Monte Cristo Sandwich

Last time we went to Disneyland we were robbed. Not literally, but robbed of our favorite sandwich, The Monte Cristo. We always get them at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. You know, the restaurant where it looks like you're sitting outside at night, even though you're inside in the middle of the day. The one that over looks the boats as they head off for Pirates of the Caribbean. We must, I say MUST, eat there every time we visit the Magic Kingdom. It's just tradition. It's just how it is. On our last trip I thought I'd be super duper clever and make reservations way ahead. So we wouldn't have to wait, so we could get a seat right on the water. On our last day in the park, we arrived 15 minutes before our 6:00pm reservation, requested a seat on the water and were seated at a lovely waterside table 20 minutes later. I was pretty pleased with myself. Then we opened our menus to discover, in horror, that the Monte Cristo isn't served at dinner. WHAT!!! Say it ain't so. I begged, pleaded and all but got on my hands and knees trying to convince the waiter to order the coveted sandwich for us but it just wasn't to be. We would leave the park without our beloved Monte Cristo. (We actually had a very nice dinner once we got over the absence of the sandwich.)

Still feeling robbed weeks later, I decided to try and make them at home. Traditionally, Monte Cristo sandwiches are deep fried. If you've read my post on Funnel Cakes, then you know how I feel about deep frying at home. YUCK, too messy. It's best left to professional chefs in professional kitchens. There must be another way. So I Googled, and Pinterested and found several grilled Monte Cristo sandwich recipes. I read through them, got the general idea, tweaked the proportions, meats and cheeses for our tastes and came up with the following recipe. I'm using our George Foreman grill which makes the whole process super easy but you can use a grill pan or skillet if you prefer. Check it out. . .

Chili Cheeseburger Macaroni

So a couple of weeks ago I went fishing around on the web for some easy dinner recipes. Between school, homework, baseball practices and games, homecoming float building nights, my husband's grad school studies and my job search, dinner seems to have become an after thought most nights. NOT OK in my book. I love dinner and us all sitting down together each night. It soothes my soul. BUT, our family is maturing and everyone has their own "thang goin' on". Half of us are zigging when the other half are zagging. Some nights we just can't all sit down. So I went looking for some easy homemade dinners that I could make in the afternoon and we can just heat and eat as we come and go. At the very least, everyone gets a home cooked meal. No frozen dinners, no re-heated take out.

Amongst all the offerings on the ole internet, I found this recipe for Cheeseburger Macaroni. All the ingredients are pantry staples. Nothing obscure, odd or needing a special trip to the store. All things that are easy to keep on hand. Plus, it only uses two pans, easy peasy clean up! That alone will send it to the top of the list. But the very best part of this recipe is that all four of us loved it. The best I ever hope for in a new recipe is a couple of "it's good"s and an "it's ok". I almost never get a unanimous vote. This recipe delivered. I've also shared this recipe with two friends who have confirmed that it was a hit with their families as well. So thumbs up all around. Other than adding a step to blend the Rotel, I only made one other change from the original recipe: I renamed it "Chili Cheeseburger Macaroni".

You can make it with either beef or turkey (I'm showing turkey) and you could swap out the cheddar for some pepper jack to spice it up, or plain old jack to keep it mild. I've made a couple of variations on it but our preference, hands down, is beef and cheddar. See what you think.