Grilled Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Sandwiches

1 (8-oz.) block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Cinnamon bread slices
1/4 cup melted butter

1. Stir together cream cheese and next 3 ingredients. Spread on one side of bread slices. Make sandwiches, cream cheese sides together, with bread slices. Brush outsides of sandwiches with melted butter, and grill on both sides until bread is golden. Serve immediately.
Note: Leftover cream cheese mixture can be stored in an airtight container in fridge for up to 1 week.

Menu 21: Tomato Sandwiches

One of the farmers at our local market has been selling beautiful heirloom tomatoes this summer. There is nothing Andy and I like better on a hot summer day than a tomato sandwich, and A&P Farms heirlooms have made the lowly sandwich perfect. We have eaten this meal for lunch and dinner more times than I can count over the past few weeks. Everyone has an opinion about how to make a tomato sandwich, and this is mine. Lightly toasted sourdough bread, Duke’s mayo, thick-sliced tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Enjoy!

Menu 12: Chicken Sandwiches

This is a cheater meal because it took no effort! Tonight I used the leftover fried chicken fingers to make sandwiches; we also had chips and fruit.

Forgive the darkness of the photo!

Menu 9: Grilled Hamburgers

Some new friends came to dinner tonight. The menu of grilled hamburgers, Cornmeal-Crusted Onion Rings, and Bacon-Veggie Salad (Greek olives were substituted for the bell pepper in the salad) was very simple and tasty. Enjoy!

We had already started eating before I remembered to take a photo. Sorry!

Menu 4: BLTs

AC had a BIG (her words) soccer game tonight, so we ate kind of late. You don’t get much easier than BLTs, chips, and fruit. Enjoy!

The soccer star in action!

Pesto-Feta French Bread Pizzas

Tonight we had tomato soup for dinner, but I wanted to serve something besides grilled cheeses with it. After examining the fridge and pantry, I came up with the ingredients to make these pizzas. This recipe would be a great party appetizer. Dinner was ready in about 20 minutes—success! Enjoy!

Pesto-Feta French Bread Pizzas
1/2 French bread loaf, cut in half lengthwise
Basil pesto
2 Tbsp. chopped sun-dried tomatoes
Crumbled feta cheese

1. Cut each bread half in two pieces. Spread pesto on cut sides of bread, and sprinkle with sun-dried tomatoes and feta.
2. Bake at 400° for 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is slightly melted and bread is warm.

Stromboli

It's been years since I've made this easy dish. In fact, I don't think we've had it once in the eight years we've lived in this house. (Think of it as a calzone shaped like a tube!) When we first got married, I made it all the time. It's super simple! Originally, I made Stromboli with frozen French bread dough. However tonight I used Publix pizza dough. This worked better and wasn't as thick as the bread dough. You can layer the dough with any combination of meat/cheese/spread. Tonight we had turkey/provolone/sun-dried tomato pesto. Enjoy!

Stromboli
1 round pizza dough, rolled out
Sun-dried tomato pesto
10 slices smoked deli turkey
5 sliced provolone cheese

1. Spread pesto on pizza dough. On one side, layer cheese along outer long edge of dough. Top with turkey slices. Starting with side of dough with meat and cheeese, roll up dough. Pinch ends to seal. Place on a baking sheet.
2. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes or until done.

Cuban Sandwiches

Tonight we had a belated birthday celebration for Russ, and he requested Cuban Sandwiches for dinner. Our family developed an affinity for these sandwiches with a side of black beans and rice when we lived in Tampa during the late 1980s. (I'll never forget how yummy that little styrofoam bowl filled with white rice, then black beans, and topped off with a little fresh chopped onion was!) These sandwiches have the traditional combination of ingredients—ham, pork, Swiss cheese, yellow mustard, and dill pickles—but I serve them grilled. Delicious! (I calculated the points value of this recipe, but trust me, it's best to not share it. My recommendation is to only serve these occasionally—but they're worth the calories.) Enjoy!

