Proscuitto and Gruyere Stromboli

What the stromboli looks like as it is being stuffed and then rolled up.

This meal can be as easy or as difficult as you make it. In it's easiest form, use a tube of prepared french bread dough (you know, the kind that pops out of the wrapper in a freaky, surprising way). If you want to head away from processed food, make your own french bread dough. I whipped out that handy, seldom used wedding gift a breadmaker to make the french bread dough. It was quite easy since the bread maker did all the work.

To make the stromboli, roll out the french bread dough (however you choose to come by it) on a cookie sheet. Divide the dough into four quadrants. On each quadrant, put a slice of prosciutto (I just used the packaged, not really expensive un-Italian kind). Then top with about a 1/4 c fresh arugula, a couple of T of grated Gruyere and a few sprinkles of chopped parsley. Roll up jelly roll style and tuck the ends under. Bake in a preheated 425 degrees oven for 10 minutes. Remove and serve. We like to dip ours in spaghetti sauce or ranch dressing because the bread can get kinda dry.

The beauty of this meal? It's just like pizza, you can stuff the stromboli with whatever you like. I used to make 2 different kinds--one for the kids and one for Curtis and I. For Curtis and I, I would use the ingredients listed above (Gruyere by the way is a kind of swiss cheese). For the kids, I would just use pepperoni and whatever non-interesting cheese I had on hand.

This time I made them all the same. The kids loved them! They each ate their half and then M started on a second a half. I had to stop her from eating too much because I was scared she would get a stomachache from overeating. The amazing part was that she didn't try to pick out the "green stuff" which she at first referred to as kale, until I told her it was arugula. The picture demonstrates how much she loved her stromboli!