Italian Seasoned Super Sub

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a recipe for the sandwich my oldest son calls "The Holy Spirit Sandwich" (see Turkey Club Sandwich with Avocado Aioli).  Before I introduced him to that sandwich, this one was his favorite and he named it "The Jesus Sandwich" because it's that good!

I've been making this sandwich so many years that I don't remember where I found the recipe and the original copy has disappeared.  Luckily, I had typed it up for someone, so I had it saved in my computer.  This is one of my personal favorite sandwiches that I make and feel that the bread is what helps put this one at the top of my list.  This sandwich gets all 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.

For some reason, the pictures of the process of preparing the bread disappeared from my camera, so there is only the finished loaf pictured above.  It's a fairly easy process which begins by spraying a nonstick cooking spray on a baking sheet.  Then the bread dough is removed from the can and placed seam side down on the sprayed baking sheet.  Using a serrated knife, I cut 5 diagonal slices in the top of the loaf (they can be seen in the picture above), which allows for expansion as the bread bakes.  I then spray the top with additional nonstick cooking spray and in a small bowl combine the Parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic salt.  This mixture gets sprinkled on top of the loaf and it gets baked at 350°F for about 30 minutes.  It needs to be completely cool before assembling the sandwich.  When it's really hot outside, I bake the bread in the morning and once it's cooled completely, I wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out until I'm ready to assemble the sandwich in the evening.

Once cool, I cut the loaf in half horizontally.  The assembly begins by spreading the creamy Italian salad dressing on both halves of the bread.  When I couldn't find creamy Italian salad dressing in the market, I would make a mixture of mayonnaise and regular Italian salad dressing, which gave me the same result.

Then I begin layering the fillings.  I begin with the swiss cheese, overlapping so the cheese is in every bite.  I also think the tips that hang over the edge help give the sandwich a stuffed full of goodness look when it is completed.

The next layer is deli thin slices of ham.

This is followed by the bell pepper rings.  I overlap them also for the best coverage.

I angle and overlap the cheddar cheese slices as I did with the Swiss cheese.  I use the sharp cheddar cheese as I think it has more flavor.

Next is the Italian dry salami, where again I overlap each slice.

The sliced tomato goes on next.  I like to use the Roma tomatoes on this sandwich, but you can use any kind.

To make this sandwich faster to assemble, I use the prepackaged shredded lettuce on top.

I put the top half of the loaf on top and it's ready to cut and serve.  It even looks good from an aerial point of view!

Does this sandwich look like it's packed full of goodness, or what?  

I cut this sandwich into four equal pieces for my family.  I didn't measure them, but I'd say each piece is somewhere between 4 and 5 inches long.  I think this sandwich not only rivals but beats any sandwich you can buy at Subway or Jersey Mike's!  Enjoy!

Italian Seasoned Super Sub

BREAD

Nonstick cooking spray

1 (11 oz.) can Pillsbury Refrigerated Crusty French Loaf

2 tablespoons shredded fresh Parmesan cheese

½ teaspoon dried oregano leaves

¼ teaspoon garlic salt

FILLING

3 tablespoons purchased creamy Italian salad dressing

5 slices Swiss cheese

¼ lb. thinly sliced cooked ham

1 small green bell pepper, sliced into rings

5 slices cheddar cheese

¼ lb. sliced Italian dry salami

1 medium tomato, sliced

1 cup shredded lettuce

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Remove dough from can; place seam side down on baking sheet.  With sharp or serrated knife, cut 5 (1/4-inch deep) diagonal slices on top of dough.  Spray dough with nonstick cooking spray.  In small bowl, combine Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and oregano; mix well.  Sprinkle on top of bread dough.  Bake at 350°F for 26 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown.  Cool 20 minutes or until completely cooled.

Cut bread in half lengthwise.  Brush cut sides of bread with salad dressing.  Layer bottom half with Swiss cheese, ham, bell pepper, cheddar cheese, salami, tomato and lettuce.  Cover with top half of bread.  Cut into 4 pieces.

Mexican Chicken and Rice

When it's hot outside, I like to make dishes that don't heat up my kitchen by turning on the oven.  This dish is made entirely in one skillet on top of the stove, and it makes enough for the four of us plus lunch for one of us the next day!

