My two boys could not be any more different than if I tried. They’ve always been this way – even inutero. My oldest has always been high-energy (he kicked. . . ALOT). My youngest, well, I was certain that he was a girl because the pregnancy was so completely opposite. He wasn’t nearly as brutal to my ribcage. No, he just rolled around ever so gently.

It was the same as babies. Chris was always in constant motion and Adam just played quietly. Chris walked (RAN) at less than 10 months old. Adam, not until he was 14 months old. He wasn’t in any hurry – very laid back. Chris got his drivers license five hot minutes after he turned legal age. Adam, not until two years after legal age. Again, he’s never been in nearly as big a hurry as his older brother for anything.

The differences are also in their eating habits. Since they were toddlerrs, I’ve described them as Ketchup and Mustard. One consumes ketchup as if it’s a beverage and the other will only eat mustard. . . on everything. It’s long been known that I can rarely make them both happy with the same meal. That’s a short list.

Chris is always willing to try something new, whereas Adam, not so much. He’s more of a standard meat and potatoes kind of guy. If you gave him a hamburger or chicken, some mashed potatoes and a salad everyday for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t have a problem with that. But Chris gets too bored way too easily for the likes of that. He wants to venture out and try new all the time. . . which I have NO problem with.

Which leads me to yesterday. We’d planned to go out and take pictures. He enjoys photography, while I enjoy my camera. (Those are two totally different things) However, the weather was just not fun, so Chris came up with an alternate plan. . . and it was FUN idea. He thought of the panini pan that he’d given me for Christmas.

And while I’ve used it frequently (since I’ve almost lived on quick and easy sandwiches for the last couple of months), I haven’t made paninis for the family. So Chris had the fabulous idea to go shopping for panini makings. And when I say “panini makings”, use your imagination. . . because he certainly did. He had an idea in mind, a very specific idea. It wasn’t one born from a recipe card or from a show on The Food Network. Nope, this was totally his idea of a flavor combination. So we shopped, bought all the necessary ingredients and set out to try something new. This is Chris’ creation. We don’t really have a name for it yet, but this is what we used:

CHRIS’ ITALIAN PANINI

Italian bread
Pizza sauce
Chicken strips
Pepperoni
Roasted Red Peppers
Mozarella cheese

First, lay out two pieces of bread. Spread pizza sauce on one piece of bread and layer a slice of mozarella cheese on each piece of bread. (He said this acts as the glue) Then layer the chicken, the roasted red peppers, the pepperoni and press the sandwich together. Butter the outside of the sandwich, or spray with cooking spray, and place in panini pan on medium/low heat. Cook until golden, then flip. Don’t cook it too fast. Be patient. It’s well worth it!

This is what he came out with and IT WAS REALLY REALLY VERY GOOD! He was more than impressed with himself. And I have to agree. It was totally delicious! And filling. The outside is so crispy and the inside . . . just yummy! And I can’t tell you what fun it is to cook with your kids (even if they ARE grown up).

Now he’s got an itch and wants to run out and buy himself a panini pan so he can create some more new sandwiches. I have no doubt that he’ll do it. My boy is full of creative energy.

NOTE: Just so you know, we DID invite the youngest over, but when he heard what we were doing, he passed. He’s coming over today, so I’m making something more straight forward. It’s my version of Spanish Rice with hamburger, rice, tomatoes and chilies. He loves rice as much as he loves potatoes. It has meat in it. And tomatoes! My boy LOVES tomatoes. He’ll eat them right off the vine. Oh! And chilies. I did pass down the love for spicy. He got that gene a little more than the oldest.

While I love trying new stuff too, Adam keeps me grounded to the old tried and true recipes that he grew up eating. There’s nothing wrong with that.