These ham and Swiss slider sandwiches are crowd pleasing party favorite, a weeknight dinner the family can agree on, or even a helpful leftover holiday ham recipe.

They can be made with store-bought bakery rolls for a quick option, or for fresh homestyle goodness try them try them on homemade dinner rolls.

Their ham, cheese, creamy honey mustard combo is a flavor trio everyone will love! Plus there's a bonus of everything bagel style seasoning atop as a finishing touch, paired with a generous dose of butter of course.

You'll love these because they are a classic that's easy to make, clean up is simple, and it's a recipe both young and old alike will thoroughly enjoy. You get so much flavor and cheesy goodness in every bite!

Autumn Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

A crisp, apple studded, protein rich chicken salad that's perfect for a hearty autumn lunch or even a simple weeknight dinner that won't weigh you down.

It's made healthier with a combination of Greek yogurt and a little mayo, and it pairs beautifully with a hearty whole grain bread. Or you can serve it lower carb over lettuce leaves for another nutritious option.

This version is made with rotisserie chicken but you can use leftover cooked chicken breasts as well. I just recommend that you avoid canned chicken for a better chicken salad.

It's simple to make and worthy of your recipe collection!

Try serving it with baked sweet potato fries or sweet potato chips for a colorful fall pairing.

Want to try a different type of burger next? Go for my Turkey Burgers or Black Bean Burgers to switch things up sometimes.

An Easy Classic Burger Recipe

Burgers have long been a staple food in our family. So I guess you can say we are a typical American family.

Growing up we had them cooked to that hockey puck doneness, overly well, but as a kid I didn't care it was a burger. One thing my mom never got wrong though was that she never used the pre-formed patties. That's burger mistake number one in my mind.

Shaping your own burgers from fresh ground beef will give you a fair superior result.

Helpful Tips

After 20 years of experience making hamburgers I've learned several other things along the way to create the perfect burger:

• Use a high quality bun for the base as this makes up a huge portion of the completed burger. Homemade or bakery fresh is best.
• Go for a good fat ratio within the beef for tenderness (personally I prefer 85%).
• Adequately season the meat with salt, this is a big one people often miss.
• Careful not to overwork the beef as you shape the patties so it's not tough.
• Use a food thermometer to cook to the right temp so it's not undercooked and dangerously rare, or over-cooked and dry and rubbery.
• Preheat pan/grill and maintain that proper temp. Otherwise you'll end up with a pale steamed-like patty or overly charred burger.
• Cook at a fairly high temp without disturbing as it cooks, this helps create a beautifully brown crust. The only way I could achieve this in the oven was to start that pan out super hot and not turn the burger until the end, for one nicely browned side at least.
• Slice toppings fairly thin. For texture and this allows the flavor of the beef shine if we don't go overboard on toppings.
• Toast the buns so they don't get soggy and they hold up better.
• If grilling burgers don't leave them unattended. Grills can have dangerous flare ups if you don't keep an eye on things. You should also be cleaning the fat from the grill regularly.

Over the years I've also tried different things like seasoning the beef to build in other flavors, creating various sizes of burgers, and trying various toppings.

I've settled on simple, and freshest is best but you are always welcome to change things up and go more bold (unique toppings, hot sauce/ peppers, blue cheese, etc).

And of course if you are a cheeseburger fan don't forget to add the cheese after turning the burger (during cooking) for perfectly melty cheesy goodness.

If you are wondering what my personal favorite method of cooking is here it's easily the cast iron stovetop method. But the others are nice for convenience as well and I use all three.

Baked Honey Mustard Chicken Recipe

You can have this Honey Mustard Chicken on the table in under 45 minutes! And there's minimal hands on prep work since it's baked, no tending to the chicken in a skillet.

I think you'll love the multi-dimensional depth of flavor this easy chicken recipe has, and the slight texture from the coarsely ground mustard. It keeps things deliciously interesting.

I recommend serving it with brown rice or white rice, or fresh cooked noodles tossed with butter, along with a vibrant green steamed vegetable such as broccoli, asparagus or green beans. All making this an easy balanced meal.

What is Chicken Cordon Bleu?

Cordon Bleu is a dish with Swiss origin that is a derivative of schnitzel.

Chicken cordon bleu specifically is made of chicken that has been pounded thin, layered with ham slices, and topped with Swiss cheese. They layers are rolled snug or folded over, after which it's breaded with flour, egg and dried breadcrumbs. And to cook it's and either pan fried or baked.

In the United States it was a dish that was very popular between the 60's and 70's. In my experience as a kid growing up in the 90's I commonly remember chicken cordon bleu casserole which was a simplified version (which wasn't quite as good, but mimicked the same flavors).

You can serve it whole (note in this recipe though you'll only get four servings if doing so), or you can slice and layer them on a platter domino style. I prefer the later as you'll get more servings and presentation is eye catching with those pretty swirls.

And the creamy honey mustard sauce, which I believe is a staple to the dish, should be poured over each individual servings right before it's served (so the breading doesn't get soft, because that crispy crunch is a crowning finish!).