This recipe came enclosed with one of my Quick Cooking magazines years ago.  This hearty dish is served family style where I put the skillet in the center of the table and everyone helps themselves.  The salsa and spices give this dish a Mexican flavor and the melted cheddar is the perfect topping.  This recipe gets 8s and 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.

In a large skillet, I combine the chicken, bell pepper and onion.  I cook them over medium-high heat until the chicken is no longer pink and the vegetables are crisp-tender.

Then I add my seasonings.  My cooking teacher way back in 7th grade said to always add the seasonings directly to the meat as it will adhere to it and therefore will be more evenly distributed in your dishes.  That made sense to me, so I've been doing it that way ever since!

Next, I add the salsa, stirring to make sure it's fully incorporated.

The corn gets added next, followed by the chicken stock.  I stir until everything is well combined.

Once everything comes up to a boil, I add the Minute Rice.

It's important, that all of the rice is submerged in the liquids of this dish to ensure it cooks properly.  

I cover the skillet and remove it from the heat for 5 minutes to let the rice cook.  Then I remove the lid and "fluff" the rice by stirring gently.  You can see that the rice has absorbed all of the liquid.

While the rice was cooking, I was shredding the cheese so I could sprinkle it on top as soon as the rice was cooked.  I replaced the lid to trap in the heat, so the cheese would melt more quickly, and brought the skillet to the table for serving.

There aren't too many ingredients or steps to this dish, so I can have it on the table in about 30 minutes. No, I'm not trying to compete with Rachel Ray.  I just wanted you to know how quickly this complete meal can be put together.  Enjoy!

Mexican Chicken and Rice

2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium green pepper, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 can (8-3/4 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup salsa

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon pepper

1-1/2 cups uncooked instant rice

1-1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, sauté chicken, green pepper and onion in oil until chicken is no longer pink and vegetables are crisp-tender.  Add corn, broth, salsa, salt, chili powder, and pepper; bring to a boil.  Stir in the rice; cover and remove from the heat.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Cover and let stand for 3 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Liza's Mini Pizzas

Every kid loves pizza and this was one of my boy's favorite things to request for dinner as they were growing up.  It was a favorite of mine because of how quickly I could put it together and I knew they were always going to eat every last bite.

This is still one of my go to meals when I'm feeding my family at three different times and I don't have a lot of time to put something together.  Because of my time constraint, I didn't take time to measure anything in order to type up an actual recipe for you.  I put these mini pizzas together visually, and hope you can do the same by following my pictures.  My boys give these mini pizzas 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.

After preheating the oven to 400 degrees, I begin by "opening" English muffins and placing them on a baking sheet.

I top each half with some pizza sauce (not so much that it oozes out in each bite, but to cover the bread).  I used to use Ragu Pizza Quick Sauce Traditional flavor, but I can't find that product any more.  I now use the Prego Pizza Sauce, which comes in a jar.

For a little more flavor, I then sprinkle on some dried oregano.

Then I add a layer of shredded mozarella cheese.

On top of that, I add some medium cheddar for extra flavor.

The last thing is the topping and in our case, pepperoni is the topping of choice.  I add four slices to each pizza so there's a pepperoni in each bite!  I use the Hormel brand that comes in the red box, as the slices are just over an inch in diameter and fit best on these mini pizzas.

I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and when they come out they are hot and the cheese has melted and the kids can't wait to dig in.  As the cheese melts, some of the pepperoni slices may slide off the pizzas. I just push them back towards the middle.  Nobody around here really cares what they look like, they just care about how good they taste.

We usually wait about a minute before eating them, because they are simply too hot directly out of the oven.  I serve them directly from the baking sheet so as to keep them warm, but my boys inhale these so quickly, there really isn't time for them to cool down too much!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Bars

I love cinnamon rolls, so I've been collecting recipes for them or anything else that provides the same flavor to satisfy my cravings.  This is one of those recipes that I decided to try recently.  The first time I made them was for a tea I was hosting for the ladies in my Royal Ladies Tea Society.  They were so well liked by the attendees, my boys and my neighbors, that I made them again this past Saturday for my mom's birthday celebration.  Everyone who tries these bars loves them! My youngest son would eat the whole pan if I'd let him!

Not only do these bars taste great, but they are so easy to put together.  I found the recipe on Pinterest where the link led me to blissfulwhimsy.blogspot.com.  A big thank you to the author for sharing this recipe!  My guys all give these bars 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.

