Monday I wrote about the adventure it is to go shopping anymore and the expertise it takes to make meals go further.  Monday morning we took James along grocery shopping and showed him how to shop for the best value.  I already posted about the poor man’s surf and turf we had for our Memorial Day picnic.

Last night we had something different.  Several years ago, my sister-in-law Sharon gave us a recipe for Stromboli.  We love to get this recipe out from time to time although what we did was give it a twist.  Instead of using salami, ham, pepperoni, provolone and mozzarella cheese, we made a cheese steak stromboli.  I got the inspiration from Food Network’s Diner, Drive-in’s and Dives.

What goes into it?  First, I usually make my own crust.  It’s the same recipe I use for pizza — a package of yeast, a cup of hot water — mix those together and let sit for about 10 minutes.  Then add 3 cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar and tablespoon of olive oil (If I’m making pizza, I’ll add a clove or two of crushed garlic and some oregano.)  I mix that in the mixer with kneading hooks and then let it sit to rise.  In the mean time, I put some preformed steaks on the griddle and cooked them up.  I also put some onions on there to soften them up.  I separated the risen dough into two balls and flattened them both out with a rolling pin (I’m not that good to form regular crust.)  I placed some pizza sauce on the bottom followed by a layer of steak, followed by a layer of onions, some more pizza sauce, then a layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by another layer of steak.  I only loaded up one side of the dough and then brought the other side over and folded it in half.  I had enough ingredients for two strombolis.

I cooked them in the oven at 400 degrees until brown.  By the way, they were delicious!