This dish is perfect for entertaining or for the holidays. It may be a little bit of extra effort but very well worth it!

Honey Baked Ham Recipe

A go-to method for spiral sliced ham. In the past I've hated how I'd always ended up with some dry slices, but not here.

I like Cook's Illustrated's method for spiral sliced ham so I used the same method here and just added different glaze rather than the orange maple one they used.

So many ham recipes (at the same weight) are cooked at 375 degrees for up to 3 hours but why? The ham is already fully cooked, it just needs to be warmed through for serving.

Here the ham is first brought up to room temperature in warm water so it heats more evenly in the oven. From there it's wrapped in an oven bag for faster cooking, and moister end result.

And then finally at the end it's unwrapped and coated with the glaze and heated at a higher temperature to help brown and caramelize it a bit.

It's the perfect protein for a holiday feast!

Serve it with twice baked potatoes and cornbread for a classic meat and potatoes dinner.

Slow Cooker Spiral Sliced Ham

One of best ways to cook a (pre-cooked) ham in a crock pot is to cook it on low, covered with a simple glaze to upgrade it, just until it's heated through.

Here a savory smoked ham roast is generously coated with the perfect autumn inspired glaze. It includes apple juice concentrate, maple syrup, brown sugar and mustard. It lightly sweetens the ham and gives it a welcome extra layer of flavor.

At the end of cooking, you can choose the thickness preferred for the glaze. It will be very runny (more like a broth) so you can choose to thicken those juices from the crockpot with some cornstarch, or just keep it as is and spoon some over the sliced ham for added moisture and seasoning.

This is a recipe that is easy to modify to include other flavors you like or use up ingredients you may have on hand. Here are some ideas:

Possible Substitutes

• Try it with pineapple juice concentrate in place of apple juice concentrate.
• Switch out the spice. We went with ginger because I like it with this blend of ingredients but cloves or even cinnamon can be added.
• You could even use fresh ginger here in place of dried (add a few teaspoons).
• If you don't have real maple syrup try it with honey.
• Dijon Mustard will work for spicy brown mustard. Add more mustard if you want more tangy flavor.

The Best Honey Mustard Chicken

Our new favorite honey mustard chicken! The secret is the cream, doesn't it just make everything better?

Here we use a blend of two types of bright mustard, a fair amount of sweet honey, plenty of heavy cream, a nice balance of fresh herbs, and just enough garlic to build up flavor.

It's the perfect combination of sweet, savory, creamy, rich and tangy.

To finish the meal serve it with this delicious roasted vegetable blend (pictured above).

Or you could go the amazingly easy route and just serve it with baked red potatoes. Just pierce medium red potatoes with a fork (optionally wrap in foil) and bake at 400 until tender, usually about 40+ mins.

Then serve like a regular baked potato - top them with butter, cheese, sour cream, and/or chives. Its a go-to side at our house and we actually prefer them over baked russet potatoes.

The Perfect Kale Salad Recipe!

Thanks to this refreshing kale salad, I've finally found a way to eat raw kale and have it actually taste good! We couldn't get over how delicious this salad was and I'm already thinking of when I'll be making it again!

The flavor of the dressing, thanks to the lemon juice and honey in it, really helps tone down the somewhat harsh flavor of the raw kale. Plus, it also just compliments all of the others flavors in this salad - like that of the quinoa, walnuts, apples and goat cheese.

This is the perfect side at dinner to roasted chicken and mashed or roasted potatoes. It's also the perfect salad to bring to a party.

Originally shared Sept. 2016.

Ingredients You'll Need

• Tricolor quinoa
• Curly kale
• Apples
• Walnuts
• Cranberries
• Goat cheese
• Olive oil
• Lemon
• Honey
• Dijon

Are There Substitutions?

• Regular brown quinoa is fine in place of the tricolor
• Pecans could replace the walnuts.
• Feta could replace the goat cheese.
• Baby kale or lacinato kale can be used in place of curly kale, but do note that it won't require a resting period and may not hold up as long.

How to Make This Easy Kale Salad

• Cook quinoa according to directions on package and cool completely.
• Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients in a jar or bowl.
• Add kale to a salad bowl, whisk dressing once more then pour 3/4 of the dressing over kale and toss until kale is evenly coated. Chill 15 minutes.
• Add apples, quinoa, walnuts and cranberries.
• Pour remaining dressing over salad then toss. Add goat cheese, toss gently.

Tips for This Salad

• Use sweet apples to balance the tartness of the lemon. Use pretty red onions for a pretty color contrast.
• Let the dressing rest on the kale to help soften those not so tender leaves.
• Store it in the fridge up to 4 hours. Finally a salad that holds up well for a while!

More Kale Recipes You'll Love!

Pear Salad

The salad has the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and I love the blend of textures. It's one of those easy to throw together recipes that is set to impress everyone at the dinner party.

Everyone loves a good strawberry salad but fall needs its own seasonal salad and this should be it!

Try it soon while pears are in their seasonal prime!