In college, resorting to unhealthy ways of cooking is quite common. Some even refuse to cook at all. These practices, however, can lead to putting on excess pounds (ahem, Freshman 15, anyone?) and to try to avoid this, we’ve found a way to fufill your pizza craving and allow you to remain somewhat cheap and healthy. Stromboli is a roll filled with mozzarella cheese and, in this case, pepperoni. You can add your choice of filling, and if you feel like being extra cheap you can use whatever leftovers you have from a previous meal to stuff it with. Cold cuts, sausage, and vegetables of pretty much any kind (jalapeno peppers are especially tasty) can serve as the perfect pepperoni compliment, but feel free to experiment with whatever you might put on a pizza. Grab an oven, and let’s get ready to make stromboli!
What you’ll need:
Pre-made pizza dough
Package of shredded mozzarella cheese
Package of sliced pepperoni
Jar of pizza sauce for dipping
Your fillings of choice (optional), plus a foil covered baking pan, an oven, and a microwave (not optional)
Extras-seasonings (i.e. spices), cooking spray, parmesan cheese, a knife, microwave-safe bowl, and salt/pepper
**All of these ingredients you can buy for under $10 at your local grocery and you will have leftovers, so the actual cost for this whole meal is less than $5**
First, find a surface that’s relatively germ-free and roll out the pizza dough. It should come in a can like cinnamon rolls you’d bake, so just spread it out thinly out of the tube. If you want to make things easier for yourself, you can do this right on the foil covered baking pan so you can prevent spillage when you transfer it onto the pan.
After you have the dough laid out, spread out the pepperoni slices over the dough leaving a half inch from the side. Add the fillings if you want, spreading it as thickly or as thinly as you’d like, depending on how full you want to be. Top it off with a sprinkling of the cheese. Go ahead, go crazy if you really like mozzarella, but remember you can make the leftovers last if you don’t use the whole thing. Season it with your favorite spice (okay, I know most college students don’t have a favorite spice. I recommend crushed basil or parsley. Anything that you’d put on pizza. Chill out, this is optional)
Now, the vital part of stromboli, the rolling of the dough. Very carefully, beginning from the right side, pull the dough tautly over the ingredients and roll. Stuff may fall out as you get to the end, but it doesn’t matter. You can eat it. When you’re done, transfer it on to the foiled baking pan if you haven’t already. Center it, then pinch the roll’s edges. Spray with some cooking spray, and top with parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Cut diagonal slashes across the top layer of the roll, not too big, with a pretty sharp knife. This will prevent gross air bubbles from ruining your dish.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Put it in the oven once it reaches that temperature, and set the oven’s timer to 12 minutes. While waiting, clean up the workspace and pour pizza sauce into a microwave-safe bowl. Season with garlic powder and basil (or salt) if you’d like. When the timer goes off, put the sauce in the microwave for a minute and fifteen seconds, or whatever it takes to nuke the sauce ’til it’s warm. Check on the stromboli, and if it’s golden brown take it out. Leave it in for a few minutes if it doesn’t look crispy and still has that whitish doughey appearance.
Place on a serving dish (aka plate) and enjoy. It might not fit, so place it diagonally and set the sauce next to it. Dip, and enjoy. If the bits on the end of the stromboli come out doughey, cut them off and use as a biscuit. You have just made a healthy, delicious meal with plenty of flavor to spice up those days when you’re sick of ramen. In its bare state, without fillings, this dish has no MSG’s. Wow. Who knew something so good could be healthy? Bon appetit!
From instructables.com “[Colliegate Meals] Stromboli” Posted by trebuchet03 Visited August 15 2007 Pictures by trebuchet03