The Best Sandwich Ever: Part II

So now it's time to get down to business...the nitty gritty of an amazing meal between two slices of bread. Be sure to have all of your ingredients gathered nearby...if you need a reminder here is the list from the shopping you did yesterday:

What You'll Need
fresh seedless rye bread
thousand island dressing
swiss cheese
thick sliced corned beef
sauerkraut
cracked black pepper
butter (for cooking)

Line up the bread and place 2-3 slices of swiss cheese, torn up, on each slice of bread and season with cracked pepper. Do not skimp on the cheese, as this acts as the glue to keep the sandwich together.

Spread a small amount of thousand island dressing on one side of the sandwich rows, and top with enough sliced corned beef to form a double layer and at a minimum cover the sandwich to the edges of the bread.

Top with more thousand island dressing on the corned beef side of the sandwich.

Top with enough sauerkraut on the corned beef side to leave a small amount of "squishing room" once the sandwich is pressed together.

Flip the cheese only side of the sandwich on top of the sandwich and squish down to compress.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium/medium low heat and add two sandwiches to the pan, one at a time.

Flip the two sandwiches within 30 seconds (it prevents burning on the first two sandwiches, not sure why but it really works!)



Then add the third sandwich, and adjust the heat as necessary to prevent burning. Cover and allow to cook about 2 minutes.

Flip sandwiches and recover to finish cooking for another two minutes or so until the cheese is melted and the bread is slightly toasty.

Remove from the pan and move to a plate and slice in half to serve immediately.



Follow these steps and the most amazing sandwich will be right at your fingertips before you know it. Enjoy!

The Best Sandwich Ever: Part I

Soon, you will hold the recipe to the perfect hot lunch or dinner sandwich. Your friends at work will even be jealous of your cold leftovers the next day. Although this may disappoint some of you, with some preparation you will never be able to eat this out at a restaurant or diner again. I will by no means promise that it is a quick meal to throw together.

I've separated the meal into a 2 part recipe: Part 1 will include prepping the corned beef and the thousand island dressing following a very thorough grocery store trip to make sure you have all the ingredients you need. Part 2 will consist mainly of the assembly and cooking of the sandwiches. It is possible to prepare this in one afternoon or evening, granted that you will need about 3 hours to spare. Most of that cooking time goes to the corned beef simmering, so if you insist on cheating to buy corned beef from the deli, that will cut down the total time to about 45 minutes. It makes a huge difference on your palate if you do all the cooking yourself, but it is up to you. Try it, and you will be amazed.

Grocery List:
1 lb sliced deli swiss (not too thick, not too thin)
fresh seedless rye bread
1 bag sauerkraut, drained
thousand island dressing (see recipe below)
Hormel raw Corned beef (it includes the seasoning packet)
celery stalks (if you have them, no need to buy them just for this)
butter, for cooking the sandwiches

For the Thousand Island dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
3/4 c ketchup
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sweet relish
1 tbsp kosher dill pickles, chopped
1 tbsp horseradish sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2  tsp black pepper
1 tsp red wine vinegar

Combine the above ingredients below in a bowl. Refrigerate to chill until you are ready to build the sandwiches. This will last in a tupperware container for a week in the refrigerator. The recipe can be doubled if you think you need more dressing.

For the corned beef:
Bring a large pot of water to a simmer and add pickling seasoning and chopped celery stalks. Place the beef into the water carefully to prevent spilling. Simmer over medium/medium-low heat for 45 minutes per pound (the package says 50 but the meat will be too dry if you cook it that long). Flip the meat once an hour to ensure even cooking on both sides.

Remove from the water and pat dry with paper towels. Trim off excess fat (it is a thick layer on top of the meat that needs to be removed to prevent the sandwich from being too greasy). Slice thickly at about 1/8" and set aside until ready to use.

You are now officially ready for the best sandwich ever...stay tuned for tomorrow's blog on how to put them together!

