Monte Cristo Sandwich - a twist on the usual turkey-and-cranberry-sauce sandwich

Looking for something to do with leftover turkey, ham, or cranberry sauce? Here's one of my favorite sandwiches, known as a Monte Cristo: turkey, ham, and Swiss (provolone or mozzarella would work, too), fixed grilled-cheese-style, but with a twist. You briefly dip the outside of the sandwich in an egg and milk mixture, like you would for French toast. Or if you happen to have leftover French toast, you could just assemble everything and heat it up in the over or microwave. Add a little bacon? Not traditional, but that would be good, too. (Duh! Everything's better with bacon!)

Traditionally served with a side of blackberry or raspberry jam, but I like it with cranberry sauce or orange marmalade!
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Several Monte Cristo recipes:

• A simple version on AllRecipes (The image above is from this site.)
• A more high-maintenance version on Food Network
• This version from Tasty Kitchen has you make the French toast first, then grill everything together
• A high-falutin' version from Family Fresh Cooking, involving gluten-free bread, rosemary and roasted sweet potatoes!

10 things to do with a bacon-weave

My husband once wove some bacon together and draped it over a pork loin (yes, redundant, I know), but I had no idea that the bacon weave was a "thing." 

But it is. A little googling prooves that it most certainly is!

First, the most obvious {forehead smack} use: ensuring that every single bite of your BLT is bacony!

Food blogger SavoryNotes makes a mean bacon weave and takes a mighty-fine pic, above. (But a BLT on white bread -- untoasted?! That ain't right!) Her method involves whiskey and brown sugar. Hmm.

Lifehacker commenter JaySinn divulges his secret for a simple, single-serving bacon weave:

I find 2 slices and a microwave do the job nicely - cut the slices in half, then do a similar weave, but just three parallel and one perpendicular slice woven in the middle. Paper towel underneath and on top, into the microwave for 3-4 minutes and you get a nice crispy square of bacon, that is all stuck together in one easy to apply slice. The microwave method is much faster and you don't have to drain the fat off while cooking as the paper towel absorbs the excess.

The Republic of Bacon claims the best BLT ever, featuring a bacon weave and chipotle mayo. They certainly have a brilliant idea on how to efficiently cut your bacon in half:

Here are just a few of the other, dare I say, stunning things people have done with their carefully woven bacon...

A grilled bacon-weave turkey from BarbequeMaster:

Here is it topping an Easter ham, studded with cloves and glazed with a pineapple-juice/brown-sugar/7UP concoction, from the appropriately named LifeCandy:

The "baco" - a bacon taco - via This is Why You're Fat (also appropriately named):

Bacon weave as a stand-in for pizza crust, via FoodBeast:

In the same vein, bacon-weave as a stand-in for bread, via the DailyBacon:

Have you heard of a fatty? AKA, "bacon explosion." It involves bacon wrapped around sausage and, depending on the recipe, possibly other things. (Ah, America!) Most of the ones I've seen are really too grotesque for me to share here, gentle reader, but if you are made of strong enough stuff, you can find detailed instructions at Grilling24x7:

Things get curioser and curioser...

Bacon-weave-topped apple pie - via Is This Thing On?:

A bacon-weave salad bowl, also via FoodBeast:

And last but not least: Turtle burgers:

No, those aren't actually turtles: the center is hamburger and the legs, heads and tail are hot dogs.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take some Maalox and lie down...

Places to eat in Wichita: Tanya's Soup Kitchen

Tanya's Soup Kitchen is more than soup: there's sandwiches and salads, too. Everything (except the bread) is made fresh on site, and the dishes all strike a nice balance between the creative and the comfortably familiar. Nothing is run-of-the-mill, but nothing is frou-frou, either. It's nice for our gluten-sensitive friends that they offer gluten-free bread options, and the staff seems to understand the accommodations that need to be made for such folks.

The interior is sunny and open, with a casual cafe vibe. You stand in line to order, and your food is brought to the table.

Today I enjoyed the "Ella," shown at the top of this post. (That's a small. You can also order large.) It's a chicken salad with cashews, dried cherries, and fresh herbs on mixed greens, with your choice of dressing. The dressing on the chicken is very light; no gloppy mayo here. I went with the herb vinaigrette; it was nice and light, with a perfect balance between sweet and tart. The herbs complemented the blend, but no herb was so prominent that it overwhelmed the flavor.

I also got a "small" soup...

...which would be a "bowl" in any other restaurant! Today, I opted for their creamy tomato dill soup. It's so popular, they offer it every day, year-round. And I can see why. It's delish! It's also quite sweet. I'm sure there must be some sugar in there, so for health's sake, I didn't eat the whole thing. But I would have liked to!

Their salads are reasonably priced -- ranging from $3.50 to $7.00 for a small, $4.50 to $9.00 for a large -- but personally, I think their sandwiches are a little overpriced; $9 for whole; $7.75 for half.

Overall, a quite enjoyable lunch!

Tanya's Soup Kitchen website

10-Minute French Dip

I love a good French dip, and this recipe makes it so easy, you can have one on the table in just minutes. Sure, it uses deli roast beef, but there are a few extra ingredients in the au jus that make this sandwich taste like the jus simmered for hours. It's one of my go-to meals when I need something quick and brainless.

A note about the bread... The classic bread for French dip is baguette, but you can use any sturdy, fairly thick bread. I’m using homemade honey wheat bread in the demo photos. It's not as authentic as a white French bread, but it does make the dish a bit healthier. Which is where I like to live!

10-Minute French Dip

Servings: 3

2 c. beef broth or stock
1 T. soy sauce (low sodium preferred)
1 garlic clove, crushed (or 1 t. granulated garlic)
1 bay leaf
1/2 t. dried rosemary
3 sandwich buns, or equivalent baguette
9 slices provolone
1 lb. deli roast beef

Preheat broiler, and place rack about 4" under heat.

Combine beef broth, soy sauce, garlic and herbs in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Yes, just throw the bay leaf in there whole. You'll strain it out later. Keep this on low while you prepare the bread.

Slice the bread lengthways and and place it cut side up on a baking sheet. Top each piece of bread with slices of provolone to cover the cut surface of the bread. Broil this until the cheese is melted and bubbly, watching closely. This will only take about 2 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven. Place matching bread pieces on each plate. Using tongs, pick up a few slices of roast beef and swish them in the broth, just to heat them a little. (You don’t want to overcook them, or they’ll get tough.) As you lift the beef out, tap the tongs on the side of the sauce pan to remove excess juice, then place the beef on one sandwich. Repeat for the other plates.

Pour the remaining broth through a strainer, into ramekins or other small bowls for dipping, and serve immediately.

You might also like:
Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
Quick Easy Lunch: Tex Mex Plate
Crockpot Chicken Tacos