philly cheesesteak sandwiches.

To start, I sliced the green pepper and white onion into strips, and then further reduced them down to diced chunks.  I figured this would make them easier to merge with the meat, and possibly easier to eat.  I turned the burner to medium-high heat, added my butter, and waited for it to melt completely before adding my veggies.  Once the veggies are added to the pan, let them cook down until soft, as the flavors mellow out and meld with the meat better this way.  After roughly 8-10 minutes, add salt and pepper.  Give it another couple of minutes to cook altogether, and then turn the heat down to medium.

A slight problem I ran into was peeling the razor=thin slices of deli meat apart in time to cook them all evenly together.  You could slice the meat into smaller strips before cooking it, but make sure to still separate them, as to prevent clumps of meat sticking together and not getting cooked evenly.

Push the veggies to the side, and use most of your cooking surface to toss in the meat.  Add the garlic powder directly onto your meat, and add a bit more pepper.   You can easily add just a tad more salt, too, but that’s dependent upon your personal taste preferences.  Let the meat cook until the majority of them are browned, and then stir in your veggies.

Separate the meat and veggie mixture into two halves in the saucepan.  Cover each half with two slices of provolone cheese, and let cook for roughly four minutes, or until the cheese has melted into the meat and veggies.  Cut into your deli rolls so that they are almost entirely cut through, but not quite.  Leave the top and bottom halves slightly conjoined at the back.  Now, lay each bottom half of the deli rolls onto a large sheet of foil and stretch the halves apart as much as you can without pulling them apart. Stuff the deli sub with the meat, veggies and cheese.  Seal the top of the roll onto the fillings, and wrap the entire sandwich tightly in foil.  Repeat for the other sandwich, and bake both for about ten minutes at 350 degrees.

Wha la!  My homemade version of Philly Cheesesteaks!

**UPDATE!**  I finally made these with shaved ribeye!  However, I went to two different stores and neither of them would shave a ribeye I bought, so I had to do it by hand (which took foreeever.)  Totally worth it because the flavor is seriously amazing – but just know that unless you have a specific butcher shop you plan on going to for the meat, shaved ribeye is not exactly an easy find.   

I also attempted to make cheese sauce, and failed miserably.  Sooo … we’ll get back to that one someday.  If you do have the opportunity to use shaved ribeye, know that I bought about a pound of it and sliced it as thinly as possible the entire way down the cut of the steak.  You really only need about 1/4 lb. per person, so use as much as you prefer.  Mark and I are fatties, so we definitely both inhaled way more than we should have.  I only feel 3% guilty about that.

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Actual Prep / cook time:  30 minutes [quick and easy!]