Leftover Rib Eye Sandwiches

Any time we have leftover steak, I make steak sandwiches.  I almost like it as much as the original meal.  Almost. 

Steak is delicious cold and when you pair it with fresh veggies and a sauce that doesn't quit, well you got yourself a happy hubby.  

I mean...can we just have a moment of silence for how perfectly marbled and medium rare this rib eye is?  THANKS GRILL MASTER CHARLIE.  

Hellman's mayo is a great base.  Get the real kind, not the light or fat free or weird kind.  The real kind is real - just eggs, oil, vinegar and lemon juice and a few other ingredients I can't think of.  It doesn't contain anything crazy (like cornstarch, ew) so it's the perfect base to get creative with.  I always have balsamic on hand - like 30 kinds worth.  Since I wanted a nice, thick sauce, I added a few squirts of balsamic glaze to the mayo.  You could also add dijon, garlic, Worcestershire, lemon juice, or anything you want, really.  Since DA BEEF was coming from an Italian flavor profile (Tuscan rib eyes ya'all), I went with balsamic.

Get a nice soft roll, or a crusty baguette.  Are you catching on?  You can make this a million different ways.  I went with a soft roll because that's just my preference, but I've had this on crust ciabatta too and it's ridic.

Spread this sauce on both sides of the roll, layer with steak, top with red onion and lettuce.  Cut and half and devour.  And I do mean devour. 

MMMMM mmmmm mmmm.  Get right outside of town with this.

Stay hungry!

Roast Beef and Butter Sandwiches

I remember the first time my mom made these.  And ever time since.  They are so freaking delicious I can't even deal.  AND IT IS SO EASY.  Like scary easy.  I remember making these when I was home alone one time.  I made myself a sandwich and I made one for my dog JoJo.  She was pretty pumped about it.  This was the first time I added cheese though, and I think this will be the new staple.  

Dear lord. 

So I know it sounds weird.  Roast beef.  In butter.  But something happens to the roast beef when you saute it in the melted butter.  The entire flavor changes and it becomes glorious. 

I would recommend buying rare roast beef from the deli counter.  That way, when you saute it in the butter it doesn't become super tough.  You are basically cooking it...twice...so you want to be careful not to over do it.

Saute the beef for about 2-3 minutes.  Just long enough for the butter to work into the beef.  This is what it'll look like.  Drooling.  I'm drooling.



Set the beef aside.  Get nice rolls...like these kaiser rolls.  I split them down the middle, added some provolone cheese....



...and toasted them in the oven for about 2-3 minutes at 325 degrees.  Just enough to heat the rolls through and melt the cheese.



Holy cow.  Literally.  Somewhere in Connecticut, Caitlin is scrunching her nose up at that joke.

 

Mmmm.

Here's the "recipe."  It's more about assembly, not the recipe. 

4 Tbs of Butter 

1/2 Lb of Rare Roast Beef, Sliced Thin 

2 Kaiser Rolls 

4 Slices of Provolone Cheese 

Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the roast beef and saute the beef gently for 2-3 minutes or until the beef cooks down and the butter fully coats it. While beef is cooking, toast kaiser rolls with provolone for 2-3 minutes in a 325 degree oven or until the cheese is melted and the rolls are heated through.  Pile the rolls high with beef and serve immediately. 

Stay hungry! 

Chicken Parm Grilled Cheese

Well that Super Bowl sucked.  I mean, you basically lost me when the Pat's lost a couple of weekends ago, but still.  So boring.  I was doing that thing I normally do when Charlie is watching sports where I just look at the TV but I'm not actually watching.  Like Charlie could literally ask me, "What just happened?" and I wouldn't have the faintest idea.  I don't even know what I think about.  It's a talent really.  I look like I'm paying attention but my mind is eyeballs deep in something delicious tasting. 

Anyway, this weekend was a big pig out weekend.  I'm feeling quite rotund actually.  I'm not sure why I decided to kick off my weekend with a Chicken Parm Grilled Cheese when I was well aware I was going to be feasting on delicious Super Bowl delights, but...YOLO.  (Mom, YOLO means You Only Live Once.  Call me later, K?) 

