Tonight's Simple Fare: Cheddar tomato turkey/tempeh melts with chili corn

Coffee Pot photo bombing
the turkey/tempeh tomato melt

I have what I call my "mixed food" family.  My oldest is vegetarian (at 8, yikes!), my husband and youngest want -- maybe need -- meat, and I could go either way.  That explained, you can see my dilemma - I either have to make two separate meals or I try to go completely vegetarian.  So I've started trying to find meals that I can make quickly that are easy to modify. . . there aren't any . . . or are, like, almost none . . . *sigh* . . . SO at least once a week I try to come up with one myself!

I want my recipes to meet three criteria:

• The meat/meatless ingredients are part of the recipe and not added on (i.e., sprinkling chopped ham or turkey over a salad to add meat).
• Each version must stand up on it's own in terms of flavor.
• It must all come up in about 40 minutes (if doing both versions)!

Some attempts are absolute disasters (I'll try to avoid adding any of those here, unless it's really, really funny), others like the one I came up with tonight, Cheddar Tomato Turkey/Tempeh Melts with Chili Corn, are an absolute hit!

So, without further ado the recipe:

Cheddar Tomato Turkey/Tempeh Melts with Chili Corn Side

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 - 2 c cheddar cheese (other cheese would probably be fine too, we like Monterrey Jack a lot and I think a non-dairy cheese-food version would work fine too if it melts properly)
• 2 tbs finely chopped parsley
• 1 tsp dill weed  
• 2-4 small tomatoes, sliced
• Sliced bread
• 1 block of five grain tempeh (or tempeh of choice)
• soy sauce, to taste (optional)
• 1 package of your favorite turkey deli meat 
• 1-2 c frozen corn kernals
• 1-2 tbs chili powder (choose heat level to suit your family or guests).
• 1 tbs butter or margarine
• 1 tsp salt

Sandwich mix:

• In a bowl, mix together the first 3 ingredients.  If you are making both versions of the sandwich, separate your mixture now, one for tempeh and one for turkey.
  
  Build the sandwiches:
  • For the tempeh version - break up the tempeh. Season with soy sauce if using.  Toss with the cheese mixture.  Layer the cheese mixture and tomato slices between two slices of bread.
  • For the turkey version - layer the cheese mixture, turkey, and tomato slices between two slices of bread. 
  • When I layer, I like to put a little bit of the cheese mixture between each additional ingredient so that the melty sandwich stays together when you eat it.
   
• Cooking the sandwiches: Cook on lightly oiled griddle, skillet, panini press (or waffle iron as I did -- it's kinda like a panini press), until bread is lightly browned, cheese is melty and other ingredients are warm.  

  Chili Corn side:

• Mix butter, frozen corn, salt, and chili powder in pan or microwave safe bowl.
  Heat until corn is cooked (see package directions if needed), butter is melted, and color has spread from the chili powder to the corn.  Serve with extra pinch of chili powder for color and added flavor if desired.

Serve it up and make sure you get your family to tell you how tasty it is, because we all need that sometimes!