Bloody Mary Beef Stew

Bloody Mary Beef Stew

When I read a fellow foodie blogger had made a Bloody Mary Pot Roast, I thought to myself “I SO have to make this!” But being lazy like I am, I instead used some pre-cut beef stew meat we had in the freezer, along with a pre-made Bloody Mary mix. You see, I drink like maybe one or two Bloody Marys a year. (Specifically one on New Year’s Day, and sometimes another one on Mother’s Day.) But what to do with all that leftover Bloody Mary mix? So I end up freezing it. This recipe idea gave me the perfect excuse to defrost it and make this wonderfully flavorful and spicy beef stew!

Dr. Swami and Bone Daddy’s Bloody Mary Mix ~ Da’ Good Stuff!

The original recipe is by my friend Mollie, aka the Frugal Hausfrau and she concocts her own homemade Bloody Mary sauce to pour over a full chuck roast. You can read that version here. By adding some additional beef broth and various chopped veggies, you end up with a one-pot full-meal deal! What is not to like about that? I recommend serving with a nice crusty piece of French bread. So tasty! Hubby agreed.

Bloody Mary Beef Stew

1 1/4 pounds beef stew meat
2 tablespoons flour
Ground pepper and salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup Bloody Mary mix (I used Dr. Swami and Bone Daddy’s)
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 clove)
1 cup baby carrots
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
2 cups homemade or good-quality beef broth
1 shot glass of Vodka
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup peas, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep the veggies. Unwrap the beef stew meat and leave it on the plastic wrap on the butcher paper. Season with ground black pepper and salt or Mrs. Dash, to taste. Sprinkle the flour over the meat, mixing it around until all pieces are coated.

Seasoned and Dusted Beef Stew Meat

Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the beef stew meat and cook (in batches) until browned on all sides. You don’t want to cram all the meat into the pot at once or it will steam instead of crisp up.

Browning the Stew Meat

Remove meat and set aside on the butcher paper after removing the plastic wrap from it.  (See how I did that? No dirty plate!)

Add the chopped onions to the pot and cook until starting to soften. Add in the minced garlic for a minute or so. Deglaze the pot with the beef broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients except the peas and bring stew up to a simmer. Season with more ground black pepper, if you wish.

Beef Stew Ready to Go Into Oven

Cover, turn off heat, and carefully place into preheated oven. Cook covered for 2 hours. Remove from oven and stir in the thawed peas. Serve in bowls with crusty French bread and butter.

Bloody Mary Beef Stew

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Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Flavor bombs, I tell you, and it’s no joke when I say these are da’ bomb! These large puppies are not only packed with flavor, they are the size of small cannon balls. I was searching the interwebz for something to make with my half-priced pound of ground turkey I found in the Reduce for Immediate Sale bin at the grocery, and came across several recipes for ground turkey meatballs. The thing is, I didn’t have all the ingredients for any single one, so did was I always do. I printed them all out, and mish-mashed them together to come up with this.

BONUS: Earlier in the week I had made some homemade croutons from roasted garlic-infused olive oil and grated Parmesan. I used leftover bread I took home from our company party.

Making Homemade Croutons

Gosh aren’t they lovely?

Homemade Roasted Garlic and Parmesan Croutons

They ground up in my Ninja perfectly to use as a binder for the meatballs. Keeping the roasted garlic theme in mind, I did a quick roast of three large cloves of garlic in my toaster oven for 20 minutes.

SECOND BONUS: The night before I had made a huge batch of our favorite side dish to go with whatever the heck meat we had (See I love these so much that I can’t even remember what I ate with them as in my mind they are the star of any meal.) I had plenty of this rosemary bliss to serve with the meatballs, so of course I carried the rosemary theme through to the meatballs. Recipe here ——–> Rosemary and Butter Red Potatoes and Green Beans.

Buttered Rosemary Red Potatoes and Green Beans

UN-BONUS: Sometimes my math isn’t so good. I was trying to figure out how long to set the timer so I could take the meatballs out of the oven about 5 minutes before they were done to zest some Parmesan over the top of them. I usually cook meatloaf about an hour, but figured I would check them with an instant-read thermometer at 30 minutes. So. I set the timer for 40 minutes. Why? I have no clue. Slightly on the dry side, but the spinach did help a lot with keeping them from being a disaster. The pan juices in the casserole dish poured over was also a perfect remedy.

