The Most Middle Class Midwest Central Illinois Sandwich Ever

     There are just certain things typical to geographic areas. You go to Texas and you're going to get Tex-Mex. You go to Louisiana and you're going to get Cajun. You go to Maine and you're getting seafood. You know what you get when you head into the Midwest? Central Illinois specifically? You're going to get something with Ranch and bacon on it. The fascination with Ranch out here borders on repulsive. The kids put it on everything. Pizza. Burgers. Nuggets. Fries. If they can dip it in a bowl of Ranch, they're going to. I weep for our species. If somebody could invent deep fried Ranch, they could probably make a fortune selling it at the state fair.
     I figured I should just give in to local custom and make something involving a bunch of Ranch. The result is the following sandwich. I'll tell you this: it was super, hella-good. Crazy good. Like hide the leftovers before we eat them good. I felt guilty for throwing together such an uninspired sandwich, but there was no denying its awesomeness. So, if you're interested in a fair representation of typical Central Illinois food, this is a slightly upgraded form of it. Someday I'll tell you about Horseshoes and how every restaurant here serves them!

The Most Middle Class, Midwest,
Central Illinois Sandwich
Ever

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, butterflied and then split into two pieces each (yielding 4 pieces of chicken)
• Old Taylor Street Cheese Sprinkle from the Spice House (if you don't have access to this mix, it's a mix of Romano cheese powder, salt, garlic powder, scallions, powdered green peppercorns, Italian parsley, basil. Good luck figuring out the exact amounts. Maybe just order it or use your favorite spice blend)
• 4 ounces Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
• 1/2 pound thick cut bacon
• 8 slices thick cut bread (we used the ham and cheese bread we made earlier)
• pack of ranch dressing mix
• 16 ounce container of sour cream (yeah, you'll have leftover. Quit whining and use it the rest for vegetable dip)
• red onion, sliced thin
• iceberg lettuce (feel free to throw some tomato on if you'd like)

Directions

1. Mix ranch dressing packet with sour cream. Put it aside for right now.
2. Sprinkle the chicken breast pieces with the spice mix. 
3. Heat a skillet to medium high. Add the bacon and cook until just beginning to crisp. Set aside the bacon and drain all but the a tablespoon or so of the bacon grease.
4. Put the chicken breasts in the pan and cook 5-7 minutes. Turn the chicken and cook another 5-7 minutes. 
5. During the last minute or so of cooking, lay the cheese on the chicken and put a cover on the pan.
6. While the cheese is melting, spread a thick layer of the ranch sour cream mix on each slice of bread. Pile on the lettuce, onion.
7. Add the chicken and bacon. 
8. Eat the hell out of that sandwich.

Someday I'll learn to slice bread evenly.
Good Times!

Herb Salad with Feta, Roasted Red Peppers and Toasted Nuts

     When it's the holiday season, I tend to eat like I may never get the chance again. I stuff my face to the point of actual physical discomfort. Then I gain 18 pounds in water weight and want to die. I am absolutely not going to to a "detox." I am not going to punish myself with "green smoothies," which sounds like something I get when I have too much dairy. No. I eat a salad or two and all is well. Just make sure it's a salad with something going on. I don't want a bowl of lettuce. This is a great salad. I can't for the life of me remember where I got the recipe. If anybody knows, tell me so I can give credit where credit is due. Anyways, the salad has feta. That's all that really matters here. As always, any notes are in blue.

Herb Salad with Feta, Roasted Red Peppers and Toasted Nuts

Ingredients

• 1 5 oz container herb salad mix (or just use 5 ounces of any greens you like)
• 1 cup coarsely chopped roasted red peppers from jar, dried on paper towel
• ½ cup walnut halves or pecan halves, toasted
• 1 10.5oz jar feta cheese in oil with herbs and spices (I only had a container of plain feta in the fridge. I just added some olive oil and herbs myself)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions

1. Combine salad mix, peppers and nuts in large bowl 
2. Drain feta, reserving oil and spice mixture, sprinkle feta over salad 
3. Whisk 3 tablespoons reserved oil mixture with red wine vinegar in small bowl 
4. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss to coat 
5. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Good times!

Avocado Corn Salad via Moosewood Collective

     Last summer was brutally hot. So hot that there were times I didn't even want to turn on the stove for fear of raising the temperature in the house. When it's hot like that, salads are always a great option. I don't normally turn to a recipe book for salads, but I had this one cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, for a long time and had never made anything from it. It's a good cookbook. It's predominantly vegetarian friendly and is full of interesting, healthy recipes.  The salad we chose wound up being filling and more importantly, refreshing on a wicked hot day. My only complaint was the dressing was a touch bland. Next time I will tweak the  dressing to give it a little more punch. As always, changes and notes are in blue.

Avocado Corn Salad
via Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

Ingredients

Dressing:

• 1 cup fresh or frozen cut corn
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes (optional)

Salad

• 1 medium avocado, preferably Haas (I'm not made of money, I'm using whatever avocado is currently on sale for fifty cents each)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1/2 medium red bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced red onion
• salt to taste
• dash of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce (optional)
• whole or chopped cilantro leaves (optional)
• 1 hard boiled egg, sliced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
• Assorted lettuce (I don't know exactly what we used, we just grabbed a bunch out of the garden. Use whatever lettuce you want)
• Anything else you think would be good on this salad. Olives, anchovies, chicken, tuna, whatever. There's a lot of wiggle room for extra goodies here. 

Directions

1. In skillet or saucepan, combine corn, oil, water cumin and optional cayenne or red pepper flakes. Cook, covered, on medium heat for 5 minutes or until corn is tender. Uncover and cook for an additional minute or two to evaporate excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
2. Slice the avocado in half length-wise, and gently twist to remove the pit (I suppose you could leave the pit in if you're a big fan of broken teeth and dirty looks from your dinner guests). Make length-wise and cross-wise cuts in the flesh every 1/2 inch. Scoop the avocado cubes out of the shells and into a large bowl (I am terribly amused at how much direction they gave here. Here's my amended directions for this step: split and pit avocado. Scoop out from shell. Cut into cubes. DONE). Gently stir in lemon or lime juice. 
3. Cut pepper into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces and add to bowl. Stir in red onion and cooked corn. Add salt and optional Tabasco sauce to taste. Top with cilantro if desired. 
4. Serve on bed of assorted greens. Top with egg and tomato slices and whatever else you determined needed to go on this salad.

Good times!