Italian Chicken Melt

Sometimes I have days when I am so uninspired to cook. Friday was one of those days. It’s the end of the week, I’d spent a couple of dreadful hours shopping for groceries (with my 3-year-old) and when I got home, my husband had eagerly taken out some ground chicken. It was fully defrosted and sitting on the counter next to some boxed au gratin potatoes.

“Um, why’d you take this out?” I said.
“Oh, I thought you were gonna cook,” he replies.

I tried to ignore it but he kept asking what’s for dinner. So the wheels were churning in my imagination. And I kept thinking about what to do with ground meat – meatballs, meat sauce, chili? I didn’t have any of the complementary ingredients for that stuff. Burgers? Nah, I didn’t have buns, but I did have bread. Then it hit me Patty Meltssss!

I’d make chicken patty melts. Then I remembered the Asiago cheese bread in the freezer. These sandwiches were delicious and juicy. I seasoned the chicken with Italian seasoning and then smothered the patties with mozzarella between the toasted slices of bread. I also made a quick Italian salsa with cherry tomatoes, oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper.