Grilled Cubans

TGIF!! I am really excited for the weekend. You know how I like to pack in the fun on my two days off, and this weekend will be no different. Probably busier than last one, actually.

Tonight, we are meeting one of my oldest friends and his wife at Muss and Turners (a wine bar and deli), and then heading over to South City Kitchen- Vinings for dinner.  Both of these places are great! I'll have a full report on Monday :)

Saturday and Sunday, I fully intend on getting some sun! I have been at the pool once this entire summer- that's just crazy. We are having a cookout at our house on Saturday night, so I'll have lots of cooking to do after I catch some rays.

Last night, I came home to this:

It's a pack of quart-sized, wide mouth Ball jars and Aqua Socks! I have been looking for these jars for a while to organize all my grains and pasta. Jeff picked them up for me while he was out yesterday....so sweet! He also got me a pair of Aqua Socks for our trip. I really have NO CLUE where we are headed. This is gonna be interesting....

I started getting organized right away. I cleaned out our pantry last weekend, so it wasn't too bad. We got rid of all of our packaged, processed foods.  I'm reading "Food, Inc" right now, and let me tell you- if that doesn't make you stop eating processed crap, I don't know what will! The only "snack" we have now is some Organic Olive Oil Popcorn from TJs....and Jeff's sunflower seeds. That's a habit I won't even try to break.

After about 30 minutes of transfering everything- it started looking nice and organized! Red lentils, pinto beans, northern beans, and Isreali couscous up top...

Then pasta, breadcrumbs, arborio rice, brown rice, wild rice, rolled oats, and panko breadcrumbs on the bottom. These are more of my "everyday" grains, so that's why they are grouped together.

Please ignore my 40 yr old, painted cabinets...I know I do!

Dinner last night was great, and easy cleanup since everything was cooked on the grill. I started with half of a pork tenderloin from TJs.

A little tip: If you know you're only cooking for one or two, just cut your larger meat in half when you get home from the store and wrap it separately before you freeze it. Then, you can just thaw out the amount you need. I did this on Sunday so that we didn't have to eat pork tenderloin for the next 3 days.

I seasoned our pork with season salt, lots of black pepper, and cumin.

Jeff grilled it along with some veggies, for an easy side dish...

While the pork was cooking, I hollowed out a loaf of cuban bread (that I cut the harder ends off of first).

Then I slathered each side with yellow mustard...

Next came the cheese.  Four slices of swiss on each, with ham piled on one side...

Don't forget the pickles!

Next, slice your pork tenderloin and pile it on top of the ham...

Next, press you sandwich together and pop it on the grill! It only needs 2 minutes on each side.

YUMMY!

Any big plans this weekend? Just relaxing? Have a good one, whatever you do!

GRILLED CUBANS

Serves 2

1/2 pork tenderloin

1/4 lb deli ham

1/4 lb sliced swiss

4 tbs yellow mustard

About 16 dill pickle slices

1 tbs cumin

Salt and Pepper

1 loaf of Cuban bread, ends cut off

Slice your bread to open it up, then take out most of the inside to make a thin outer crust. Slather with mustard and top with pickles, cheese, and ham.

Season your pork with cumin, salt and pepper. Grill for about 15 minutes, or until cooked through. Slice and pile high on top of your ham. Press you sandwich together and grill for 2 minutes on each side. Cut in half and serve!