Broccoli and Brie Calzones

Much like my yoga practice, I have a core set of recipes that I keep coming back to again and again. For yoga, my go-to practice consists of standing poses, some inversions and forward bends.

For dinners, I tend to rotate around stir fry and soups. But  I've been in a major rut lately with dinners, making the same things over and over again and haven't had much inspiration lately. While it's not terrible to enjoy the tried-and true favorites, it does get a little un-exciting. Although I will never, ever get tired of eating this.

Which is why we had some leftover pizza fixin's this week and finally some inspiration hit! I used to make calzones all the time and how I've gone without making them for two whole years  is really beyond me.

Now don't be intimidated by making your own dough, it's really easy, I promise. This dough is hands-down the best recipe I've ever used for pizza or calzones. Try it, you won't be disappointed!


For the dough:

1 package dry yeast
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Mix the yeast and sugar with the water and let sit to "proof" for about 5 minutes, or until it's frothy. Then mix in the oil and salt, and gradually add in the flour, mixing until smooth. Knead the dough on a floured surface until stretchy and soft.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let sit in a warm place for about 40 minutes, or until doubled in size. Then punch down, and you're ready to go!

Pull off a round of dough about the size of a lemon, and roll out until very thin.  It should be about the size of a corn tortilla, and you will have enough dough to make 8 calzones.

For the filling:

1 cup of baby broccoli, chopped
1/2 of an onion, chopped
brie, sliced
salt and pepper

Saute the onion and broccoli until soft. Salt and pepper to taste.  Let cool enough to handle without burning yo'self.

Lay two brie slices on the dough round, and top with the filling .  Fold the dough over on top and crimp the edges with your hands or with a fork.

Place on an oiled cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Grilled Brie and Tomato Sandwiches

What could make a food blogger not cook for, oh, about 2 months you ask? Well a 3 hour commute (each way) to San Francisco, not once but twice a week, for 7 weeks. (My work with UCSF has finally wrapped up and we're in the data-collection stage. Fingers crossed that we all continue to find out how amazing yoga is!)

 And just when I thought it was over, I was hit by 3 long weeks of illness.

Hi. I'm Candice and I've been living on god-knows-what while I crawl out of the deep dark pit that is influenza. But now that particular baddy has made its way through all five members of my family, we're all happy and healthy again, and I finally, finally,  got back in my kitchen.

For the kids, I dished up brie and apple grilled sandwiches, but for us, we got the good stuff. It's not particularly fancy, but like yoga, when you've been out of practice for a while, the simpler things are the best things.

You'll need:

I loaf of ciabatta bread, halved lengthwise
1 tomato, sliced
spinach
sliced double-cream brie
spicy mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Spray a cast-iron skillet with oil, and get it nice and hot. Then reduce heat to medium.

Meanwhile, assemble your sammies by spreading on the mustard, then topping with tomato, brie and spinach. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Grill on each side until the cheese is melty and enjoy with a nice fresh salad!