Thursday, February 14, 2013

Ham & Broccoli Pockets

These reminded me of hot pockets, except much healthier and I actually know what ingredients are going into them. Bryan helped me cook these last night and we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked them. We didn't serve anything with this dish because we figured it would be very filling and we were right. I imagine you could change the filling to be anything you desire, but the ham and broccoli filling was delicious. I'm going to attempt to make breakfast filled pockets this weekend.

Ham & Broccoli Pockets
Serves: 4 large pockets or 8 smaller pockets (you can wrap in saran wrap and freeze remaining pockets for later)
Adapted by: http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/ham-and-broccoli-pockets.html

Ingredients
Dough:
1 cup really warm water
1 tablespoon pure honey
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon lite salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Filling:
1 1/2 cups diced ham
10 oz broccoli florets; cooked, drained, and chopped
1 cup frozen peas, cooked and drained
6 ounces reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 1/2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons white whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
For the Dough:
-Dissolve yeast in 1 cup very warm water. Allow mixture to sit for a few minutes.
-Add in honey, salt, and olive oil. Whisk together.
-Using a stand mixer, mix in the flours. I used the hook to knead the dough for 5 minutes. You can knead the dough by hand, if you desire.
-Allow dough to rest 5 to 10 minutes, while preparing the filling.

For the Filling:
-In a large bowl, toss together ham, broccoli, and peas.
-In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth and flour, until mixture is smooth. Add to a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until mixture just begins to thicken.
-Add milk, whisking frequently, to get mixture mixed all up and smooth. Add black pepper.
-Continue to cook, whisking often, until mixture thickens.
-Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheese.
-Pour cheese sauce in the bowl with the ham, broccoli, and peas. Stir together well.

-Divide dough into 8 small balls.
-Roll each ball of dough out, like you were creating a personal size pizza.
-Place ham filling on one half of the rolled out dough.
-Use a pastry brush and wet the outer edges of the dough, then fold over the dough to make a pocket, and seal with hands or a fork.
-Repeat with remaining dough and mixture.
-Place on baking sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

*Tip: I cut a small sliver in each of the pockets to allow breathing room.

Enjoy! :)

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