Cuban Sandwiches, Finger Foods, and Much Needed Breaks

Once upon a time, long before I went back to school and found myself with zero free time, I made Cuban sandwiches.

If you look at pretty much anything I wrote here before returning to school, you'll notice that I generally went all out.  I did it all from scratch- I tend to be a bit of an overachiever.

I made Cuban bread for goodness' sakes.

The pork?  I marinated that in a citrus marinade and it was fabulous, just fabulous.

Do you know what I don't have time for these days?

Any of that.

Just...no.

I have a freezer full of convenience foods and am now well versed in which brand and variety of frozen lasagna my family prefers.

Part of me hates that.

The other part?

Well...she's pretty darn proud of me, to be honest.

My family is fed and happy- that's what matters.

Cuban Sandwich Sliders and the Joy of Easy Meals

At some point in the past few months I made a batch of Cuban Sandwich Sliders.

I have no idea why, or when.

All I know is that at some point in the craziness of life, school, and family of the past few months I made them and I photographed them.

Those pictures have been chilling on my camera ever since.

I didn't even download them.

What can I say...life's been a little crazy.

Another more, ahem, adult student and I were laughing with each other before class one day about the number of convenience foods we'd been relying on since school started- time to cook has been a luxury, most of my meals have gone un-photographed, and my goodness I certainly haven't had time to blog about them!

I have some catching up to do this summer, don't I?

Super Snacks for the Super Bowl: Giant Party Sandwich

I'm a child of the 80's.  Part of that weird little in-between generation that is on the tail end or just past Gen-X and before the millennials came along.  We grew up alongside technology- I was both closely acquainted with the rotary phone and the owner of a pager (ha!) followed by that classic Nokia cell phone in high school.  My childhood memories are full of scratch-and-sniff stickers, Jell-O Pudding Pops, and Smurfs.

Oh..and The Cosby Show.

Despite the connotations of the name "Cosby" these days,  I loved that show growing up in the 80's.  I grew up with Rudy, thought Theo was kind of cute, and believed that Denise was just the coolest.

It was right up there with The Golden Girls for me.  :-)

Summer Picnic Pinwheels: Spicing Things Up With Mezzetta Peppers

I seem to have a love affair with each season.  I eagerly anticipate the crisp air of Fall, the gray skies and holidays Winter brings, the kiss of warmth and blooming flowers of Spring.

And then there's Summer.

Ah, Summer...I love the feeling of the sun warming my skin, time at the pool, adventures with the kids, picnic lunches, the smell of tri-tip and other goodies wafting into the house as my husband tends to the grill, staving off the stifling heat with friends over a glass of Viognier (I've been dipping my toes into whites lately- something I never thought I'd say!).  Honestly, as a general rule there's not much I don't love about Summer.  The warmth and blue skies just make my soul sing.

Sloppy Joes and Childhood Memories

For almost 30 years Sloppy Joes have been forever entwined in my memory with Grandma Martin.

Not my Grandma Martin, though I did have my own one of those who did some rather amazing cooking of her own, but rather my childhood friend Molly's Grandma Martin- we each had one.

 I always thought that was kind of neat.  :-)

The first time I remember ever eating a Sloppy Joe was at Molly's house.  Her parents were out and her Grandma Martin was babysitting.  She was so full of life and such a fun lady to have around.

Also, I LOVED her Sloppy Joes.  Love at first bite.

The next time I stayed for dinner when her grandma was there she made sloppy joes again- and I loved them just as much.  I don't know if this was a regular thing, or if she just happened to make those sloppy joes twice and I was there both times.  It doesn't really matter.  Forever more I will think fondly of those nights with the Other Grandma Martin and her sloppy joes.

Super Snacks for the Super Bowl: Baked Ham & Cheese Party Sandwiches

I know I'm not the only one that loves Hawaiian bread, right?

Gosh that stuff is good.

Sweet, smooth, deliciousness.  I don't need a topping for it, or a reason to eat it in fact.

I can't be trusted with a loaf.  Seriously.

An entire loaf may have once disappeared in my presence years ago...

