Chicken & Veggie Stromboli

You may be surprised, but stromboli is a pretty quick & easy way to make nutritious meals in little time! 
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For the athlete, using a whole wheat pizza dough, you'll have a strong combination of carbohydrate, protein and healthy fats to fuel your day and training needs. Especially for my college students, stromboli is cost-friendly and you can get a lot of your daily veggies in without the added bulk! 

Shout out to my sister-in-law and her dad who introduced me to the world of stromboli and Italian cuisine! 

​Stromboli is a great way to use up leftover vegetables and proteins in the refrigerator. No need for a recipe, you can load up your stromboli with whatever you have! That's exactly what I did last night. ;)

But just in case you'd like to try my own creation, here's the recipe: 

Ingredients: 
1 unthawed, raw whole wheat pizza dough
6 cups fresh spinach, sauteed lightly in olive oil cooking spray
1/4 cup basil pesto
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, sliced finely
1/2 cup sweet onion, sliced finely
5oz grilled chicken breast (cooked) or lean protein of choice 
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1tsp garlic & tomato seasoning *or seasonings of choice
1 raw egg, beaten
1/2 cup Pizza or Marinara Sauce - to dip

Direction: 

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Roll out pizza dough into a nice rectangular shape (it should be thin but easy to manipulate with your hands)
3. Spray a baking sheet with a little olive oil cooking spray or use a non-stick pan. 
4. With the exception to the pizza sauce, load up stromboli with rest of the ingredients - placing them in the middle, staying away from the edges to make sure you have room to fold it up. 
5. Once everything is placed inside, take the right and left sides and fold them towards the ingredients, like a burrito. Then take the front and back sides of the dough and fold it over the ingredients, forming a cylinder shape. Once the stromboli shape is formed, carefully turn the stromboli over so the "ends" of the dough are on the bottom of the pan. 
6. Take a sharp kitchen knife and make small slices into the top layer of the stromboli so you can see inside!
7. Using a basting tool, evenly smooth some of the beaten egg over the stromboli. This will give your stromboli a more appealing golden color, once cooked! 
8. Your stromboli is ready to cook! Cook in the oven for about 25min-30min or until it is evenly golden brown. 
9. Allow to sit for about 5-10min. Enjoy with pizza/marinara sauce to dip or sauce of liking! 

Nutrition Facts (serves 6): per a single serving - about 2 slices
Calories 306, Fat 13g, Sat Fat 2.5g, Cholesterol 26.3mg, Sodium 730mg, Carbohydrate 33g, Fiber 6g, Sugar 5g, Added Sugar 0g, Protein 14.5g