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

Baked Spinach, Garlic, and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

3 large cloves garlic, peels left on
1/4 cup bread crumbs (from flavored croutons if you have them, or make your own!)
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I used the same Ninja that I ground up the breadcrumbs in)
1 pound ground turkey
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon dried, crushed rosemary (I crush the dried leaves with a mortar and pestle)
Pinch of dried thyme
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Ground black pepper, to taste

Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and roast for 20 minutes in a 400-degree oven (toaster oven is more economical). Remove and let cool, then peel and mince.

Meanwhile, process the croutons into bread crumbs, remove, then process the onion into a fine mince. (Store-bought bread crumbs are fine, as well as mincing your own onion with a knife.)

Processing the Croutons into Bread Crumbs

Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and get ready to mess up your hands. Thoroughly combine all the ingredients using both hands.

Ground Turkey Meatball Ingredients

When completely combined, scoop out a large handful and roll around in your hands and shape into the size of a large golf ball or small tennis ball. (What is that size? A rubber squash ball?) Either way, you should end up with six fairly same-sized meatballs.

Turkey Meatballs Ready to Bake

Place the meatballs in a small oil-sprayed baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 25 minutes (not 40 please) or until an instant-read thermometer reads 160 degrees.

Remove foil then grate some fresh Parmesan cheese over top. Cook for another 5 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve immediately with any sides of choice.

Baked Spinach Garlic and Rosemary Turkey Meatballs

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Beef Sirloin Tips with Mushrooms over Hot-Buttered Noodles

Beef Sirloin Tips with Mushrooms over Hot-Buttered Noodles

I made this dish the same day I made my Black-Eyed Pea Risotto. Yep, the lunch my hubby never even tasted. His loss! It was New Year’s Day, and I wanted him to go get some take-out from a local Italian chain restaurant with my “Carino’s Cash” cards from buying gift cards there.

We were all set to order, then I read the fine print. “Only good for dine-in orders.” Oooh, bummer. So what is one to do? I didn’t want to get dressed (hey, I was still in my jammies/sweatpants — who isn’t on New Year’s Day?) and I needed to make dinner STAT!

I quickly scoured my fridge found an entire package of fresh mushrooms ready to go south, and a one pound package of boneless top sirloin I forgot I had put in there a couple of days before to defrost. These two items armed me with the makings of a delicious meal made in under one hour!

So let’s get straight to it on how to make a simple, filling meal on a short notice:

Beef Sirloin Tips with Mushrooms over Hot Buttered Noodles

8 ounces dried pasta, any kind
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 pound top sirloin steak
1/4 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried thyme
2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup onion, chopped
8 ounce package sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbs all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups homemade or low-sodium beef broth
Chopped green onions, for garnish

First get the pasta cooking according to package directions. Any time during the below cooking process, remove and drain when it’s cooked al dente , then add two tablespoons of butter and keep warm/hot.

Seasoned Beef Tips

Cut the steak into bite-sized pieces (hence the “tips”), then toss with the paprika, thyme, mustard, and black pepper, to taste.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil, then the steak. Saute for about 5 or more minutes, browning the steak on all sides. Remove steak from pan to a plate and set aside.

Browning the Beef Tips

Melt the remaining butter in the same skillet and add the onions and mushrooms.  Cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until the mushrooms start to release their liquid.

Sauteing the Mushrooms and Onions

Next add the garlic and Worcestershire Sauce and mix to combine. One tablespoon at a time, whisk in the flour until a paste forms and no dry flour is left.

Slowly add the beef broth to the mixture. Continually whisk the mixture to remove any lumps during this process. Bring it to a boil and cook until it thickens.

Steak Tips and Mushroom Sauce

Add the cooked beef back to the pan and mix to coat.  Continue to cook until the meat is reheated. Serve over the hot buttered noodles and garnish with chopped green onions. Dinner is ON!

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Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

I saw this recipe just a couple of days ago that Pioneer Woman posted, and just drooled. I said right then and there, “I am SO making this!” The other great thing is if you go to her website and pin her post on Pinterest, Land O’ Lakes will donate 9 meals to Feeding America®, up to 2.7 million meals! I’ll give you the link down below.

My hubs helped with some of the prep, which was nice, but really there is not a lot to this. I adapted the recipe by halving it for our smaller family, and by baking the meatballs after browning them, not only because I’m terrible meatball maker, apparently, but because they were falling apart in the skillet. So what I did was after they were mostly browned on the outside, I took them out of the skillet to cool a bit, preheated the oven to 400 degrees, compacted them back into sort of round, then baked them for 15 minutes.

Meatballs and Seasonings

The plus about doing it that way is that you won’t have all that extra grease in the pan. I also omitted the beef bouillon and salt. Believe me there is enough flavor and salt in the rest of the ingredients that you will not miss it at all!

