Dinner and A Chick Flick in Bed

Every other Sunday Mr.W and his cronies get together for some manly bonding. And sometimes the wives get together for some girl time--shopping, a movie, dinner, or any manner of feminine pursuits. But there are times when I'm on my own. Sunday was one of those days.

Days like this are perfect for hanging out in bed with the dogs and Thundercat, a good meal (not shared with the pets), the air conditioner running, and a great movie. Sunday's meal was a fantastic ham and swiss sandwich dressed with mayonnaise, mustard, oil and vinegar along with a perfect pear, a jug of Diet Coke and a couple of sugar free coconut candies.




And Love in the Time of Cholera. What a fantastic movie. Truly, it's one of those memorable movies you just have to see for yourself. Lovely--absolutely lovely. (Warning: there is quite a bit of nudity and... ahem... adult scenes.)

Now I want to read the book.

What do you like to do when you stay at home without any company?

Bacon, Egg and Asparagus Sandwich

I have a confession to make. I bought a silly kitchen gadget.

My kitchen is tiny and certainly does not have a lot of counter space--or cupboard space for storing extra stuff. I have one entire cupboard door filled with a sandwich toaster I haven't used in probably 10 years, a contact grill I use once or twice a year, and a number of other appliances that I should really just get rid of. So I'm very much against buying extra gadgets.

Until I found the Paula Deen Egg-and-Muffin Toaster on sale for $15. It toasts bread, muffins or bagels while simultaneously poaching an egg to soft, medium or hard and warming precooked meat and/or veg.

We've been eating egg sandwiches daily--especially while I've been on a cooking hiatus. Even Mr.W made himself a sandwich yesterday.

Here's mine:



Doesn't it look yummy?

I used one slice of bacon (I had pre-cooked a whole 1-pound package and it's been in the fridge in a baggie for easy sandwich making. We only use one slice for a sandwich meat, so that's not too terribly bad.) and four yummy stalks of leftover asparagus, along with mild cheddar cheese and a poached egg cooked to medium on a multigrain muffin. I love biting into a sandwich with all that runny yolk! Asparagus in this little baby gave it a fresh twist that I just love!

Of course this can be made easily by anyone using regular kitchen equipment. An egg fried over easy or hard would suffice.

Man Food: Meatball Heroes

Another man's day has come and gone, after a bit of a hiatus while Mr.W was out of town. To comemmorate this return to normalcy I made one of their favorites: Meatball Heroes.

A meatball sandwich is quintessential man food. Meat. Sauce. Cheese. Bread. So simple, but oh, so good.

Meatball Heroes

serves 6 manly men--but eat fast!

olive oil

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and sliced vertically
3 cloves garlic, minced

2 26-ounce jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce* plus one jar of water
1 28-ounce of peeled tomatoes

4 pounds 80% lean ground beef

salt and pepper to taste

red pepper flake to taste

2 loaves unsliced italian bread, split lengthwise

grated parmesan cheese

about 2-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

*A note on jarred spaghetti sauce: I find that it's handy to have this in the pantry, and perfect for a quick starter sauce--meaning you do need to add onions, garlic, balsamic or whatever your favorite italian flavors are. Avoid sauces that contain added sugar or corn syrup. Of course you could use the equivalent amount of homemade sauce, if desired.

Heat a large pot over a medium-high flame. Saute sliced onion in olive oil until transparent. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the jarred sauce and water.

In a separate bowl with high sides, squish up those whole tomatoes with your hands. You could use a knife or scissors, I suppose, but I like to hand-squish, because it breaks the tomatoes up into really small bits. Add to your sauce in the pot. Season sauce with salt, pepper and red pepper flake to taste. Set over a low flame with a lid.

In a large bowl, place your ground beef and season with salt and pepper. I go easy on the seasoning, myself, because they're going to get some really great flavor from the sauce later. Mix the meat with seasonings with your hands and gently roll meatballs the size of ping-pong balls. You should handle the ground beef as little as possible here--an over-rolled meatball will be tough. Meatballs should be tender when you bite into them.

Heat a large skillet over a medium flame. Brown meatballs in batches in olive oil. As they become browned on all sides, add them to the simmering sauce a few at a time, then add more meatballs to the skillet as room is made available.

When all meatballs have been added to the sauce, let them simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking at the bottom of the pot. Not only will your meatballs cook further, your sauce will be flavored by the meat and reduced to a somewhat thicker consistency. This is going to be SO GOOD.

While meatballs are simmering, preheat your oven to 350*F.

When the 30 minutes has passed, turn off the flame and lay your four bread halves out on a lightly greased cookie sheet and start adding meatballs to two halves. Spread some sauce on the other two halves and sprinkle everything with parmesan cheese. Top the meatball sides with shredded mozzarella cheese and put in the oven for 15 minutes, or until cheese is nice and melty.

Remove from oven. Carefully put those sandwich lids back on. Cut into serving pieces and enjoy.

Serve this to your menfolk and let the crowds rejoice!

At my house these sammies were devoured in mere minutes. Mr.W is sitting next to me as I type this saying, "Man, those were SO good!"

I think that says it all, folks.