The Jewel by our condo makes the most amazing chicken fingers.  They are just ridiculously good.  Isn't that crazy?  It's funny to me the random stuff we find that I can't live without.  It's sort of become a Saturday tradition (when we don't go to Eataly).  Charlie and I go to the grocery store, pull up our cart to the hot food counter, and order a pound of chicken fingers and then snack on them while we're shopping for less fattening foods.    I got inspired and decided to whip the extra chick fings into a grilled cheese.

It's so easy.  You just combine fluffy white bread, provolone, chicken fingers and a few spoonfuls of your favorite marinara sauce.  DEE LIGHT FULL.  I know this sounds like a regular chicken parm sub, but it's totes not.  When you grill the bread in lots of butter something amazing happens.  It's light, crispy, but tangy and cheesy all at the same time.  You just have to try it.

Here's the recipe...

Chicken Parm Grilled Cheese

4 Slices of White Bread 
4 Chicken Fingers, Roughly Chopped 
1/2 Cup of Rao's Marinara, Divided (Rao's in my favorite, but use whatever) 
8 Slices of Provolone Cheese 
Butter 

Heat butter over a skillet on medium heat.  Be generous.  Add two slices of  bread.  Add two slices of cheese to each piece of bread and cover, letting the cheese melt a bit.  Add chicken fingers and a half the sauce.  Assemble sandwich and continue to cook until bread is golden brown and crispy on each side.  If cheese doesn't melt easily, add a couple drops of water to the hot pan and cover, letting the steam melt the cheese.  Repeat to make the second sandwich and enjoy.

Stay hungry!

Heirloom Tomato Salad BLT and a Trip to the Farmers Market



I love it when Charlie get's something stuck in his head.  It makes me feel a little less crazy, for like... a second.  He woke up dreaming of an heirloom tomato BLT on Saturday morning so off to the farmers market we went. 

Normally we wonder around the farmers market aimlessly with no real purpose.  We just pop around, sample some goodies, and usually leave with 3 pieces of cheese worth like forty dollars...worth every penny of course.  Not this time though.  WE WERE READY. 

Ok so want to hear something funny?  I actually uploaded this picture thinking these were heirloom tomatoes.  It's been a long week OKAY?!

We were "tired and hungry" from walking around so we decided we needed a snack.  It just so happened to be a grilled pork belly sandwich with coleslaw and spicy red pepper sauce.  OMG yum.



Back to the BLT.  So the best BLTs are the ones with the best ingredients.  It's so simple, that everything must be perfect.  These heirloom tomatoes were just to die for. After slicing into them they burst with the most amazing fragrance. Fresh and gardeny.  You don't get that with a grocery store tomato.  You just don't and it makes me sad.

We picked up some other ingredients as well...one that's missing from the picture is the bacon, obvi.   We got free range, nitrate free, blah blah blah bacon.  All I know is that it was really good.

Can we talk about how perfect this bread is?  I mean oh my.

If you use anything besides Hellman's mayo for your BLT than feel free to walk your face into your fist.  Look how creamy and crunchy and salty and bready and amazing this is.

Stay hungry! 

Skinny Stuff It Veggie Wrap

When I was growing up my sister and I would get veggie wraps from a place called Stuff It.  They were incredible.  I remember texting her awhile back, asking for ideas for the blog and she challenged me with recreating the recipe.  Now let's get something straight.  We would get veggie wraps just because they tasted amazing, NOT because they were healthy.  A typical veggie sandwich from a deli has around 600 calories, 50 carbs, 30 grams of fat, and very little fiber.  Ouch.

We can totally do better than that.

I've made my version a couple of times, base on some of her suggestions.  It has never been exactly right, but close enough.  Last weekend I made a lighter version and it came out simply amazing. Mmmm I'm looking at the above picture literally drooling.  Yum.

