Pseudo-Panini

Nothing fancy today: just a plain old turkey and cheese sandwich. But a word about bread. Several of my friends are in the habit of buying a loaf of bread and throwing almost half it out because they can't finish it before it goes bad/stale. What a waste! There are some things you can do instead to use up the entire loaf:

• freeze the bread--it doesn't have any liquid in it, so it won't get icy. Toast it and you won't notice a difference
• make bread crumbs or croutons--drizzle stale bread with oil, put on a baking sheet, and bake (or toast) until brown and crispy. For crumbs, crush the bread. For croutons, cut the bread into smaller squares before baking
• make french toast--stale bread absorbs liquids a little better, ie. the egg mixture

I went grocery shopping today (it finally stopped raining, thank God). I spent $44... which is a lot. But I got lots of good stuff that'll last me a while. Kraft sliced cheese (mozzarella and provolone) so I can stop using shredded cheese in my sandwiches. Chicken broth, only 69 cents a can (normally $1.10)! Fresh mint, basil, and thyme--my grocery store never has fresh herbs. Family pack of chicken and 1.5 lbs of ground beef, and I should be good on meat for a while.

Pseudo-Panini

• 2 slices of bread
• margarine
• 2 slices of sandwich meat (I used turkey)
• 1 slice of cheese (I used provolone)
• dijon mustard

1. Butter both pieces of bread. Heat up some margarine in the frying pan.
2. Put one slice of meat on each piece of bread. Spread some mustard on it.
3. Put the cheese between the two pieces of bread/meat. (Tada, sandwich!)
4. Put the sandwich in the frying pan. Put a pot on top of the sandwich to press it down. You may want to cover the bottom of the pot with plastic wrap, but be careful not to let it touch the frying pan.
5. Once one side is nicely browned, flip and continue cooking.

Makes 1 sandwich