Changes I will make next time: I would use 2 1/2 cups of beef broth total. Hubby said he would have liked more gravy with it. Second would be to use flour instead of corn starch. Even though the gravy was “glossy” like the original recipe said it would be, I think the flour would make it all stick to the noodles better.

Even so, the fam ate it up and I’m good with that. The hubs called it a “glorified hamburger over noodles.” LOL! He said he would eat it again with those additional changes, though. Although the Pioneer Woman called this Salisbury Steak Meatballs, I didn’t find it to taste anything like that. Yep, a glorified hamburger. But if you want a fairly simple recipe to feed the family with ground beef and pasta, this is a great change of pace. 🙂

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman, Salisbury Steak Meatballs

SPECIAL NOTE: To help donate 9 meals to the hungry, click the following link and pin on Pinterest! http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/04/salisbury-steak-meatballs. Thank You!

1 pound ground beef
3/8 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/8 cup spicy brown mustard
1/8 cup ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend (or salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon corn starch (or flour) mixed with 1/2 cup beef broth
1 1/2 to 2 cups homemade or low-sodium beef broth, divided
1/2 teaspoon additional Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons additional ketchup
1/4 teaspoon Liquid Smoke (I used Stubb’s)
8 ounces wide egg noodles
Dried minced parsley

In a medium bowl, combine the first seven ingredients and mix well with clean hands. Roll and compact into meatballs. I didn’t do such a great job of compacting them, maybe you are better. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a large skillet, then sear over medium-high heat on all sides until browned. Remove to a plate to cool and meanwhile preheat your oven to 400 degrees. This is also a good time to put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta.

Seared Meatballs

Add one more tablespoon of butter to the skillet (with all the leftover browned burger bits) and add in the onions. Reduce heat to medium and saute them for about 10 minutes until fairly soft. While the onions are cooking, you can re-compact your meatballs up and place on a parchment or foil-lined pan in one layer and cook in oven for 15 minutes.

Baked Meatballs

Remove and set aside if your timing is off, like mine was. It’s choreography, I tell you!

Cooking the Onions with Browned Bits

Once the onions are softened, add the cornstarch or flour slurry to the skillet, scraping up all the yummy browned bits. Then add the rest of the beef broth, the additional Worcestershire and ketchup and the Liquid Smoke, then mix well, bringing up to a simmer (lower heat once it does).

Onions and Gravy

Now add your pasta to the boiling water. Cook pasta until al dente, drain, and pour onto a large plate or in bowl. The onions and  gravy should be nice and done now, so pour the mixture over the pasta, top with the meatballs, sprinkle some parsley over it, scoop into bowls, and chow down. Serve if you like with a side salad, French bread, and fruit.

Seared/Baked Meatballs with Brown Gravy and Pasta

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Harvest Grains and Pork Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

Harvest Grains and Pork Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

Hey, I finally caught a salmon on my line! (And… he got away, boo hiss.) But it was fun and exciting, nonetheless. So you may have noticed I didn’t do a weekend post, because, well, I was gone fishin’! But the night before we left I made these crazy-good stuffed bell peppers, and I think we’ve found our new-favorite vegetable stuffing. I was perusing through Trader Joe’s last week and noticed this package of Harvest Grains. It sounded so delicious, with couscous, quinoa, orzo pasta, and teeny garbanzo beans. Wow! What a bunch of cool grains and stuff all in one package! And the flavors were just wonderful. So much better than plain old white rice.

Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains, Red Bell Peppers, and Tomatoes

I decided I would make my roasted bell pepper recipe using this instead of rice, and yowza, what a hit with the family! Seconds for everyone. I thought I had some ground turkey in the freezer, and I was going to be really healthy using that instead of ground beef, but alas, it turned out to be a package of ground pork (plain, not breakfast-type.) Well, what the heck, I used that instead. I also used some of my tomatoes from our hanging tomato plant experiment, which are coming in fast and strong. Now if I can only ward off the frost until I get most of them harvested, as it’s cooling down quick in my neck of the woods. I hope you enjoy this, and if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s in your area, you can substitute rice, but I would simmer it longer and use more liquid.

