a fork dipped in flour.  Place calzones on baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Coat each calzone with cooking spray.  Bake at 400 for 18 minutes until golden.  Serve with pasta sauce.

**A sweet friend loaned me a book of recipes called "500 Calorie Dinners", so I will likely be cracking that open soon and sharing lots!!!