Check it out – I saw a hummingbird in my neighbor’s lawn while I was cooking dinner tonight. See it? Look reeeeal close…
Aww! Hey, did you know hummingbirds are the only birds that can fly backwards? Ha! Hope my neighbors don’t mind me taking pictures of their lawn…
In other news, I made the mother of all sandwiches for dinner tonight. It started off as a regular old turkey melt, then I thought, ooo what if I added apples? Then I thought, ooo what if I added bacon?? THEN I thought, ooo what if I added caramelized onions???
Behold the Apple Bacon Turkey Melt with Caramelized Onions!!!
Ohhh baby – this was a GOOD one! It started off with a ciabatta roll. I get these right in the regular grocery store by the deli counter. They’re pre-sliced and $.99 for two rolls.
I always hollow out my rolls as it leaves more room for the fillings. This sandwich needed the extra room, too!
Next, I piled on some reduced-sodium Jennie-O deli turkey. Thinly shaven and perfectly turkey tasting (say that five times fast.)
Next goes some thinly sliced apple. A green Granny Smith would be fantastically tart in this sammy, but my Pink Lady did the job just fine.
The caramelized onions were next. I PILED those babies on!
Now, normally you cook caramelized onions low and slow. Well I cooked these extremely low and extremely slow last night – to the point where they were more like dehydrated onions. Chewy, sticky and AMAZING. I ate a forkful of just the onions they were so good. It’s true.
Finishing ‘er on up – we’ve got two slices of reduced sodium bacon,
and a slice o’ swiss!
Put the cap on and warm up the Griddler…or the homemade griddler…small g. (omg you have to click on that “Griddler” link, my neighbors have some weird animal issues!)
See why I hollowed out the inside of the bun? Yum!
Pressed, griddled & cut, oh my!
Apple-Bacon Turkey Melt with Caramelized Onions
Serves 1
Ingredients:
1 Ciabatta roll
Reduced sodium deli turkey
Apple, thinly sliced
Caramelized onionsReduced sodium bacon, cooked
Swiss cheese
Directions:
Pile toppings on bun and press in a panini press until golden brown.
The smell of this sandwich was absolutely intoxicating! Salty bacon & swiss and sweet, caramelized onions & apples.
Love the bacon poking out of the end too. 
Look how thin the griddler gets the roll. Maximum crunch!
Served with some asparagus that were tossed with extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt then broiled for about 6 minutes. Broiled might be the new roasted.
I want another! 
Tonight, I’ll be continuing to get ready for our trip by organizing all the necessities to get us in and out of the country. Rule #1 for traveling overseas: check, double check and TRIPLE CHECK that you have your passport, UNEXPIRED license and marriage certificate, if necessary, ready to go.
“If necessary” means you’re me and you never updated your still current passport with your married name 2.5 years ago, waited until it was too late for your upcoming Italian vacation to get a new one and therefore have to carry around your marriage certificate as proof of who you really are. D’oh!
Goodnight!
~~~~~
What time do you eat dinner every night?
We’re early birds here – usually sometime between 5 & 5:15. I wouldn’t put 4:45 past myself either! 
Oh. My. Gosh. This sandwich looks absolutely heavenly! YUM!
I wish I was an early bird! My work schedule doesn’t accomodate that though. I have to work out after the work day ends so I don’t get to eat till 7:30-8ish. Tonight, it’ll be around 9. Wah, wah.
wow, that sandwich looks divine!!!!!
Ohh, that sandwich looks good! Must try! Especially since my favorite local apple orchard should be open for business this coming weekend!
I’m so relieved to hear that I’m not the only one inclined to eat earlier rather than later. Our friends sometimes make fun of us because of how early we eat. I get home around 5:30 p.m. ready to chew the finish off the countertops, so I like to start dinner ASAP. If I’ve been smart, I’ve done some of the prep in advance—for instance, tonight I made a black bean and corn salad and marinated some chicken breasts, so all we had to do was throw the chicken on the grill. Even given that our propane tank ran out of gas and I had to finish the chicken on the stovetop (oops!), dinner was served by 6:15 p.m.
I make a very similar panini sandwich: turkey, havarti cheese, Granny Smith apple, and sliced purple onion between two pieces of bread.
looks yum! We usually eat around 7 or 7:30…. you sure are early birds. what time do you guys get off of work?
I love making mother of all sandwiches. It’s funny because I too think of about 5-6 different ingredients that would all make one fantastic sammie. Once I start, I can’t stop until it builds into the most elaborate and decedent creation.
We have been eating by 6 or 6:30pm. On the weekends it usually later, but I like to fit in dessert and if I go past 6:30pm I fear I won’t be hungry for dessert. Dessert is too important to skip!