Simmering Bell Pepper Stuffing

Harvest Grains and Pork Stuffed Red Bell Peppers

2 large red bell peppers (or 3 or 4 if you want all the stuffing inside)
1 pound ground  fresh pork (or turkey or beef)
1/2 cup onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains (or rice)
3/4 cup homemade or low-sodium chicken broth (or water)
2 cups diced fresh tomatoes and liquid, or 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Dash of cayenne pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Cut 1/2 inch tops off of the bell peppers, and dice the tops up except for the stems. Clean and rinse the inside of the peppers and place with small amount of water in covered microwavable dish. Microwave for five minutes and let rest until ready to stuff.

Stuffed Bell Pepper Ready for Oven

In a very large frying pan, sauté the ground pork (or turkey or beef) along with chopped pepper tops, onion and garlic until your meat is browned. Drain. Add the rest of ingredients except cheese and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the Harvest Grains are done, about 15 minutes. (Longer if using rice.) Stir in half the cheese.

Stuff the peppers with mixture and place in a lightly oil-sprayed casserole dish, and spoon the extra stuffing around the peppers. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over top and bake 5 minutes longer. Dinner is served!

Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup

Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup

I have a confession to make. I have never made stuffed cabbage rolls in my life. For years and years I have drooled over pictures of them, but the long process to stuff the cabbage leaves and braise for several hours always intimidated me. So I did the next best thing. I turned them inside out and made soup instead! While researching what ingredients go into a stuffed cabbage roll dish, I discovered that every Eastern European country has their own version of this dish. Ukranians typically make theirs with pork, sauerkraut and onions, while the Romanians add a generous amount of fresh dill to their sauce. Polish cuisine mixes ground beef or pork with rice, which is the common Americanized version. Hungarians add paprika to theirs, which I did too. Most of the sauces are tomato-based, except for in Sweden where they typically serve it with Lingonberry jam.

Trying to decide what to put in the soup took me several hours of scouring recipes (in which I could have been actually making the traditional dish!), and finally just had to start making it by the seat of my pants otherwise we’d never eat. I wrote a list of most common ingredients, then started adding them one by one, tossing in a bit of this and a pinch of that. I kept a notepad nearby so I could document what actually ended up in the soup, and how much. Another thing I did was try to healthy it up a bit by using ground turkey and brown rice, and used some homemade no-sodium turkey broth.

I always measure my success with a new recipe by how many servings my family goes back for. In this case, hubby went back for thirds and daughter took seconds. That’s success in my book! This makes a nice bit pot of soup, and freezes well. It also tasted even better the next day as leftovers. On day two, I also added a dollop of sour cream to my bowl, which is another garnish that can be added to this dish.  And please don’t get intimidated by the long ingredient list, it comes together fairly quick and easy. You can also make the cooking time much shorter if you use white rice instead of brown. Brown rice takes a long time to cook at high altitude.

Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup

Inside-Out Stuffed Cabbage Roll Soup

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, or salt, to taste
5 to 6 cups chicken, turkey, or beef broth, homemade or low sodium
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (more if you like spicy!)
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup brown or white rice, uncooked
2 cans low-sodium diced tomatoes
1 8-ounce can no-salt tomato sauce
Handful of chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1 bag of shredded cabbage (I used the mixed cole slaw with carrots)
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

In a large soup pot, brown the ground turkey and chopped onions in the olive oil over medium heat until turkey is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook a minute or two more. Drain the grease, if any. Grind a bunch of black pepper over it, and add the Mrs. Dash or salt, to taste. Next add the broth and stir in all the rest of the ingredients except the cabbage or cole slaw and garnishes. Bring up to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer until the rice is cooked through. For brown rice, that took about an hour. White rice would probably only take 20 minutes. Once rice is tender, add the bag of shredded cabbage, bring back up to a simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes more. Remove the bay leaves, and garnish with parsley or sour cream. There area some exciting tastes going on in this soup!

Tangy Squash with Onions and Tomatoes a la Threadgill’s

Tangy Squash with Onions and Tomatoes

This is a delightful side dish, with subtle flavors that don’t overpower the squash but give it a nice tang. Squash is the star of this show, and you don’t want to overwhelm its delicate flavor. I know it’s winter, but yellow squash is typically available year round, in varying degrees of size and freshness. Yesterday the store had some fairly nice looking ones, so picked them up on a whim during my half-hour quick-trip to the grocery that’s nearby my daughter’s piano lessons while she continues to perfect that craft. The original recipe for this comes from Threadgill’s, a restaurant that was my mainstay while in college in Austin (oh that and Trudy’s and Chuy’s.) I usually try to get in a dinner or lunch at any of those whenever I visit.  I have a copy of Threadgill’s cookbook from 1996 which was written by the proprietor at that time, and immediately went to it to replicate this side I  almost always order with my main course there. (Which is either chicken-fried steak or chicken-fried chicken livers. Oh yes.) I was tempted to add more Worcestershire and Tabasco than the recipe called for, but I pulled back and trusted the recipe. I quartered the original recipe as it said it made enough for eight large servings,  and with only three of us it came out the perfect amount, with a tad leftover. Would serve four easily as a side dish. We had both chicken and steak leftover in the fridge we needed to eat, and wanted something new for a vegetable in these winter months. I also whipped up some couscous, which is another nice quick side to pair this with. My adaptation to this recipe was to add a half a tomato, not only for color but a bit more flavor, and substitute a nice dry Chardonnay for the Chablis it called for.  And ground black pepper! Gotta have that spice in most everything. I did restrain myself this time and left out garlic.  I hope you enjoy this tangy take on an otherwise bland side dish!

