Between the Bread

In my sandwich world, the holidays mean two things: homemade cornmeal molasses bread (baked by my father- or brother-in-law) and Honey Baked Ham, which always seems to make an appearance.

I look forward to both special ingredients all year, not to mention the occasional mini-sandwiches at holiday parties. As we bid farewell to 2010, here are three of the special sammies I had the pleasure of eating this holiday season.

Homemade cornmeal molasses bread elevates a standard turkey, cheese, and spinach sandwich with pickles (pictured above) to gourmet levels.

Honey Baked Ham, served on Christmas Eve, is reborn as post-Christmas leftovers on my father-in-law's homemade dinner rolls.

I got giddy when I saw these miniature lobster rolls at a holiday party, though they didn't taste quite as cute as they looked. Still, I appreciate the sentiment.

What sandwiches did you eat this holiday season?

We didn't have sandwiches for Easter supper, but that doesn't mean I can't sandwich it up with the leftovers. Since we've made it an unofficial tradition to buy a Honey Baked Ham, I consider Easter the best leftover sandwich holiday after Thanksgiving.

Here, I put a few slices of leftover ham on a delicious roll homemade by my future baker-in-law brother-in-law Adam. His wife Libby made mashed potatoes, which I smeared on the bottom of my sammie. Andrew's cider-thyme cabbage and some whole-grain mustard added the kick. As cute as it is here, the sandwich sort of fell apart when I tried to eat it. Still, it was delicious! Praise Jesus!

Christmas morning means sandwiching it up, since we always have Honey Baked Ham and biscuits. We usually buy the biscuits at Popeye's but this year they were Mary B's.

We even had a sandwich Christmas eve, with the honey ham on sliced Italian bread with sweet mustard. Mmmmm. Did your Christmas involve a sandwich celebration?

I eat and photograph so many sandwiches that a few slip through the cracks. How could I forget this incredible Honey Baked Ham sandwich I devoured in September? Well, I did, until I stumbled across my photos again today.

I live just a short walk from the Honey Baked Ham store in San Francisco, which sells enormous sandwiches at a very reasonable price. The pros: wonderful, soft wheat bread; a variety of creative condiments (I got pineapple chutney for a Hawaiian combo); and all the ham you can eat. Seriously, check out what it looked like before I removed some of the ham.