In a large bowl, I combine a yellow cake mix with some white and brown sugars and some cinnamon.

 To that mixture, I add the melted butter and eggs.  I melt the butter in a measuring cup in the microwave before combining the dry ingredients.  This way, the butter won't be so hot that the eggs will cook.  That's also why I make two wells in the dry ingredients, so the eggs won't mix with the butter until I mix them into the other dry ingredients first.

As you can see above, the dough is thick and somewhat sticky.

I pressed the dough into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan and then baked it in the oven at 350°F for 30 minutes.

When it came out of the oven, it had risen a bit and was golden brown around the edges.  I let the pan sit on a cooling rack until it was completely cooled.

Once cooled, I prepared the icing by combining the butter with powdered sugar using a hand mixer.  I added one cup of the powdered sugar at a time, adding the milk in between to get the proper consistency.  The original recipe called for a milk and powdered sugar icing, but I think a buttercream frosting on cinnamon rolls is the best, so I chose to make that instead.

I frosted the bars with this mixture and the bars were ready to cut and serve!

For my tea party I decided to cut the bars using a hexagon cookie cutter, to make them look a little more special.  They can be cut into any shape you like; it's the taste that makes these bars so special!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Bars

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (1stick) melted butter

2 eggs

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup softened butter

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, sugars and cinnamon.  Add butter and eggs; mix thoroughly.  Spread into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.  Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.  In a medium bowl, mix together powdered sugar, butter and milk to make icing.  Spread on cooled bars.  Cut and serve.

Mexican Salad and Quesadillas

This is another one of my recipes that I go to frequently when it's hot outside and we don't feel like eating anything hot.  It is not a taco salad, because there is no meat in this salad, but it's extremely tasty.  Because it contains Nacho Cheese Doritos, which kids love, serving this is how I got my boys to start eating salad!

I first tasted this salad at a potluck meal at the church I was raised at over 30 years ago and liked it so much I asked for a copy of the recipe.  Currently it is one of the meals my youngest son requests often.    I always serve this salad with cheese quesadillas, for which I will also share the method below.  This meal gets 8x and 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.

I begin by putting the romaine lettuce in a large bowl, tearing the pieces to make them bite size.  Then, I add the green onions and minced garlic.  I toss these ingredients to combine them, making sure the garlic is evenly distributed. 

In the meantime, I begin making the quesadillas.  On a griddle over medium-low heat, I place a flour tortilla.  To that, I add some shredded medium cheddar cheese and put several dollops of medium salsa for extra flavor.

I place another tortilla on top and cover the whole thing with a pan lid.  This helps the cheese melt by steam as well as the heat below.  I let it go for a minute or so, then gently lift the side of the top tortilla to see if the cheese is melted.  Once it is, I flip the whole thing so the cheese melts to the other tortilla.  

When the quesadilla gets flipped, the first side should be a bit toasty like in the picture above.  It doesn't take long on the second side, maybe about 30 seconds.  Then I remove it to a plate where I use a pizza cutter to cut it into wedges.  Depending on the size of the tortillas I use, I usually make 2 - 3 quesadillas to serve our family of four.

While the quesadillas cook, I continue with the salad by adding the shredded mozzarella cheese and diced tomatoes, tossing again to combine.

The next ingredient is the Nacho Cheese Doritos, which I've crushed slightly.  These are added just before serving, so they don't become soft from the moist ingredients in this salad.

The last ingredient is the Russian salad dressing.  I've made this salad so many times, I can add the right amount just by how it looks.  I would suggest the first time that you add a little salad dressing, toss it in, taste it and keep doing that until you get the desired amount according to your family's taste.  

I serve this salad immediately after tossing in the salad dressing.  It has great texture and crunch and is a wonderfully cool thing to eat on an extremely hot day.  Enjoy!

Mexican Salad

1 large stock romaine lettuce, torn  (or 1-16 oz. bag torn romaine)

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 green onions, chopped

3 Roma tomatoes, chopped

10 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 of a 11 1/2 oz. bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, coarsely crushed

8 oz. (1 cup) Russian salad dressing

Place lettuce in a large bowl, tearing into bite size pieces.  Add garlic and green onions; toss to combine.  Add tomatoes and cheese; toss to combine.  Add Doritos; toss to combine.  Add dressing; toss to combine.  Serve immediately.