‘What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with ya for the idea or inspiration.

I’ve posted a few sandwiches here but thought these Italian subs would seem special enough to be dinner. I loved having them at home, and the next day’s lunch reaped the benefit too!

Mr. J is from Maine where they call them simply “Italians”. Growing up for pool-side parties my mum would slice a very long loaf, and fill with sandwichy things and cut it into lots of pieces. I’m now remembering that she’d toss the lettuce & tomato with Italian dressing which is a good idea for the oil/vinegar sub topping. #nexttime

Ingredients:

soft fluffy rolls, or 1 long baguette to cut into pieces
¼ pound sliced hard salami
¼ pound sliced honey ham
¼ pound sliced provolone
½ cucumber, sliced
½ green bell pepper
1 small tomato, sliced
2 cups mixed greens, or lettuce of your choosing
1 small onion, sliced
1 cup basil (optional)
mayo, mustard, or veggie oil
salt & pepper

Directions:

Cut, slice, and unwrap everything.

Build your sandwich.

Now, this seems like a lot of ingredients, but assembling takes all of 5 minutes AND it’s all prepped for lunch the following day! Plus, leftovers of these ingredients are good things to have on hand (think panini! or bfast burrito with the peppers, ham & cheese! or skip the lettuce & cukes and use the rest to build yourself a calzone!). This would make for a good salad too, if sandwiches aren’t your thing. They’re not usually my thing if they’re going to sitting around in a packed lunch all day getting soggy. I like ‘em fresh off the press.

I swear by the basil. That makes the sandwich for me. It is also a good use for any leftover basil you already have, before it goes bad (strawberry basil sangria would be a good use too). I threw some basil into my salad the other day and LOVED discovering the basil leaves amongst my greens at lunch. I’ve also been throwing this mustard in lots of dishes lately so these subs were no exception.

Mr. J was really jazzed about this dinner, which surprised me. It was fun to assemble our own and only have to do some slicing for dinner to be prepped. I should do this more often. And you should do it too. Lesson learned, a blast from the past or something unusual with no frills is fun.

Happy weekend! Stay tuned for next week for a pizza that was a social media frenzy!