Semi-homemade stromboli

I've recently become obsessed with Dinner: A Love Story, a blog that celebrates the nightly family dinner and gives great tips on how to do it without losing your mind. It's inspired me in a lot of ways, most notably to not be so insistent to do everything "from scratch." Sometimes dinner shortcuts are necessary with a busy schedule...and they are almost always ok.

Last night, I made a version of stromboli the DALS family writes about here. (Another thing I love about their site is that most recipes come with a story. So great.)

In the words of Macklemore...it was f*@#ing awesome. I followed their step-by-step process almost down to the letter, and we ended up with one tasty dinner.

Stretch the dough (I used Freshdirect's frozen pizza dough; DALS swears by Trader Joe's) to make it fit in a half sheet pan and spread some sauce on it (it was the first time I've used Don Pepino pizza sauce. It definitely won't be the last. And I am a tomato sauce snob.)

Add some fillings - I used sandwich pepperoni, spinach, and onions. I think it would be fantastic with just spinach. Or maybe some sausage crumbles instead of pepperoni.

Add grated mozzarella (I used fresh), grated Parm, and a few dollops of ricotta. I didn't get a shot of the cheese because I was so eager to roll it all up. But when I got to the end of the roll, I realized I should have left a little more of an "edge" one side - some of the filling didn't make it in the roll.

Once rolled, I stuck it in the fridge for a few hours because I started the process during J and N's morning nap. When I was ready to bake it, I rubbed it with olive oil and sprinkled some salt on top, then put it in the oven at 375 degrees (DALS says 350, but I know my not-so-great oven, and 375 worked better). 50 minutes later, it was done.

Yum, right?

And it's toddler-friendly, too - I cut it up in small pieces and took out the pepperoni, and Jack and Nellie couldn't get enough of it. I served it with a side of halved grape tomatoes and honeydew melon (their absolute favorite) for dessert.

Evan and I ate ours with a side of Harpoon Summer Beer.