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.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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.
Read more »

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?
Read more »

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.

Read more »

Image via Wikipedia

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.

Read more »

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.
Read more »

Image via Wikipedia

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 »

Image via Wikipedia

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.

Read more »

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)

Read more »

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.

Read more »

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

Read more »

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.

Read more »

It may be hard to believe, but I’m not a full time panini maker.  I have a day job but that gives me the perfect opportunity to make a sandwich everyday and brown bag it.  Eating a Monte Cristo or a Patty Melt everyday for lunch would be nice but most of the time I barely have time to fire up the panini press.  My mornings are pretty rushed so I like to make a few sandwiches on the weekend and put them in the freezer.  It works out great for those mornings that I’m running late.  I just grab a panini out of the freezer and off I go.

Salami Provolone Panini

A panini that holds it’s flavor even after it’s been frozen is salami and provolone.  It’s simple, delicious and carries well.  Sometimes on the weekend I’ll cut a large baguette or a loaf of Italian bread and make a few of these salami and provolone panini for the freezer.

Read more »

It’s easy to turn any regular sandwich recipe into a great panini recipe.  For example, let’s look at the Reuben Sandwich.

Read more »

Peanut Butter, Banana & Chocolate Panini

One of my favorite panini sandwich recipes includes peanut butter, banana and chocolate. I don’t really know if this recipe has a name or not but I know that it’s a delicious sweet sandwich that you’re going to love. Read more »