Hot Beef Sandwiches

My MIL took my girls for the day to play with their visiting cousins, so I am home alone! It is a rare treat, but I feel like I'm wasting it with necessary tasks. So far, I've just been catching up on stuff that I've needed to get done but been putting off for the last month. I can think of a hundred things I *could* be doing for alone time and I'm doing chores instead. ::SIGH:: I hate being responsible. Anyway, blog updating is on my list of things to get done, so I'm gonna get my three (short) posts completed and go take a nap. Chores be damned!

I don't remember when we had these sandwiches, but the hubs and I LOVED them. We had to do rock/paper/scissors for the leftovers the next day, because they were highly coveted.

I made a modified version for the kids with just meat and cheese sauce, because I knew they would balk at anything "spicy" like a horseradish sauce. They ate their sammies and did not complain, so I check that off as a 'win'. I opted to go the homemade route with the cheese sauce and did not do cheese slices. Also, I used delectable pastrami instead of roast beef. Fan-freakin'-tastic!

Hot Beef Sandwiches
Adapted From: The Pioneer Woman website

Ingredients:
8 pretzel slider rolls or regular dinner rolls
1 pound thinly Shaved Roast Beef or Pastrami (I used Pastrami)
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons Grated Onion (or 1 Tbsp Dried Onion Flakes))
1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
1 Tablespoon Spicy/grainy Mustard (mine had a touch of honey in it)
1 Tablespoon prepared Horseradish
Dash Of Worcestershire
homemade cheese sauce (For homemade see below. You could also just use store-bought.) or sliced cheese

Directions:
Slice rolls in half. Mix together mayo, grated onion, poppy seeds, spicy mustard, horseradish, and Worcestershire. Taste it and adjust ingredients however you wish.

To assemble, spread dressing on top and bottom buns. Lay on roast beef or pastrami, then one or two slices of cheese (I cut them to fit the small buns.) If you're using cheese sauce, spread a layer on the top bun.

Wrap each sandwich in a foil square, and either keep in the fridge or bake right away. To bake the sandwiches, put them on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes. The buns should be slightly crusty and the cheese should be melted.

Homemade Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:
flour
butter
milk, water, or chicken broth
1-2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of ground mustard
pinch of cayenne pepper
few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
(Sorry, no measurements on this one.)

Add a couple of tablespoons of butter to a sauce pan and melt over medium-high. Add in double amount of flour (4 tablespoons in this case). Whisk and let flour and butter clump and combine. Cook for a minute or so, until flour mixture starts to turn pale tan in color. Add milk (about a cup or so) while whisking continuously. Bring to a simmer while still whisking. Sauce should be thickening. When desired consistency is reached, remove from heat and add in cheese. Whisk to combine, season with remaining ingredients to taste, and serve.

(If the mixture is too thick add some more water, chicken broth, or milk to thin while whisking over medium-low heat until desired consistency is reached again.)