Roast Beef and Cheddar Panwiches with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish Mayo

Panwiches.  

Cheesy, gooey, roast beef and cheddar toasted sandwiches with sweet caramelized onions and a zippy horseradish mayo, made in a pan all at one time.  Think of all the precious time you will save by not having to stand there and grill each one.

I know, right?

How fun is that?

These were knockout awesome delicious and now my wheels are turning for more panwich variations. 

Here are my notes:

--This would be terrific with a big pot of soup.  Although I didn't, I feel certain you could assemble this earlier in the day and then refrigerate until you're ready to cook it or maybe even the day before.

--I know you're sitting there saying "but the meat and cheese are covering everything!"  No biggie.  You just slice throughout that in the end.  And let me tell you, you are going to want that cheese to leak out a little bit because when it gets golden and a little crispy around the edges?  SHUT UP!

--My bread was sort of oblong and it overlapped.  This was no problem, though, and in the end, I just cut each row into thirds because this sandwich is kind of rich.  You can use a pan that will fit your bread size if you have it.  Or just overlap it.

--I like my onions golden brown but not all the way super caramelized.  But if you like them SUPER caramelized and much browner, increase your cooking time.  

--My casserole dish measured measured a weird 11 x 12 1/2 inches.  Just substitute with a similar size baking dish, like a 9 x 13.

Roast Beef and Cheddar Panwiches with Caramelized Onions and Horseradish Mayo

Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

3 medium onions, thinly sliced

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons horseradish

3/4 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon dried mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

12 slices sour dough bread

3/4 pound deli sliced roast beef

1/2 pound (approx.) sliced cheddar cheese (I used 17 slices)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, add olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter over medium high heat.  When butter is melted, add onions and cook until golden brown and caramelized, about 15 minutes, stirring often.  Stir in 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce.  Remove from heat.
3. Stir together the mayonnaise and horseradish.  Set aside.  
4. Melt 3/4 cup butter in a small saucepan; whisk in the dried mustard and 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.  Brush the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch metal pan or glass casserole dish generously with about a 1/3 of the butter mixture.  
5. Spread one side of each slice of bread with the mayonnaise.  Place 6 slices of bread, mayo side up, in the bottom of the pan evenly.  
6. Place the beef evenly on the bread, followed by the cheese. (It’s okay to overlap them and cover all the bread.)  Spread the caramelized onions on top of the cheese.  Place the remaining 6 slices of bread mayo side down on the onions, lining up with the other bread.  
7. Generously brush the top of the bread with the remaining butter mixture.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and the top is golden brown, placing under broiler if necessary to brown the top.  Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting apart into individual sandwiches.  

The California Griller

You guys.  

Men and women have some sharp differences.  Sometimes I forget this, but the other day I was reminded again when my darling hubby took our 4 year old grandson and our 7 year old niece who was visiting from Missouri to visit his 85 year old mother.

That part went well.  She gave the kids ten dollars to spend at the dollar store, so my husband took them by there on the way home.

And laaaaawd have mercy on the Dollar General in Waynesboro. 

I was waiting for them to get home, and I waited and waited and waited.  I was starting to get worried when I finally received an S.O.S., I mean a text from him that said something like "Help me, I'm still in the Dollar store!!!!!"  I asked what in the world he was still doing in there and he typed back that the kids were trying to decide what toys they wanted.   Apparently, this was a lot more complicated than he had anticipated.

When they finally, and I mean finally got home, my niece came running in first thing and practically screamed that they needed napkins and a lot of them and QUICK!  I threw some paper towels her way and she went running outside.  When they all walked in, Brayden was covered in orange sticky stuff and my husband (who looked like he was *absolutely* going to drop) was mumbling something about it being a "really bad idea" to let him alone in the backseat with a push-up.

Ya think?

I asked him what on earth took them so long and he started deliriously telling me all about it while he collapsed on the couch.  "Well, they wanted to look at every toy in every aisle..."

"Thank God you didn't go to Wal-Mart!"  I interjected with a smirk.

"Yeah.  Anyway, when one of them would pick up something, the other one would pick up something else, then the first one would put theirs back, and pick up what the second one had, then that one would put it down because she didn't want to have the same thing as him, and I was trying to make sure everyone had the same amount of items and I was spending the same amount on each one, and when we finally got it all worked out, I saw that Brayden's toy needed two 9-volt batteries, so that meant that Zoe needed to pick out two more things to keep the number of items the same so there wouldn't be a meltdown, and...."