Cuban Sandwiches
This makes 6 to 7 sandwiches.
2 loaves Cuban bread
1 lb. sliced ham
1 Citrus Pork Tenderloin, sliced
12 Swiss cheese slices
Yellow mustard
Sandwich-sliced dill pickles

1. Cut ends off Cuban bread loaves. Cut each loaf into 3 or 4 pieces; slice each piece in half, horizontally. Spread mustard on cut sides of bread. Place 1 Swiss cheese slice on half of bread pieces; top with 2 pieces ham, 2 or 3 slices pork, dill pickle slices, and another slice of Swiss cheese. Top with remaining bread piece, mustard side down.
2. Grill sandwiches on both sides until cheese begins to melt. (I place mine on the grill pan and then weigh them down with a cast-iron skillet filled with 3 cans of tomatoes.) Serve warm.

Roasted Tomato-Mozzarella-Bacon Sandwich

Sunday lunch is the meal each week that I don't plan. We go to church early and by the time we get home, we're pretty hungry and don't want to wait to eat. Usually we have leftovers or sandwiches or, if we can decide what we want, we'll go out to eat. Today's sandwich idea was inspired, if I do say so myself. On the way home from church, I thought we would have bacon-grilled cheese sandwiches, but then I remember the leftovers from Roasted Caprese Salad that were in the fridge. So I melted some butter in the microwave, and spread it on four sourdough bread slices. Then I layered on some of the leftover tomato and mozzarella slices and topped it all with bacon slices. I baked the sandwiches in the oven at 350° until the bread was golden and toasted. They tasted as good as I imagined they would. So easy and so delicious—enjoy!

Muffulettas

Today, our nephew Aubrey turned 2. Happy birthday, buddy! We spent Friday night and Saturday in Huntsville with Andy's family so we could celebrate Aubrey's big day. His party was a picnic at Monte Sano State Park. Each family was responsible for their own lunch. Andy's parents, Andy, and I had Muffulettas, Updated Potato Salad, and watermelon. Usually I make a muffuletta in a sourdough round and cut it into quarters. However the size of the quarters make them difficult to eat. For our picnic, I decided to make individual sandwiches using the French hamburger rolls from the Publix Bakery. Very easy and delicious!

Muffulettas
French hamburger rolls, sliced
Olive salad
Provolone cheese slices
Hard salami slices
Black pepper ham slices
Pastrami slices

1. Spread olive salad on cut sides of rolls. Layer half of rolls with cheese, salami, ham, and pastrami. Top with remaining rolls halves.

Olive Salad:
1 jar greens olives stuffed with pimientos, drained
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 garlic clove
Pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
Olive oil (optional)

1. Combine olives and next 2 ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until mixture is coarsely chopped. Stir in pepper, oregano, and, if desired, a little olive oil.

Updated Potato Salad
This is a new (and easier) method for making Grilled Potato Salad.

4 new potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced in half and then into thin half-moon shape
Olive oil
6 bacon slices, chopped and cooked
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce

1. Bake potato slices on a lightly greased baking sheet for 15 minutes or until done.
2. Sauté onion in hot oil over medium heat, stirring often, until they caramelize.
3. Combine potatoes, onions, and bacon in a bowl. Stir together mayonnaise and next 2 ingredients. Toss with potato mixuture. Serve warm.

Pesto Grilled Cheese With Bacon and Tomato

I worked late tonight and needed a dinner that would be ready in a snap. Also, things were hectic this weekend, so I didn't make it to the grocery store on Saturday and I have limited ingredient choices. Grilled cheese is always a good option. Here's how I made this main-dish worthy. As a side, I made homemade french fries (with a handful of ones from the freezer). Enjoy!

Pesto Grilled Cheese With Bacon and Tomato
Pesto
4 slices sourdough bread slices
6 provolone cheese slices
1 tomato, sliced
6 bacon slices, cooked
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

1. Spread pesto on one side of 2 bread slices. Cover pesto with 1 1/2 slices provolone, 2 tomato slices, and 3 bacon slices. Top with 1 1/2 slices provolone and plain bread slice. Repeat procedure with remaining bread slices. Brush melted butter on outside of sandwiches. Grill, on both sides, until cheese melts and bread is toasted and golden.

