It has been way too long since my last post. I used to write once a week when Colin took two naps a day. Now my goal is one a month. Colin has taken to skipping naps if there is anything interesting going on and when Hannah is home, his nap hour is our dedicated read-together time. It is really tough to find an hour or so in the evening to sit at the computer. With both kiddos doing some sort of school in the fall, I know this crazy time will pass and I will miss being so busy with them. So although I’m paring back a bit, I’m not disappearing. Bear with me!
Speaking of days when I had more time: Before Colin was born I used to go to one of those meal making places where in one hour I could make 12 meals for my family and fill my freezer. It was such a time saver but these days it just doesn’t work for our diet needs. A few months ago I tried to make my own “Freezer Meals” but I just couldn’t find a lot of recipes that didn’t involve Cream of Something soup or lots of cheese. It wasn’t a total failure though. I did find a stromboli recipe that we love at a site called Freezer Friends, written by a group of girls who work together to make freezer meals each month. Genius! I would love to do this someday.
Anyway, at first I made two different stromboli, a cheesy one for my husband and daughter, and a cheeseless for Colin and I, but after trying our dairy-less version, my husband said to just make the dairy-free version in the future. He didn’t miss the cheese. That is a HUGE win in our house.
I think the key to this stromboli is the egg yolk and herb mixture that is spread on the dough before the rest of the toppings. It brings the fat, richness and moisture to the party that keeps us from missing cheese.
The original recipe called for 1lb defrosted bread dough. I couldn’t find any soy free varieties so I always use fresh dough. I’ve tried various things and usually use either the olive oil dough from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day (the recipe is down a bit in their post) or I use Fleischmann’s Pizza Crust yeast and follow the directions on the back of the yeast packet. The olive oil dough you have to make a few hours in advance. The Fleischmann’s dough you can whip up and use in 5 minutes.
I tend to stick to the meat and veggie ingredients in the recipe below, for no other reason than we like it. When I find something that works, I go with it. Feel free to swap things out, just try to not to overload the dough with filling or with extremely wet ingredients or you might run into trouble sealing the dough. If yours starts to have a life of its own, don’t panic. In the past I’ve had ugly, patched up and messy looking stromboli going into the oven but they bake up delicious.
Stromboli
Adapted from Stromboli By Jackie
Ingredients
1 lb defrosted frozen bread dough or fresh pizza dough (my favorite way is using this yeast)
12 oz. italian pork sausage (we use mild, light turkey sausage)
1/2 onion, diced
2 egg yolks, save the whites
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
2 oz. turkey pepperoni
Italian Seasoning
Directions (photos below to help with construction)
Have dough defrosted/ready to use. Place the pork sausage and onion in a medium-sized pan and cook over medium-high heat, chopping sausage into small crumbles while cooking. Cook until sausage is cooked through and onion is translucent. Turn off heat and set meat mixture aside. In a small bowl beat the egg yolks and combine with the next four spices and the 2 tablespoons oil. Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or a Silpat mat or just grease your cookie sheet generously. Use a rolling pin to roll your dough into a large rectangle (about 8×12). Spread the egg yolk mixture on the dough but leave a half-inch border on the sides a 1 inch border at the bottom with nothing on it. Now add toppings: spoon the sausage mixture over the egg yolk and herbs, again leaving the sides and one inch border at the bottom empty. Spread pepperoni evenly over the sausage mixture. Using two hands start at the top (where it is covered with toppings) and roll the dough in on itself until it reaches the bottom. Roll up that bottom 1 inch and stop, so that the seam is on the bottom of the stromboli. Gently beat the egg whites in a bowl and then give the stromboli a light brushing of egg white. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Cut into slices. Serve with warmed marinara or spaghetti sauce for dipping.
Spread the herb mixture over the dough
Add toppings everywhere but the bottom 1 inch. I put the pepperoni on first on this one. As long as the egg mixture is down first it doesn’t matter.
Roll up from the long edge- use both hands to roll evenly
Finish rolling seam side down. Tuck the ends in.
After baking, slice and serve with marinara
Busy Hands Happy Tummies 