Chopped Squash, Onion, and Tomato (Bad yellow lighting, I know!!!!)

Tangy Squash with Onions and Tomatoes a la Threadgill’s
Adapted from Threadgill’s, The Cookbook

1 pound yellow squash, chopped
1 tablespoon butter or substitute
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup white wine, you choose
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 small tomato, chopped
Ground black pepper, to taste
Parsley for garnish, optional

Note: The above recipe is the quartered version. Double, triple or quadruple as needed.

Start by chopping up the yellow squash into 1/4-inch or so slices, then cut the larger slices in half. In a large-ish skillet, heat the butter or substitute on medium and add the onion. Sauté for about 3 minutes, until it starts to soften. Add the wine, water, Worcestershire, and Tabasco sauce until mixed, then dump in the squash. Stir it around in the juice, then cover it up and simmer for a few minutes. Uncover and give it a good stir again, grind some black pepper over it, then stir again and cover. At this point keep an eye on it. You only need to cook it maybe a total of 1o minutes more, stirring occasionally, depending on your heat. You don’t want the squash to be too mushy, but not overly hard either. Just eyeball the doneness. Last, tell your family to get in the kitchen and dinner is served!

Baked Ham and Swiss Cheese Sliders ~ A Party Hit!

Baked Ham and Swiss Sliders

I was invited to a very good friend’s house for Super Bowl Sunday, and she said I didn’t have to bring anything except myself and daughter (hubby was out of town), and that there would be plenty of food. I accepted, with reservations in my mind. You see, I’d been seeing these fantastic ham and cheese sliders posted on Pinterest for quite awhile, and I was really hankering to make them. I called her the next day and asked if I could go ahead and make them for the Super Bowl party. She of course said it was OK, but warned me it really wasn’t necessary. Well! I am so glad I did make them! They were a fantastic hit, and I’m chagrined I made half of them with just turkey and Swiss cheese and mayo. The issue is we had a few picky kid eaters at the house, but two of the three tried the ham ones with the Dijon/Worcestershire/Onion sauce and ended up loving them! So I ended up with some turkey ones left to bring home, but my daughter took those for school lunch the next couple of days, so it worked out. The original recipe for this came from King’s Hawaiian website, recipe here. My adaptation was to use fresh onion instead of dried, less butter and deli meat (a pound per 12 rolls is a bit overkill on the meat, but certainly feel free to add that amount if you want).  A lot of the recipes on Pinterest use poppy seeds instead of sesame. Poppy seeds are very expensive, did you know that?

These are a cinch to make and can be easily halved per the original recipe. But a double batch will fly off the plate!  So why not bookmark this page for a great party/potluck idea? I’m just adding the recipe below for the Ham and Swiss sliders, since the Turkey and Swiss just didn’t do it for me.

Pan of Ham and Swiss and Turkey and Swiss Sliders

Baked Ham and Swiss Cheese Sliders

2 12-packs King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls
1 stick butter
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pound thinly sliced deli ham
Sliced swiss cheese to fit, about 10-12 slices
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a large bread knife, cut the entire block of rolls in half, keeping the tops and bottoms intact. Lay the bottom halves in a 9 x 13 baking pan (the two fit perfectly!). In a small bowl, microwave the butter, onion, Dijon, and Worcestershire for two minutes, covered. Bowl and steam will be HOT! Carefully uncover and spread half the mixture on the bottom of the rolls. Layer the ham and cheese, then add the tops of the rolls. Mix the sesame seeds into the rest of the butter mixture, then spread the rest of it on top of the rolls. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 5 minutes more. Separate sandwiches with a sharp knife. Serve hot to your hungry guests immediately!

Edit: I forgot I to tell you I sprayed the baking pan lightly with oil to prevent sticking!