Every now and then we eat something and think, “Hmm these foods aren’t all that appealing by themselves. But, then you put them all together and …magic!” Exibit A: Ruebens. Let’s break it down.

Rye bread. We both happen to love love rye bread, but it is a very strong flavor.

Corned beef. Eh…take it or leave it. Mostly leave it. (Unless it’s St. Patricks day, of course.)

Swiss cheese. Super stinky.

Sauerkraut. Need we say more?

And who the heck likes thousand island dressing? See where we’re going here?

BUT. When they are layered all together and slathered with butter and grilled to a warm crispy perfection, it is a thing of beauty. Suddenly salty, stinky and sour never tasted so good! Right?! Well, we think so! We both love the flavors of a reuben. One of our favorite meals is Reuben Hash which we make once a year. What we don’t love is all the calories that go with this favorite sandwich. So we put together a slimmed-down version.

Turkey Reuben Sliders.

Pin It

Continue Reading…

Way back in 2002, Sarah decided that she wanted a guitar for Christmas. She asked for money from her family so that she could go out and buy a guitar and learn how to play. The only problem was that she knew nothing about guitars.

[Enter handsome guitar player friend, named Dave]

Sarah asked if I could help her pick out a guitar and then give her lessons. Since I thought she was pretty much the hottest girl ever, I agreed.

So shortly after Christmas, we met up in Des Moines so Sarah could get her guitar. Of course, I saw this as an opportunity to really charm her and win her heart. So I took her out to lunch at the nicest restaurant that I knew of…Panera. I know, I know…most people would not even consider Panera to be a nice restaurant (or even a restaurant for that matter – it’s more of a cafe/bakery). But for a 19-year-old college guy, Panera was about as fancy as it got. We ordered our food and I pulled out the big guns – I bought her lunch. We enjoyed out first meal together on our first semi-date and the rest is history.

Ever since then, Panera has held a special place in our hearts (and stomachs). One of our all-time favorite sandwiches from Panera is the Frontega Chicken Panini. Smoked & pulled white meat chicken, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onions, chopped basil & chipotle mayonnaise, grilled hot on Focaccia bread. So good! We decided to try our hand at homemade Frontega Chicken. We made a few minor adjustments to the original recipe, but it was still awesome!

Continue Reading…

We try to eat dinner together as a family most nights of the week. This is something that we think is very important to our relationships. We hope to keep that tradition alive even as our schedules get crammed with more and more activities. That time together is so precious! But there is usually one night a week where I (Sarah) will feed the kids a meal and then prepare something handheld for Dave and I to eat on the go. That way we can get on with our errands as soon as possible. Most times I will make some kind of sandwich, which is exactly what I did a couple days ago when our schedule was packed full.

Growing up, my family would eat egg sandwiches on quick dinner nights. They were simple and delicious. They always started with sandwich bread slathered with Miracle Whip. (Side note…I grew up with Miracle Whip and have since crossed over to Team Mayo.) Then we would fill the sandwich with a fried egg, cheese and slice of tomato.

An egg sandwich seemed perfect for our busy night. I changed a few of the ingredients to “make it our own”.

Continue Reading…

In 1997, I (Dave) had one of the greatest discoveries of my lifetime. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was eating at a 1950′s-style diner called Stella’s. I had already ordered a burger and fries and was trying to decide what kind of shake I should get. There were so many flavor possibilities and my mind was racing, trying to decide on the best possible shake. That’s when it hit me…

Chocolate + Peanut Butter = Amazing
Chocolate + Banana = Amazing
Peanut Butter + Banana = Amazing

Therefore:
Chocolate + Peanut Butter + Banana = The Most Amazing Shake Ever

I know I wasn’t the first to come up with that flavor combination, but it was new to me at the time and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. It became my “go-to” milkshake for the next decade or so.

I had that same kind of revelation the other night when we decided to make sloppy joe’s for dinner. Nothing against ground beef and a can of manwich, but we wanted more for our sloppy joes. Here was my thinking…

Turkey + Cheddar = Amazing
Granny Smith Apples + Cheddar = Amazing
Turkey + Granny Smith Apples = Amazing

Therefore:
Turkey + Granny Smith Apples + Cheddar = The Most Amazing Sloppy Joe Ever?

Continue Reading…

So…we have a serious problem.

We cannot stop buying $0.50 day-old bread from Jimmy John’s and making sandwiches out of it.

Exhibit A: Philly Cheese Steak

Exhibit B: Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

And our latest creation…

Exhibit C: Cuban Sandwhich

The Cuban is a simple sandwich, with it’s roots tracing back to Miami and Tampa Bay. Natives of both towns will tell you that they created the Cuban, but research shows that it most likely started in Miami. The Tampa version usually contains Genoa Salami or other Italian meats. We went with the more traditional Miami version, swapping out Cuban bread for Jimmy John’s day-old bread. Roast pork, ham, swiss cheese, dill pickles, and mustard…simple, but so incredible. A Cuban is usually cooked in a sandwich press called a plancha. It is basically a panini press without the grooved surfaces. I don’t know about you, but we don’t have one of those lying around our house. So we decided to come up with our own plancha.

Continue Reading…

Reality has sunk in…again. After a relaxing 4th of July weekend, we returned home Monday night only to discover that our air has stopped working. We just got it “fixed” two weeks ago. We know that we have much to be thankful for in our lives and air conditioning isn’t vital to our existence, so we are trying to keep a positive attitude about it…but sleeping in an 82 degree room flat out sucks.

Here’s the deal…a sandwich is a powerful thing. When a sandwich is bad, it can be REALLY bad. Soggy white bread, slimy lunch meat, fake cheese. Gag me.

But when a sandwich is good, and we mean REALLY good, it can be life changing. As is the case with most foods in life, the better your ingredients are, the better your sandwich will taste. Throw a couple pieces of bacon in there and you just earned yourself an invite into Club Awesome. Of course, Dave would eat his own foot if it was wrapped in bacon…but that’s neither here nor there.

A basic club sandwich consists of two layers of filling between three slices of bread. We took that concept and added some fresh avocado to create a California Club.

Continue Reading…