

a sad show of what’s to come

This week we’re cooking up three different sandwiches. Two are from the Cooking for Two book that we used last week, and one called Brown Bagger’s Cookbook (1985). We decided to eat them in a certain order, with the one we thought was the best tasting first, and the worst tasting one last. For now I’ll just say that we predicted the right order for these sandwiches.

Bacon Big Boys

2 large French rolls

Prepared mustard

4 slices sharp natural cheddar cheese

4 frankfurters

6 to 8 slices bacon

Split rolls; if tops are rounded, trim slightly. Spread inside of tops with mustard. Arrange 2 cheese slices and 2 frankfurters on bottom half of each. Replace tops. Wrap 3 or 4 bacon slices spiral fashion around each; secure with picks. Place, top down, on rack in shallow pan. Bake at 400 for 5 to 8 minutes. Turn; bake 5 to 8 minutes more. Serves 2.



The bacon big boy is pretty much just a hot dog with bacon wrapped around it, but look at the bacon! And the melty cheese! It looks so fattening/greasy but whenever Lola and I go to Wacky Wings for lunch we get some deep fried app so I was pretty prepared for the hearty, man-sized bacon greaseness from it.

It really seems like a good idea for food people in the olden days to use the word frankfurters, it sounds more like we’re using sausages or something instead of regular hot dog wieners. Lola and I went to the bakery in Sobeys for the buns and bread, we figured that we might as well make one part of the sandwiches great.

First I put some mustard on the sandwich tops. I admittedly went a little light on the mustard because I usually can’t stand it.

Frankfurters and cheese on top.

I realized while putting the bacon on that I put on waay more than is in the picture, it still is 4 slices like it says in the recipe, but I guess bacon slices are a lot bigger now than they were 40 years ago?

In the oven!

So we did it for about 8 minutes on each side, but they were still kind of sad looking so I put then under the broiler for a few minutes on each side to brown them up, which is how they look so nice and crispy here. They actually burnt a little bit because I always forget to keep an eye on things in the broiler, so we put the less burnt side facing up. Look at that cheese melting out of it!

I’m not usually a hot dog person, I might eat them once a year when I get a craving, but this was clearly the most right way to eat a hot dog! For sure it was the bacon that made it so good, because it was done the right way. You’ll see that mixing bacon with peanut butter is not the right way. Lola and I dipped them in ketchup but they were pretty awesome without any.

No example picture here



Peanut Butter Special

Butter or margarine, softened

4 slices bread

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons applesauce

2 slices bacon, crisp cooked and crumbled (about 1 tablespoon)

1/2 tart unpared apple, thinly slices

Butter bread generously. Combine peanut butter, applesauce, and bacon. Spread on 2 slices bread. Top with apple slices, then remaining bread. Cut sandwiches in half; secure with picks if necessary. Makes 2 servings.

Had to switch up the ingredients area because the sandwich cooking was taking over the kitchen. People on House hunters looking for a large kitchen is so overdone but it would be nice to have a kitchen that was at least a little bit bigger.

Cookin up some bacon for the two other sandwiches.

Here I mixed together the bacon, peanut butter, and applesauce. Delicious! Bacon big boy is looming in the corner reminding me how good it was.

Chopping up an apple for the sandwich. I’m actually allergic to raw apples, but less so if I peel it and also less in the winter so I kind of sucked it up lol.

I guess the Peanut Butter Special wasn’t too bad, definitely special though. It was super weird, like it was mostly peanut butter and bacon but the applesauce made it a little less peanutty. I wouldn’t make it again but it wasn’t horrible. That comes next!

“for more sophisticated tastes”

gag

Peanutty Baconwiches

1/2 cup chunk style peanut butter

2 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing

1 medium tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped

1/4 cup cooked bacon pieces

2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

In a bowl combine the chunk style peanut butter and mayonnaise or salad dressing. Stir to mix well. Stir in the chopped tomato, cooked bacon pieces, sweet pickle relish, and the finely chopped onion, if desired. Pack in small airtight container. Store up to one week in the refrigerator. Makes enough spread for 3 sandwiches.