Iggy the Halloween Birthday Celebratory Snow Pig

Everyone I run into asks me how the pig roast went on Saturday. And when I mean everyone, I'm talking even the awesome custodians at the school where I work. Do you think I have been talking about it enough? It's only been about 6 weeks since we started seriously planning it! I am strongly considering giving up my position as social coordinator, because huge natural disasters seem to occur anytime I get near major holidays.

Return of the Bad Omen Vulture: Part I
On Friday (the very sunny, warm day before the roast) we barged into Restaurant Depot, where we had ordered the pig from our new butcher friend Brian three weeks earlier. The meat guy who was there that day, Ryan, announced when I asked for our order that they had no fresh pigs in stock. In fact, he suggested I try roasting a whole lamb. I assured him that Brian had called me on Monday to confirm the order, and very gently suggested that he double check. When he returned again, he said that the order had never arrived and the only pigs they had in stock were frozen...if only we had turned and walked out the door right then! Bright eyed and bushy tailed I planted myself in the manager's office. It took him about 30 seconds after telling me that he didn't have Brian's phone number to not only get him on the phone, but to get Ryan run into the cooler (with me chasing him) to fetch the poor pig that had been sitting there all along. Don was none to pleased to find that the box had been stamped with "Green Village Packaging," meaning we had just paid the middle man to give us a hassle. Long story short, my customer service experience at Restaurant Depot left something to be desired.

Return of the Bad Omen Vulture: Part II
Oh but Saturday was one for the record books. We had EMT class for a majority of the day, which driving home from involved turning the car around at least 100 times as there were trees and telephone poles blocking even the emergency snow route back from VoTech. We then arrived home to this:

...plus no electricity at the squad building. Don rigged up a very clever "pig-loo" to keep the barbecue box warm when adding the coals.

Apparently the barbecue box, which worked very well for us over the summer, doesn't come with directions for use during Nor'Easters and I think that this deserves some attention from the manufacturer. Regardless of how much fun we had, I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to plan a pig roast in any season ever again.

As always, I had a very elaborate menu planned which I wasn't able to completely execute because of the lack of electricity. We rigged up the stove at the squad building to Greg's truck inverter, but while I was out on a call (because of course, it wouldn't be any fun unless the pager was going off every 20 minutes) the stove lost it's flame and wouldn't stay heated properly. We managed to heat the food (with special thanks to my mom for rotating all of the food in and out for two hours straight), but all cute details went out the window by about 3:30pm. This was probably okay, because all 30 of us ate crammed in the dark huddled around candles and I doubt anyone would have noticed.

I did manage to pull off a birthday cake that was supposed to resemble a pumpkin for Mark's birthday:

...which looking at it now looks like a Christmas present that got sat on by the same lady who sat on my coffee and stained the carpet orange during the first aid badge fiesta with my new Brownie troop chicken nuggets from Bernards Township. A little bird flew by my window and said that the cake seemed to be enjoyed by all during the overnight shift.

The successful Halloween recipe that will surely be making a return next year was the Witches Brew punch.

Recipe of the Day: Witches Brew
1 bottle sparkling wine (I used Cupcake Vineyards Prosecco)
1 bottle ginger ale
1 container rainbow sherbet

Right before you are ready to serve, Invert the container of the sherbet into a large shallow punch bowl. Pour over the sparkling wine, and the ginger ale. This will cause foam to form on top of the punch, resembling boiling "brew." Serve in cups with a ladle.

Showers of Happiness

For a bit of a change, I wanted to commemorate the baby shower we had at the house for my mom's friend Charissa from work who is having a baby girl in December. It was celebratory of other things as well, in what my mother referred to as the first "happy party" we had in the house since my Dad died. We spent weeks cleaning the house and preparing the menu. As usual, I planned enough menu items for 30, when we were only about 12.

Unfortunately, we were both left having to work late the night before forcing us to rush around cooking up until the moment Charissa walked in the door to her surprise party.

What kept us sane was everyone at the party contributed food...and we were flexible enough to ditch some of the "cute" ideas as we went (i.e. chicken salad sounds great in a lettuce cup, but sometimes you just have to get down to business).

