Well, that’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? Hot and Melty Oven Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches. I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t just title this “Ham and Cheese sandwiches.” Who would be interested in that? And I want you to be interested. I want you to be very interested.

You see, these little sandwiches are amazing things. They are so very simple, they’re perfect for feeding a crowd, they can be an appetizer, a snack, or a main course. They are great man food and are postively perfect for Sunday football. They’re also great girl food, since they are little mini sandwiches and everyone knows that all girls think mini foods are cute, right? No? That’s just me? Well, then.

I found this recipe on Dine and Dish back in August and since then I’ve made these about 10 times. I just can’t help myself. They are delish! I serve them when my husband has his buddies over for football, I served them along with a big pot of chili on Halloween, and I serve them for dinner when I’m in a hurry and need something tasty and easy.

You can really feed a crowd with these and it only takes minutes to prepare them. You just slice a package of King’s Hawaiian Rolls in half, layer the bottoms with ham and cheese, place the top pieces of bread on, and then pour the delightful butter mixture over them. The original recipe says to refrigerate these overnight or for several hours, but I find that even 30 minutes works just fine.

The topping is a mixture of melted butter, worchestershire sauce, ground mustard, poppy seeds, and dried onion flakes. I leave out the poppy seeds and onion flakes because my picky little family would have a stroke if I put something like a poppy seed on their bun. I can just hear them now, “What is this? Bird food?!” And let’s not even consider what would happen if I put chunks of dried onion on these. I do add a bit of onion powder, though. Sneaky, aren’t I?

Hot and Melty Oven Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches (Or: Oven Ham Sammies)
adapted from Dine and Dish

• 1 12 count package Kings Hawaiian Rolls
• 12 slices swiss cheese
• 12-16oz thin sliced ham
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)
• 2 tsp onion flakes (or 1 tsp onion powder)
• 2 tbsp worcheshire sauce

Place ham and cheese on the bottom of the sliced rolls. Cover with the top half of roll. Mix together the remaining five ingredients in a small bowl and spoon over the tops of the sandwiches. It will look like you have too much, but just dump it all on there. Let sit overnight or a couple of hours. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until warmed through and the cheese is gooey and melty. Enjoy!

My little family likes things simple. They don’t do fancy food. They don’t want to look at it. They don’t want to smell it. They certainly don’t want to eat it. They don’t even want to hear the word fancy in relation to food. It’s a tough life I live.

Some days I plop down in the middle of my kitchen floor and I sob about it all. Other days, like today, I embrace the simple life. If I’m considering cooking something for my family but I’m not sure if they’ll eat it, I just ask myself one question.

Does it have ketchup in it?

If the answer is yes, there’s about a 95% chance they’re going to eat it.

With that rule in mind, I put together today’s lunch for me and the kids. These little Barbecue Biscuits are simple food, they contain ketchup, and not only do my kids love them, but so do I.

Let’s make these, shall we?

Quite a lot of my favorite recipes start like this: Dump a pound of ground beef into a pan and start browning it. I can’t help it. Ground beef is so versatile and kid-friendly. Also, it’s pretty yummy.

I always make one pound of ground beef for this, but I usually have a bit of left over meat. I like having the leftovers for lunch the next day, but if you aren’t a fan of leftovers, just use 3/4 of a pound of meat.

While your beef is browning, let’s make the sauce. Again, nothing fancy, this is just homemade sloppy joe sauce. You can’t go wrong with sloppy joe sauce. If you already have a favorite sauce, go ahead and use it. If you don’t, try mine. It’s pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

This sauce is just ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Stir it together and dump it into the pan of cooked ground beef and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Told ya this was simple.

While the meat is simmering, grab your muffin tin. I always use regular sized muffins, but my tin was at my mama’s house so I had to use my mini muffin tin. It was kind of a pain in the butt, but I persevered.

Grab a can of refrigerator biscuit dough (or make up your favorite recipe of dough) and roll each biscuit into a ball. Flatten it out and press it into the muffin tins so that you have a little bowl shape. If you are using a mini muffin tin, use a half biscuit for each muffin.

