Classic Stromboli Recipe (Easy Dinner or Quick Appetizer!)

This easy stromboli recipe is basically rolled up pizza. The classic ingredients include mozzarella, ham, and salami. It’s so good dipped in marinara! A perfect quick dinner (that kids love) or appetizer for football-watching. It’s simple to learn how to make stromboli! How was your Labor Day weekend?? Today Eric and I were doing yard work (okay, mostly Eric. I was making Stromboli ☝) and he said he was about to take down the 4th of July bunting that I put up way back in June. Then he remembered it was Labor Day and decided to leave it up in the name of patriotism. He also pointed out that September 11 is coming up, as well as Veteran’s Day in November, so really we HAVE to keep it.



I’m the worst at taking down decorations. We still have a string of homemade snowflakes hanging up high in our living room from Christmas. IT’S SEPTEMBER GUYS. May as well just leave it up til December I guess. (Yes, I realize this is how old ladies who leave their Christmas villages up all year are born. Send help.) There were some killer sales this weekend, was anyone else doing some shopping? I love that shopping these days consists of me sitting on my couch googling promo codes. We’re so spoiled. Actually in some ways online shopping is harder for someone like me because the choices are basically infinite. But I finally decided on buying this desk:

This photo is from City Farmhouse. The desk is the same one I bought (on sale!) from Cost Plus.

It will double as a nightstand, like in the photo below. I don’t have an office.

Now my task is to find a chair that is ergonomic and somehow not hideous. Anyone have any suggestions? The two requirements seem to be mutually exclusive. I’m writing this post from my couch right now, where I always sit because I don’t have a desk. My lower back hurts, the fingers in my right hand are numb (I have tendonitis), and I have 1-2 hours of work ahead of me.

(Did you know it takes me several hours to write a blog post? Usually between 4-6 hours of computer time*, if I’m lucky. This does not include grocery shopping, recipe testing, photo sessions, or the the promotion that needs to be done after I hit publish. And that’s just posting content for you guys. Forget about all the time I spend on SEO, research, social media promotion, fielding emails, responding to comments, negotiating contracts, etc…

I know food blogging is this weird new industry that’s a little misunderstood. (“oh, you have a blog? That’s so cute!”) It makes sense that people don’t understand, and it doesn’t bother me. How long has the internet been around, anyway? How many hundreds of thousands of jobs has it created? Why would the average person investigate details about how to make money online, unless you had a reason to learn about it?)

Anyway, that’s why I need a desk space with a decent chair that is designed to be used for hours at a time. Also I need a physical therapist probably, but I can’t buy that online in my pajamas, so it will have to wait. I’ll find one right after I take down my 4th of July bunting and Christmas snowflakes.

*I just listened to this podcast from The Life Coach School about Productivity (Episode #179) and it was mind bogglingly helpful. She talks about how whatever amount of time you assign yourself to do a task, that’s how much time you will take. So the idea is to assign yourself less time and work faster. It’s well worth the listen, I’m already implementing some of her ideas. Thanks to Liz from The Lemon Bowl for the recommendation!

How to make Stromboli

Raise your hand if you’ve had stromboli?? It’s so good. It’s basically pizza that’s rolled up like a cinnamon roll. Minus cinnamon and sugar, plus pepperoni, cheese and marinara sauce. You bake it as a long roll and slice it after it’s baked. My kids loved it. It makes a great quick dinner or would be an awesome appetizer for football watching this fall. If you make it for a meal it would serve about 4 (with a couple sides, I’m thinking broccoli and a big salad) or if you make it as an appetizer then it will serves 6-8, depending on how hungry your guests are.

The fillings for stromboli are as limitless as pizza toppings. You could literally put anything in. Next time I think I’m going to try a combination style one: green peppers, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives. Yum!

Classic Stromboli Recipe (Easy Dinner or Quick Appetizer!)
Serves 4 for dinner, 8 for appetizers    
 Stromboli is basically pizza that's been rolled up like a cinnamon roll. The classic ingredients include mozzarella, ham, and salami. I threw in some pepperoni and pepper jack cheese just for fun. It's so good dipped in marinara! Perfect quick dinner (that kids love) or appetizer for football-watching. 

Ingredients

  •  1 10-12 ounce pizza dough*
  •  1 tablespoon butter, melted
  •  1 teaspoon garlic, minced
  •  1/2 cup** mozzarella, shredded (I like to shred fresh mozz.)
  •  12 thin slices ham
  •  4 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, sliced
  •  15-17 salami slices
  •  1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
  •  15 slices pepperoni
  •  1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
  •  1/4 cup parsley, chopped fine
  •  1 egg, beaten
  •  2 tablespoons Parmesan cheee
  •  cracked black pepper, to taste
  •  more chopped parsley, to garnish
  •  marinara sauce, for dipping


Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. 
  2. Lightly flour a work surface or a square of parchment paper. Roll your pizza dough into a rectangle about 12 by 14 inches. I prefer to roll out my pizza dough on parchment paper, because you can just put the paper straight into the oven without trying to transfer it. 
  3. Brush the top of the dough with melted butter. 
  4. Sprinkle garlic over the top. You can either use fresh garlic or the kind in the jar. 
  5. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Leave a 1-2 inch border around 1 long edge and the two short ends. 
  6. Read full recipe here : Classic Stromboli Recipe (Easy Dinner or Quick Appetizer!)