We proved to ourselves that we can still put on a pretty good party...

that no one will ever leave our house hungry...

and that you really can put on a great baby shower without any goofy games whatsoever. We are all so excited for Baby Mackenzie (aka Baby Mango) to arrive we can't wait to meet her!

Notably, I think our recipe triumphs of the day were the Mediterranean barley salad:

Ina Garten's Lemon Bars (which I successfully made without burning the house down and putting the new juicer to good use for the second time):

And today's featured recipe of the day, Shrimp Canapes (which I somehow couldn't manage to remember to get a picture of all by itself). We tested this recipe as it was originally written by Claire Robinson from the Food Network, and made the necessary changes featured here to make it a more well-rounded appetizer.

20 large fresh shrimp, peeled, cleaned and deveined
2 tbsp old bay
1 quart water
1 cup white wine
1 bag presliced french bread
1 small container sour cream
1-2 tbsp prepared horseradish, depending on how strong you want it
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
chopped chives for garnish

Bring a quart of water to a simmer in a large pot over medium heat. Once simmering, add the white wine and the Old Bay to flavor. Add the shrimp, and poach (do not boil!) for 5 minutes until pink and cooked through. Use caution to not overcook or they will be too tough.

While the shrimp is cooking, mix the sour cream and horseradish in a small bowl. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Drain the shrimp and place in a bowl of ice to cool.

While the shrimp is cooling, place the bread slices onto a baking sheet, heat oven to 350, and toast for 10-15 minutes until just lightly toasted (not too hard to bite through).

Once the shrimp is cool, pull the tails off the shrimp and slice in half to form two shrimp rounds.

Take the toasted bread slices, dip one side quickly in the champagne vinegar to gently flavor (don't let it soak through) and place on a plate. Spoon a small amount of horseradish sour cream onto the bread, then top with a shrimp round. Continue this process with each of the toast slices. Top with chopped chives for garnish, and serve. Enjoy!

And congratulations again to Charissa and Shannon!

A Light Weeknight

I love making this recipe as a last minute weeknight throw-together. It cooks fast, is low in fat, and is very light. For my vegetarian friends who are shaking their heads while reading this, substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Recipe of the day: Quick Spaghetti with Sauteed Zucchini in Broth

1 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 small onion, sautéed
Ground black pepper for seasoning

1 bag frozen yellow and green squash
1 can chicken stock
1/2 lb spaghetti

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Boil spaghetti according to directions. Meanwhile, sauté onion and frozen/fresh squash in olive oil until softened and season liberally with pepper. 

Add chicken stock and stir to make a thin sauce.

Add pasta to the pan to coat with the sauce...

...and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve hot. Enjoy with extra cheese and toasted Italian bread.

Macaroni and Gravy, Part II

While I maintain that I am not anywhere near an authority on Italian cooking, I think I've come up with a meatball recipe that has a good balance of taste, from the meatloaf mix, and moisture, from being simmered in the sauce instead of being baked in the oven or fried on the stove. One of the changes I edited into the recipe, compared to the photos shown below, is processing the onions instead of trying to chop them by hand to add more moisture.

As one of my friends started the gravy vs. sauce argument, I figured I'd mention it here (after all, I do enjoy being a true pot-stirrer, no pun intended)...keep in mind that to true Italians, as I have been told, it doesn't become gravy until the meat goes in to simmer. Just sayin ;)

Recipe of the Day: Italian Meatballs
1 1/3 cups parmesan cheese
2 1/2 lb meatloaf mix
1 tsp each salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/4 large onion, finely chopped in a food processor
1 cup Italian flavored breadcrumbs (use fresh if you have them)
1/3 cup whole milk
2 eggs

Soak breadcrumbs in milk.

Add all ingredients to large bowl...

...and mix with your hands. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to form the meatballs (this should be done by the end of the day, don't leave the mix in the fridge for more than a few hours)

Form golf-ball sized meatballs and set aside. 

