Fried Bologna Sandwiches

Yes, you read that title correctly. Mom occasionally made these simple sandwiches for dinner. Really, there is no need for a recipe. Simply fry up some bologna in a frying pan and serve on bread. In my memory, Mom always made the sandwiches with basic white sandwich bread. I remember putting a slice of processed American cheese and mayo on my sandwich. I used thin sliced bologna for these sandwiches, but I seem to recall the bologna being thicker in my childhood than what I found in the grocery store this week. I used classic beef bologna, but I saw turkey, pork and chicken bologna at the store. You could use any type of bread, toasted or untoasted. Of course, there are many potential condiments--consider mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles or even barbecue sauce. You could even make these sandwiches super fancy by adding lettuce and tomato. There is nothing to stop you from turning a simple bologna sandwich into a masterpiece.

These sandwiches are good even for picky eaters, like MDS, who like the sandwich in spite of himself. He was skeptical, but, ultimately admitted that he enjoyed his sandwich, which he had on toasted bread with mustard. In fact, MDS observed that the sandwich would be better with even more bologna on it. So, next time I make these sandwiches, I will make them with extra bologna.

Fried Bologna Sandwiches

• Bologna (3-5 slices per sandwich)
• sliced bread
• cheese
• condiments

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray. Heat pan with medium heat. Place a layer of bologna in the pan and cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or longer, if you prefer. 

Place the fried bologna on bread, add condiments or other toppings. Enjoy!

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Whenever Mom made broccoli, she made it with this cheese sauce. I suppose covering broccoli with cheese was Mom's way to get us to eat vegetables. It worked for me because now I love broccoli even without cheese sauce.

MDS, who often claims to dislike cheese, even liked this broccoli with cheese sauce. So I guess that proves that Mom's cheese sauce tastes good to just about everyone.

Recently, when talking with Mom and Megan about this dish, Mom seemed to think that she used her imitation hollandaise sauce with broccoli. But, Meg and I clearly remember that Mom always used this cheese sauce with broccoli and her imitation hollandaise sauce with cauliflower. Nevertheless, this cheese sauce would be tasty with any vegetable. And, stay tuned for cauliflower with imitation hollandaise sauce, which will appear in a future post.

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce 

• 1-pound broccoli
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 4 slices American cheese

To prepare the broccoli, cut the broccoli into spears. Add broccoli to boiling water. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Place the broccoli in a casserole.

While the broccoli is cooking, make the cheese sauce, by melting the butter in a small sauce pan over low heat. Whisk in the flour. Continue stirring the flour and butter. Add in the milk and blend together. Allow to cook for a few minutes. Then slowly add in the cheese until melted.

Pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Wheat Pizza

Mom occasionally varied her recipes to try to make them healthier. A prime example is Mom's wheat pizza. The recipe is the same as regular pizza, just substituting wheat flour for regular flour. Wheat flour has more nutrients and fiber. For this recipe, I used only wheat flour, but you could also use half wheat flour and half regular flour, or any combination of the two flours.

I know certain siblings were not fans of wheat pizza. As for me, I really like it. The wheat flour gives the pizza a nice flavor that is distinct from standard pizza. You can get standard pizza at just about any pizzeria, but I do not recall seeing wheat pizza on any pizzeria menu. To enjoy wheat pizza, give this recipe a try.

Just as with the regular pizza, Mom usually just used rectangular cookie sheets, so that is what I used here. Although, I do vaguely remember that for a time, Mom did have a round pizza pan. But any kind of pan will work just fine.

Wheat Pizza 
(yields 2 pizzas)

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
• 2-3 cups wheat flour
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. sugar
• Sauce (16 ounces of tomato sauce seasoned with garlic and oregano)
• 2-3 cups mozzarella cheese
• toppings such as cooked sausage (about one pound), veggies, etc.
• grated parmesan cheese

Dissolve yeast in the warm water and let stand for about 10 minutes until foamy. Combine flour, olive oil, salt, sugar, and yeast mixture in a large bowl. Stir well until the dough comes together and is stiff. Add additional flour, if needed. Cover dough and allow to rise until dough has doubled, about 1 to 2 hours. When the dough is almost done rising, cook any of the toppings (such as sausage) that need to be cooked. Turn out dough on floured surface and form into pizza crusts. Grease the pans and sprinkle with semolina flour. Place dough into pans and create a slight edge with the dough. 

Cover the dough with sauce, toppings and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle pizza with grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes, or until pizza is golden. Enjoy!