"Batteries don't count as toy credits,"  I explained to him.  "You didn't know that?  Plus, you have to put a time limit on these sort of things.  You should have told them they had ten....."

"WELL, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE!"

Yikes.  I backed off, but I was seriously laughing inside.

"I just didn't want any fussing, so it was back to the drawing board because by then Brayden had changed his mind for the 47th time, and then, of course, they wanted a snack, so that took a while.  And by the way, I spent $29.97.  Here's the ticket."

"I thought your mom gave them money to spend????"

"She did, but we went a little over, so I just kept the cash and used the debit card.  It was just easier."  He gave me the "don't challenge me" look.

Then he took a nap while I installed batteries in cheap walkie talkies.

Bless him.

And now for the recipe.  I have not been this excited about a sandwich in a long, long time, people.  When we were out in California in June, I ate something very similar in a diner.  I love, I mean LOVE avocados.  They just make this sandwich to me.  Along with the bacon.

Here are my notes:

--The sandwich will grill best when the ingredients are at room temperature.  Or, this is what I did.  I made the sandwich straight out of the fridge, then I microwaved it for about 30-35 seconds, to get the inside ingredients slightly warm so it would melt quicker.

--The mayonnaise.  Look at the recipe.  See what I did there?  I spread the outside of the sandwich with a little mayo instead of butter for a crispy, golden crust.  Try it.

--I did put a small cast iron skillet on top of the sandwich while I was cooking it, to weight it down and help it to get golden brown and crispy.

--Grill it over medium to low heat so that the outside won't get too dark before the inside is melted.

--All ingredients are approximate.  Just put on as much or as little stuff as you want and according to your bread size.

The California Griller

Printable Recipe

2 slices sour dough bread

4 slices Colby jack cheese

2-4 slices cooked bacon

6-8 thinly sliced cracked black pepper deli turkey meat

Thinly sliced red onion

Sliced tomatoes

Sliced Avocado

Kosher Salt and coarsely ground black pepper

Mayonnaise for spreading on the outside of sandwich

For best results, let all sandwich ingredients come to room temperature except the mayo.  Place a slice of sour dough bread on a cutting board.  Layer 2 slices cheese, the bacon, turkey, onion, tomatoes, and avocado on top of the bread.  Season the avocados with salt and pepper.  Place the remaining cheese slices on top, then place the remaining slice of bread on that.  Spread each side of the outside of the sandwich with some mayonnaise, then grill on a cast iron grill that has been preheated to medium-low, until golden brown and crispy, turning once.

Triple Onion Slow Cooker Shredded Venison Sandwiches

You guys.

The other day I was watching Brayden and he was playing with some toys on the floor beside me, and I did what has become so second nature to me, which is to grab my phone and check into Facebook to see what people were having for lunch, and find out just who had a *terrible* sick headache, and who was just "SOOOOO over it all, DEEEEEE-LETE" and who had posted a really sarcastic yet extremely funny e-card, and who was just so ticked off at this administration, and who was trying to get a million likes so world hunger would magically end, and who felt like they needed to be at the beach instead of at their desk, and who had just liked the Oscar Mayer Weiner page, and lots of other really important stuff.

But in the background I could hear a tiny voice.  I think it was saying "Look, Lolli, look!"  but I was pretty engrossed in the doin's and happenin's of the social scene.  The little voice continued to call out to me.  But the little voice was hard to hear over the noise of my Facebook feed.  That sweet, little voice almost seemed annoying because it kept calling my name while I was feasting on the mundane details of other people's lives.

Fortunately for me, the little voice kept on, because that is what three year old voices usually do, and I eventually looked up and saw a very excited little boy who was proudly spinning a top over and over and trying to get his distracted grandmother to join in on all the top spinning fun.

(And please, no one needs to judge me at this point, because trust me, I judged myself.  Very harshly I might add.  *EPIC GRANDMA FAIL*)

And God suddenly and sharply showed me that if I didn't turn from my bad habit, the most profound memory my grandson would have of his grandmother might be that she was always looking down at her phone and didn't have time for him.

I was convicted.  And I felt sick.

