Did you know that one of the best ways for you to reduce your carbon footprint and help fight climate change is by going vegetarian.  Apparantely the meat industry adds almost as much carbon dioxide as the automobile industry.  They say that even skipping meat one or two days a week would be a big help.  And skipping meat a few times a week is actually pretty easy when you know a lot of easy eggplant recipes.

Now everyone is probably familiar with eggplant parmesian sandwiches.  If you have already fried up the eggplant and you have some tomato sauce already made, it’s very easy to make a eggplant parmesian panini.  But breading and frying eggplant is a big chore.  Definitely not something you want to do when you’re getting ready to go to the office and trying to make a homemade lunch.  If you’re the kind of person that can plan ahead and fry up a nice batch of eggplant on the weekend, then you’re all set.  I’m not one of those people though.

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Garden Fresh Tomatoes & Eggplant

For me, summertime means fresh tomatoes.  I have a big vegetable garden and all the time and hard work that I put into it are paid off one hundred percent when I take a bite of the first garden fresh tomato of the season.  And the best way to enjoy garden fresh tomatoes is on a tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich.

Tomato Basil Mozzarella Sandwich

• Tomato
• Basil
• Mozzarella Cheese
• Olive Oil
• Crusty Italian Bread

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If you’ve ever seen swiss chard before you’re probably wondering why I’m including it in this Panini Recipes blog.  Surely since it’s a leafy green vegetable it belongs on a salad blog right?  Wrong.  Swiss chard is a delicious ingredient for a panini sandwich as I’m going to demonstrate with this swiss chard recipe.

With cooking the swiss chard there’s two ways you can go.  In both cases you’ll need a pot of boiling water to blanch the leafy greens.  Just drop the leaves (remove the stems) into the boiling water for a minute or so.  Just long enough to soften the leaves but not long enough to make mush.  Then scoop out the chard and place it in an ice bath.  If you want a quick short cut in you’re not into the trouble of blanching then drain the chard in a spagetti strainer and run some cold water over it.  The cold will get the chard to stop cooking and it’ll also make it less bitter.  The other way you can prepare it would be to take the blanched chard and fry it up in garlic and oil.  Be sure to dry it as best as you can before putting it in a pan with hot oil in it (about 2 tablespoons).  You don’t want it to splatter all over you.

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Some of the best stuffings that you can eat on Thanksgiving are made with sausages and apples.  So why not try a panini sandwich with the same ingredients?

Sausage, Onions and Apple Panini

• Sour dough bread
• Italian sweet sausage
• Grilled onions
• Sliced Granny Smith Apples

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What is Panini?
I’m guessing that if you found this post, then you must be wondering, what is a panini?  The simplest definition is that a panini is a type of grilled sandwich but that description really doesn’t do it justice.
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In my last post about the Krups Panini Maker, I mentioned how a panini grill wasn’t just for making panini sandwiches.  And a Patty Melt Recipe is a great way to prove it.

A patty melt is a hamburger with fried onions and swiss cheese on sliced bread (usually rye) that’s cooked grilled cheese style.  Anything that’s cooked grilled cheese style makes a great panini sandwich.

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Sausage Sandwich Recipe

If you live anywhere near New York City then I’m sure you’ve heard of the San Gennaro Feast.  And if you’re like me, you go there every September just to have a sausage sandwich.  You can buy them served the usual way with onions and peppers or you can get them my favorite way with brocolli rabe and provolone cheese.  And with a panini maker you can make your favorite sausage sandwich recipe in the comforts of your own home.

The key to making a good sausage sandwich is of course, good sausage.  You really do not want to skimp on the quality of the sausage that you buy.  If there’s an Italian deli nearby definitely try their sausage before you head out the supermarket.  And you also have a choice between hot or sweet sausage.  Lots of gourmet shops sell sausage mixed with lots of junk in them, like cheese or chicken or spinach.  I tend to stick with the traditional sweet sausage with no fennel.
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If you’re like me, every morning when you wake up and see the panini grill sitting there on the kitchen counter, you’re probably tempted to fire it up.  Well there’s really nothing stopping you.  There’s no rule that says panini sandwiches must only be eaten for lunch.  Why not start your day with a breakfast panini?
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Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and if you’re like me, you probably still have some leftovers taking up valuable space in the fridge.  Well, this next panini recipe is not only a tasty sandwich, but it’ll also help use up some of those Thanksgiving leftovers before they go bad.  I call this turkey sandwich recipe the Thanksgiving Panini.