Do you know the shame that accompanies eating an entire loaf of bread???

It's just so good, and so snackable.  Every year my parents have a Christmas party- the kind of event that has been going on so long that no one has gotten an invitation in decades, they just show up.  Every year there is a hollowed out loaf of Hawaiian bread filled with spinach dip.

Delicious Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

I went through a (pretty great) phase where I was really into having lots of appetizers and snacks made up and frozen.  Things like Southwestern Eggrolls, wontons, pierogis...I had an awesome collection going in that freezer!  I would triple or quadruple whatever recipe I was making, lay the extras flat on wax paper in the freezer, and then transfer them to a freezer bag for storage.  

Remind me why I haven't done this in awhile...?

Anyway, lots of those little bites used wonton and egg roll wrappers and I have tons of them in my freezer I've been trying to work through lately.  

No seriously.  Like 20 packages or something crazy like that- my husband noticed them recently while digging for something in the basement freezer and mentioned that we should do something about them.

So do something I did :-)

Easy Slider-Style Mini Burgers

My daughter likes for me to make "normal" foods when her friends come over for dinner.

Pizza.  Corn dogs.  Maybe tacos.

She's reaching that stage where the smallest thing embarrasses her and God-forbid I make a casserole or something for her friends.

I get it.  Totally.  I remember being terribly embarrassed by the most benign things my mom did when I was a kid, and I can absolutely suck it up and make something kid-friendly and less-than-healthy when she occasionally has company over for dinner :-)

Anyway, she had a friend over recently and I was out of ideas.  I wanted something cheap and easy and I came up blank trying to think of some basic kid-friendly food for them- so of course I turned to the internet.

Apparently This Is The Best Sandwich Bread Ever

Yesterday started out uneventfully enough.  I was out of bread.  I searched for a new bread recipe.  I baked bread.

Woohoo, right?

Nothing special.

Anyway, after the bread had cooled to that magic slightly-warm and sliceable state the sound of my electric knife drew my son to the kitchen.  He watched intently as each yeasty slice of bread fell to the side as I cut into the loaf.

When I was done, I handed him a piece.  Well, we know my son can be finicky about food, so I wasn't sure how this warm, soft slice of bread would go over.

I turned my head for a second...when I looked back at him his mouth was stuffed and in each hand was a tiny bit of bread- the only remaining evidence of the slice I had handed him.  He DEVOURED it!  I was impressed.

Muffaletta Cups

I really wanted to do a little series of Mardi Gras recipes for you guys this year, but I faced a minor problem- Remember that low carb diet I've been on?  Well there is nothing even remotely low carb about most New Orleans foods!  

Like...nothing.

I might nibble on a tiny bit of King Cake, but while I'm sticking to my low carb diet (and my husband attempts to) I really can't eat a big bowl of red beans and rice (nom nom nom...) or a roux-based gumbo.  Not saying you shouldn't, but this works for me.

:-) My body likes it, and I like making my body happy, you know?

Super Snacks for the Super Bowl: Pigs in a Blanket

This one's for my daughter :-)

As I was jotting down a list of snacks I wanted to cover on the blog my daughter leaned over my shoulder and said, "Mommy, will you please write about pigs in a blanket?  PLEASE??"

Now...pigs in a blanket, in my mind at least, hardly even qualifies as a recipe.

They're delicious.  They're easy.  They're popular.

They're two ingredients.

I scrunched up my nose and said, "um...well...we'll see..." and tried to change the subject, but she wasn't budging.

"Pleeeeeease Mommy, for me?  Pleeease???" 

And then she batted her eyes.

Roadtrip Sandwiches

Every year my family goes on a  super-long (16 hours!) road trip to see family. We split the trip into two days and have a blast.  No really!  Our family of 4, a minivan, and the open road- it's a recipe for good memories.  It's amazing that there hasn't been a bad experience yet- but I think that has to do with our outlook on things.  Looking at everything we come across as a memory-making experience makes everything more fun.  Even getting stuck in Memphis an extra day because of snow and ice in Arkansas last year didn't ruin our fun!