Grilled Sandwiches – Panini

We LOVE grilled sandwiches at our house! There is just something so comforting about melted cheese, meat, and veggies wrapped in a crisp crusted bread. They are very easy to make, and great for hot summer nights when you don’t want to heat up the house making dinner. The only limit is your imagination!

Panini (which means ‘sandwich’ in Italian) is a grilled, pressed sandwich made with a special grill. These sandwiches are easy to eat because they are thin, but bursting with flavor!

You don’t have to have a special panini grill, we use our small George ForemanGrill it works perfectly, but I can only make 1 or 2 sandwiches at a time on it.

There is the larger George Foreman Next Grilleration and I bet you could get up to 4 sandwiches on it.

Any way you go, these grills are pretty inexpensive and help you make great sandwiches at home!

Our favorite sandwiches right now:

*Ciabatta bread (or thin sliced Italian bread)
*Chicken (deli sliced, or I really like to buy a rotisserie chicken and pull it apart for sandwiches)
*pre-cooked Bacon
*Cheese – we like Pepper Jack or Sargento Chipotle Cheddar
*Ranch Dressing
*Hot Sauce
*Tomato slice

Preparation:

Slice bread open.

Layer, chicken, pre-cooked bacon, cheese and tomato on one slice of bread.
Spread ranch dressing on other slice of bread and sprinkle with a little hot sauce and place on top.

Grill sandwich on a dual contact indoor grill, a panini maker, or just in a skillet, pressing down gently as the sandwich cooks. When bread is crisp and golden brown, cut sandwiches in half and serve immediately.

Of course these can be made to everyone’s liking……in our house, I’m the only one who adds the tomato, my youngest is usually the only one who adds the hot sauce, and my oldest doesn’t like the bacon on hers…..But that’s what’s great about a meal like this, it’s easy to let everyone make their own!!