.flatbread steak sandwich w/ sauteed mushrooms and onions.

The other day I was watching Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill on Food Network and he was making all of these grilled pizzas and flatbread sandwiches.  Well, it got me craving in a big way.  You can make any kind of flatbread sandwich you like, but tonight I'm making ones with grilled skirt steak, sauteed mushrooms and onions, lettuce, tomato, and an herbed mayonnaise.

First, you want to begin by making your pizza dough.  If you don't have time to make dough, you can always buy it from the store, but it's not going to be nearly as good because they have to pump so many preservatives in those things... and you lose that fresh, homemade flavor and sometimes texture.  So do yourself a favor and give yourself an extra hour, hour and half to make the dough.  You will not regret it.

Slice up some mushrooms and onions and saute in a pan until the onions are nice and soft.  If you feel like adding extra veggies to this, by all means.. go ahead!  Set this aside while we make the rest.

In a bowl mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, a pinch of sea salt, fresh ground pepper, about 1/4 tsp thyme, and a dash of dill.  Mix everything together and put in the fridge.

Season a strip of skirt steak with salt and pepper.  Pop on a bbq or grill pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.  Skirt steak is very very thin and cooks rather quickly.  I like my steak around medium rare and only kept it on the grill about 10 minutes.  If you want your meat more cooked, keep it on longer.  Give it another minute or two on each side.

Once the pizza dough has doubled, knead in a little more flour, and then divide into quarters.

Use a rolling pin to stretch out each piece.  You want them in a rectangular shape because once they're loaded with stuff, you flip half over the top to create the sandwich.

This is about 6" x 10" in size.  It's not a perfect science.  If you have some big and some small, it's not going to kill anyone, right?

Put the rolled out dough on your grill and cook for a couple minutes on each side.  Pull from the grill and set on a tray.

When that steak is done on the grill, make sure you let it rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing into it.  Slice against the grain into very thin pieces.  I have to tell you, this was so so SOOOOOO tender and delicious.  I love me some steak!

Put some of the herbed mayo on the entire length of the flatbread.  Put some steak down (as much as you want), and then some of the mushrooms and onion.

Add some chopped lettuce (I used romaine), and sliced tomato.  Now flip the top and tack down with a large toothpick, or do as I did and use a bamboo skewer.

Serve with salad, or chips, or fruit... you name it.  The perfect meal for Spring or Summer!

.chicken cordon bleu pockets.

I love Chicken Cordon Blue. Traditionally it's a pounded out chicken breast a layer of ham and a slice of swiss cheese all rolled up. Then breaded and baked. I was in the mood to try something a little different and take these three ingredients but wrap them in bread dough.

Recently, another company contacted me asking if I would try their product too. This company is J.B. Dough. They're located in Benton Harbor, Michigan and I have to say, their bread mixes are pretty tasty. You can make them by hand, or using a bread machine, but with this recipe, I used my Kitchen Aid.


Open the package and put the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast packet in warm water. Follow the directions on the package.


Knead out on a floured counter and cover to let rise until almost double. Punch dough down and knead again.


Chop up some slices of ham.


Cut up some swiss cheese.


And then chop up some chicken breasts. You want to cut them into chunks to ensure they're baked thoroughly. If you used whole chicken breast, you run the risk of the bread pocket overbaking and having raw chicken in the middle. Ick.


Divide the dough into 4-6 pieces. You can make some larger and some smaller for kids if you want.

Take each piece and roll out into a circle.


Put some chicken, ham, and swiss cheese in the center. Season well with salt and pepper.


Pull all the edges up into a little pouch and pinch closed.


Turn the pouch upside down so the seam is on the bottom. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam. Repeat until all the dough and filling ingredients are used up.


In a bowl, put one egg and one Tablespoon water. Mix up.


Brush the eggwash on top of each of the bread pouches. Make sure you get as much of the surface as you can. Place the sheet in a 350* oven for about 40-45 minutes. If the tops start browning too much, put a sheet of foil on top.


The tops will be beautifully golden. Pull from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes.


See how yummy that looks. The chicken was so tender and moist. The swiss cheese coated the chicken and ham and the fresh baked bread surrounding it soaked in all of the flavors. A perfect twist on a traditional meal.

Something that would be really awesome? Make these mini sized for parties! I think you'll have people inviting themselves to your get togethers if you start serving these. Enjoy!

