I Love Paninis!!

Four months ago, the only panini I had ever eaten came out of a box from the frozen foods section of Wal Mart...and that experience was a one-time thing.  Then, in August, Mike and I were walking through Aldis (if you have one of these in your town and had never visited one, you must do so immediately!) and we saw a panini maker on sale for $12.99.  We were looking for a present for his mom and this jumped out immediately.  We bought one for her and with a prodding from me, Mike agreed to buy one for us.  I know it was $12.99 and that doesn't usually add up to a fantastic piece of merchandise, but this was the best $13 we have ever spent!

We make paninis at least once a week, if not more and every time we do, before we eat, I think, "this is the day this is going to suck..." and I am proved wrong every time!  

I mean, doesn't THIS look delicious?

 

Our paninis are pretty standard, I have yet to make anything beyond sandwich meat, cheese and mayo, but the way they are put together, and the ingredients used makes this my favorite sandwich ever!

These are the ingredients I start out with:

 

I usually use regular wheat bread, however today before work I put together a batch of white bread in the bread machine and I may never go back to store bought again!

First I spread each slice of bread with mustard for Mike and mayonnaise for myself.  He doesn't like mayo, I don't care for mustard!  On mine I also sprinkle basil onto the mayonnaise.  That is my secret weapon, lots of basil!!

 

Next comes the cheese.  We usually use a cheap brand of provolone, because it's yummy and melts really easy!  Then we found this provolone/mozzarella mixture by Sargento and we will never go back!  Tonight we ran out of the Sargento cheese so I tore a few slices of Colby.

 Then comes the meat!  I usually opt for thin sliced chicken or turkey, and Mike will do a mixture of salami and chicken or turkey.  

The other secret ingredient, aside from the basil mayo, is cooking spray.  I know it sounds weird, but it's an easy, calorie-free way to butter/grease the sides of the bread that go on to the panini maker.

 That's it!  Grill on the panini maker until your desired level of brown-ness!  I always like to grill on the bias so when I cut the sandwich it has those cool lines on it!  Eat and enjoy!