creative lunches

So, I broke down and bought an iPhone.  I'm still getting the hang of how to use it and what apps to get - any input would be welcome!  I especially would love any suggestions on (1) apps for listening to music/streaming music and (2) apps for tracking weight training (e.g. how many reps of what exercise I did and with how much weight).

Anyway, today is all about creative lunches/sandwiches.  I recently saw this article, which suggest 9 2-ingredient sandwiches (plus bread).  They all look intriguing, so I decided I should try some of them.

One problem I ran into is that the article suggests specific types of bread for each sandwich - and seems to infer that the right bread will really add a lot to the flavor combinations.  I don't eat a ton of bread, so I'm unlikely to go spend money buying an entire loaf of cranberry-walnut bread, rye bread, or baguettes!  The ingredients in general were not things I tend to have in my kitchen all the time - olive tapenade, apple butter, and five different types of cheese for the 9 sandwiches.  Not a huge deal, it just means if you want to make one of these sandwiches you have to plan ahead.

The first sandwich I tried was the Goat Cheese Olive Tapenade Sandwich, but slightly altered.  I had trouble finding Olive Tapenade, so I bought Kalamata Olive Spread instead.  I also substituted goat cheese with cream cheese, because that's what I had.  And of course I had no cranberry-walnut bread, so the first time I made this sandwich, I had it open-faced on half of a cinnamon raisin bagel.  Verdict?  Pretty good! I really liked the sweet bread with the tangy olive spread.... even though one of my friends told me there is no way cinnamon and olive belong in the same sandwich.  Oh well!

Left: Saveur's sandwich.  Right: My attempt, crappy cell phone picture

After the success of my first creative sandwich, I decided to make a Peanut Butter Bacon Sandwich.  It might sound strange, but it was deeelicious, and pretty simple.  I just fried some bacon in a pan, toasted bread, spread with peanut butter, topped with bacon.  Yum.  Scott was also a huge fan.

Recently, we were at a Greene Turtle and Scott ordered the Ultimate Ham and Cheese, which is basically like grilled cheese with apples and ham.  The apple slices were such a fun twist that I decided to try it at home.  I cooked the apples a little bit and used the leftover bacon and some shredded mozzarella to make this ultimate grilled cheese.  I think it went well, although next time I would use different type of cheese.

 While creating the apple-bacon-cheese sandwich, I thought about how good that bacon and peanut butter sandwich was and how much I like peanut butter on sliced apples.  The natural next step was a peanut butter, apple, and bacon sandwich.

Another hit!  The sandwich making frenzy has been fun.  The only downside is that most of these sandwiches would not be easy to pack and bring to work, as I don't think they'd be quite as tasty.  There are several more in that article I want to try eventually - ricotta and honey is next on my list!

What are your favorite lunches recently?  What is the best sandwich you ever had, and what do you think made it so good?