Chicken

If you overheard a triumphant yelp coming from my kitchen yesterday afternoon that was me, elated over the fact that I finally figured out how to grill duck breast on the panini maker with crispy skin! It practically became a mission. I grilled duck breast after duck breast – skin side up, skin side down, high […]

It wasn’t quite the family bonding experience I usually look forward to. Ten days of the flu…our entire household. There is a very good reason they give shots for this (and, yes, we had ours) – it’s no fun at all if you get it. I can’t remember if I’d ever had the flu before […]

Raise your hand if you’re new to apple butter…am I the only one? I never heard of it until last year when I was preparing a recipe that called for it, but I’ve since learned that apple butter is pretty popular in some parts of the country (evidently not so much in California). Once I […]

I toyed with a bunch of different possible ways to celebrate the milestone of having created 100 different panini on Panini Happy. One thought was to grill 100 mini-panini and arrange them to spell out 1-0-0. Another was to stud a sandwich with edible diamonds (I read somewhere that the traditional gift for a 100th […]

Here it is – my final post in the Get Dinner on the Table series. Hopefully you’ve gleaned some helpful new ideas, tips and recipes to make weeknight meals a little easier. Let me add one last dinner idea to the mix: Garlic Chicken Panini. Garlic Chicken is more like a nickname for this sandwich. […]

In the world of pop music, the remix is often better than the original. When it comes to the panini on this blog, the same holds true. My tastes haven’t necessarily changed that much over the years, but the more I learn about food the more I find my philosophies about it are evolving. Take, […]

I heard about jerk chicken panini not once, but twice in the past month. The first mention was on Twitter, by Natasha from @thatssoyummy: When I replied to her that it sounded fantastic she followed up to let me know it was, in fact, delicious. I had just made a mental note to try it […]

I’m not sure what sparked my husband’s idea for Chicken Cordon Bleu-inspired panini this weekend but it was absolutely brilliant. Crispy panko-crusted chicken breast, layered with smoked ham, Swiss cheese and a sweet-and-tangy honey mustard sauce, grilled on French bread? Yes, please! It sure has been a long time since I last had Chicken Cordon […]

I conjured up a vision of the panini and the flavors before I had even decided on the ingredients. Something with a little heat, but maybe an element to cool it down. Mild cheese, nothing too grandiose. A bright-flavored herb or vegetable that complements, but doesn’t distract from, the gentle spiciness.  A good crunch on […]

My husband tends to be more of an “appreciator” of food rather than a “creator”, but if there’s one thing he likes to make it’s quesadillas.  And he’ll make them out of anything.  Leftover hamburger in the fridge?  It goes in a quesadilla.  One more spoonful of peanut butter left in the jar?  Peanut butter […]