Pull-Apart Oven Sandwich

Who doesn't love ham and cheese? It's even better when it's heated. This has much of the same flavors as the Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches I've made before, but with a different presentation for a little more "wow" factor at the table.

Here's the deal with these; any meat or cheese works and you can use just mustard or honey mustard on the insides and you don't really need any on the outside of the loaf. Any way you slice it, it's delicious.

 Start with a loaf of Italian bread.

 Cut 13 times to make 6 sandwiches (12 slices of bread) and two ends. Don't cut all the way through to the bottom of the bread. It's a must to let the bread stand for 30 minutes once cut if you'll be spreading the insides with the margarine mixture.

 Put bread onto tin foil. Spread margarine mixture on the inside edges of each sandwich. Don't spread on what will be the outsides of each sandwich or you'll have a mess!

 This is the spread in the center of 6 sandwiches - each labeled so you can see easier how to cut. Use 2/3 of the spread for this part.

 Put ham and cheese in between slices of bread spread with margarine mixture. This makes 6 sandwiches with two ends left to the bread.

 Cover the outside of the sandwich with the remaining 1/3 of spread.

 Wrapped and ready for the oven. Bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

 The finished sandwich.

 Individual sandwiches.

Pull-Apart Oven Sandwich
Printable Recipe

1 loaf Italian bread - unsliced
1/2 cup margarine spread (like Country Crock) or softened butter
2 Tablespoons brown mustard
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 pound sliced ham
6 slices Provolone cheese

1. Make 13 even slices into bread, but do not cut all the way through to the bottom. This should make 14 slices of bread - 12 even and 2 larger ends. (See photo) Let bread stand for half an hour to dry out the slices slightly.
2. Mix margarine, honey and mustard together until well blended. Spread into the center of bread slices, leaving spaces between sandwiches. Spread on the insides only, where you will place the ham and cheese.
3. Put ham and cheese in between slices that were spread with margarine mixture.
4. Wrap entire loaf in tin foil and put into 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before unwrapping and serving.

Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

There's nothing like a versatile recipe to make my day. Add to that affordable and quick and you have a real winner for me. With so many picky eaters in this household, it's difficult to make something that everyone will like. This sandwich can be made with any meat or cheese and come out just as good so experiment a little like we do. Switch out the ham for turkey or the provolone for Swiss or cheddar. There really is no end to the combinations with this recipe.

The original recipe (this is actually quite old) most often calls for a sweeter roll like Hawaiian, but the miniature Portuguese rolls I used were perfect as well. I still think the glaze could be a little sweeter, but everyone else here was fine with them as-is.
Baked Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
Makes one 9x13 pan
Printable Recipe

1 stick butter or margarine (to heck with cholesterol, we all know butter is better)
3 Tablespoons honey mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
12 - 16 small rolls such as King's Hawaiian
3/4 pound thinly sliced ham
1/2 pound sliced provolone

1. Melt butter and stir in honey mustard and Worcestershire sauce.
2. Brush the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan with glaze.
3. Split rolls in half horizontally and layer the bottom of the pan with the bottom halves of rolls.
4. Brush the cut sides of the rolls with glaze and layer ham and cheese on each roll.
5. Place top halves of rolls on the sandwiches and brush with remaining glaze.
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Sunday Dinner

Orange Maple Glazed Ham
Wilted Baby Spinach with Honey and Bacon
Parmesan Potatoes
Betty's Carrot Cake


I love ham and I don't care if it's bad. Hog is good; mom grew up in Tipton, Indiana, and there's no way you'll tell a Hoosier not to eat ham. I figured this glaze would be good. I had orange marmalade on hand that I'd made for a Cookies to Caviar post and some really good maple syrup from Trader Joe's that our neighbors gave us. The two together are delicious.

As for the spinach, hot bacon dressing is big here in Pennsylvania--it's a Pa Dutch thing--and I adore spinach so I came up with this. It tastes like the dressing without being so heavy or sweet.

Parmesan potatoes are easy to make and taste just right with ham. The cake is a recipe from an old friend of mine that I met online and late in real life at another "computer friend's" home. This is GOOD cake--it's linked up to another Sunday Dinner I posted, so don't forget to click over to it!

Some of this...

...and a little of this makes a great glaze.

Orange Maple Glazed Ham
Printable Recipe

1/2 c orange marmalade
1 c maple syrup
sprinkle of cinnamon

Combine these and mix. Cook your ham - 3lbs is a good size - for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F. Take it out and score it if you want. Glaze it well and put it back in the oven at 350 degrees F for another 45 minutes or so, until heated through.


Wilted Baby Spinach with Honey and Bacon
Printable Recipe

2 lbs baby spinach cleaned
3 slices thick bacon-diced
2 T cider vinegar
4 T honey

Cook bacon in a heavy pot until crisp. Drain fat and keep the bacon in the pot. Add honey and vinegar and stir well. Add spinach and sprinkle with 1/4 c of water. Cook over medium high heat, covered, for about 10 minutes - just until wilted. Remove lid and stir up all that honey and bacon goodness throughout your spinach. Delicious!