SO, I said all that to say this.  Social media is not wrong.  In fact, it can be quite useful.  It has opened up a world of people to me in a good way and for that I am grateful.  But, and this is a GINORMOUS BUT, if not properly managed, social media is like a black hole that will swallow you and your relationships up.  And that is truth, my friends.
 
So we had a little teachable moment that day, only I was not the teacher.   I was the student.  And I have a gazillion more things to say about this subject, but I realize this is a food blog, and you're probably not here to hear me wax eloquent on relationships and how to be a good grandmother.

One more thing.  I recently came across this blog post and excellent campaign.  Why don't you think about joining it?  

Okay,  The sandwich.  I loved this sandwich and so did my hubby.  Super easy.  Tasty.  Cheap.  Fast.  And it's done in the slow cooker because who wants to spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking when we can sit on the floor and spin tops with our grandchildren?

Here are my notes:

--Yes, I am lazy/ busy and I sometimes often do not take the extra step to caramelize a piece of meat before putting it in the slow cooker.  But you could if you wanted  to.  But that would mean an extra skillet to wash.  Just sayin'.

--I LOVED the crunchy French's onions on this.  It's like putting potato chips on your sandwich--it just works.

--You could put two onions in.  You could increase the Worcestershire sauce.  It's up to you.

--Now, I did not weigh out my meat but I estimated it to be about 3 pounds.  With one cup of water added, there was not a whole lot of liquid.  In fact, it was perfect and I hardly had to use a slotted spoon to put the meat in the bun.  But it you have a smaller amount of meat, yours might me more liquid-y.

--I used pepper jack slices, but any kind of melting cheese would work.

--These are best eaten immediately for the crunch factor, but I reheated one that I had made the day before and wrapped up and it was still delicious.  Delicious, I say!

--Don't skimp on a low quality bun--go for a good one.  And don't skimp on toasting the buns on a griddle.  It adds a lot to the sandwich, I promise.

Triple Onion Slow Cooker Shredded Venison Sandwiches

Printable Recipe

2-3 pounds venison roast or ham

1 cup water

1 beef bouillon cube

1 packet dry French onion soup mix

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper to taste

To assemble sandwiches:

Good quality rolls or buns

Butter

Slices of pepper jack or provolone cheese (or whatever cheese you like)

French Fried onions

Place first 6 ingredients in a slow cooker, then season with salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat is very tender and shreds easily, stirring once after it has been cooking a couple of hours.  Remove meat from slow cooker and shred.  Place back in slow cooker and stir.

To assemble sandwiches, split rolls, then spread cut sides with butter.  Place on a hot griddle, butter side down and grill until golden brown and toasted.  Using a slotted spoon, spoon some meat on the bottom half of each bun, then place a slice of cheese on top.  Sprinkle generously with the French fried onions.  Place buns tops on, and eat immediately.

Easy Cheese Sticks

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Copycat Panera Bread Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich

 I miss my girl sometimes.

And although I love my son-in-law and grandson to pieces, sometimes I just need a little girl time with my daughter.  But she's a busy wife and mom now, and our hanging out time together is not as often as I'd like.  We're due for a day out together, a day for window shopping and real shopping, laughing until we can't breathe, texting each other from across the store to say "OMG! COME AND SEE THESE SHOES!" and eating just what we want to with no men to turn their noses up at our restaurant choice.

We love Panera Bread.  The guys in our life, not so much.  They're more Five Guys Burgers people.  "Panera Bread?  Meh."  That's what they say.  But my girl and I love it and we're crazy about the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich, so I came up with a copycat recipe for when we are stuck at home.  This did not disappoint.  Nice and healthy and full of flavor, thanks to the cilantro-jalapeno hummus.

Dear Amber,

Let's go shopping soon.

Love,
Mom

Here are my notes:

-I think the biggest lesson I learned from making this sandwich is that the hummus really needs to be made in a food processor, not a blender.  But a blender is all I have, so I made it work, but not without a lot of smoke and weird sounds.

-I used potato bread for this, because I couldn't find a tomato-basil bread like Panera uses.

-This sandwich just screams summer to me.  Love it.

-No peppadew peppers here, so I substituted with an Anaheim chili.

