If I had to make a list of my top 5 sandwiches, a classic BLT would certainly be near the top. The toasted sour dough bread, mayo, juicy tomatoes, crunchy bacon and crisp lettuce nearly always yield a scrumptious sandwich. A sandwich that I thought could not get any better. That is until I tried a BLT with the addition of spicy, succulent Cajun shrimp. Now that my taste buds have experienced this delicious combination, this sandwich just might inch its way past the traditional BLT on my sandwich list.

Last Friday I shared my recipe for Fire Roasted Tomato Soup with you and mentioned that I like to serve my tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Well I may have fibbed a little. You see, I didn’t exactly serve my soup with a traditional grilled cheese sandwich. Instead I served it with this slightly grown up version of a ham and cheese. Slightly grown up in that instead of ham it has salty prosciutto, instead of cheddar it has creamy mozzarella and to top it off, some sauteed chanterelle mushrooms are thrown in too. All of this goodness sandwiched between 2 slices of crispy panini bread may not be a grilled cheese in the true sense of the word but it sure makes for one heck of a dunking sandwich.

I will admit that at this time of year I miss school. I don’t miss homework but I miss buying Lisa Frank folders, pink pet erasers, finding out who was in my class and praying I didn’t get the “mean” teacher. And of course I miss lunch time, where you got to see who had what for lunch and if you were convincing enough, swap what you didn’t want for someone elses cookies. One thing that I would never want to swap however, was my egg salad sandwich. I loved the creaminess and the chunks of eggs with the soft white bread. It just reminds me of being a kid. As a result, every year around this time I make myself one.

I am not what you might call a “sandwich lover”. Sure I will eat and enjoy them from time to time, but unlike some of my friends who can eat turkey sandwiches almost every day, I need something more out of my sandwiches. Deli meat, Wonder bread, American cheese and mayo may have been OK when I was growing up, but I’m a big girl now.  Give me more. Take this sandwich for instance, it has perfectly seasoned chicken, vine ripened tomatoes, crisp lettuce and, my favorite part, a delicious yogurt-dill sauce. Now my dear friends that is a sandwich.

Yesterday when I shared my recipe for Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, I promised that I would share a couple of my favorite recipes that feature it. I would be lying if I told you that this sandwich was not the reason that I tried pulled pork to begin with. I mean honestly, who doesn’t love succulent pulled pork, mixed with tangy BBQ sauce, topped with coleslaw and piled high on a toasted bun? You may get a little messy, but it is worth it.

For those of you that have spent time working in a restaurant you probably, at one time or another, worked a double. While I was a server, the Friday crew was often scheduled to work both the lunch and dinner shifts leaving us without much time to go home in between. As a result we would spend anywhere between 7 and 11 hours at the restaurant. Smelling and seeing all of the food coming out of the kitchen over so many hours can really make a girl hungry, so by the time my first shift was over I was starving. After that last lunch table left and before we had to prepare for upcoming dinner service, the other lunch servers and I would head to the very back table of the restaurant to enjoy our own lunch. It was fun, we’d laugh and talk about the crazy orders we got that day, the regulars who came in and the table that stiffed us.  Perhaps most notably we ate, and by ate I mean pigged out.  We would all order our favorite dishes and share them.  There would be clam chowder, bread, french fries, salads, and my favorite this almond chicken salad sandwich.

Yesterday I posted my list of 4th of July Recipes however, I have a few more that I plan on sharing with you this week. First and foremost, I realized that my list did not include the all mighty burger, which will probably be present at many 4th of July parties this week. But I didn’t want to give you the recipe for just any burger, I picked the burger that it took Ryan and I a couple of years to master; The Guacamole Bacon Cheeseburger.

Last week I shared a recipe for Cajun Popcorn Shrimp that reminded me of my childhood. This week I thought I would add another twist to the recipe. I decided to place these crunchy little devils on a sandwich. Inspired by the classic New Orleans dish the Shrimp Po’ Boy, this french bread sandwich is filled with Cajun popcorn shrimp, a slightly spicy spread, shredded lettuce and tomato.