Thanksgiving Panini

In November and December, Cosi restaurant offered a sandwich with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce which I love. Alas, the holidays are over, but I still had a craving for that combination. So I created my own version in panini form.

To do this you need bread, turkey, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. This tastes best with leftover turkey and stuffing, but you can use your favorite sliced turkey from the deli and boxed stuffing. I have made a box of Stove Top Stuffing to use for this and stick half of it in the freezer for later use. I used several products from Trader Joes including their Seeded Harvest Boule (which I love because it reminds me of bread I had in Europe in the summer) and their Organic Orange Cranberry Sauce. Layer the turkey, stuffing, and sauce on the bread and smush (technical term) together. Brush the outside with olive oil.

One of my friends saw pictures of this sandwich in my Flickr a few days ago and emailed me wondering if I had a panini press. No, have you seen how expensive they are???? I use the George Foreman grill which my father gave me for Christmas a few years ago (even though I old him I prefer to grill on the gas grill outside) and which sits in the back of the bottom shelf gathers dust. It works perfectly as a panini press!