Recipe Rewind: Pimiento Cheese

You don't get much more Southern than Pimiento Cheese. This week I made it twice, so it seems like a good idea to post the recipe again. The thing about pimiento cheese is that everyone makes it slightly different: some use finely minced onion, some don't; some use only Cheddar, others use a mixture of cheese; some use lots of mayo, some only use a bit. To my taste, I've perfected the combination of this simple recipe over many years. Mine uses onion, Cheddar, American, and only a small amount of mayo. And if you've never tried a grilled pimiento cheese sandwich, you should! To make it even better, top the cheese mixture with crisp bacon and sliced tomatoes. Yummy!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

For lunch today I decided to make Monte Cristo Sandwiches. A combination of smoked gouda, turkey, and ham was layered on sourdough bread. The signature characteristic of a Monte Cristo is jam. Andy's had raspberry jam; mine had pepper jelly. Yum! A terrific combination with the smoky, creamy cheese. Andy really liked his, but he said he never wants to see me make them because "it's too weird." (He has a similar policy about anything with mayonnaise in it. He likes how it tastes in dips, etc., but he doesn't want to actually be confronted with the idea that he's eating mayo.)

Monte Cristo Sandwiches
Sourdough bread slices
Raspberry jam or red pepper jelly
Sliced smoked gouda
Sliced turkey
Sliced ham
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. butter

1. Spread one side of each bread slice with jam or jelly. Layer half of bread slices, jam sides up, with gouda, turkey, ham, and then another slice of gouda. Top with remaining bread slices, jam sides down.
2. In a shallow dish, combine eggs and next 3 ingredients. Dip sandwiches, on both sides, in egg mixture.
3. Melt butter in a skillet or on a grill pan. Cook sandwiches at medium heat on each side until golden and cheese melts.

Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Dinner tonight was my version of cheesesteak sandwiches. I caramelized thinly sliced onion and bell pepper and then added thinly sliced leftover flank steak from last night. We had the sandwiches with Potato Chips With Garlic-Herb Cheese and leftover salad, minus the steak and blue cheese, from last night. Everything came together quickly.

Cheesesteak Sandwiches
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 bell pepper (I used a yellow one.), thinly sliced
1/2 lb. thinly sliced grilled flank steak
Salt and pepper
1/2 ciabatta loaf, cut in half lengthwise and widthwise
1/2 cup shredded colby-Jack cheese

1. Sauté onion and bell pepper in hot oil over medium heat 10 minutes; reduce heat to medium-low, and sauté 10 more minutes. Stir in sliced steak, and sauté 5 more minutes.
2. Scoop out insides of ciabatta pieces. Sprinkle one side with cheese; top with steak mixture, and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Top with ciabatta pieces.
3. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve warm.

Prosciutto-Provolone Grilled Cheese With Tomato Soup

Our nephew Carson is spending the night with us. He and Uncle Andy are busy building all kinds of neat things with Legos. By request, we had grilled cheeses for supper. The Tomato Soup was super simple to come together, and I thought it would be nice to add some prosciutto to the sandwiches. Carson did a taste taste and gave the sandwich his seal of approval.

Muffulettas

For lunch today we had muffulettas, those huge sandwiches with an NOLA provenance that have salty, yummy olive salad. They are so easy to make. The trick is to make the olive salad the day before; it makes a lot, so I'm experimenting with the leftovers. I'll let you know if it worked.

Muffulettas
1 ciabatta round or other round bread
2 cups Olive Salad
6 slices Swiss cheese
1/2 lb. sliced hard salami
6 slices provolone
1/2 lb. sliced ham

1. Cut ciabatta in half horizontally. Scoop out insides, leaving sides and bottoms intact. Spread 1 cup Olive Salad on each half of bread. On the bottom half, layer Swiss, salami, provolone, and ham. Top with remaining half of bread, cut side down.
2. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. (This will heat up the bread, but the meat mixture will still be cold. It's a nice contrast.)

