Ham & Cheese Buns

This looks like the perfect party/tailgate appetizer! Yummy!

2 TBSP dried minced onions
1 TBSP prepared mustard (I used honey dijon)
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 stick melted butter
1 dozen dinner rolls or 2 dozen party rolls (I used King's Hawaiian Sweet rolls - 2 pkgs)
1/2 lb ham
1/2 lb thinly sliced swiss cheese

Preheat oven to 325. In a small mixing bowl, mix onion, mustard, poppy seeds, & melted butter. Leaving the dinner rolls intact, slice them open horizontally so that you have one solid top and one solid bottom. Place the bottom half on a baking sheet. Line bottom half of rolls with cheese slices & ham. Return the top part of the rolls & drizzle butter mixture evenly over top.Cover w/ foil & bake for 20 min. Use a sharp knife to separate the little sandwiches. Serve immediately.

Can be made ahead of time & refrigerated or frozen. Just thaw overnight and add 5 more min onto baking time.

Dinner Tonight: Must LOVE Bourbon

Today, I didn't want to spend hours in the kitchen, but wanted something yummy, so I decided to do Pulled Pork in the Slow Cooker, with a Bourbon BBQ sauce, topped with Blue Cheese Cole Slaw with a side of Brussel Sprouts.

The pork was easy - 4lb pork tenderloin, spice rub, broth to cover the bottom of the pot, 10 hours (6 hours on high, 4 hours on low) in the crock pot. Take out the pork, shred it with a fork. Drain the remaining juices from crock pot. Put the meat back in the crock pot and pour the below BBQ sauce in, stir to cover the meat. Let it simmer on high another 30 min to an hour. Delicious. I made an extra batch of the sauce to pour over our open faced sandwiches.

I just knew I would love this sauce because it had bourbon in it... I must warn those people that just kinda like Bourbon - this sauce will be too strong for you! Even after cooking it down, you can taste the Bourbon. Love it!!! NOTE: Just use the part of the recipe to make the sauce, the ribs look good too though..

Bourbon BBQ Babyback Ribs

To serve the pulled pork, I split a slider bun, topped with meat, then this Blue Cheese Cole Slaw, and more Bourbon BBQ sauce.

For the side tonight, I made these Brussell sprouts. My friend Mindy was telling me that the recipe was out on the web and I had to try them. They are from a very high-scale recipe here in Cincinnati (BOCA) and are awesome. Well worth the wait (they take about 3 hours to cook). If you are looking for something healthy, it won't be these... There are only three ingredients, the sprouts, butter and salt.

Turkey Reuben Sandwiches

I made these for dinner tonight - very quick and very good! I made my own thousand island dressing to make it lower fat (scroll down for the dressing recipe).

Yield 4 servings (serving size: 1 sandwich)

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 slices rye bread
4 (1-ounce) slices reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)
8 ounces smoked turkey, thinly sliced
2/3 cup sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup fat-free Thousand Island dressing
1 tablespoon canola oil, divided

Preparation

Spread about 3/4 teaspoon mustard over each bread slice. Place 1 cheese slice on each of 4 bread slices. Divide turkey evenly over cheese. Top each serving with 2 1/2 tablespoons sauerkraut and 1 tablespoon dressing. Top each serving with 1 bread slice, mustard sides down.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 sandwiches to pan; top with another heavy skillet. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until golden; remove sandwiches from pan, and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining oil and sandwiches.

Allison Fishman, Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2006

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons ketchup
1/3 cup dill pickle relish
pinch salt
pinch ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, salt and pepper until thoroughly combined, and serve.