Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

This is a recipe from Sunny Anderson's new food network show Made in America. When Jacob and I saw the lady make these sandwiches we new we had to try them. Incidentally, these sandwiches won a $25,000 contest and are Paula Deen approved :)

Yields 12 sandwiches
cook time: 40 minutes total, including prep.

You will need:

• 1 container (8 ounces) cream cheese
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 pinch dried thyme
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated onion
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 package (12 count) Hawaiian rolls
• 8 ounces Black Forest deli ham, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces gruyere, grated

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, chives and thyme. Mix until well combined and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, onions, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside in a warm spot to keep the butter from solidifying.

Cut all 12 rolls in half. Place the roll bottoms in a 9- by 13-inch pan. Place equal amounts of ham (about 3 slices) on each roll. Top with the gruyere. Spread a generous amount of the chive and cream cheese on the roll tops. Place the tops on top of each sandwich bottom.

Pour the butter mixture over the top of the sandwiches. Cover with foil and bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake an additional 5 minutes to toast the buns.

Muffuletta Sandwich

Jacob and I were road trippin' it on Friday, making the long drive from Salt Lake City to Newburry Park, California. I hate fast food. (Not really, but if I say it enough I am hoping to make it true.) In order to avoid the usual multiple fast food stops I planned ahead. It wasn't just about buying all of our favorite snacks at the grocery store the night before, though I did that. I also wanted to make something that would be so delicious and filling that there wouldn't even be room left for a small order of french fries. Muffuletta Sandwich, mission accomplished. And after I ate my half I had so much energy! Usually I am so tiered the entire drive, and Jacob always makes me drive the second shift.

Recipe by: The Neely's (Foodnetwork.com)Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup mayonnaise

- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 red onion, diced(I used half, and that was PLENTY)
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 1 cup diced black olives
- 1 cup diced green olives
- 1/2 cup diced marinated artichoke hearts
- 1 cup diced piquillo peppers(I used a half cup of pepperoncini peppers, it was yummy)
- 1/2 cup diced celery
- 1/3 cup freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- Kosher salt
- 1 muffuletta or round Italian loaf (10 to 12 inches in diameter)
- 2 ounces each thinly sliced Genoa salami, hot sopressata, mortadella, and smoked turkey
- 2 ounces each thinly sliced imported Swiss cheese and aged provolone

Directions:

Whisk together the mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar, honey, lime juice, red pepper flakes, oregano, and 1 teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. Add the onion, carrot, olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, celery, and parsley; toss, and season to taste with salt. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the salad to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Slice the bread in half, and pull some of the interior from the middle of the roll to make room for the other ingredients.

Spread a generous amount of the olive oil salad on each half. (You will probably have some salad leftover; it holds for 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator.)

Layer the meat and cheese on the bottom half, alternating layers of each meat with thin layers of cheese. Cover with the top half of bread, press gently, slice into wedges, and serve.

Steak Sandwiches.

The delicious steak sandwich:
But first...
I am back from ten days with my in-laws in Newbury Park, and issue one: none of my pants fit. Issue two: I have until Wednesday when we leave again, this time to Escalante, to loose enough to get me back into said pants. Issue three: I am pretty sure I will not loose enough because Wednesday is the day after tomorrow, and I don’t really care enough to try anyway… So, look out for muffin-top in the extreme coming your way if you live in or around Escalante.

My sister in law’s wedding was beautiful! They did so much themselves, including making hundreds of these delicious little cheesecakes (with the help of many of their friends):

Recipe HERE.

Jacob and I flew in on Sunday afternoon and of course the first thing I wanted to do was make something to eat. When you haven’t been in your house for a while nothing warms it up like getting something cooking on the stove. Anyway, while I was throwing some pasta together, putting away dishes, unpacking, getting Finn settled, lamenting the newly fallen snow, etc. I happened to drop some garlic on the kitchen floor. Here is the scenario:


The garlic fell underneath the dishwasher, so of course on my way up my head connected at top speed with the open cupboard. It seriously looked like I had a bullet graze to the head, and if it hadn’t hurt so bad, and I hadn’t been preoccupied inventing new swear words and swear word combos, I might have thought it looked pretty cool. Today, it hurts if a breeze brushes the right side of my head. Huge goose egg. Moral of the story, don't forget to look around before you attempt your next Legally Blonde style "bend and snap."