.grouper sandwich with cajun mayonnaise.

I'm back! YESSS! Jim was out of town this week and took my camera with him to get pictures of houses and well... silly me... completely forgot that all of my recent pictures were ON that camera card. Doh.

I've got some great recipes to share but I wanted to start with this one. A delicious, juicy grouper sandwich with a mild cajun mayonnaise. Very quick to make.


First let's make the mayonnaise.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, and dashes of garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cayenne pepper, thyme, paprika, and 2 red jalapeno peppers (seeded). Oh and a little black pepper.


These are the red peppers I used. I found them next to the pickles and pickled jalapenos. They're very squishy so all you have to do is squeeze out the seeds. If you want your mayo spicier, leave the seeds in. Just cut up the peppers with a knife and add to the bowl.


On a plate put 1/4 cup flour and 2 tsp cornstarch.

In a bowl, put 1 cup flour, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne and a dash black pepper. Mix together well.


Slowly add some beer to the bowl and mix with a fork until you have a crepe like batter.


It should be thick enough to coat the fork.


Lightly coat fillets of grouper with the flour and cornstarch.


Dip in the beer batter. The batter will not want to stick because of the flour, but keep turning it until it's all coated.


I was in a hurry tonight so I heated the oil in a pot instead of my wok. Use whatever you need to use. Heat to 360 and carefully put the coated fish into the oil. Fry until nice and golden brown. This will take about 5 minutes. You want to make sure your oil isn't too hot otherwise it'll be nice and brown on the outside, but the fish will be RAW. Yuck. You don't want that!

Pull the grouper from the oil and drain on paper towels. If you want to use another kind of fish, go ahead. You can use cod, halibut, or any other white fish that holds up and won't break apart when cooked.

Slice up some tomato, red onion, and pull leaves of lettuce. I used red leaf lettuce for it's color.

Assemble the fish, veggies, and cajun mayonnaise on a toasted bun and serve with salad or fries.

.grilled italian sausage and veggie panini.

There's nothing better than grilling during the hot months of summer. Although it's not "officially" summer, it's already hot here in Georgia. One of the benefits of living here is that we can grill pretty much year round which we love!


This sandwich takes only 30 minutes to make so if you're just back from the beach and not wanting to spend hours on a meal, this one is perfect. It's not very heavy. It's quick. And it's very delicious.


This recipe makes 4 grilled panini. Adjust for however many people you will be feeding. Enjoy!



Take one zucchini and slice lengthwise. Cut the slices in half then carefully put them on skewers. Set aside.

Cut two thick slices of red onion. Put them on a skewer too.

Cut a red bell pepper in quarters. Remove the seeds. You can put these on a skewer or just leave them free. They won't fall through the grates of the bbq grill so you do what you want, okay?

Drizzle a little olive oil on all of the veggies and rub it around.

Season with salt and pepper.











Take 1 package of sweet italian sausages and put those on the tray. We're going to grill these babies up. YUMMY!!!!
















The best bread to use for these sandwiches is ciabatta (pronounced chu-bah-duh). If you can't find ciabatta, any good, rustic bread will work. The bread will most likely not be presliced as that dries out the bread horribly. Slice the bread in half.

Drizzle a little olive oil on the insides of each of the rolls. Rub it in.
We're taking these out to the grill too!!!

Put your sausages and veggies on the grill and cook until everything is done. The sausages will be nice and plump, the red bell pepper will be nicely blackened, and the zucchini and onion will be tender.
Remove from the grill and put on a tray.

When the sausages and veggies are almost done grilling, put the ciabatta on oiled side down and grill until they start browning on the edges. You don't want them burned so make sure you don't leave them on too long.
Pull from grill and now take everything inside.

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp dill weed, and 1 clove garlic. Season with salt and pepper. If you'd like, add 1 Tbsp stone ground mustard. I don't like mustard so I didn't add that to my mix.

Spread some of the herbed mayo on the top portion of the ciabatta roll.

Slice your sausages lengthwise.











Put some of the sausage slices on the bottom bun.

















Put on two slices of zucchini, 1 piece of red bell pepper and some red onion.
Top with a slice of provolone cheese.
Put the top bun on, slice in half and enjoy with a yummy pasta salad, potato salad, or chips!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_62h44d83dq