Vegetable Strudel Filled With Spinach & Sweet Peppers

5 cups fresh spinach leaves

2 red sweet peppers, cut into 1-inch strips

1 yellow summer squash, cut into 1-inch strips

2 carrots, shredded

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

4 green onions, sliced

1/4 cup oil-packed dried tomatoes, drained and chopped

3 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbs snipped fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried oregano, crushed

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

dash ground red pepper

butter-flavor nonstick spray coating

6 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

2 Tbs fine dry bread crumbs

1) For filling, place the spinach in large colander; set aside. In a large saucepan cook sweet peppers, summer squash, carrots, mushrooms, and green onions in 4 cups boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over spinach to drain; rinse immediately with cold water. Drain well, pressing out excess moisture. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl. Stir in the dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the Parmesan cheese, the oregano, salt, black pepper, and ground red pepper. Set filling aside.

2) Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick coating. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on a dry kitchen towel. (Keep remaining sheets covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying out.) Spray with nonstick coating. Place another sheet on top; spray with nonstick coating. Sprinkle with half of the bread crumbs. Place 2 more sheets of phyllo on top, spraying each with nonstick coating. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs. Add remaining 2 sheets of phyllo, spraying each with nonstick coating.

3) Spoon filling along 1 long side of phyllo stack about 1-1/2 inches from edges. Fold in the short sides over the filling. Starting from the long side with filling, roll up jelly-roll style.

4) Place strudel, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Spray top with nonstick coating. Using a sharp knife, score into 8 slices, cutting through the top layer only. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

5) Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the strudel is golden. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, cut along scored lines into slices. Makes 4 servings.

Review:  This was an incredibly labor intensive meal!  I followed the directions fairly thoroughly, at first.  Yet, somehow I ended up with 3 times the amount of filling that I should have had, and by the end, I was just trying to get this into the oven!!!  Because I had so much filling (and plenty of phyllo - the package had 18 sheets), I made 3 strudels!!!  I put two into the oven and froze one.  Of course, I was so exhausted by the time this went into the oven, that I forgot to cut the slits and sprinkle with Parmesan.  And, my phyllo had dried out by this point and was breaking off.  I also ran out of cooking spray halfway through and began using melted butter and a pastry brush!  Regardless, it was amazingly delicious!!!  This had such a wonderful flavor and was so yummy that I'm glad there was more than one strudel (we ate a whole one for dinner and cut into the second one before packing leftovers!!).  I doubt I'll make this again, since it literally took me HOURS to make, but I'm grateful for the extra one in the freezer.  Yum!!!