Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Sandwich Night is ON!

Hey there, SIHL fans. I have not forgotten you. I've been fighting off a nasty cold, so I haven't felt like eating very many sandwiches. I don't think I can push the sandwich definition far enough to include soup and orange juice.
I'm on the mend, though. And, more importantly, Heroes will be coming back on the air next Monday. This calls for a Sandwich Night, don't you think?
Here's the plan--I will tape Heroes and we will watch it on Tuesday night since some core Sandwich Nighters will be off whooping it up for Groundhog Day on Monday night. I'm thinking meatball sandwiches. I know we've done them before. They were so good the first time (the best Sandwich Night sandwich IMHO) that they demand repeating. Plus, I will provide you with the recipe...
Let me know if can make it!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Recipe #1: Meatloaf Sandwich

My uncle suggested posting recipes for some of the sandwiches I blather on about, since everyone must want to eat the same things I eat, right? Posting recipes should be exciting. It will give me the chance to re-visit some of my favorite sandwiches and fine tune them for public consumption.
Also--it's one step closer to the book deal. Isn't that every food blogger's dream?
So--I'll start you out with a old favorite: the meatloaf sandwich.
Make fun of meatloaf all you want, haters. People love meatloaf. You can alter the basic recipe in so many ways. And, it's lovely sliced up and eaten between two pieces of bread.
My favorite meatloaf recipe comes from my mom. I don't know where she got it from, but she's been making it for as long as I can remember. You make little individual loaves with the mixture, so everyone gets their own and you can put more sauce on them. I've altered it a bit by changing the meat from ground beef to ground turkey, but that's about it!
Lemon Meatloaf
2 lb. ground turkey
4 slices bread, diced
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tsp. seasoned salt
Sauce:
1/2 c. ketchup
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Combine the first 6 ingredients. Shape into 8 small loaves. Place in a 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients. Take the meatloaves out of the oven after 15 minutes and spoon sauce over each loaf. Return to oven and bake 30 more minutes.

The meatloaf is fantastic, hot from the oven and eaten with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli or green beans. Just make sure you save a couple loaves for sandwiches!

These meatloaf sandwiches were some of my favorite as a kid. Which is really saying something because I hardly ate sandwiches as a kid! My mom would slice the leftover cold meatloaf and place it between two pieces of challah generously spread with with mayonnaise. As an adult, it continues to be one of my favorites. The best meatloaf sandwich I ever made was on homemade potato bread, with lots of mayonnaise and eaten in the car after a particularly chilly day of cross country skiing.

Meatloaf Sandwich
1 lemon meatloaf, chilled
2 slices bread, preferably egg bread or potato bread
Mayonnaise, to taste.
Cut the meatloaf into several slices.
Lay the slices on a piece of bread, generously spread with mayonnaise. The bread pictured is oat nut bread. I prefer a good white bread, egg bread, or potato bread. But oat nut was pretty good as well!
I like to push all the sauced sides together so the outside of the sandwich is cleaner and there are nice pockets of saucy mayonnaise goodness to encounter as you enjoy your sandwich.
Voila!
(I was also inspired by Ethan to try my meatloaf sandwich in the panini press. Super! That panini press makes everything taste delectable.)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

New Year, New Directions?

I'm still pondering new themes for the blog this year. The year of counting sandwiches was lots of fun but that's been done. I'm thinking of posting recipes for some of my favorite sandwiches this year. Or maybe exploring the extremes of sandwiches. It's always fun to raise the is it a sandwich or isn't it argument, after all. Or maybe devoting myself to a certain number of new and unique sandwich discoveries.
So, stay tuned as I continue to explore the wonderful world of sandwiches!

Lamb Burgers!

Who new lamb burgers were so delicious? Well, I did, actually. That's why I was excited that Kate offered to host Sandwich Night and make lamb burgers.
They were fantastic. She mixed parsley, cilantro, white vinegar, molasses, allspice and some more ingredients I'm surely forgetting into the ground lamb.For bread, she had wheat buns, French buns and pita bread. She made tzatziki sauce and Greek salad. Plus, she had feta cheese, sliced red onions, and spinach to round out the choices.
Pretty! There's a burger in there, too.
A more traditional burger option. And a nice action shot.
The cross section. They were so good that I made one on pita bread, then finished with half a burger on the French bun. I don't know which one I preferred. They were both awesome.
Karen and Lisa came as well. Karen brought dulce de leche and clementines. Try dipping clementine segments into dulce de leche. Just try it. Trust me.
For entertainment we switched between Superstars of Dance and The Bachelor. Really, we were saving ourselves for True Beauty. Wow--a reality show from the crazed minds of Tyra Banks AND Ashton Kutcher. I felt my IQ slip a few points during that one. But with delicious lamb burgers in my belly, I hardly minded a bit.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Whoops! Missed one!

I just downloaded all my pictures from my trip to LA and I realized I missed a sandwich in the count. And it was the best sandwich I had while I was out there. Silly me. Here it is--the turkey club with avocado from Bob's Big Boy. It was a lovely day on the patio!
Another sandwich of note:
Tommy's Sausage and Egg Chili Cheese Breakfast Sandwich. If it does not kill you, it will make you stronger.
I ate my In-n-Out burgers so fast I forgot to photograph them so you'll just have to use your imagination...

Friday, January 2, 2009

First Sandwich Night of 2009!

Kate is hosting the first Sandwich Night of 2009 on Monday, January 5.
She will be making lamb burgers! Yum!
For entertainment, we will either surf television for terrible reality shows or watch Mamma Mia.
Let us know if you can make it!

Thursday, January 1, 2009

The count is in!

How fitting that Blondie ran this strip on 12/31/08! My year of counting sandwiches has drawn to a close and I am happy to report that my final sandwich of 2008 (#309) was an In-n-Out Cheeseburger, eaten luke warm in my parents' lovely and sunny Southern California backyard. Aaah, perfect!
Happy New Year, everyone!