These tasted better than they looked this time!

Parmesan Potatoes
Printable Recipe

5 good sized clean potatoes
olive oil
salt
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Oil the bottom of a large baking pan. Slice potatoes into 1/4" thickness. Make one layer of potatoes and sprinkle with salt, olive oil and Parmesan. Make another layer and sprinkle again with salt, oil and Parmesan. One more layer should do it. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until tender and browned - this can take up to an hour and a half depending on what else is cooking in your oven and how often you open it up!

Here's that cake - don't miss the chance to make it!

Sunday Dinner

Baked Ham With Cumberland Sauce
Oven Roasted Potatoes (good recipe here~I do similar with mine)
Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole
Almost No Bake Dessert

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Baked Ham With Cumberland Sauce

5 lb Ham
1/2 c Brown sugar
1 t Dry mustard
Whole cloves*

Cumberland sauce

1 c Currant jelly
1/4 c Orange juice
1/4 c Lemon juice
1/4 c Apple juice
2 T Honey
1 T Cornstarch

Remove skin from ham; score the surface with shallow diagonal
cuts, making diamond shapes. Mix brown sugar and mustard;
rub into fat of ham. Insert a whole clove in center of each diamond.
Place ham in a large roaster with a baking rack. Bake,
uncovered at 325~ for 20 - 22 minutes per pound. For
sauce, combine all the ingredients in a medium
saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened,
stirring often. Serve over the slice ham.

*Note: If you don't want to deal with the whole cloves, a teaspoon ground mixed
into the brown sugar will give the same flavor.

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Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole

3 eggs
1 lb. cottage cheese
3 Tbsp. flour
10 oz. pkg. frozen cauliflower and broccoli
1 small can water chestnuts
bacon bits

Mix eggs, cottage cheese and flour until well blended. Fold in the remaining ingredients
and pour into a well-greased casserole. Cover with shredded colby or cheddar cheese
to taste.
Bake one hour at 350. Covered with foil for first half hour.


**********
*Almost No Bake Dessert

1/2 c Margarine, melted
1 c Pecans, chopped
1 1/2 c Graham wafer crumbs
8 oz Cream cheese
4 c Cool whip, divided, thawed
3 oz Chocolate instant pudding
3 oz Vanilla instant pudding
3 c Milk
1 Unsweetened chocolate square
1 c Icing sugar

Mix well margarine, pecans and graham wafer crumbs and
pat into 9x13 in pan. Bake at 350 degrees
till lightly brown, about 20 minutes. Cool completely.
Beat together cream cheese, icing sugar and 1 cup
of Cool Whip. Spoon onto baked layer. Mix both puddings
with milk and beat as per package directions. Let
pudding almost thicken and pour over second layer. Put
remainder of Cool Whip on top and swirl melted
chocolate throughout topping.

*Mom has a version of this called something else, I've seen a few, she makes hers with pistachio pudding and it's really good.

**********
Prayer for Today

I met my husband in a 12-Step program and the first part of this prayer is used
there. Many people have never seen the prayer in it's entirety. There are lines
that are different from the original text but the basic meaning remains the same.

The Serenity Prayer
Reverend Reinhold Niebuhr
1943

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and
the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right, if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Delicious Autumn

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns.
- George Eliot

I am lucky enough to live in a climate that experiences, in their fullest, each season the world has to offer. Of all four, Fall is my favorite. The intense aromas and colors are unmatched in any other season. The sky is never bluer and the shadows seem to take on a life all their own in Autumn.

The foods of this time of year also tend to be my favorites. Apples abound, pumpkins are ripe and ovens are lit in expectation of comforting dishes.



Anne's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 24 standard sized muffins or 12 large
Printable Recipe

4 eggs
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
l can pumpkin (15 oz.- about 2 cups)
3/4 c vegetable oil
3/4 c olive oil
1 t vanilla
3 c flour
2 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
l t ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
l t salt
2 c semisweet chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oils until smooth.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt-add to
pumpkin mixture and mix well. Fold in chips. Fill greased or
paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for
16 to 20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes
before removing to a wire rack.

My "Ham Ball" with Ham Balls!

Ham Balls

Ham Balls
Makes 12 individual size loaves
Printable Recipe

Makes 24  2-ounce ham balls

1 pound ground pork
2 pounds ground cooked ham
2 cups dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons dry ground mustard

1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water
3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons brown or grainy mustard

In a large bowl combine pork, ham, bread crumbs, dry mustard, salt, eggs and milk. Mix well with hands.
Shape into 24 meatballs and set on a greased baking sheet.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Heat brown sugar, water, vinegar and mustard over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. 

Pour over meatballs and toss to cover.