Whole Wheat Stromboli with Peppers and Chicken Sausages

More clean eating! Sort of.

I’m gonna go ahead and call fresh mozzarella clean food. Since it’s fresh. So fresh and so clean, clean. We’re going with it.

One more recipe before we head to Fedville, AR today for the long holiday weekend! For the record, I don’t actually talk like that. I don’t really have a southern accent. Some people say I sound like a news reporter, actually. Well, one lady did at a garage sale in Gloucester, MA  in June of 2007. I’d found a super cute red square vintage bag with a long strap and no price tag on it. “How much is this,” I asked. Lady freaaaaaaked.

“Holy crap say that again. BAHB, SHE SOUNDS LIKE A NEWS CASTAH. HONEY COME LISTEN.”

I said it again.

She gave me the purse for free.

What was I saying?

Oh yeah! Clean eating.

I’m also calling it clean eating because the dough is whole wheat. Eh? You like? No? Oh.

I’m also calling it clean eating because it’s stuffed with nothing but a good a green pepper, some fantastic pesto chicken sausages (but you can use aaaaaany ole flavor you dig), and some of my favorite local pizza sauce. And the fresh cheese.

There’s no stopping us.

One thing I completely spaced on was making the little steam slits on the top of the stromboli. I forgot because the babies were watching old school Sesame Street and you know those yuuuup yuuuup yup yup yupyupyup uh huh uh huh uh huh yuuuup yuuuup dudes with the weird mouths? They violently forced me into a trance, causing all stromboli steam slit duties to fall out the window. I was basically held captive! It was scary.

You could make a few of these for later this weekend if you wanted. Or one night next week when things settle back to normalcy. Or tomorrow for your party. Or right now for right now.

Food so clean you’ll never need to shower! That’s my new motto.

. . . Wait.

Get super clean! Sort of.

Whole Wheat Stromboli with Peppers and Chicken Sausages:

What it took for 2 strombolis:

* 1 pound whole wheat pizza dough (mine was Trader Joe’s), cut in half
* 1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
* 4 links chicken sausages (any flavor you dig!) I will say, mine were cooked through, so I chopped them, rather than remove the casings. If you buy regular uncooked Italian sausage, I’d recommend removing the casings first and crumbling the sausage in the pan
* 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
* 1 ball (5 oz) fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced or torn
* 1 cup favorite pizza sauce
* 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large pan, brown the sausage and green pepper in the oil, until heated through, with a little color.

Roll the pizza dough out on a floured work surface. Spoon half the sauce over the dough, followed by the browned sausage, peppers and half the mozzarella cheese.

Start at one end and roll the dough up, being careful not to let the innards spill out. Definitely use the word innards more often. Repeat with the remaining stromboli.

Place both on a baking sheet, seam side down. One thing I forgot was to cut slices in the top, creating a vent for steam. You should do that. It’s pretty.

Also! Brush the stromboli with the egg wash. This will make the crust good and pretty and browned.

Bake the stromboli for about 25 minutes, until the dough is cooked through and golden brown on top.

Slice and servvvveeeee.

Have a fabuloso weekend! Don’t get near the fireworks.