Home Made Love: Philadelphia Cheesesteak Sandwiches

To keep Christmas gift-giving simple (and affordable!), my girls and I made home made cookbooks for a few of the special folks in our lives. They turned out pretty cute, too–they were filled with my daughters’ step-by-step, easy-to-follow recipes, pictures of the two of them slaving over the stove, and, of course, colorful shots of their creations looking all delicious on the plate. My favorite part of our “Home Made Love: From The Chiles Girls’ Kitchen To Yours” cook book, though, was the stories; I encouraged Mari and Lila to write about the food they were cooking–to share the special memories behind the beloved dishes they chose for their project. Cooking, after all, is about memories, isn’t it?

And because I’m so very proud of the girls and their “Home Made Love,” I’ve decided to start a series called Home Made Love, in which I’ll feature their recipes and memories. Here, the first in the series:

By MARI CHILES and LILA CHILES

CHAMPION CHEESESTEAK SANDWICH

These sandwiches are nice and cheesy and we really love the onions, especially when they're sizzling in the pan. When mommy cuts up the roast beef we get it sliced thin from the grocery store Teddy always sits right up under her feet, waiting for a piece or two to drop his way. Teddy loves roast beef. We always manage to accidentally drop a few more pieces his way when Mommy's not looking. That makes Teddy especially happy.

Plus, it keeps him from nudging mommy on the leg for more meat. Mommy loves her Teddy, but she's not a fan of the wet-nosed nudge. She does like the cheese steak sandwiches, though, which we serve with tater tots and fruit salad.

Mommy says our sandwiches taste just as good as the Philadelphia cheese steak sandwiches she used to get when she visited Philly. That was before we were born, so we haven't tasted those. But it would be cool to visit Philly one day and try one for ourselves. One of these days, we will. In the meanwhile, we'll have a little taste of Philly at our dinner table.

Ingredients

2 medium onions cut length-wise in half, then sliced cross-wise into thin slices
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 ½ pounds of cooked roast beef, thinly sliced and cut into strips
6 hoagie buns, about 6 inches long
butter
6 slices of American cheese

Directions

¢ Sauté onion in oil about 5 minutes, stirring frequently until tender.
¢ Stir in beef, and heat through.
¢ Set oven to broil; split buns and place cut-side up on cookie sheet; brush each of the faces of the bread with butter and broil 4-5 inches from the heat for 2 minutes.
¢ Divide beef mixture among the rolls and top with cheese; broil about one minute, until cheese is melted.

Makes 6 sandwiches.