-You could totally adjust the heat of the cilantro hummus by increasing the amount of jalapenos or by leaving the seeds in.  I am a wimp so I just used  a single jalapeno with no seeds.

-The amount of cilantro can be adjusted too.

Cilantro-Jalapeno Hummus

Printable Recipe

6 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons water

2 garlic cloves

2 (15.5-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)

1-2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped (leave seeds for more heat)

1/4 to 1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Place ingredients in order listed in a food processor and blend until smooth.  Add more water if necessary to thin out to spreadable consistency.  Store in fridge.

Copycat Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich from Panera Bread

Potato bread or tomato-basil sandwich style bread

Cilantro-Jalapeno Hummus

Feta cheese crumbles

Tomato slices

Cucumber slices

Red onion slices

Peppadew or Anaheim chili slices

Lettuce leaves

Spread one side of a bread slice with the hummus.  Sprinkle with feta cheese, then add veggies and top with another slice of bread that has been spread with hummus.

Biscoff Banana Cannoli Sandwiches

Can you tell that Biscoff spread has swept me off my feet?  It most certainly has and now I think my daughter may be more addicted than I am.  That's why she jumped on the chance to create a Biscoff recipe with me for their Lunch Envy Challenge contest.  We put our heads together and came up with an easy and fun recipe geared towards kids, but I'll be honest here--we've eaten more than a few of these ourselves.  We were inspired by our love of cannolis, but we managed to sneak in some healthy components to our dessert-like recipe to make it a nutritious lunch for growing kids.

And speaking of kids, guess who loves our recipe as much as we do?

 
Him.  That's who.

So here's our super simple recipe for the Biscoff Lunch Envy Challenge.  If you are a food blogger, check out the rules here.  You still have time to enter for a chance to win two iPads among other prizes! 

Biscoff Banana Cannoli Sandwiches

Printable Recipe

1 whole grain thin sandwich round bread, split in half horizontally

2 tablespoons Biscoff spread

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese

1 medium banana

1/3 cup whole grain cereal with nuts, finely crushed

Flatten each sandwich bread half with a rolling pin until very thin.  Spread each half with 1 tablespoon Biscoff, followed by 1 tablespoon ricotta cheese, spreading to the edges.  Peel banana and cut in half horizontally. Place the crushed cereal on a plate or shallow dish. Place each banana half in the center of each sandwich.  Press the bread around the banana, slightly pressing a small amount of the filling out.  Dip the edges and ends of the sandwich in the cereal, pressing to coat well.  2 sandwiches.

The Classic Reuben Sandwich

I can do few things well, but one thing I can do well is make a really good Reuben sandwich.  I usually get on a Reuben kick in the summer, probably because we travel through the Blue Ridge mountains then and there is a tiny, quaint town nestled in the mountains in north Georgia called Helen, which has a restaurant that makes the best Reuben sandwich I have ever eaten.   We go there every time we pass through.

The secret to their Reuben is that they marinate their corned beef in something special.  They won't tell me what this special marinade is, though, and believe you me, I have asked on more than one occasion. The secret to my Reuben, however, is the sauce. Don't use bottled Thousand Island dressing; give my sauce a try.  You won't be sorry.  I have been making this sandwich for years, they same way, and everybody loves it.  I mean, yes, my husband is now asking for something else besides this sandwich because this is the fourth day in a row we have been eating them, but still, we love.  We love so much.

The Classic Reuben Sandwich

Printable Recipe

Special sauce: 

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ketchup

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon prepared horseradish

3 tablespoons grated onion (don’t forget all that onion juice!)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sandwich ingredients: 

Rye bread slices

Swiss cheese slices

Sauerkraut, well drained

Thinly sliced deli corned beef

Softened butter

Stir together all ingredients for the sauce in a medium bowl. 

Lay 2 pieces of rye bread on a cutting board, and spread each piece liberally with sauce.  Place 1 slice of cheese on each piece of bread, then spread a spoonful of sauerkraut on one slice of bread on the cheese.  Layer several pieces on corned beef on the other slice of bread.  Carefully close sandwich. 

Preheat a griddle over low heat until hot.  Spread the top of the sandwich with a small amount of softened butter, then place butter side down on hot griddle.  Butter the other side of sandwich.  Cook until golden brown and cheese is melted, turning once.  Place on a cutting board and let stand for a few minutes before cutting in half.