Cheeseburger Hoagies

Man, my allergies have been killing me this week! I had intended to update my blog yesterday, but I napped while the boy napped because I was just so beat. Thankfully today I'm feeling better, but the weather's gone all cloudy. Of course I was down and out when it was nice. :P Oh well.

We had these cheeseburger hoagies for dinner on Thursday night. Wednesday the husband and I had a pre-birthday celebration date night because the boy was at my mom's. I like to stretch my birthday out for as long as possible (it's this coming Monday, by the way), so I'm off to a decent start. ;) Anyway, we had these quite awhile ago and really liked them. I was reviewing the blog for recipes we hadn't had in awhile and saw this.

Cheeseburger Hoagie Sandwiches
1 package (11 ounces) refrigerated French bread dough
4 slices reduced-fat American cheese, divided
12 ounces 95% lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tsp yellow mustard
1 cup thinly sliced iceberg lettuce
1 plum tomato, sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Place bread dough on cutting board, stretch slightly. Cut dough into four equal portions. Cut three diagonal slits on top of each portion of dough; place seam side down and 3 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 20-22 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove loaves from baking sheet to a cooling rack.

Cut two slices of the cheese into small pieces. In a 10-inch skillet, cook and stir beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until no longer pink, breaking beef into crumbles. Drain. Stir in ketchup, mustard, and cut-up cheese; stir until cheese is melted. Remove skillet from heat.

Slice each loaf lengthwise, end to end, cutting halfway through to center of loaf; spread open. Fill evenly with beef mixture; place on baking stone. Bake 6-8 minutes or until bread is toasted and meat mixture is heated through; remove from oven.

Cut remaining cheese slices diagonally in half; top each sandwich with one cheese traingle. Top sandwiches with lettuce and tomato slices.

*****

I think I liked these better the first time I made them. That time I used hoagie rolls instead of the french bread. The "buns" I got from the french bread loaf were really small, maybe three or four inches each, even after I tried stretching them out. I also used shredded cheese instead of slices and skipped the lettuce and tomato because I didn't have any. The filling was really good, but I just didn't like using the french bread. Pampered Chef recipes for whatever reason are all about the Pillsbury refrigerated dough products...I've never understood it.