P.S. The Webster’s definition for lament: to feel deep sorrow or express it as by weeping or wailing.
There was much to lament that Sunday night…

P.S.S. I would like to thank you Jon and Jason for calling me on Thursday night while you were all hanging out, and making me feel totally sad and left out. Here is the thing; the day I convince Jacob to move to San Diego will undoubtedly be the day that you all pack up and decide to follow Jack back to Utah. But I suppose a phone call is better than being completely cast aside and forgotten.

P.S.S.S. Obama called me. I couldn’t get to the phone, so he left a voicemail. (The above mentioned Jon and Jason were behind this.)

Today Ina Garden was making steak sandwiches, and I decided that sounded like a good idea. Here is how she did it, and how I improvised (because who really keeps three different kinds of mustard on hand…Ina.)

Cook time: 40 minutes-ish, Serves: 2
You will need:

- 1 (12-ounce) 1-inch thick New York strip boneless beef top loin steak
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, sliced in rings
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 recipe Mustard Mayo, recipe follows
- 2 mini focaccia buns, sliced in 1/2
- 1/2 cup baby arugula

Season the steak liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sauté pan over high heat until it's almost smoking, then sear the steak on each side for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to low and cook the steak for about 7 to 10 minutes, turning once, until very rare in the middle. Remove to a plate, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Slice the steak into strips.
Using the same sauté pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and thyme and sauté for 10 minutes, until the onions are brown and caramelized, stirring occasionally.
To assemble the sandwiches, spread a tablespoon of Mustard Mayo on the bottom half of each bun. Place a layer the steak strips on top of the mayo, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with the caramelized onion rings. Place the baby arugula on top of the onion rings, and cover the sandwiches with the top half of the buns.
( I used dried thyme because I couldn’t find fresh at my grocery store, and Instead of focaccia bread I used a ciabatta loaf, because it looked right and I’m not really sure what the difference is anyway. My ciabatta loaf was only $1.92, and I could easily have made 4 huge sandwiches out of it! I am always surprised when the yummy bread is less expensive than the regular bread.)

For the Mustard Mayo you will need:

- 3/4 cup good mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl. Serve at room temperature.
Yield: 1 cup
(As I said before, multiple kinds of mustard?! Comon. I happened to have Dijon so I kept all the measurements the same except I omitted the salt, and instead of whole grain mustard I added some yummy spices as follows:

- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning

You could also add garlic powder…)

May I conclude while I am thinking of it, by telling everyone how much I love (or rather hate to love…) the new grocery store that just popped up in my neighborhood, Winco. It’s exactly like Food4less in San Diego, except I never shopped at Food4less. I can go in with 30 bucks and get everything I need for a weeks worth of dinners. The bummers include out-of-it, unknowledgeable workers (the woman at the meat counter didn’t know what prosciutto was), you have to bag your own stuff after they ring you up, and you have to shop around all the other poor people. Yes, I am totally prejudiced against my own kind and prefer to associate as little as possible with other “needies.” Winco, I hate to love you, but I do.

Chicken Salad with Orange and Fennel (9/22/2009)

Yay fennel! So delicious, so cool looking.

I love chicken salad. My Aunt makes a mean chicken salad, and it was my favorite, then I found this recipe in my Cuisine magazine. I had a sandwich for dinner with some of my soup from last night, and wow!

You will need:
-2/3 cup mayonnaise
-2 tbsp orange juice, plus zest of half and orange
-2 cooked chicken breasts, diced
-1 cup grapes, halved (red or green)
-3/4 cup diced fennel bulb
-1/4 cup slivered almonds (toasted, optional)
-2 tbsp chopped fennel fronds
-1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
-Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together in a bowl, chill.
That’s it! So easy, so yummy—just like me!... What? Um. I hope you like it. The chicken salad is so good on just about any type of bread, or mixed with lettuce for a salad.

P.S. To those of you who knew me when I was seventeen/ eighteen…even nineteen, why didn’t any of you ever say anything to me about the over plucking of my eyebrows? I was looking through old pictures and I was shocked! My alien head, sure, I heard about that. My shovel teeth, yep, that too. But the one thing I could actually do something about… nothing. Thanks a lot.