Panini is one of my most favorite sandwiches. It is basically a delicious Italian grilled cheese sandwich, fast, fun, easy and elegant. Good for a last minute dinner, lunch, weekend brunch and anytime in between. I had my first panini at our local Italian restaurant a few years back and it was love at first bite :) There is something just so comforting about grilled cheese with crispy bread... no one can resist these.
It's very versatile as far as ingredients you can use. Can be made with different cheeses, bread and vegetables and meats. I have tried making different versions at home and they have always been a big hit. Here I am giving my version of tomato and mozzarella panini with basil walnut pesto. Giada makes this often on her food network show, that is where this dish is inspired from with my own little twists. Traditionally they are made in a panini maker/press, but I make them in a cast iron grill pan on stove top and they turn out just as good. But if you have a panini maker, go ahead and use that. Here's how I make this.
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uickly browsing through my recipe categories, you will realize that I am not much of a soup person. There are very few kinds, actually only a couple, that I would even allow myself to taste and that too made at specific places or by specific people. This soup is one of them. My first encounter with butternut squash was aboard a Caribbean cruise liner out in the middle of that vast blue spread of the Atlantic. It was an acquired taste. Hubby tells me I made a sorry face when I first tasted it but the expression soon changed with the second and third sips. Very seldom happens to me. I either like something or I don't. Things don't normally 'grow' on me, but this was different. Having remembered seeing butternut squash on the shelves of the grocery stores, yes of course I decided I would try it at home. 
