Skinny Cooks Can't Be Trusted
By Dave Kessler

With the heat index in the low 100s, I’ll bet you’re a lot like me: Why heat up the kitchen with a bunch of cooking when the air conditioner is working overtime?

Two of my prized possessions for days like this are the 1950s sandwich toaster I bought at an auction several years ago, and my convection/microwave oven combination that was recommended to me by friends Wes and Jo Ann Belcher.

I can use these two kitchen gadgets to make a quick, hot lunch without working up a sweat. I like that old sandwich toaster because it toasts or grills sandwiches without putting a diagonal crease down the middle like the newer ones do. This lets me put more filling in my sandwich so that one sandwich will do me for a meal.

A nice grilled sandwich and a bowl of soup makes the perfect lunch for days like this.

Favorite Sweltering Hot Day Lunch
Option 1
12-grain bread, 2 slices per sandwich
Low-fat Swiss cheese, 3-4 slices per sandwich
Chopped Vidalia onion
Cashew nuts
Butter

Option 2
Same bread as above
Corned beef loaf from the deli
Ketchup
Swiss cheese (optional)

When building the grilled cheese sandwich, start by chopping some Vidalia onion and lay it on the bottom slice of bread. Add the cashews next, following with the Swiss cheese then top it with the remaining slice of bread.

Spread butter on the top slice and put a smear of butter on the bottom of the sandwich grill, and lay the sandwich on that butter. Grill it until you get the perfect golden toasty sandwich.

I need your help on Option 2, though – I used to get corned beef loaf at the former Thornburg’s Market here in Richmond, Ind. Since that market is gone, I haven’t been able to find one that carries the corned beef loaf. If you can help me find a supplier of corned beef loaf in the area, I will remember you in my will, or something.

(If I kick the bucket in the near future, my lawyer will call and explain that I owe a lot of money and I named you in my will to help pay off the debts. I know I can count on you, and that your check will be in the mail.)