Turkey & Broccoli Alfredo Pizza

If you've been following the last few posts, you'll know that the weekend after Thanksgiving, Schmambs made us a post Schmanksgiving turkey which was big enough to probably feed the whole state of Rhode Island.  Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it was big enough that we were eating it every day.  And to be honest, I was actually starting to get a little turkey'd out.  Almost to a point where I would've been happy not to see a turkey until next Thanksgiving.  Gasp!  I know!  But having turkey oozing out of your ears will do that to you.

There is a place across the street from where Schmambs works.  She has gotten lunch from there a few times and she hasn't been able to stop talking about this chicken and broccoli calzone that they make.  One thing that makes it stand out is that they use alfredo sauce.  Well, we had an abundance of turkey which we could substitute for the chicken.  It wouldn't be the first dish where we've swapped the two proteins.  (Remember Schmanksgiving Eggrolls?)  Anyways, we thought we would give making calzones a try.

We picked up pre-made pizza dough from our local grocery.  Schmambs took the dough out of the packaging and allowed it to proof prior to my arrival at La Casa de Schmambs.  

The dough didn't appear much bigger after a while and we thought we would begin preparing the other ingredients and save the dough rolling until last.  Maybe the dough would magically double in size if we were lucky.  First thing to do was boil the broccoli.  Once cooked, it was drained and then chopped into bite size pieces.

Schmambs put me in charge of making the alfredo sauce.  We cheated and used packaged mix where you just add the milk and voilà, you have sauce in a matter of minutes.  In our defense, it was football Sunday which means it's more important to be watching our team play in the living room than making alfredo sauce from scratch in the kitchen.

While I focused on making sure I didn't burn the sauce, Schmambs took care of chopping up the remaining turkey we had leftover from our post Schmanksgiving feast.

We had originally planned on making two calzones with the pizza dough.  After attempting to roll out the dough for the first calzone, it soon became apparent that it was not going to happen.  Good thing there's always a contingency plan.  We made rectangular shaped pizzas instead.  

Aside from using a different type of sauce, it was like making a traditional pizza.  Sauce on the dough, cheese, and then toppings.  Instead of the red sauce, we used alfredo sauce and our toppings consisted of turkey and broccoli.  And because we love cheese, we added an extra layer on top of the toppings.

   

After making our first pizza, I was hit with a brainstorm.  In the corner was a Costco-sized bag of French's fried onions, sitting there since the green bean casserole debacle a few night prior.  To say we had an abundance of fried onions would be an understatement since we misread the recipe and ended up with enough onions for 100 servings of green bean casserole.  Oops.  I really enjoy onions on my pizza, so I thought it might be a good idea to throw them onto our pizza and hope for the best.

After the second pizza came out of the oven and we tried the slices topped with fried onions, it was decided that the next time we attempt this, fried onions all around!  The onion flavor blended really well with the turkey, broccoli, and alfredo sauce and also added a nice crispy texture to each bite.

Turkey & Broccoli Alfredo Pizza

pizza dough of your choice

alfredo sauce

1 Cup broccoli (chopped up)

1 Cup turkey (chopped up)

4 Cups shredded cheese

1/2 Cup fried onions (optional)

Boil broccoli until it is cooked.  Remove and drain excess water.  Chop the broccoli up into bite-size pieces and set aside.  Chop turkey into bite size pieces and set aside.  Preheat oven according to pizza dough cooking instructions.  Roll out pizza dough and top with a thin layer of alfredo sauce.  You don't want to overload the dough.  Sprinkle 3 cups of the pizza cheese on top of the alfredo sauce.  Repeat the same steps with the broccoli, turkey, remaining cheese, and fried onions.  Put the pizza in the oven and cook until the fried onions are browned and the cheese is bubbling.

Let the pizza sit for 5 minutes when you remove it from the onion to allow the toppings to cool and the cheese to set.  Cut into slices and enjoy!

Individual Biscuit Pizzas

I came home from trick or treating with my five year old niece this past Halloween with a little grumble in my belly.  It didn't matter that I had eaten a bowl of homemade chili and enjoyed quite a few panko and potato chip crusted chicken tenders.  It then occurred to me that I needed something to bring for lunch at work tomorrow.  Remembering that I had the ingredients necessary for biscuit pizzas, I figured it would be the least labor intensive and most tasty choice.

I first learned how to make these in 6th grade home economics class.  A simple recipe that even a middle school child could make without burning something down.  In the years since, I have lost the original recipe that was given to us by our teacher and have tried to improvise ever since.  It's never come out the same, no matter what tweaks I have made to the recipe and the process in how I make them.  I would have to say that this batch is the closest I have come to getting it right.

The pizzas army, ready for the oven

You start off with ready made biscuits.  I use the Pillsbury Grands flaky biscuits, which worked in my favor with the new method in how I made the pizzas this time around.  I followed the directions on the label, which required me to cook the biscuits in the oven for 14-17 minutes on 350 degrees.  I cooked the biscuits for about 12 minutes before I took them out of the oven and removed a thin layer on the top, which provided a flat surface for the pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings.  In previous attempts, I would struggle with slanted tops and trying to make sure that everything didn't end up on the baking sheet.  I then used pizza sauce from the jar (hey, I didn't say my cooking was fancy), mozzarella cheese, and alternated between pepperoni and black olives.  On some pizzas, I felt ambitious and put both toppings.  

ta-daaaa

After throwing them back into the oven for another 5-6 minutes to warm the sauce up and melt the cheese, they came out looking like this.

I'll admit, it's not my best presentation.  But when it all goes into your stomach, does it really matter?  I decided to take the tops that I removed from the original biscuits to make pizza tops.  They did not come out as I had expected, but I'm sure with practice, I'll get it one of these days.  For my first time, they were pretty decent.  I took the tops and repeated the process that I used with the biscuit pizza.  This time, however, I put the toppings on over the sauce and under the cheese.  Try something new, you know?  

Yes, there are only 6 tops...I got a little hungry
while I was making this feast

I got worried that the tops would burn if I left them in for 5-6 minutes since they are much thinner and can dry out a lot quicker.  In hindsight, I probably could have left them in for that time instead of taking them out 3 minutes early.  The cheese wasn't fully melted so when I bit into one, I could taste the shredded pieces instead of ooey gooeyness.  I'm sure when I pop them into the toaster oven to heat them up, the cheese will melt up real nice.

The Not-So-Delicious Pizza Tops

Not only did it serve as a late night snack for me, I am now armed for lunch for the next couple of days.  It's a fun dinner or snack to make, especially with kids since it can be tough to have everyone agree on what toppings to get.  Get creative!  My one regret was not having any pineapple on hand - pepperoni and pineapple is amazing.

Individual Biscuit Pizzas:

* 1 canister of ready made biscuits (like Pillsbury Grands)
* 1 jar of pizza sauce of your choice

* 1 bag of mozzarella cheese

* toppings of your choice

Bake biscuits until almost fully cooked.  Take them out 2-4 minutes before recommended cooking time.  Remove a small layer from top of biscuit to make flat surface.  If you want to skip this step, make sure the biscuit dough is pressed flat before putting into the oven.  Spread desired amount of pizza sauce evenly on each individual biscuit. Sprinkle shredded cheese and top with pepperoni, peppers, olives, etc.  Put biscuits back in over for 5-6 minutes or until cheese is melted.  Remove and allow cool.  Pizza Tops should just follow the steps above using the tops removed from the biscuits.  Have fun with it.  Be creative! There is no right or wrong way to make these.