VEGGIE CHEESE STROMBOLI

The first time I ate stromboli was a few years ago at 3:00 in the morning after a night out in Fort Myers, Florida. And oooohh my, did it taste delicious! Our friend's mother had made it for us, knowing we would likely be hungry when we got back to her house.

My husband and I often reminisce about that late-night meal and immediately we are both salivating as badly as our 6-month-old drool machine, Sammy. Over the years, we have talked about attempting a stromboli recipe ourselves, but we just never did it. Until now!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup pitted kalamata or black olives
• 8-10 sun-dried tomato halves, packed in oil
• 1 tablespoon oil from the sun-dried tomato jar
• 1 lb pizza dough
• 12-15 slices provolone cheese
• 10-oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain excess water
• 12-oz. bottle roasted red peppers, drained, patted dry and cut into strips
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray.
2. Combine the olives, sun-dried tomatoes and oil in a food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a rough paste.
3. Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin; roll dough into a 14x10-inch rectangle. Spread with olive mixture, leaving a 1-inch border around the dough edges on all sides. Top mixture with overlapping slices of cheese; add the spinach in an even layer. Finally, add the red pepper strips in a single layer, long sides parallel to the long sides of the dough rectangle.
4. Fold 1 inch of dough over the filling on the short sides of the rectangle. Fold the long ends over the filling, pinching the dough together at the corners. Roll the dough, starting at one of the long ends, as tightly as possible. Before roll is done, brush the border lightly with egg and pinch the seam to seal.
5. Transfer the roll, seam side down, to the prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg. Bake 30 minutes, until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.
6. Loosen the bottom of stromboli from the foil with a spatula; transfer to a cutting board and let cool.