An old-school, cafeteria open-faced sandwich, made with seasoned ground beef, trinity vegetables and pizza sauce, finished with cheese.

Jack and Jills - My Way

I've actually never heard of these sandwiches before and I don't have any memory of them being served in my school cafeteria, although some of you may. 

I also have no idea how the name came about either, but it's another one of those vintage recipes that passed by on my browser start page and sounded good enough to try!

They are delicious! And bonus? They're also super easy to make.

A creamy egg salad made with grated boiled eggs, finely minced onion, mixed herbs and finely shredded Italian-style cheese, dressed with mayo and mustard and served on buttered and pan grilled bread.

Grilled Cheese Grated Egg Salad Sandwich

I have a classic egg salad that I make most of the time and I'm perfectly happy with that!

Still, I do enjoy trying new things. I mean after all, I do run a recipe website, right?

And... unlike a lot of you who manage to do everything from one of those smartphones, I do my work from a desktop computer. It opens to a Microsoft tab when I start up, where I ran across a version of this on one of the featured articles, and thought it was different and interesting enough to try!

Ground beef, chili and beans, spooned over rolls and topped with cheese, quickly passed through the oven and served open faced.

Hot Beef and Chili Bean Plank Sandwich

I'd never heard of a "plank sandwich" before, but apparently it really was a thing because this one was featured in Bell's Best 2 published in 1982, the second in the series of Mississippi Telephone Pioneers community cookbooks. Even still, I thought it was just one of those recipe names that a family came up with.

So, I turned to AI to find out if there was such a thing as a plank sandwich and was told:

A plank sandwich typically refers to a sandwich made using thick slices or "planks" of bread or other ingredients, often layered with various fillings. It can also refer to specific recipes, like a Monte Cristo breakfast plank, which involves dipping bread planks in an egg mixture and cooking them with fillings.

-AI Assist

See? Even us folks of a certain age can still be learning new things everyday y'all!

Highly seasoned shrimp tossed with a mayonnaise and mustard dressing and served as a cold sandwich, dressed simply with shredded lettuce on soft sandwich buns. Serve with chips and pickle spears, pickled okra or briny olives.

Cold Shrimp Rolls

Lobster rolls aren't exactly a thing down here because while you will find some, including a Caribbean spiny lobster, in the continental shelf of the Gulf of America, they have a short peak season from September to November and aren't nearly as plentiful or as well known as those lobsters found in the Northeast waters.

I've lived here all of my life and never once eaten a Gulf lobster. Never.

So lobsters are not so common here along the Gulf Coast, but we make up for it with an abundance of all kinds of other seafood, including shrimp!

Beautiful, tasty, delicious Wild American born Gulf Shrimp - the best in the country in my opinion, but then seeing as I grew up in Biloxi, I guess I'm a little biased too.

Tuna salad, made and dressed in the style of Jimmy John's sandwich shop.

Tuna Salad Jimmy John's Style

While I have passed by their location in Biloxi several times, I have never eaten at a Jimmy John's and it has nothing to do with any kind of controversy with the original owner.

Truth is, I cook so much so we rarely eat out anywhere, unless I'm just exhausted and there aren't any leftovers that appeal to me! Plus, it ain't cheap to eat out these days now is it?

Heck, fast food isn't even a cheaper option anymore either. A family-sized dinner from a great fried chicken restaurant can be $40 or more y'all!

A cream cheese based cracker spread, made with stuffed olives and simple seasonings, great for dipping veggies, for tea sandwiches or your favorite crackers.

Olive Spread

First things first.

If you don't already have an affinity for all things olives, you won't like this spread. Ya pretty much gotta love olives, which I do. 

Briny olives and anything pickled make for a quick snack for me.

I love it all - from kosher dills, to bread and butter pickles, pickled okra and every kind of olive. And a muffuletta sandwich slathered in olive salad? Um, yes please!

Italian sausage, sweet peppers and onions, slow baked with crushed and diced tomatoes, olive oil and seasonings, served here on buttered and toasted rolls.

Baked Italian Sausage and Peppers

I love Italian sausage and peppers, but it never occurred to me to cook it in the oven.