 Here is what you need for about 2 very large, overstuffed wraps:

1/4 Red Onion, Sliced very very thin 

1/2 Cup of Bean Sprouts 

1/2 Cup of Alfalfa Sprouts 

1/2 Cup of Pre Packaged Broccoli Slaw 

1/2 Cup of Pre Packaged Sliced Red Cabbage 

1/4 Cup of Carrots, Freshly Shredded if Possible 

2 Slices of Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese, Sliced Very Thin 

2 Mission Carb Balance Tortilla Wraps 

1/4 Cup of Light Hellman's Mayonnaise 

2 Tbs of Tamari 

1 Tbs of Lemon Juice, Freshly Squeezed 

Mix mayonnaise, tamari, and lemon juice together.  Add vegetables to dressing and toss well.  Line each tortilla with 1 slice of cheese.  Jarlsberg Swiss slices are rather large so one should work just fine.  Add a large scoop of the dressed veggies to the center and wrap together, using wax paper to hold everything in place.  The point is to have an overstuffed, decadent wrap of veggies.  You could easily make 3 smaller wraps out of this if you prefer. Enjoy. 

Each wrap has 6 Weight Watcher Points.  Here is the complete info: 

Wow.  About half the calories, half the carbs, and about a sixth of the amount of fat and ALL the flavor.  Yes.  We're on to something. 

Stay hungry! 

Egg In A Hole Grilled Cheese

Ok so just one more grilled cheese.  You guys know how much I love eggs right?  

This is code for I haven't gone grocery shopping in a month and my best friend is getting married and I can't do anything besides sit and day dream about her wedding and turn whatever I have in my fridge into a grilled cheese.  

Anyway. 

I bought this cookie cutter type thing from Crate and Barrel.  If you don't have something like this, juse use the rim of a glass.  So...cut out the center circle of a piece of bread.  

 

The trick to making any good fried egg?  Use a nonstick pan and lots of butter. Put in the circle cut out piece of bread in the pan...

And crack an egg into the hole.  I would recommend cracking the egg into a glass or bowl and then dropping it in from there.  Let this sit for about 1-2 minutes over medium heat or until the whites start to become opaque around the edges and the egg fuses with the bread.  You'll see what I mean. 

If you knew how impressed I was for flipping this over and getting this result...you'd probably stop reading this blog. 

Ok so as soon as you flip it over add a couple of slices of cheese.  I just used American. 

Add your other piece of bread and re-butter the pan.  I just drop a little pat of butter in and swirl it around the outside, so once I flip I can move the new piece of bread around to get nice and buttery. 

Now flip.  

This is what you want...nice and crispy. 

Oh boy.  Get excited. 

BOOM.  Let's just take a good look here...shall we?

 

 

 

 Of course...I went right for the yolk.  AMAZING.   

 

Stay hungry! 

Charlie's Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Did you guys know that April is National Grilled Cheese Month?  Yeah, me neither.

I was wondering why grilled cheese sandwiches were popping up everywhere I looked.  In my food magazines, on food blogs, even on the special menus at some of my favorite restaurants in Chicago.  I was feeling festive and decided I'd come up with an original grilled cheese in honor of my husband.  Enter the Sriracha Pepper Jack Chicken Finger Grilled Cheese.  Yes.  I know.  Drool face up in here. 

Start off with two good slices of white bread...

Then, mix equal parts of Sriracha hot sauce and Hellman's Mayo and brush it on the outside layers of the bread, like this:

On a griddle pan or saute pan, put the sauce side down and layer on two slices of pepper jack cheese:

Slice up a chicken finger (I just picked up a couple of chick fings from the hot foods section of my grocery store) and layer that on top of the cheese.

Now, it starts to get real ugly.  Add TWO MORE slices of pepper jack cheese on top of the chicken finger.

Add the other slice of bread on top, sauce side out, then flip.  The sun was glaring through the skylight this morning, sorry about the over exposure, but you get the idea.

Now, flip.  Golden, crunchy, delicious.  

 

 Ohhhh boy.  I'm not messing around here.  This was just RIDIC. 

 

Putting mayo on the outside of the bread, instead of butter, is actually a trick I learned from my mom. Think about all of the possibilities.  Garlic mayo, ranch mayo, dill mayo...I could go on and on.  Mayo is basically made from oil, eggs, and vinegar - perfect ingredients to give the outside of the bread some crunch and extra flavor.

 

Almost every Sunday, Charlie makes a pepper jack cheese and chicken finger sub.  He might have even gotten that idea from his brother...I'm not sure.  But it's been a weekend special in our house for a couple of years now.  This new guy is going to give his sub a run for its money. 

Don't you just love the golden red color the Sriracha gives the outside of the crust?  YUMMMM.

 

What's your favorite twist on a grilled cheese?  Stay hungry!