Loving the Sandwich Maker!

A while back, as I was trying to come up with something for lunch to feed my kids, I remembered a sandwich maker that I had when I was probably in middle school. Luck was on my side when I was able to find it in my parents basement. I immediately brought it home and put it to work. We used it everyday. All the time. And then it stopped.

And I had to go back to making grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove. I can't blame the machine it was probably 20 years old. My kids, especially the little one (18 months old) missed it terribly. He would go over to the cabinet that it had been in, point and give a sad little grunt.

Then I was in the grocery store and saw one, and it was on clearance! (I actually paid more than this one at Amazon, which is the same model as mine.) We are back to sandwich heaven! In case you don't know what you can do with one, let me tell you what we do. We haven't gotten to creative yet, but I can feel the creative cooking juices starting to flow. Grilled cheese is the obvious choice and is delicious. Pizza pockets, with a little pizza sauce and mozzarella between the bread is another favorite. I like melting deli turkey and cheese and even a melted peanut butter sandwich is tasty. For dessert, use pie filling. I had always used crescent rolls which work well, pie crust I found doesn't cook enough, but today with a friend we tried using bread and it came out great! The bread compacts and toasts nicely. For breakfast you can pour in scrambled eggs.  I am going to try pancake batter soon.

One of the great things I find with these is that my toddler can eat them with out the sandwich falling apart. If I just gave him a cold sandwich it ends up in pieces, usually on the floor. With the sandwich maker, it stays together! It is so fast and easy, and I love not having to turn on the stove and heat up the house to make lunch. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. I may need to go make a nice, hot raspberry pocket... Want one?