Spoon as much as will fit into each biscuit and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. I let mine bake a little too long today and they got a bit crunchy. That didn’t stop my son from eating his weight in barbecue biscuits, though.

If you think your family can handle the excitment of it, go ahead a sprinkle a little grated cheddar cheese over the tops as soon as you take them from the oven.

(I was concerned about the above picture being kind of ugly, so I asked my husband what he would think if he just stumbled across that picture on the internet. “Would you want to eat that,” I asked. He looked at it and replied, “No. I’d ask myself what the heck they did to that muffin.” I have to say, I’m thrilled to provide y’all with such stunning photography here on Buns In My Oven.)

Barbecue Biscuits

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons prepared mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (regular sized biscuits, 10 total)
• grated cheddar cheese, for topping

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, cook ground beef until no longer pink. Drain fat. In a small bowl, mix together ketchup, water, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Pour onto ground beef and stir to combine. Simmer over low heat for ten minutes.

While meat is simmering, roll each biscuit into a bowl, flatten and stretch the dough to fit in the muffin tin.

Spoon the meat into the biscuit cups and bake for about 10 minutes or until the dough is starting to brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese immediately.

Let’s talk about steak. But, first, get out your tissues. I have a sad story to share with you all.

Once upon a time there was a girl and she loved steak. She was a pretty good cook, but her steak was never anything great. It was just boring old steak. She was in a steak rut, if you will. A little olive oil, some salt and pepper, and if she was feeling adventurous, maybe some seasoned salt or garlic powder. The girl’s steak was decent, but steak isn’t supposed to decent. It’s supposed to be delicious.

See. It’s a sad story. But, wait! Here comes the happy part.

One day the girl was crying and carrying on about her lack of steak cooking capabilities when the girl’s mother said “Lo, I will fix your substandard steaks but good.” And the girl said “Mom? I’m not sure that sentence made sense.” And the mother said, “Listen to me, for I know of what I speak.”

The end.

Actually, that was just THE BEGINNING. The beginning of great steak.

I’m going to stop telling stories and just tell you how to make some super flavorful steak now, okay? And, hey, I heard your big sigh of relief. That was rude.

The first thing we are going to do is plan ahead. I’m not usually good at planning ahead, but it’s worth it in this case. We’re going to marinate the steaks for at least 2 hours, preferably more, so get this started well before dinner time.

The marinade consists of salt, pepper, garlic salt, water, oil and vinegar. I got a little crazy this time and threw in some of Daregal’s Grilling Herbs and woo boy, it really kicked this marinade up. Don’t worry if you don’t have Grilling Herbs, you can just use dried or fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley. (I do recommend Daragel’s Fresh Frozen Herbs, though!)

In a small bowl, mix together 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt, 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, 1/4 cup warm water (warm, because it helps dissolve the salt), 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil, and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.

Whisk it together. Lick the fork if you want. I won’t judge.

Normally I don’t add any seasonings other than the salt, pepper and garlic salt, and the steaks turn out delicious. The flavor really goes all through the meat.

This time I decided to get a little crazy. I added about one tablespoon of Daregal’s Grilling Herbs. If you don’t have this, you can leave it out altogether or you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and 1 teaspoon dried parsley.

Now add your steaks (any kind, 1 to 2 pounds)  to a big ziploc bag and dump the marinade in. Pop it all in the fridge for at least 2 hours. If you think about it, turn the bag over a couple times so that every part of the steak gets a chance to soak in the flavors.

When you’re ready, cook your steaks as you normally would.

Yum.

Salty Flavorful Steak

• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Daragel Grilling Herbs (or 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, and 1 tsp. dried parsley)

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients. Pour over steak and allow to marinate for 2 or more hours.

Growing up, I hated pork chops. I would eat all the shake ‘n bake coating off of them, but that was as far as I usually went. Then I married my husband who one day said “Woman! Get in the kitchen and make me some pork chops!” So I did. It took awhile, but I have finally found a couple of ways to make pork chops that don’t leave me crying about the injustices of having TWO white meats, why can’t there just be ONE like God intended? Chicken. It should be what’s for dinner, but since it’s not, we’ll have pork and dang it, we’ll like it.

