While waiting in the doctor’s office for my annual check-up, I browsed an issue of FOOD AND WINE magazine. An article on unique ways to use English muffins caught my eye. We like these, so I read on. If you like them as well, you too will want to read on for five ways to use this yummy food that go way beyond toast.

ENGLISH MUFFIN CEASAR SALAD. The idea here is to cube an English muffin and then toast the cubes in a frying pan of melted butter and minced garlic. The flavor these cubes take on adds an attention-grabbing punch to your favorite Caesar salad recipe. So be sure to make lots because folks will be asking for more.

BURGER BACKERS. Instead of building your barbecued burgers on the typical hamburger bun, consider substituting English muffins for this honor. Their proverbial nooks and crannies hold extra mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard. But what’s really tasty is to toast them and then melt cheese onto them before adding the burger and other trimmings. Again, it’s those nooks and crannies—they capture all the cheese drippings. Just yum!

GRILLED CHEESERS. Again, those nooks and crannies are just perfect for catching every bit of anything put on top of them. We’ve tried using these muffins for this sandwich by combining 3 different cheeses: provolone, sharp Cheddar, and cream cheese. First we cover each muffin half with lots of softened cream cheese. Then we add layers of the Cheddar and provolone. These flavors blend so well with each other. The trick to making grilled cheese with English muffins I think, is lightly toasting each half first, and then when grilling the entire sandwich, placing something heavy atop the sandwich to smash it down to a thinner finished product.

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE. It’s like a savory bread pudding that combines all the classic breakfast sandwich ingredients—English muffins, bacon, egg and cheese—into a hearty morning meal. The basic idea is to cube your muffins, toast them in a frying pan in butter and then simply substitute them for the bread called for in your breakfast casserole recipe. This picture, from www.chewoutcloud.com, doesn’t do this amazing meal justice!

ENGLISH MUFFIN SPAGHETTI. For this, you toss spaghetti cooked al dente, with any Alfredo sauce, slivered almonds, garlic, and anchovy paste. You finish it all off by sprinkling the dish with toasted English muffin crumbs for special crunch.

Finally, ENGLISH MUFFIN CREAM CHEESEWICH. I can’t remember when Aunt Annie introduced us to this amazing sandwich. She was always ahead of her time. She was a great gardener and grew her own herbs and happily lived close to a farmers’ market where she always had access to the freshest veggies available. Asparagus was her favorite and this gem of a recipe was the result of her experimentation one spring. If you prefer, you can also reduce the amount of cream cheese by using a 3-ounce package rather than an 8-ounce package. These really are fantastic.

English Muffin Cream Cheesewich

Serving size: 1
Calories per serving: 1,099.537

Ingredients:

2 English muffins
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
4 slices tomatoes
12 spear fresh asparagus
1 dash garlic powder
1 dash black pepper
1 dash sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
2 or 3 sprigs fresh oregano (or 1 teaspoon dried)
4 slices sharp or medium Cheddar cheese


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Halve and toast 2 English muffins. Spread each muffin half with cream cheese; place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Top each muffin with 1 slice tomato and 3 asparagus spears. Combine in small bowl dashes of garlic salt, pepper, salt, and minced onion. Chop fresh oregano well and add to bowl. Mix well and sprinkle atop asparagus. Cover pan with foil; bake about 25 min. Uncover; top with cheese slices. Return to oven 2-3 min.