Sandwichin'

Just like any other 14 year old, I walked into the kitchen, on the prowl for food. I was craving something easy to grab and eat while finishing my math homework, like a bag of pretzels. There was nothing in the refrigerator but foods that had to be assembled: potatoes, raw beef and chicken, eggs, cheese, bread. Too lazy to spend more than three minutes on preparing food, I reluctantly returned to the world of conics, probability, and quadratic formulas.

My brother Eric came over to my bedroom and asked me where Mom put the new spiral notebooks. I noticed his mouth continued to move in an up-down movement even after he finished talking.

"What are you eating?!"

"I made this awesome sandwich. So so good!" He brought me back to his room, eager to let me try the remainer of the sandwich. It was a chicken tenderloin cheese grilled sandwich he had made with the George Forman grill. It was so very delicious, tasting similar to Panera's paninis.

My brother is an artiste, just like my mother. He loves making things himself, such as hacky sacks, drawings to decorate his room, and even the cards for my past two birthdays. His creativity has now made its way into the kitchen domain, with crafting his own dishes.

The fact that he concocted such a great tasting panini himself was admirable, and I realized that I will never stop being amazed at my brother's drive and independence. I had seldom found teenagers creating food masterpieces without the rigidity of a recipe. That day, my brother helped me create my very own chicken and cheese panini. The skill he imparted to me proved to be not only valuable, but also very therapeutic. I previously thought making my own food would be too much of a pestering and time consuming process, but I've found it to be very calming, especially when I need to relieve stress.

Recipe for Eric's Chicken Tenderloin and Cheese Panini:

1. Take a piece of breaded chicken tenderloin (from Costco's frozen foods area) and microwave for 1 minute. Flip to other side and microwave for another 1.5 minutes.

2. Skin off the breaded part covering chicken, then dip chicken in a bowl of olive oil, basil and half teaspoon of honey.

3. Take two pieces of Dad's homemade cheese bread (or any bread) and two slices of Schreiber's American cheese. Place in order of bread, then cheese, then chicken, then cheese, then bread.

4. Slight butter on the outside of both bread slices when put on the George Forman. Close the grill/compress the bread. Then to make a cross hatch pattern (aesthetic purposes), rotate the sandwich and close the grill again.

5. Take out when outside is a light, healthy brown. ENJOY!!!!