Now that I’ve gone on and on about my dislike for pork chops, I’ll share with you my favorite pork chop recipe. If I can eat it and enjoy it, then it must be good. Just trust me.

First we’re going to make a dry rub. You’ll need  1 tablespoon chopped dried onion (if you don’t have this just use onion powder), 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. That’s a lot of stuff, I know, but they all play together so nicely.

Get out your thin sliced boneless pork chops and rub the seasoning all over them. Dump the chops into a large ziploc bag and set them aside.

Now we’re going to mix together 1/4 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and dump that in the bag with the pork chops. Squish it all together and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Grill the pork chops over low heat until they are cooked through. Keep in mind that commercial barbecue sauces usually have a lot of sugar in them and they’ll burn pretty easily. Make sure to keep the fire turned down low to prevent the sauce from burning.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some pork chops to eat.

Southwest Summer Pork Chops
Adapted from AllRecipes dried minced onion

• 1 tablespoon chopped dried onion
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon dried minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1lb thinly sliced boneless pork chops
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. In a small bowl, combine the first seven ingredients; rub over pork chops. Place pork chops in a large plastic bag. In a bowl, combine barbecue sauce and lemon juice. Pour over pork chops. Rub bag to coat pork chops in sauce. Refrigerate 2 hours.
2. Grill pork chops over low heat until done.

It’s March. That means it’s almost Spring. Spring means warm weather. Warm weather means being able to grill. Being able to grill means I am happy.

The End!

Oh, no, wait. I had more to say.

I just stumbled across a recipe for chicken cooked in a skillet on the stove, but it TASTES like it’s been grilled. Weird, huh? After months and months of being all cooped up in my house without access to my grill, I just had to try it.

The verdict? Why the heck didn’t I try this sooner? It really does taste like barbecued chicken cooked on the grill! But, even better than that, this recipe is EASY! And simple! And quick! You can get it all ready in the morning before work and then just head home and get it cooking. I love recipes like that.

All you need is a pound of chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins, a cup of italian salad dressing, two teaspoons of lime juice and two or three teaspoons of honey. I know, you’re wondering how the heck THAT is going to turn into gorgeous grilled chicken. I don’t know how it does either. I think it’s magic.

The first thing we need to do is slice up the chicken breast into strips. You can buy tenderloins if you like, but there’s just something I don’t like about them. They are stringy and the texture is just, well, not right. So I just slice up my chicken breasts and call it a day. I am using two large breasts for this recipe, which should be just about one pound of chicken. I sliced each breast into thirds.

Set those aside and we’ll make the sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together one cup of italian dressing, two teaspoons of lime juice and two or three teaspoons of honey, depending on how sweet you want your sauce. After you’ve got that all mixed up, place the chicken strips into a bag and dump the sauce on top. Squish it all up and stick it in the fridge for at least one hour. I mixed mine up in the morning and let it sit in my fridge all day long.

When you’re ready to get dinner started, just drag out a large skillet and turn the heat to low. Dump in the bag of chicken and sauce and let it cook. You’ll want to stir it every 5 minutes or so.

I know, I know. It doesn’t look like that sauce is going to turn into anything but a soupy mess, but it will. Promise.

Let your chicken cook over low heat until it is cooked all the way through. If the sauce is still milky looking, just take the chicken out and set it aside. Keep cooking the sauce, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown and then pop the chicken back in the pan.

Start rubbing the chicken around in the sauce and get every last bit of it covered. The sauce is pretty darn yummy. I’d hate for you to waste any of it.

I don’t know how it happens and, really, I don’t care. This tastes like grilled barbecue chicken. Have I mentioned that I like grilled barbecue chicken?

Grilled Chicken on the Stove
Adapted from RecipeZaar

• 1 lb chicken breasts
• 1 cup Italian dressing
• 2 teaspoon lime juice (fresh or bottled)
  
• 2-3 teaspoons honey

Slice chicken breasts into strips and place in plastic bag. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour into bag. Allow to marinate in refrigerator for at least one hour. Dump into large skillet over medium heat. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until chicken is done and sauce starts to brown. Stir to coat the chicken in sauce.