easy stromboli roll ups

Talk about cheap and easy. That's what I'm usually looking for in a meal when I'm cooking during the week. Any night that I'm working downtown, I usually am there for about 10 hours and no matter how much I love cooking, the last thing I want to do is to come home and spend 2 hours cooking something. I mean, if I don't get home until 6 or 7, then food wouldn't be done until after I want to be in bed. So, easy and simple meals like calzones or stromboli, easy rolled up sandwiches and pasta are on the menu for those late nights. Not to mention that Ed loves them.

To make my life even easier, I almost always use packaged fresh dough from my grocery store. Almost all grocery stores these days carry the fresh raw dough in their bakery (Giant, Giant Eagle, Wegmans, Publix and the like) and it's a total time saver. It's not too pricey either. Just about 2 bucks for the dough you see above, but it was BOGO for me this past time I went shopping, which is even better! Less prep work, less clean up equals happier Kayla.

I'm terrible at stretching out dough, but one key that I've found is to use room temperature dough. It rolls out so much easier- the elasticity is lower so it doesn't immediately shrink back to it's original state. Just leave the dough out on the counter for 30 to 45 minutes on the counter before attempting to roll it out. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 8 inches by 12 inches.

When it comes to filling, I always go for the classics- ham, salami and pepperoni. Well, I only had a bit of ham leftover from the day before, and absolutely no pepperoni. But that is totally fine by me. Lay out the ham on the entire surface to start out with.

Next layer lots and lots of salami on top of the ham. Try not to eat all the salami before putting it in the stromboli.

This is the point where Nora became VERY interested in what I was doing. "Hey Mom... have any salami for me?" Silly girl.

The very last filling is the cheese... lots and lots of it! That is almost 2 whole cups of shredded mozzarella cheese up there, and that's totally fine by me.

Now to make sure all that yummy cheese doesn't ooze on out the sides as it's baking, you have to do a little finagling while rolling. First, fold in the sides.

Then, tuck up the bottom portion and start to roll. You'll want to roll this pretty tight because the dough is going to puff up as it cooks.

Alrighty!! Now, just one more step before going into the oven. Rub a little olive oil over the roll and sprinkle a little kosher salt over the top. Then, into the oven! Because the meat is already cooked and the cheese won't take long to melt, you're really just cooking this until the dough is crispy and browned and perfect.

20 minutes later, and this is what you'll have! Oh, and it will smell amazing! Let it rest for a minute or two so that the cheese sets up a bit and the start slicing.

Ah, ha ha! This is perfect. Salty salami and ham, creamy and delicious melted cheese and toasty bread... all that's missing is the marinara! This is a new regular.

Easy Stromboli Roll Ups
1 lb raw fresh pizza dough
1/4 lb deli ham, sliced
1/2 lb deli hard salami, sliced
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup marinara sauce, warmed
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll our raw pizza dough into a 8x12 rectangle. Lay slices of ham, then salami, then shredded cheese on top of the dough. Fold a one inch section of either side of the dough, then roll the entire loaf until sealed in one long log. Brush entire log with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Place on a sheet pan and bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Let set on counter for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with hot marinara and enjoy!