Panini!

I bought myself a new kitchen toy this week, a Panini press!  I've been thinking about getting one for a while now, I'm just sad I couldn't get one before the Hubs left, he's going to absolutely love this thing. He is the King of the Grilled Cheese, after all.  What's strange is, the Kid and I aren't that thrilled with grilled cheese, so it's funny that we'd like this panini maker as much as we do. 

I found this one at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $50, and with my 20% off coupon it came out to about $43 after tax.  Not too shabby.  I found a couple at Target as well, for about $40 each, but I really do like the Cuisinart brand.

After the purchase though, I became quite overwhelmed with ideas for what kind of a sandwich I wanted to make. 

1.  Mozzarella with tomato and basil?
2.  Muenster with apple slices?
3.  Chicken salad with Muenster and tomato?
4.  White or sourdough bread?
5.  Mayo or no mayo?
6.  Ham and Swiss?

There are endless possiblilites here, which is another reason I'm excited for the Hubs to give it a try.  There's just no telling what he'll come up with.

In the end, the Kid went with a combo of Canadian bacon, provolone, fresh basil, apple slices, and mayo on organic white.

Hers came out really good, the apple slices just put it right over the edge for me.

I went with a ham and Swiss combo, with sliced mushrooms, and fresh basil on sourdough.  It was good, but the mushrooms really didn't add anything in the way of flavor here.  If I want to add them next time I might need to sautee them a bit first.  The sandwich was still very tasty.

I'm thinking next I'm going to try #3, chicken salad with Muenster and tomato.