Nina's Creamy Sandwich

Day 23 - "Man, you hungry have this sandwich"

The inspiration for this merry month of sandwiches. I made this sandwich one morning to have for lunch at work but from the time I made it up until I ate it I was ready to devour it! I went to clock out and told my friend working at the desk about how delicious my sandwich was going to be and all about my love of sandwiches. She responded by telling me that I should write a book/blog about sandwich recipes = history.

This sandwich can be made on any bread with laughing cow spreadable cheese on each side of the sandwich bread (I chose garlic & herb this time).  Starting from the bottom, I usually have cheese (they change depending on what I have in the fridge, this time colby jack), honey roasted turkey, more cheese (cheddar), a combination of spinach and spring mix, tomatoes, and a little pepper. It's perfectly creamy, fresh, and well balanced.

BBQ Pork Sandwich

Day 22 - "I had a barbeque stain on my white shirt"

Today I had a BBQ pork sandwich. I thought about cooking the pork myself but I don't have a slow cooker or the time to cook it the right way. So I totally cheated and bought the pork already cooked at Publix, simmerin in delicious juices all day. As soon as I got home I mixed it with some Sweet Baby Rays honey barbeque sauce. This sauce is divine! My brother suggested that I add coleslaw to the top and I had every intention of doing so but they didn't have any ready made at the supermarket and I was too excited to eat to drive somewhere in search of coleslaw --which I don't even remember if I like or not.

So this became a classic BBQ sandwich. I ate it on some Italian plus five grain bread and paired it with some carrots which I actually just shoveled in my mouth, they didn't give me any real satisfaction just distracted me from the good stuff.

BLT Pita (Pita Pit)

Day 21 - "I'm cookin' MCs like a pound of bacon"

The way I feel when I see/smell bacon always reminds me of Homer Simpson drooling, that guy just gets it! The only person that seems to love bacon more than him has got to be my brother. Going to breakfast buffets as a kid I remember him coming back to the table with a mound full of bacon on his plate and always eating it with such gusto. I remember once it was only bacon. I'm not that hard core but I am a bacon lover.

I love how food is just stuffed into pitas. At pita pit it seems like you can get any kind of food smashed into one. Any 'sandwich' that can be eaten with one hand gets a high five from me (hey, I've got a free hand!) The BLT pita was great because of the star, they fried up 8 pieces of bacon for me so it was not only a good amount of meat but also fresh. The only thing I would have liked was some kind of sauce. The bites that only included lettuce and pita were a little dry so I added ranch from home and that did the trick! Yum-my!

*I thought about cutting the pita to showcase the bacon but then there was the chance of major spillage, no way.

Peanut butter & Nutella

Day 20 - "My blood type's Nutella"

2012 is the year of Nutella! I'd often heard about this nutty chocolatey spread but had never tried it. My parents didn't buy it growing up and as an adult I knew once I finally tried it that it would quickly work its way as a staple in my diet. Last month I tried it and since then I've tried all the combinations that others have suggested. Nutella with ice cream, toast, alone, with peanut butter...oh sweet peanut butter. Nutella is easily peanut butters mistress to jelly. Delightful!

I eat this sandwich in such an odd way. I like to eat the crust off first then cut the sandwich into squares. The bread to filling ratio is perfection. I like to pair it with a cool glass of milk and a smile --don't care how cheesy it sounds, this is a fact people.

Mediterranean Veggie (Panera)

Day 19 - "Mediterranean looks like aspirin  tonight."

In the mood for something with a little hummus tonight. I didn't grow up eating hummus, it's something I didn't start eating until I was in college. One day a friend offered me plain hummus with some Stacy's Simply Naked Parmesan Garlic Herb pita chips and I was instantly hooked. From then on I was dipping everything in hummus, chips, pretzels, veggies, etc. So tonight while at Panera I decided to try the Mediterranean veggie, I'd never had it before but I was pretty much sold at hummus.

The sandwich included zesty Peppadew piquant peppers, feta cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro jalepeno hummus on tomato basil bread. I thought it was alright, probably not something I'll order again though. Safe to say that this is not one of Panera's specialties.  But they quickly won me back over with the duet cookie I had for dessert...choc-o-late =)

*I love everything else I've ever had at Panera --soup, mac & cheese, paninis, salad, sandwiches, and ah yes the bakery.

Tasty Turkey (Einstein Bros)

Day 18 - "Aye cream cheese and a bagel, have a glass of milk and an eggo"

I like any kind of bagel and every kind of cream cheese I've ever tried. And I recently heard that there is a chocolate cream cheese! I think it is just best if I don't buy this and end up eating it out of the container. It seems like it would taste like chocolate cheesecake, I can only imagine the creamy chocolatey heaven.

Today I had a tasty turkey which comes on an Asiago and cheese bagel with onion and chive schmear, turkey, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and sprouts. Delightful. The crunchy cucmber with the turkey and cream cheese on the cheesy bread was just...tasty! I didn't pair it with anything but I did have a chocolate chip spider pretzel cookie that my kids had made, great way to end any meal!

Meatball Sub (Piesanos)

Day 17 - "On top of...warm bread...all covered with cheese"

Mmmeatballs with cheese. I don't think I have ever had a great meatball sub until today. It's not something that I have very often and the last one I had was probably from subway. Not to knock subway in ANY way because I love some Italian herb and cheese bread with pretty much anything inside but these meatballs made all the difference.

The sub included 5 meatballs (each 3-4 inches big) mixed with marianra sauce, covered with mozzarella cheese and all in a warm sub baguette. It got a little messy with meatballs and sauce everywhere and I think that added to the overall sandwich enjoyment. The sub was served with french fries which I'm not sure I would have paired together but I will never turn down a fry. I had never had anything from Piesanos other than pizza before today but that's changing now, good stuff today!And they have all these other warm subs like chicken philly and chicken italia which I'm excited to try.