Making almost 21 meals a week for four adults has its upsides, like lots of blogging content, but can get exhausting day after day. We often find that we are craving our favorite restaurants, but due to proximity and restaurant closures a lot of places aren’t feasible during the workweek for lunch. To keep ourselves inspired (and full!) we have started creating our favorite takeout recipes at home. Tate’s dad loves himself a good Italian sub, so we recreated our version at home one day for lunch last week. The homemade vinaigrette is a great addition to pre-made ingredients and the spinach adds a necessary dose of vegetables to balance out all of that meaty decadence. 

Italian Sandwiches
Makes: 4 sandwiches 
Prep Time: 10 minutes   Total Time: 20 minutes

Vinaigrette Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 tbs oregano
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste 

Sandwich Ingredients:

• 1 Italian or French baguette or 4 brioche buns (as pictured) 
• 1 lb pepperoni, sandwich slices
• 1 lb salami, sandwich slices
• 1 lb turkey, sandwich slices
• 1 lb provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup giardeniera
• 1 package of spinach (6 oz) 

Directions: 

1. Heat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Make the vinaigrette. Combine all of the vinaigrette ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together. We pour this into a pan and cook it for a few minutes so that the shallot can break down and the oil can absorb all of those great flavors. 
3. Assemble the sandwich. Cut the baguette or rolls in half and place both halves on a piece of tin foil. Using a brush, generously brush the vinaigrette on both sides of the bread. Continue until you use all of the vinaigrette. Layer all of the sandwich ingredients, except spinach, evenly across the bottom half of the baguette or each of the rolls. You can go in pretty much any order, but we assembled ours according to the ingredient list with pepperoni on the bottom. 
4. Put the top on the sandwich and wrap the entire sandwich in tin foil. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes so the cheese gets melted and sandwich is toasty. Take the sandwich out of the oven, add the spinach and slice into quarters. Serve warm.