The Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich

When Barb informed that it was National Grilled Cheese Day (ummm., yesterday....) our brains went into overdrive, and seeing that we have Italy on the brain our results won't surprise anyone, since anyone who knows us knows that we have NINE MORE SLEEPS until we leave for Italy. For two weeks. I'm sorry if you're jealous. I would be too. I'm jealous of me, and I'm going. I know that I am extremely fortunate to be able to go and leave our awesome husbands with our awesome children while we take ourselves to awesome Italy. 

What I did make last night for dinner, on the day of National Grilled Cheese, was the Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich. While we normally have garlic bread with spaghetti, or a spaghetti sandwich, I decided to combine the two. I actually remember the first time I ate a spaghetti sandwich. I was about fifteen, and we were camping with friends of ours, the Allens, who we camped with every summer at Killbear Park. Anyway, Garfield (we called him Gary back then, but his actual name was Garfield, before anyone had ever met the famous cat of that name), made a sandwich with his spaghetti, and I thought it was the weirdest thing. But then I tried it, and I almost always make one when I have spaghetti, unless we have garlic bread. I love it when it melts the butter, and the bread is all soft and squishy, it's so yummy. Steve puts Cheez Whiz on his, which I don't like. It would probably surprise you, if you know me at all, that I actually do eat Cheez Whiz, on exactly two types of food. I like Cheez Whiz on a toasted bacon sandwich (no egg, though), and I like it on celery. I think it's the saltiness that I like, but it is the only case where I don't prefer real cheese.

Really, the best thing would be to make sure there is extra spaghetti, which happens pretty much every time I make it since I always think it's never going to be enough, and have your nice spaghetti dinner, and then THE NEXT DAY make your Ultimate Spaghetti Sandwich, because it ended up seeming like way more food than usual, and I actually ate a small plate of spaghetti followed by this sandwich, which meant that I was way too full for the dessert grilled cheese I had originally planned, and I had to force myself to finish the sandwich. It was one of those times where you really are starting to feel sick, but it's so good, you hate to not eat it.  

Make your favourite pasta sauce, and cook spaghetti...Then, mix some of the pasta with sauce. You will probably need about half a cup of pasta per sandwich. Then I melted more butter in a frying pan and pressed three cloves of garlic into it, and cooked for a minute or so, then I added two slices of French bread, and this is where a bit of foresight came in handy, I put the cheese on first (I was planning on topping the spaghetti with it, kind of like you do when you have a plate of it), but I thought, oh, that will be so messy, it might not stay put, so I put I nice layer of shredded cheddar on the bread (slices of cheese would probably  be good but I had some pregrated mozarella and cheddar blend, but please do not think of using processed cheese. I guess if you love it, it's your problem, and you might as well go ahead. Real cheese is better). Anyway, carefully top with spaghetti, I actually managed it pretty well. Then top with the second slice of bread, let it cook at a fairly low temperature so that the garlic doesn't burn, then flip it over and cook until golden on both sides. I'd recommend buttering the top slice before you put it on the spaghetti. The first one I flipped worked pretty well, but the second one came apart a bit, but I plonked it all back together.

Anyway, it was pretty good. This is great because you just add whatever you like, I used cheddar mozarella blend, but you could use whatever you like and whatever you have on hand....So then it was like a nice big grilled cheese, garlic bready spaghetti sandwich. Very very delicioso, but very very filling.
You all probably have your own way of making spaghetti sauce, but here is how I make mine:

I sautee about 1/2 cup of onion and 1/2 lb of mushrooms in olive oil and butter, remove from heat, then fry hamburger with seasonings, including cinnamon when I think of it, and when mostly cooked I add the mushrooms and onions back in. Then I add one small jar of PC Original Pasta Sauce. This became my favourite sauce in university, back when we were all the master chef of the Spaghetti Sauce and Oriental Stir Fry. I can't remember eating much besides thoses things. Anyway. I love this sauce the best, and I don't like sauce with added chunks of meat (it's just too suspicious, not to mention rubbery), or mushrooms or any other flavourings. I like to add my own fresh herbs or cheeses or veggies, so I stick to plain sauce. Then I add a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar, and a small can of tomato paste, and stir it and cook it while the pasta boils. That's it. Cinnamon and brown sugar make a areally great spaghetti sauce, and if you've never tried it, well, you should.

Green eggs, and Ham, and Beets, Oh My!

Easter dinner at my mum's house was so much fun, and we had my Uncle Rosaire's beer ham, famous in our family, and the smell when you walk in the house has you drooling until you get to sit down and eat it. Not everyone loves ham, but this is always so good. The eggs came in the form of pavlova, which we had AGAIN, with CREME BRULEE too, my two favourite desserts in one evening, and yes I did eat them both. How could I resist? And we really had green eggs.....read on.


My contribution to Easter dinner was a three-colour scalloped potato concoction. The flavours were inspired by one of the best meals I've ever had, at  the restaurant at Inn on the Twenty, in Jordan (home of Cave Spring Cellars, which is an amazing pairing as far as wine and food dining go), I highly recommend a visit there, not even if you're driving by the area, but on purpose. Go. Just to have wonderful food. Actually, if you look up their websites, there is often a food/wine duet of vineyard exploring and a meal afterward. Sounds like a recipe for bliss..... (And if you ever follow Canadian Food Network Chefs, Anna Olson (who is maybe the only famous person I follow on Facebook), from Sugar (and now with a new show "Bake" coming soon, once was the pastry chef there....I like to think she was there when I went there the first time many years ago, but I don't really know...she is so fabulous, I love her, I could be her best friend, and we could eat brownies and pavlova, and OMG I just looked up her recipe archive and she has lemon thyme ice box cookies.... Lemon and thyme are the star ingredients in the recipe I'm about to talk about!!! See? We could totally be BFFs, lol, it has nothing to do with the fact that lemon and thyme is a classic combination).

Homemade Maple Syrup, and Crumpets of Heaven

Maple syrup, that sweet sign of change between winter and spring, when cold nights yield to warmer and trees begin to bud....and so delicious, it goes with EVERYTHING. Seriously. We've given it a lot of thought....remember my maple vinaigrette for salad in my Garlic and Brie post? Maple syrup goes with meats, vegetables, fish, fruit, desserts, and well, just about anything you could want it for. It's nature's gift to humans. Humans smart enough to discover it.... (Wikipedia has some history and background of how it came into being, there are lots of tales, I'm sure)....and we are lucky to live in a country that is a primary producer of maple syrup, and they grow right in our backyards, so if you've ever wanted to make your own maple syrup, my mum has written a guest blog for me to tell you how, but here's a quick recipe you could whip up and enjoy while you read :)

Pavlova

If you have never had Pavlova, you have been missing out big time!!! It is probably my favourite dessert, although creme brulee gives it a good run for its money. The big differences between the two are that after a big meal, Pavlova is so light, I can always eat seconds, it's like it doesn't take up any room in your stomach. It is sooooooo good. Creme brulee is so rich, it is definitely more enjoyable after a lighter meal. The other big difference is that Pavlova is very easy to make, while I have never been able to make a good creme brulee, although I will rededicate myself to that effort now that I'm writing more about food!!

Pavlova is known as New Zealand's national dessert, but it is famous in Australia as well (check out Wikipedia if you want to know more). It was named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, while she was on tour there. Inexplicably, the name is pronounced differently when it is dessert. I don't get this, since it is named after her, but whatever. Who cares. Let's get to the dessert.