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You’ve probably seen a lot of websites out there that focus on panini recipes that have mouth watering pictures of delicious sandwiches.  Well this post is about the ugly part that comes afterward.  I’m going to describe how to clean a panini grill.

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The Monte Cristo is another great sandwich recipe that you can easily be converted into a panini.  I used to love ordering a Monte Cristo as a late night snack at my local diner.  The combination of the sweet French Toast style bread and saltiness of the Ham and Swiss Cheese is great at any time of the day.

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Two of my favorite things to put on a sandwich are goat cheese and roasted peppers.  So when you put them both on one panini together, great things happen.  A roasted pepper and goat cheese panini is another easy panini recipe with a taste that is greater than the sum of it’s ingredients.
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All the panini recipes in the world won’t do you any good if you don’t have a panini grill?  So today I’m here to talk about what’s important to consider when purchasing a panini grill.

First off, if you’re like me, you care about what it’ll look like on your kitchen counter.  The Delonghi Retro Panini Grill is a great looking appliance.   The retro look is pretty popular in the kitchen lately and this grill really pulls it off.  Modern enough to look great next to all of the stainless steel in your kitchen and retro enough to make it look like it was something that you brought back from your last trip to Italy. Read more »

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Just because the word panini is Italian in origin, doesn’t mean that you can’t make a good American panini. What’s more American than roast beef? This panini recipe takes some ingredients with bold flavors and combines them together into a sandwich that you’ll love. Read more »

If you’ve ever watched the Food Network then you’ve probably heard of Giada De Laurentiis.  She’s always making fantastic Italian recipes on several different shows.  I like the show called Everyday Italian the best and here’s a great dessert panini recipe from that show.

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If you’re looking for a panini recipe that is sure to please almost anyone, then be sure to try a pizza panini.  This is a simple recipe that should be in one of those cooking for kids cookbooks.  It’s an easy to make, tastes great hot sandwich with Italian style.

Your choice of bread is very important with a pizza panini.  You definitely don’t want to try this with two slices on Wonder Bread in your panini maker.  And you’ll probably make someone sick if you try it with a cinnamon raisin bread.  No, you really need a great crusty Italian style bread for this recipe.

So whether you pick a round semolina peasant loaf or ciabatta rolls or even a loaf of regular Italian bread, you should be okay.  And just to be clear this is not an open faced sandwich.  You’ll have to clean your panini grill for hours if you forgo the lid to this panini.

The next thing you need is some tomato sauce.  You don’t need too much so any sauce that’s leftover from your last spagetti dinner will do just fine.  The last ingredient is cheese.  Like any good pizza, you’ll want to use mozzarella cheese.  The shredded mozzarella that comes in a bag from the supermarket will do just fine but if you want to treat yourself, you must try fresh mozzarella.  You can buy a ball of fresh mozzarella at a good Italian deli and believe me you will taste the difference.

And just like regular pizza, you can also add your favorite toppings to the panini sandwich.  Most popular in my home are slices of pepperoni or sausage.  Remember not to overdue it though or the flavors of the toppings will overpower the sauce and the cheese.

Making this panini recipe is easy and can be lots of fun too.  Why not set up a mini fixing bar with all of your family’s favorite toppings and let them add their own.  Then after a few minutes in the panini press, you’ll all be enjoying personal pizza panini.

I like to spend my Sunday nights making my lunch for the week.  I’ll either press a bunch of different panini sandwiches and freeze them or I’ll cook up a few main ingredients and then make the sandwiches fresh during the week.  One of the ingredients that I like to have available all the time is grilled eggplant.

Recently I posted an Eggplant, Roasted Peppers, Mozzarella Panini Recipe that I really enjoy.  But here’s another panini that you can make with grilled eggplant if you don’t have roasted peppers on hand.

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Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler

If you’re looking for a good multifunctional griddler that can not only panini sandwiches but can also be used as an indoor grill, you should check out the Cuisinart Griddler.

The Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler is a four in one kitchen appliance that can function as a contact grill, a panini press, an open grill or a griddle.  This thing really can do it all.  So if you’re one of those people who thinks that buying speciality appliances is a waste because they can only cook one thing, then the Griddler has got you covered.
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In my quest to make my brown bag lunch exciting, I have tried many different kinds of panini sandwiches.  Today I’d like to talk about a spicy sandwich that is very exciting, the buffalo chicken panini.

Buffalo Chicken Panini:

• Chicken
• Hot Sauce
• Blue Cheese Dressing
• Bread or a wrap
• Chopped Celery (optional)

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The best way to add new flavors to plain old sandwiches is to add roasted vegetables.  But if you have never roasted vegetables before it may sound a little intimidating.  Not to worry, most roasted vegetable recipes are very easy to make.

First thing you need to choose is what vegetables to use.  If you’re having a hard time figuring out what goes well together then think about the stuff you’ve eaten.  Onions & peppers go great on sausage sandwiches but did you know that they’ll liven up a turkey sandwich too?  How about mushrooms and onions.  You’ve probably had that on a steak sandwich but they work great on panini too.  Just pick what you like and go with that.

If you want to experiment a little bit, then why not try this roasted vegetable recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 Large Red Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 3 Red Bell Peppers
• 1 Eggplant (1/2 pound)
• 1 Yellow Squash (1/2 pound)
• 1 Zucchini (1/2 pound)
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• 1 tablespoon Basil
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

Cut up all the vegetables into chunks or slices of relatively the same size.  This is important because you want them to cook evenly.  Place the pieces in a large bowl and add the olive oil and the herbs.  You want a nice coating of olive oil so use at least a quarter of a cup.  Then mix up the vegetables and place them on a cookie sheet.

Roasted the vegetables at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Occasionally stir them up maybe three time total while they’re cooking.  If you have a BBQ, this is a perfect recipe for using a BBQ Wok.  The onions will caramelize and add a great flavor to the other vegetables.  And the oil will cause some flare ups for some extra flavor as well.

Using a roasted vegetables recipe like this one is great to do on the weekend and then use through the week on your panini sandwiches.  Even a plain ham or turkey panini will turn into something special with these vegetables.

If you’re looking to buy a panini grill with a quality pedigree, then you need to look no further than the Cuisinart brand.  Cuisinart has been making quality kitchen appliances for years.  If you’re like you me, you’ve probably have memories of your mom showing off her new Cusinart food processor to her friends.  Well they also make a great line of panini grills.

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If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now you’ve probably figured out that most of the panini sandwiches that I make are for my lunch and they’re made with leftovers.  In the mornings before going to my 9-5 there isn’t a lot of time for cooking.  So I’m a big fan of easy panini.  Here’s how I make a very easy eggplant parmesan recipe.

Now I’m not going to go into too many details on how I make the eggplant parmesan but here a few tips to remember.

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If you’ve had your eye on a few panini recipes for a while now and the only thing that’s stopping you from trying them is the fact that you don’t have a panini maker, then you’re in luck.  You don’t even need a panini maker to make a great panini sandwich.

Panini Grill Press

If you’ve ever worked in a diner like I have, you’re probably familiar with a grill press.  It’s a big chunk of metal that sits on the grill day staying nice and hot.  And the short order cook working the grill will place it on top of burgers, bacon and other fried food to speed up the cooking.  The hot grill press cooks the food from both sides and that helps the cook get his orders out in a timely fashion.

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Usually the best part of the panini is the bread.  Picking the right bread can be the difference between a so-so sandwich and a party in your tummy.  Now technically, this panini doesn’t have any bread because it’s made with pancakes.  But those pancakes make all the difference.

To make a pancake panini you’ll need the follow ingredients:

• Pancakes
• Bacon, sausage or ham
• Maple Syrup
• Butter

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The best part about creating new panini recipes is the experimentation. It’s a lot of fun to mix together ingredients in different combinations and let the heat of the panini grill blend them together for a unique and interesting new taste. The Ham, Cheddar and Apple panini is one of those weird mixes that might not sound too appealing but it’s actually quite good.

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