More Sammies!

I used to like to go to Mexicali Restaurant with my mom when I was little. It was fun. I liked the big pretty room decorated in bright colors with terracotta tile floors. I liked listening to the music and the many chattering, laughing people. I also liked the food, just not so much the Mexican food...yet. They made really good hamburgers! And that's what I would always order. Just a plain hamburger with mustard and dill pickles only. I still like my hamburgers that way only now I like cheese, too.

Now this is a HAMBURGER! It has more than mustard and pickles. I grilled onions and mushrooms and made a secret sauce and loaded it with lots of cheddar cheese. Oh man it was good! I like a hamburger that gets all messy because it's so juicy, and this one did it. The bun has to be very soft and the meat has to be tender and flavorful. And no lettuce and tomato getting in the way. Mmmmm, so yummy!

This is a portabella mushroom burger I made for the kids. I seasoned the shrooms with a steak seasoning, salt and pepper, then grilled them on my Calphalon griddle pan. This one has blue cheese, bacon, lettuce and a pesto sauce I made. That's the way Collin wanted his.

These are the two sauces I made for the portabella burgers. One is a pesto and the other is an aioli. Ok, the kids really loved these burgers! But I kept saying to myself, "Where's the beef?" (Do you notice my Rachael Ray bowls? I love them! And "thank you" David!)

When talking about "sammies," I couldn't skip the BLT! This is a classic made on soft whole wheat bread with mayo, bacon, lettuce, tomato and cheese (just because I like it that way). Sometimes I put avocado on too but I didn't have any. :( Oh well, next time.

I know, I know, this isn't a sandwich! But nothing goes better with a BLT than a good old-fashioned homemade simple vegetable soup done like Alice Walker does it. Well, David may say tomato soup is better. But this is made with a rich vegetable broth and simply carrots, potatoes, celery and tomatoes. MMM, MMMM, good.

A quesadilla is a sandwich, too! My Hispanic friend, Betty, used to tell me all the time that a cheese quesadilla is a Mexican grilled cheese. This one happens to be a pizza quesadilla and it was easy to make and good to eat. All I did was spread homemade pizza sauce on a flour tortilla, then added pepperoni and topped it off with mozzarella cheese. Then I put another flour tortilla on top of that and cooked it in my skillet. Yum! Makes a great and fast lunch.