While I think that this dish is not really authentic Italian, but more of a fusion of Italian with American, Italians do cook a lot of sausages, though the kinds do vary by region. Typically when authentic Italian sausages are referenced, it means salamina or salame da sugo, cotechino, zampone, or capello del prete and not the typical sweet or hot Italian sausages in our markets here in the U.S.

I love eating this dish, especially on a good sturdy bun, but mostly prepared it in what I thought was the more traditional manner - whole sausages, browned off in a skillet of oil, set aside while sliced peppers and onions are sauteed in that same skillet, then everything combined together.

A fried bologna sandwich with mayonnaise and Colman's mustard sauce piled with thick sliced bologna, caramelized onion, cheese, shredded lettuce and vinegar potato chips.

Fried Bologna Sandwich

Y'all. This is hands-down the best fried bologna sandwich I have ever had in my entire life, and I've eaten a lot of fried bologna sandwiches.

Most of mine aren't anywhere close to this - just a slice, or two of bologna fried in a skillet, then sandwiched in two slices of white bread with some mustard. Delish!

The melding of the flavors here though, is just fried bologna perfection.

Another classic egg salad made with hard boiled eggs, red and green onion, lemon, seasonings, parsley, mayonnaise and Creole mustard.

Another Egg Salad

It's sure been another hot summer hasn't it y'all? And it seems to be all over the country so I guess we're all in good company.

Well, it is summer! But... I'm SO ready for fall.

I'm still plugging away over here cooking up a storm anyway. I mean, no matter the weather, we still gotta eat, right?

Still, there are days where the heat is just too exhausting to me and egg salad is a welcome addition, whether stuffed into a fresh garden tomato, spooned onto sandwich bread, or scooped on a plate with some crackers.

A Cajun-style loose meat sandwich, made with ground beef and pork, the trinity veggies, mushroom sauce and a mixture of seasonings, piled on a pistolette roll or po'boy bread.

Cajun Farre Loose Meat Sandwich

Ever heard of a Cajun Farre dressing sandwich?

Probably not, because while it is pretty common in some areas of Louisiana, even often being served as a sandwich spread at parties, as a funeral food and yes, even wedding receptions, it's still not well known even across all of Louisiana, and certainly not the Southern region.

Well... we're gonna change that!

A classic tuna salad made with the addition of grated apple and served here on griddled Texas Toast.

Tuna Salad with Apple

Not long ago, my sister in law told The Cajun she was getting rid of some old cookbooks and asked him if I might like them.

Since physical libraries don't hold onto cookbooks for very long these days and the older cookbooks are extremely useful tools for recipe research, I'm never one to turn down cookbooks, so I said of course! 

Most of them were older Southern Living annuals and back then, not only were they summaries of the year's recipes shared from the magazine, a lot of folks don't realize that many Southern Living recipes started much like you see with Taste of Home - they were recipes submitted by readers! 

An Italian chopped salad of lettuce, assorted Italian meats, black forest smoked ham, salami and provolone cheese, finished with olive salad and a homemade creamy Italian dressing, served on a hoagie or sub bun.

Italian Chopped Salad Sandwich

Y'all may remember this sandwich circulating on social media awhile back. I think it started as a TikTok Italian grinder sandwich with all of the meats layered up on a roll like you'd get at any good sandwich shop. From there, it appears that somebody thought to chop it all up together like a salad and then pile it on a bun.

Brilliant!

As always, multiple variations arose from whatever the original was as everybody put their own spin on it. Most of them actually do chop up the tomato with the rest of the ingredients but I really didn't want the juices of the tomatoes mixed it, so I opted for adding the tomatoes sliced to dress the final sandwich, if someone wanted them and then finished with a creamy dressing.

A delicious sandwich made with sweet bell peppers and onions caramelized in olive oil, topped with eggs and served on French bread or thick slices of sandwich bread.

Italian Peppers and Eggs Sandwich

Y'all. This sandwich has become one of my favorites anytime because it's filled with all the goodness that I love - eggs and lots of caramelized peppers and onion. The flavor is outstanding!

