For those of you who don't know, my husband, Aaron, is a professional chef. Ironic that I am the one with a food blog, isn't it? In any case, after we had kids he got out of the kitchen and into the other side of the restaurant and bar business - but I digress - the point is, in the last five years, I do the majority of the cooking.

This hasn't come as much of a surprise though to those who worked and cooked with Aaron for the last fifteen or twenty years because he was notorious for putting out the most gorgeous, sophisticated plates and then sitting out back and having a frozen corn dog or hot pockets for dinner. It would drive executive chefs crazy that they had all this wonderful food in their walk-ins, stacked next to frozen corn dogs.

So as much as I can impress Aaron with some of the dishes that I produce in our kitchen here, there is also always a family-size box of Hot Pockets in our freezer. And, don't get me wrong, I can totally understand their appeal - I have the occasional need for a Hot Pocket or Taco Cabana burrito myself, but as a mom, I don't love the idea of feeding it to my kids.

When I cook at home I use as much organic produce and ingredients as are available, and try to make things as scratch as possible. It feels really good to know exactly what's going in my kids - there isn't a lot we can control as parents so this feels like a nice attempt at it for me. So over Christmas break I decided to jump in a tackle the ever-present Hot Pocket.

Not only were these insanely delicious but they were completely organic! I even managed to finagle some vegetables into one version (though Aaron condemned this variety as blasphemy). On top of all of that, they were hand-held, un-messy, kid-pleasing, and easy to make! The dough came together well and then you just fill it with whatever you want - we made the regular pepperoni, sausage and cheese variety for Aaron, and a second one with sausage, bell pepper, mushroom, and spinach. But get creative - anything you would put on pizza would be perfect!

Homemade Hot Pockets

Serves 6-8

For the Dough:

1 cup warm water (100°+)
1 pkg. active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbs. vegetable oil
2-3 cups bread flour
Egg Wash (1 egg whisked with a bit of water, dried basil and dried oregano)

For the Filling:

You can use whatever you want - but we used these two variations:

Italian Medley:

1 lb. ground Italian sausage
1 small red bell pepper, diced small
6 oz. baby bella mushrooms, diced
2 cups spinach, chopped
2 tsp. minced garlic
Shredded mozzarella cheese (2-4 cups, depending on your cheese addiction)
Prepared pizza sauce (1-2 cups)

Pepperoni and Sausage:

1 lb. ground Italian sausage
8 oz. pepperoni, chopped
Shredded mozzarella cheese (2-4 cups, depending on your cheese addiction)
Prepared pizza sauce (1-2 cups)

Prepare the Filling

For the Italian Medley version: In a large skillet, warm some olive oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the vegetables and saute until spinach has wilted. Push the vegetables to the side and add the sausage. Breaking up the sausage with your spoon as it cooks, cook the meat through before mixing it into the vegetables. Once mixed, then cook for just a minute or two more, season with salt and pepper and then remove from heat and set aside.

For the "traditional" version:

Saute the sausage in a skillet until cooked through, breaking up the meat with a spoon as your go. Remove from heat and toss with the chopped pepperoni. Set aside.

Make the Dough

Preheat your oven to 400° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the yeast and the sugar. Add the warm water and let stand for five minutes until foamy, so you know the yeast is live. If it doesn't foam, toss it and start over with new yeast.

Add half a cup of the bread flour and mix well with a spatula or with a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add another 1/2 cup of flour and the salt and mix well. Continue to add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough is no longer sticky. If using a dough hook, it will have formed a ball around the hook. If mixing by hand, it should be elastic enough to knead easily with your hands without sticking to your hands and coming apart.

Take it out of the bowl and knead it by hand on a floured work surface for just a few minutes. Roll the dough into a ball and then pat it gently into a 1 inch thick disc. You may want to use a floured rolling pin, but careful not to roll it too flat.

Then using a biscuit cutter or drinking glass, cut out 6-8 circles of dough. Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a circle 1/4 inch thick.

In the middle of the circle, layer cheese, filling, then drizzle sauce over top. Go lighter with the sauce, it gets super hot inside (as any Hot Pocket aficionado knows) and you want the filling to stay in there, not spew out if there is too much liquid.

Fold the dough in half and then seal the seam by folding over a 1/2 inch segment at a time, overlapping over the previous section just a bit (see the photo).

Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with remaining circles of dough. Once all pockets are made, brush the tops with the egg wash and then bake until golden brown, 12-14 minutes.

Dough Recipe adapted from Lovely Little Kitchen