The Best Meal I Have Made My Guy....So Far

Last week, I received the ultimate praise from my guy. This is the praise that every woman that wants her man to be happy loves to hear. What is the best way to your man's heart? Through his stomach. Ok and being loving and supporting and a good listener and all those other things. But as a girl that loves to cook, I love it when I please my man with my cooking. So what was it that I heard him say?

"This is the best meal you have ever made"

And the best part - the meal was sooooo simple, thanks to some Pinterest searching and some Food Network TV watching.

I am a huge fan of Ree Drummond, AKA - The Pioneer Woman. I love her blog, her TV show and most of all her cooking style. She is so down to earth and cooks with normal ingredients. Most of her meals are simple to make and will keep you full and satisfied.

Recently, my guy and I watched an episode of her show where she made creamy herbed potatoes. They looked absolutely fantastic and we were left just short of drooling after the episode. I knew this was something I needed to make soon. Mind you this is not a healthy dish and even though I used a few healthier ingredients than Ree, it's still a splurge side dish.

Start with sauteing some onions in a lot of butter!

 
I was able to use my new mandolin to slice up the potatoes. It worked like a dream and all the potatoes were the same thickness to cook the same.

Then you add cream cheese (I went with the 1/3 less fat kind)

I used just a small amount of cream (because I had it) and 1% milk to complete the creamy part of the potatoes. I didn't have any fresh herbs, so I just cut back on my dried herb usage. I have read that dried herbs can have double the flavor as fresh so you don't need to use as much.

Stir it all around until everything is smooth and combined and then pour it over the potatoes.

The it's into the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the middle is bubbly. I do think I could cut back on the butter a bit - maybe use half a cup instead of a cup, but that would probably affect the flavor.

While the potatoes were cooking, it was time to make the Paninis. 

I recently got a Cuisinart Griddler and have been trying different Panini sandwiches on it. Cafe de Arts in Waukesha makes an awesome Prime Rib Panini, so I scoured Pinterest and found something similar to try in my press. I think what makes Cafe de Arts Panini so delicious is the sauce, so I made sure to buy some fresh horseradish to use in the mix.

I started by softening some onions with a little oil over medium heat. I didn't actually caramelize them, just softened them up for the sandwich. I nuked some mushrooms for about a minute in the microwave, drained off the water and set them on the side to add to the sandwich.

I made the spread from Miracle Whip, horseradish and mozzarella cheese.  Then it was time to assemble. Oil the outside of the bread and lay that side on the heated Panini maker. Spread the spread over the bread and then put two pieces of roast beef, onions and mushrooms and then 1-2 more pieces of roast beef. Then spread the spread on another piece of bread and place the spread side against the roast beef. Spray the outside of the bread with EVOO and then close the Panini press using light pressure for about 30 seconds.

The sandwiches were done 5 minutes later and the potatoes rested. It was time to dig in. My guy was in heaven. And that's when I heard....."This is the best meal you have ever made" He loved everything about it. The crisp bread with a little heat to the sauce on the sandwich. The potatoes were rich, creamy and irresistible.

I told my mom about the delicious sandwiches and she wanted the recipe as well. I sent it to her and she made them this past week too. She agreed they are fabulous! This meal definitely goes on the list of To Be Made Again (and again and again)!

Grilled Cheese - Butter Vs. Miracle Whip

I love a good grilled cheese sandwich. In high school, I used to get a grilled cheese and chocolate chip cookies for lunch almost daily. The school's convection oven would toast up the bread but leave it buttery and the cheese was always perfectly melted. And the cookies were barely cooked and more like cookie dough than cookies. They were a hit with everyone and sold out daily!

Grilled cheese is a simple sandwich but oh so delicious. Recently I read that people use mayo on the bread instead of butter. This made me really curious and I decided to try it. My guy was on board for this taste test as well so we cooked them up one night at his out. We like Miracle Whip over mayo so we used that for the sandwiches.

 I buttered and Miracle Whipped the breads with equal amounts and waited for the pan to heat up.

 We made the butter version first so as to not have the mayo affect the flavor of our control sandwich.

 It grilled up nicely with two pieces of American cheese inside - all melty and gooey.

 Then it was Miracle Whips turn to show us what its got.

 It grilled up differently and left the bread softer, making it harder to flip. I kept mushing the bread.

 I had to flip it multiple times to get it to brown up and get crisp on the outside.

 Finally it was done.

We cut each sandwich in half and began the taste test. The sandwich with butter was crisp on the outside with melty cheese in the middle - just as I like it. The Miracle Whip sandwich was softer on the outside and was harder to cut without tearing the bread. However, the Miracle Whip added a unique tang to the sandwich that I quite enjoyed. I wish the bread would crisp up more. Possibly a "firmer" bread could help to not have the sandwich be as soft. These were made with Sara Lee Old Fashioned bread. It is a softer bread and one of my guy's favorites. 

I picked up some seafood bisque from Key Westconsin for us to have with the sandwiches. This was excellent - a tad spicy, but dunking the sandwiches in it brought the spice down to my level. I felt so grown up with my fancy tomato soup (bisque) and unique grilled cheese.

I recently got a Cuisinart Griddler and love making Panini sandwiches on it. I haven't tried Miracle Whip on it yet, but I think the pressing of the bread would definitely help it crisp up.

Here is a ham and white American cheese sandwich that I made recently to test out the press. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the bread instead of butter (per the instruction book's suggestion). And I used Brownberry Country Sourdough - a firmer bread.

Once your sandwich is made, you press the lid down lightly for 30 seconds and then let the sandwich cook for about 5 minutes. I checked on it a few times when I heard sizzling and it was browning nicely.

Voila! The final product. It had cheese oozing out of the side of the sandwich, so I now know that one piece of cheese will be plenty for a Panini.

 The sandwich was very crisp on the outside and warm and melty on the inside. I love Paninis!

I can't wait to experiment with it more and show you other sandwiches that I have created on it.

Cafe de Arts has some excellent Panini sandwiches. Let me just hint at a roast beef Panini I made for my guy based off of a sandwich from Cafe, that he told me was the best thing I have ever made for him! That will be on the blog soon!