It's a Cold and Stormy Night

Winter is finally here. It's rainy and windy and after a long day at my externship all I wanted to do was get home to Mike and Oliver and relax in my warm home. Rainy weather means comfort food so it was paninis and tomato basil soup. Tuna and spinach on sourdough for me and turkey and cheese for Mike. When we received the panini maker at Christmas I was thinking I wouldn't get a lot of use out of it since I stay away from cheese. It actually made a wonderful sandwich sans cheese. We were so hungry that I completely forgot to take any pictures. Although I don't think tuna salad is particularly lovely photographed.

Tuna Panini for 1
6 oz can tuna
1.5 TBSP miracle whip or mayo
4 cornichons finely diced
1 TBSP sun dried tomatoes in oil
Black ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup spinach
2 slices good sourdough bread

1. Mix first 5 ingredients. Spread on slice of bread.
2. Top with spinach and other piece of bread.
3. Grill on panini maker.
4. Serve with soup.

Dinner was followed by a game of Sequence. We still play with my grandparent's old set with wear marks from their pushing the chips across the board.

The comfort food continued on to dessert with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. My mom swears by the Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I don't think I've come across a better recipe. The recipe calls for Ghiradelli Bittersweet chocolate chips, but I use whatever chocolate I have in the pantry. Dark chocolate morsels are one of my favorites.