I don't know much about the origins of this recipe, except that it apparently was common during the Depression, since most folks baked bread from scratch, raised chickens and grew their own backyard vegetables, making eggs and peppers readily available.

Known as Mulitas in Mexican culture, highly seasoned chicken is sandwiched between homemade corn tortillas with shredded cheese and finished with guacamole or avocado, sour cream, pico de gallo or salsa, or whatever your favorite toppings are.

Chicken Tortilla Sandwiches (Mulitas)

I don't remember where I first heard about mulitas, and, in fact, when I first did, I mistakenly assumed it was just another name for a quesadilla!

The reason for that is that I usually make my quesadillas the same way as these mulitas.

Although both can have very similar fillings, some of the differences I've seen between quesadillas and mulitas include:

Mexican-style sandwiches of refried beans and cheese, served on sturdy rolls and toasted, then topped with pico de gallo, make for a nice snack, though they are often served at breakfast, lunch or dinner as well. Add your own favorite toppings!

Molletes - Mexican-Style Bean and Cheese Sandwiches

I am an animal lover. Most of y'all who have been hanging with us know that because you've heard me talk about the TNR program I have participated in the past 7 years since moving and discovering a neighborhood filled with strays and discards that needed to all be fixed. 
 
My dog Boo has been with me since he was found as a puppy, left behind in a box, inside a buggy in a Walmart parking lot in 2008. Hurricane Katrina had already changed the course of my life and I was just entertaining the idea of Deep South Dish. Boo and I have literally been together 24/7 ever since, so we became best buds.

We're both aging and it shows, but it's the natural course of life isn't it? You don't think about that much when you're younger.

An easy, filling chicken salad, made with cooked chicken, seedless grapes and salted, roasted pecans, lightly tossed in a creamy dressing.

Chicken Salad with Grapes and Pecans

Fall doesn't arrive for a few more weeks and it's still pretty hot, so I'm hanging with the summertime food vibe here y'all.

I'm not quite ready to say hello to fall themed dishes, but there are plenty of other food bloggers out there who've got your back if that's what you're looking for! 

In the meantime, chicken salad is such a good and easy meal, especially during these extended southern dog days of summer and I lean on it a lot.

Cheese Delights - Broiled Open-Faced Tomato and Cheese Sandwich

An open-faced, broiled tomato and cheese sandwich with bacon and fresh basil.

Cheese Delights

One day, when I was sharing my broiled tomatoes on the Facebook page, Cheryl, one of the readers there, was reminded of an open-faced tomato sandwich her grandmother used to make. She called them Cheese Delights.

You can find a variety of open-faced tomato and cheese sandwich recipes around the net, and while they have different preparations and some with a variation in ingredients, you'll primarily find the ingredients to contain at least:

Tender and juicy pulled pork made with the ease of the Instant Pot!

Instant Pot Pulled Pork

I love a good pulled pork, and no, it doesn't even have to be one that is slow smoked, although yes, I adore that and it's really the best. Most of us home cooks are not going to be dedicated to that whole process, but we are happy to enjoy when somebody else does!

Mostly we stick with the tried-and-true methods that have worked for home cooks for years:

Marinated Grilled Ribeye Steak Sandwich

Inspired by a popular sandwich from a local hole in the wall tavern, this ribeye steak is marinated in a flavorful blend, then grilled, served on pistolette rolls and dressed simply with grilled onion, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with chips and a pickle spear.

Grilled Ribeye Steak Sandwich

If you're from Biloxi, you likely know of The Project Lounge, and at some point in your life, you've probably been there too.

Though they moved from their original location near Highway 90 on the beach to a little bit further away near Keesler Gate 7, they have always been known for being a dark and smoky bar, but they are also well known for their hamburgers and steak sandwiches.

This loose meat spoon burger recipe dates as far back as the 1950s and has been a favorite of many families all those years. It's made with ground beef, onion, a few standard condiments... and a completely unexpected ingredient!

Gumbo Sloppy Joes

I will be the first to admit when I first heard of this sandwich, I was super skeptical! It seemed a bit, well, crazy to me, as I'm sure it will to some of y'all, but... wait a minute.

Turns out, it is amazingly delicious, and downright addictive! This is how it came about.