Place meatballs in simmering sauce, cover, set heat to warm/low and cook 30 minutes. Stir sauce gently every few minutes to prevent burning on the bottom.

Macaroni and Gravy, Part I

I think it's about time to reveal the sauce recipe. The long one that I never get to make because, well, who (especially someone as impatient as me) has that amount of time to stand around and stare at a simmering pot. I took a risk, and left the pot on to cook while I went to work with the plan that 1) Hillary was going to be home 2 hours after I left, and 2) only after calling a couple of the firefighters on Station 40 and asking them to listen for my address, stating that any smoke alarms would, in fact, be a true fire.
The combination of the different textures of the tomatoes makes for a more complete sauce that doesn't taste too dry or monotone.

I continue to use canned tomatoes against better judgement, because my tomato "crops" yielded no more than one appetizer sided portion for a caprese salad.

We calculated that the tomatoes I gardened cost me approximately $50 each. Better luck next year.

Recipe of the Day: Red Sauce (Long Version)
1/2 stick butter
1 large yellow onion, halved and sliced
3-28oz cans petite diced tomatoes
2-28 oz cans crushed tomatoes in puree
1-29 oz can tomato puree
1-29 oz can tomato sauce

Before simmering seasonings:
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried basil
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup good red wine

After simmering seasonings:
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf


Melt butter in a large pot, and cook onions for 5 minutes until softened and turning translucent.

Add the contents of all of the canned tomatoes (7 in total, pictured above)....

...and bring to a boil over medium. Add the "before simmering seasonings" listed above and stir to incorporate. Reduce heat to warm/low, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Cook for 5 hours, then add "after simmering seasonings" and cook for another hour. At that point, the sauce is ready to use however you wish. We used it to cook meatballs and sausage in, to make sausage heroes.

it's back (again)

Figured I'd ease into things and put up one of the most simple dessert recipes I have. Now some may say that any idiot can make yellow cake mix taste good, but this really is failproof as long as you don't set the kitchen on fire or forget to take it out of the oven. The cake turns out so moist, it does not need any frosting to make it delectable. If you're looking to dress it up a little bit, it goes well with vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Recipe of the Day: Easy Cake
(Pam for Baking spray)
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil


Preheat the oven to 350. Spray the inside of a light-metal Bundt pan with Pam to coat it.

Combine all the ingredients listed above in a large bowl.

Using a hand mixer, mix ingredients on low for 1-2 minutes until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour the batter into the greased Bundt pan.

Bake in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes and remove from the oven. Turn out onto a cooling rack immediately after removing from the oven to allow to cool completely.

off the back burner

I'm so excited to be back blogging...work has been taking over my life for the past month or so, and cooking seems to have taken the back burner as well (no pun intended). But I'm trying to get back into the swing of things, slowly but surely. With Jersey corn reaching its peak in the next few weeks, as well as September being right around the corner, I've written a recipe for corn chowder that is a delicious blend of summer and fall flavors. It's hearty enough to be a meal all on its own, but would pair nicely with a mixed green salad if you're trying to balance out all of the health benefits that bacon has to offer.

Recipe of the day: Lime and Bacon Corn Chowder with Cornbread Croutons

1/2 pound bacon, sliced into 1/4" chunks
2 red bell peppers, diced
1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
26 oz frozen corn (I combined 1 small bag of yellow corn with 1 small bag of white corn)
1 large red potato, diced small
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 boxes (36 ounces) low sodium chicken broth
Store-bought cornbread, cubed

Cook bacon slowly over medium-low heat, for about 15 minutes (low and slow is the key for rendering the fat out properly).

Add the peppers and onions and cook for 10 minutes until softened.

Add the corn and chicken stock, raise heat to high, and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer, and add the potato and lime juice.

Allow to boil over medium for 1 hour.  

Meanwhile, toast the cornbread cubes at 325. If they end up looking like this:

....throw them away and make another batch:

Serve the soup hot, waiting to put the cornbread croutons on top until you're ready to sit down to eat.