PANINI PRESSES and Patty Melts

I am in hiding.  Doug and I have gone away for a l o n g week-end.  Well, not too far away.  Things are busy at work so Doug has to go to work on Friday.  (He did take Monday off :)  Saturday he is going home for the family trip to the BYU game.  I am going home to go to the General Relief Society meeting, and we both will go to church on Sunday.  But still, we are gone until Monday night. 

I found another Hamilton Beach grill (that I use for paninis) at a thrift store last week.  It was $5.00.  Now we can make 4 at a time.

Then, this week there was a Hamilton Beach Panini Press on sale at Target for $29.00.  A real one.  Not a George Forman type grill (that has worked great) that I use as one.  I went to Amazon to check them out, and read reviews.  (It is the same price there, and has free shipping.

This is what I learned.   This machine has a pretty good reputation.  It has the REAL panini hinge that fits any size sandwich.  (That's what I want.  I support mine as I close it so the sandwiches do not slide open.) But, this panini maker has a few draw backs that mine do not have.  On this one, it  begins heating when plugged in and must be unplugged to turn it off.  Also, the grills are not removable for cleaning.  (Mine are.)  I think this is a good machine-for the price.  I decided to just keep using the 2 that I have- and save money.                                                                                                                                                        

A few Sundays ago we ended up with extra BBQed hamburger patties.  More than usual.  We invited Lindsay and David over for dinner (they were working on the house EVERY night)  and planned to make patty melts with the extra meat.  (Grilled cheese sandwich with a cooked patty.)  I wanted to use the extra buns, so I just used the panini grill.  I just turned the bun "inside out".  I buttered the INSIDES of the buns. I put cheese on the top of the bun (buttered inside facing down), then the patty.  I topped the patty with more cheese (so it would all melt together) and then the the bottom of the bun on (with the butter facing up).   It was a good and easy meal that used left over/planned-overs.  (Much easier than hamburgers because the meat is already cooked, and you don't need to cut/pull out a million things to go with /on them :)

For more panini info. and ideas check out my blog post on 15 March, 2010.  And sure, if you live close you can borrow these :)