Hoagies

This is my Dad's recipe, adapted a little by the Farmers Wife.

I think I heard something over the weekend about who was playing in the Super Bowl this year, can't say as I really remember or even tried to (sorry football fans!). The super bowl has always been a sore spot for me, you see my birthday is February 5th, and it is quite often also Super Bowl Sunday on my birthday. I can't tell you how many super bowl parties I've attended instead of celebrating my birthday, as it pretty much trumped me. Now I'm not blaming anyone, I get that it's very important to a lot of people, but I for one don't really care. Now what does this have to do with this recipe you may ask? Well, though I'm not a fan of football, or the super bowl (and yes that includes the half time show and the commercials), I am a fan of the typical super bowl party food! Such as chips and dip, pizza, chicken wings, lots of yummy fattening fried stuff, and most importantly SUB SANDWICH'S!!! Have never been to a super bowl party that did not have a sandwich of some sort. And that brings me to todays recipe, Hoagies. Call them what you will, sub's, grinders, hoagies, whatever essentially it's the same thing. And these are the BOMB! My dad used to make these when I was growing up, I remember he'd make them in the morning, wrap them all tight in foil, and place his beloved weights on them for at least 8 hours so they'd get nice and smushed! (I think his reasoning was actually to get the flavors to blend more, but my version's just funnier!) But let me tell you what, these are seriously fantastic! Extremely easy to put together, and have a fabulous flavor. I had all but forgotten about these amazing hoagies until I got a midnight craving for them a couple weeks ago (No, I'm not pregnant, I'm just a girl who gets hungry late at night when I should be sleeping! ha!), and my sweet daddy emailed me the recipe the very next day! Now I did change them a little based on price and what I could find in my local store, but they hit the spot. I hope you'll give these a try, and if you must have a Super Bowl Party, I hope you'll try making these instead of your standard store bought subs, or you could just make them in honor of my birthday. Ya know, whatever floats your boat! ;-)

Ingredients:
Loaf of Italian Bread
Deli Sliced Ham (I use Pepperidge Farms packaged deli meats, so much cheaper and just as good as deli counter!)
Deli Sliced Turkey
Deli Sliced Pastrami
Sliced Hard Salami
Sliced Provolone Cheese, about 4 slices depending of size of your loaf
3-4 Pepperincini Peppers, thinly chopped
3 Roasted Red Peppers, thinly sliced (I just bought a jar of roasted peppers to save time!)
Thinly Sliced Tomato
Shredded Lettuce
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Red Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the loaf in half lengthwise. Using a pastry brush, brush balsamic vinaigrette on both sides of the bread til moistened. Start layering your meats, (I like to do salami first) and then top with the cheese slices. Next add on your sliced roasted red pepper, and pepperincini's, tomato and lettuce. Once that's done, lightly sprinkle some more balsamic vinaigrette on top, do the same with the red wine vinegar and olive oil. Finish with a sprinkling of fresh ground pepper, and place the top of the bread on. Smush everything down a bit, then tightly wrap in foil. Place in a fridge with some 5 lbs. weights on top (or some really heavy books work too, wish you could've seen the farming hubby's face as I took his huge computer books out of the fridge before removing the sandwich! HA!), and let sit for at least 1 hour, no more than 8 hours. Slice and serve!

Review:
This not only brought back memories for me, but totally satisfied my craving! These are a delicious alternative to those fat loaded subs we get from restaurants with all the mayo and junk loaded in. The peppers give it a nice kick, though you can leave them off if you like. This is totally versatile to your personal preferences, but this is how we like ours. This is good in the fridge for up to 2 days, but don't leave it weighted down for more than 8 hours. This just blends all the yummy flavors together. You don't need a lot of the balsamic, vinegar or oil. Just enough for a light sprinkle and flavor. 5 stars.