This is definitely one of those recipes that I look at and just know how it’ll taste for me. Shrimp Olive Casserole at least had a hope of being okay, but not this! Mixing peanut butter and Miracle Whip is so wrong it never had any hope of tasting good.

The tomatoes and miracle whip are mostly hiding the peanut butter and bacon, but maybe it’s for the best, honestly.

Stirring it up, trying to not throw up in my mouth.

Yum…

This is me thinking “What have I gotten myself into?” It was so bad! After I took a bite, at first it was kind of peanut buttery, though it was a little different because of the Miracle Whip. It was more…a weird savory? I don’t know. After the peanut butter I bit the bacon and then the tomato, and that was the weirdest part, the tomato juice mixing in, ugh. I could hardly tell the relish was there but it’s not like I was looking very hard, I wanted to swallow it as fast as I could.

Bill wasn’t with us when we made the sandwiches, he came over a couple days later to try out the Peanutty Baconwich, which we saved in the fridge as the recipe said we could do. He’d been interested in trying something of ours for the blog since we told him about it so he finally came over. He took a bite of it and then had this real thoughtful look and told us that he liked it! He’d said before that he liked everything and he was sure that he wouldn’t hate anything we made, but I thought he’d been joking! He went on about how he liked it a lot and he wanted more, and he actually ate more. I never realized Bill had such weird food tastes.

Lola’s Sandwich Story

This week’s recipes were pretty much the full range of food that you can put on a spectrum. On one end we have something that I will 100% be making again, then we have a recipe that was pretty decent and finally… well… it’s several days later and I’m still having flashbacks like I was in the ‘Nam or something.

Our first recipe was called “Bacon Big Boy”. If I just had to hear the name I doubt very much that I would try it. It just doesn’t sound appealing. Weirdly it makes me think of baseball or sports or something. Like “Big Boy is up to bat.” “Big Boy is bringing home the bacon.” Then we started putting it together. Let me tell you, BEST PLAN EVER. Honestly this is my favourite thing that we’ve made so far. I want one right now. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

The outside is bacony and crispy. The inside is full of hot dog goodness and cheese. We ended up dipping ours in ketchup because why the heck not?! But you can just as easily eat them without. It was so delicious. The bread, the hot dog, the cheese, the bacon, the MMMMMMMM! So good, 10/10, I would order that in a restaurant!

I was more reluctant to try the “Peanut Butter Special”. It’s was the bacon. I really just don’t think peanut butter and bacon should go together. Ever. The taste of this was not too bad though. Without the bacon, I’d probably consider making this but even with the bacon it wasn’t terrible. Peanut butter and apples are a pretty solid combination. The bacon is just sort of…. enh? *shrugs* And I adore bacon. Bacon is my life. I ate probably five (cooked) strips while we were making sandwiches. This doesn’t need bacon though. Just, don’t add bacon and it’s fine.

The “Peanutty Baconwich” for supposed “sophisticated tastes” makes me want to throw up in my mouth. If bacon doesn’t belong in peanut butter then the ingredients in this 100% DO NOT BELONG. This recipe was a basically a chain letter sent straight from Satan. Thanks Satan. The relish added little crunchy bits like bugs, the bacon was weirdly slimy from the peanut butter, the mayo added this strange aftertaste, the tomato *gag*. Like literally gag. I think I maybe choked down about two bites before I noped the hell out of this recipe.

You know that saying that guys use when they think they’re being all clever, “women should get back in the kitchen and make me a sammich”? If a guy comes up to you and asks for a “sammich” make him one. Make him this one. Then when he pukes it up – laugh in his face and tell him that next time he can be a grown up and make his own “sammich”. In fact from now on we shall call this “Satan’s Feminist Sammich”

Thanks for this, Satan.

Next week: meatloaf!