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."