private function menuHelper($item)
    {
        // recurse into submenus
        if (isset($item['submenu']) && is_array($item['submenu'])) {
            $item['submenu'] = $this->menuHelper($item['submenu']);
        }

        if (isset($item['route'])) {
            $item['link'] = $this->resolveRouteToLink($item);
        } elseif (isset($item['path'])) {
            $item = $this->resolvePathToContent($item);
        }

        return $item;
    }