Olive Salad
1 (32-oz.) jar mixed pickled vegetables
1 sweet onion, quartered
16 oz. pimiento-stuff green olives, drained
1 (6-oz.) can pitted ripe olives, drained
1/4 cup pepperoncini salad peppers
1 (7.25-oz.) jar roasted red peppers, drained
2 Tbsp. capers
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. black pepper

1. Drain pickled vegetables, reserving 1/4 cup of liquid. Place pickled vegetables and onion in food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Spoon into a large bowl. Place green olives and next 3 ingredients in food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Spoon into bowl with vegetable mixture. Stir in capers, reserved 1/4 cup pickling liquid, and remaining ingredients. Cover and chill 24 hours.

Mini Hamburgers

When I did my meal planning last Monday, I thought it would be fun to make mini hamburgers and use dinner rolls instead of buns. Since I bought the ingredients, I've seen an infomercial with Billy Mays advertising the super slider pan. The infomercial calls mini burgers "the taste sensation that's sweeping the nation." Apparently I am trendy. Making small hamburgers is sure to appeal to children. I really like Whole Foods' hamburger buns; tonight I used dinner rolls that are also from Whole Foods. Very quick and easy for a busy weeknight! I served the mini burgers with oven-baked french fries.

Cuban Sandwiches

These sandwiches remind me of the years my family lived in Tampa. There was a hole-in-the-wall Cuban restaurant near our church that had great Cuban sandwiches and black beans and rice. I made these on Friday night with the leftovers from Tuesday's Roasted Pork Tenderloin. The hallmark of these sandwiches is the combination of pork, yellow mustard, and dill pickles. Traditionally ham is also included, but I didn't have any for these.

Cuban Sandwiches
1 loaf ciabatta or Cuban bread
Yellow mustard
Jarlsberg or Swiss cheese, cut into slices
Leftover pork tenderloin, chopped or shredded
Dill pickles (I used dill pickle relish.)

1. Cut bread in half with a serrated knife; scoop out the center of bread, leaving a shell. Spread mustard on cuts sides of bread shell. Layer one side of bread with cheese, pork, and pickles. Top with remaining bread half. Wrap sandwich in foil.
2. Bake at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes or until sandwich is warm and cheese is melted. Cut sandwich into 4 pieces.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

This is an unbeatable combination! (Can you tell the cold weather influenced my grocery shopping? Lots of soups!) Homemade Tomato Soup is so easy and it's much tastier than the canned variety. These grilled cheeses have another layer of flavor from pesto that was left over from Friday's make-your-own pizza party. Enjoy!

Tomato Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 large cans whole tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil, cut into strips (also a leftover from Friday night)
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup milk or cream (optional)

1. Sauté onion and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until onion is tender. Add in tomatoes and next 7 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree tomato mixture until desired consistency. (If you don't have one of these, you can either use diced canned tomatoes or pour the mixture in a food processor.) Stir in milk, if desired.

Pesto Grilled Cheeses
Sourdough bread slices
Melted butter
Basil pesto
Provolone cheese slices
Sliced plum tomatoes

1. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter on both sides of each bread slice. Place bread on grill pan, and cook until golden brown. Remove bread from pan. Spread pesto on grilled sides of bread; layer half of bread slices, grilled side up, with provolone cheese and slice tomatoes (it works best if you have cheese on top and bottom of tomatoes). Top with remaining bread slices, grilled sides down. Place sandwiches on grill pan, and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Turkey Focaccia Sandwich

This sandwich is super easy and super quick. Feel free to vary the types of meat and cheese as well as the pesto. Tonight I layered on a sliced yellow tomato, but roasted red pepper strips would also be tasty. I served the sandwich with Potato Chips With Garlic-Herb Cheese. I bought the focaccia at The Continental Bakery, which had it as the bread of the day this past Saturday.

Turkey Focaccia Sandwich
1 (9-inch) round focaccia
Sun-dried tomato pesto
1/2 lb. sliced turkey
1/4 lb. sliced fontina cheese
1 tomato, sliced
5 bacon slices, cooked (optional)

1. Cut focaccia in half with a serrated knife. Spread pesto on cut sides of bread. Layer turkey, cheese, tomato, and, if desired, bacon on one bread round. Top with other half, pesto side down.
2. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Cut into quarters.