That sandwich looks so good!
Don’t feel bad about the early dinner time – we’re right there with ya…and I’m almost embarrassed to say our bedtime! When did we get “old?”
Looks delicious! If you’ll be in Florence at all I HAVE to recommend a restaurant called Il Latini, hands down one of the best meals of my life =) Have a wonderful time!
Okay I need to make a sandwich on the griddler soon. I’m always too lazy to bust it out and wait for it to heat up. But your sandwiches look SO good I just have to!
We tend to eat dinner sometime between 7 and 8. I couldn’t eat that early! I would be starving the rest of the night.
Holy YUM that sounds amazing!!!!!
I eat around 6-6:30 usually..
i love the hummingbird…so cute! The sandwich looks sooo amazing and delicious!
I usually eat late around 7:30-8ish.
Beautiful sandwich! You’re making me crave fresh ciabatta bread!
omgosh, i got that griddler as a wedding gift and never use it, i need to start!
I’m an early bird in every sense of the word…I get up early [6:30], eat breakfast early [7], eat lunch early [11-ish, usually], eat dinner early [5-ish], and crash early [9:30-10]. I’m a weird college student, that’s for sure!
When I eat dinner varies every night. Tonight I’m currently eating at 9:30. But usually I eat around 7:00. If I eat early, all I want to do is snack, snack, snack!
We eat whenever I get around to it! Ha! Orrrr, it depends on the hunger factor, I guess.
OH. MY. GOD. that looks AMAZING!
That sandwich looks so good. We usually eat before 6:00. My work schedule pretty much demands it, so we embrace being early birds!
We normally eat somewhere around 7:30-8:30 depending on work schedule, workout plans, etc. Not getting home until after 5:30 or 6 just pushes dinner later… but I really like to eat late like that these days. It feels kind of like the night’s “event” or something
Hubs works two hours away. School just started for me, so it’s more like 630 or 700.
I usually dont eat dinner until 8:30 or 9pm, but I also dont eat breakfast till 11am and Lunch at 4pm. I also think that your sandwich looks amazing and I will have to try it out in the near future!!
I’m jealous that you guys get off work early enough to eat at 5. I usually do not get home from work until 6 or 6:30 and that is with going it around 7:30am. That sandwich looks wonderful!
Oh my yum, that sandwich looks epic! I haven’t had ciabatta in ages.
That sandwich really looks amazing!
I eat dinner around 7-8, these days.
Few months ago, I ate it pretty late, around 9. It depends on my daily activities and snacks
Wow that is early! What time do you get out of work?
How in the world can you get dinner ready so fast??? I get off work at 4 and I’m lucky if we can eat by 6. I do have a 7-month-old to worry about but still. I would LOVE it if we could have dinner over with that early every night!
Gosh – what time do you get out of work?!? We don’t eat until 6:30 – 7 by the time we’re both home and settled.
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how oh how do you eat dinner at 5??? hahaha. i dont even get off work until 5:30, let alone get home until 6:15. dinner is normally around 7 or 8 for me. last night i ran unproductive errands all night, so dinner wasn’t eaten until 9pm! ugh i hate when that happens. but this sandwich looks AMAZING. and i’ll say it again – you simply MUST try a panini with fig spread, gruyere cheese, and deli ham. AMAZING. if you cant find the fig spread, let me know and ill send you some!
Same here Allison. My schedule is CRAZZZY!! Sometimes I don’t even eat dinner because it’s too late. The fig spread panini sounds amazing, my husband would love that.
Oh wow, 4:45? We definitely don’t eat before 7 at our house. Usually closer (or after) to 8 actually. We are night owls!
we don’t eat til like 6 or 7 usually. that sandwich looks incredible. i’ll have to try it!
That panini looks amazing. I envy you for getting home at a decent time and being able to eat early. I miss dinner a lot lately because of late work hours…..UGH!!
Wow you must get out of work early! With all of my kids activities and etc. we’re lucky to eat by 7:30.
That sandwich looks great!
Wow you eat dinner before I’ve even left work! I don’t get home until 7pm and sometimes not until 8pm if I go to the gym. I eat dinner somewhere between 7:30 and 8pm. This might seem late for some people but both my parents worked so we tried to eat dinner together as a family and that was usually 7:30pmish. NYC is a late dinner city. 9pm reservations are harder to get than 7pm ones!
i agree — delicious dinner! i eat much later…partly because i dont leave the office til 530, and partly because if i eat that early and stay awake until 1030/11, i will need to eat another meal between then
First of all the sandwich looks to die for! Second… I usually don’t get to dinner until about 6 or 7 with my new job. That is a little bit of a change for me, but I’m getting used to it.
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