Hot Italian Sandwich

"Too few people understand a really good sandwich."

-- James Beard

So, for the past few weeks, I have been trying really hard to plan ahead and come up with weekly meal plans.  (And for the record, it's a lot harder than it looks.)  Mu purpose for doing so is two-fold;  I'm hoping that it will 1) save me some money instead of running to the store every other day to grab stuff I need to make the next meal and 2) get the kids a little excited about eating new stuff since they will know ahead of time what will be coming.  And of course, it goes without saying that there is 3) trying out new Pinterest recipes.

Like all other families, our weeks are crazy busy.  DH works days, I work nights, and the boys have after school activities most days of the week.  I feel like sometimes my husband and I are like ships passing in the night.  (We'll wave to each other across the median as one of us is going to work and the other is coming home.)  Doing kid swaps at activities is another common occurrence.  I'll get something prepared for dinner, bring them to swimming/piano/whatever.  My DH picks them up brings them home and cooks or heats up whatever it is that I've prepared.  In all fairness, sometimes I do make him come up with something too.  Or sometimes I make it easy and he heats up some chicken tenders.  (Don't judge me, please.)

But a while ago I found a pin for Hot Italian Sandwiches. Wonky Wonderful Hot Italian Sandwiches  


I picked this recipe for tonight because of the easy ingredients, quick preparation time, and the fact that my kids love the Italian BMT sandwich at Subway (that's an understatement - it's pretty much all they eat at Subway) and this looked pretty comparable.  What really intrigued me about this sandwich and made it different was the addition of Giardiniera Mix, which is like a blend of pickled vegetables. (I found it easily at the supermarket with the jars of olives and roasted red peppers.)  I'm not normally a fan of these kinds of things, which my husband LOVES, but decided that I would give it a try.  Yum!  They definitely added a nice texture and a little extra spice to the already spicy pepperoni/salami mix.  I swapped out provalone cheese for the mozzarella, and the only change I made to the kids' sandwiches was the exclusion of the Giardiniera mix.  They told me they would eat these sandwiches all the time.  Score!!!!!

And, I found out, when I took an extra sandwich to work, that these reheat really well too!  These are definitely being added into our regular meal rotations!





From my board "A really good sandwich."

Peanut Butter Football Dip

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart."
-- Erma Bombeck

I recently saw a magazine article, or more likely it was a post on Facebook, because who actually reads magazines any more?  I mean, unless you're sitting in a doctor's office waiting for your appointment, and those magazies you already read about 3 years ago, and all the good recipes are torn out of them.  Anyway, this story was about a blogger or reporter or someone who lived her life according to Pinterest for one week.  Sounds like fun, but a bit time consuming.  And as I looked at all my pins, I realized that I have only attempted a small percentage of my pins.  Why am I pinning all this stuff if I'm never going to use it.  And the things that are tried and true, I do again, and again, and again.

So I feel the need to expand my horizons more and make more of an effort to do things, and not just the recipes, from all my different recipe boards.

(Speaking of so many boards, when ARE they going to come up with a board within a board.  You know.  For example, you have a recipe board, and on that board you can pin your other food boards - appetizers, desserts, sides, etc.  I have ONLY recommended it to them monthly for the past year.  At this point, Pinterest is probably so sick of me that they won't do it just to spite me!  But seriously, tell me you haven't wished for that too.)

But I digress.  Actually yesterday I did make something that's been pinned a while.  A peanut butter dip.  This particular one was covered in chocolate sprinkles/jimmies/shots - whatever you call them - and shaped to look like a football, so it was perfect for me to make to bring in to work for the Super Bowl.  And it is DELICIOUS!!!!!  (I probably have single-handedly eaten half of it.  There goes the diet,)  Here is the link to the post:  Peanut Butter Football Dip by CrazyforCrust.com.  

I LOVE peanut butter and chocolate, so this was super good.  I brought pretzels to dip in, which is a good choice because the saltiness kind of counter balances the sweetness of the dip.  I also brought graham crackers which everybody loved.  I bet sliced apple would also be good with it.  (If there is any leftover, I am going to take it home and finish it off with some fruit!)

(It's a LOT harder than it looks to get all those sprinkles to stay on - especially on the sides!!!)

And yes, my team won the Super Bowl.  So I didn't need to drown my sorrows in dip.  I did share (some) of it.  #PatsNation  #GoPats 

From my board "Game Day."