Turkey Lurkey Comes to Dinner

Please accept my apology for this terrible picture quality. Methinks once I get my tax refund I'll invest in a new digital camera. Until then, bear with me.





Anywho, today I was in the mood for a delicious sandwich. Boy oh boy, do I love a good sammie. Originally I had panko breaded chicken breasts in mind as the base, but when I took the chicken out of the freezer to thaw, it looked...wrong. Quite disappointing. Luckily, turkey was there to save the day. Lovable, reliable turkey. Not as exciting as something with PANKO, but you know. Acceptable.


So, after a very (unnecessarily) long visit with the rude and useless people of Meijer (seriously, every time I go there lately the customer service is a whopping joke. What gives?), this is the end result:
Turkey Avocado Paninis
4 slices good quality bread (aka not Wonder Bread - we used Marble Rye)
Sliced Havarti Cheese
Your favorite deli sliced turkey
1 ripe avocado, sliced thinly.
3 cloves garlic (do not peel!)
1/2 c. of your favorite mayo

Wrap garlic cloves in tin foil and place in 400 degree oven. Roast for 20-30 minutes. Let the cloves cool for a minute or two, then simply squeeze the garlic out of the peels and into a bowl. Once all garlic guts are in the bowl, add the 1/2c of mayo and mix well. Salt and pepper to taste. Voila, you just made roasted garlic mayonnaise! Well done, you. You certainly are fancy. And sophisticated. Totally.
Now to assemble the sandwich. I like the order of cheese, turkey, avocado and mayo. This way the cheese melts better when you grill it. According to my theory of cheese melting, anyway. Heat a grill pan (if you don't have a grill pan, i seriously recommend that you get one. I just got one for xmas this year - thanks mom! - and it is amazing) and spray with cooking spray or drizzle a little olive oil. Place sandwich in pan. Use another pan or anything heavy you can find and think would work well (jar of rocks, a bowling ball or a brick would probably work. Your boyfriend will not. Also he'll get mad if you even try it)...anyway you're using something heavy (I used a skillet) to push down on the sandwich as it cooks. Let it get nice and toasty, then flip and repeat.
Eat it up. Have another. Or some soup. Soup would be delish.

Oh man. This was extra nums! Andrew rated it "restaurant quality. You could serve this at a restaurant and this would be the thing people would specifically come to get", so I think it was quite a success. All of the flavors worked really well together, and I was especially pleased with the roasted garlic mayonnaise (we used olive oil mayo and it was extra yummy. And better for your heart, so yay for added perks).

Today's pumpkin butter oatmeal was a bust, by the way, kiddies. I love oatmeal. I love pumpkin butter. But ugh. Not a good combo. I'm thinking maybe just pumpkin puree, brown sugar and and cinnamon would be a better option. If you're looking for a worthy oatmeal substitute, Quaker's Oatmeal Squares cereal is damn good. And now they have a an even yummier maple flavor. So good!