Easy Lightened Prosciutto Panini

I love a prosciutto or grilled chicken panini as much as the next gal, but when I add up the calories I'm actually frightened. Here's a lightened up version of an Italian favorite.

It's light and crunchy, slightly salty and mouth watering. This prosciutto panini with it's fresh peppery arugula and stringy melted mozzarella was a pleasant addition to our Sunday dinner this week. We actually made many varieties including this roasted pepper and pesto variety.

I made this prosciutto panini with low fat mozzarella and less prosciutto than in a full size sandwich and loaded it up with arugula to give it some weight. I also gutted the bread to make extra room for the greens. I can tell if I'm going to be happy with my meal by it's weight. If I pick it up and it's light as a feather, I know I'm going to wolf it down before my brain registers I'm eating! So add some extra arugula or roasted red peppers, it will help ; )

 Of course we had our usual 20 guests of friends and family along with a good 10 different things on the Sunday afternoon menu. "What exactly?" you may be thinking. Ok we had pasta with Perfect Every Time Tomato Sauce and Baked Meatballs. That was round 1. After that we had a tableful of food which included these panini in a couple of variations, grilled chicken, baked eggplant cutlets, a build your own Cobb Salad platter, baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon and sweet, Riso Condito, a moist roasted turkey breast, lentil salad with parsley, grilled shrimp, roasted butternut squash and another thing or 2... It's hard to remember all of it. That's a typical Sunday dinner at my house. I love to feed people. I also love to have a fridge full of leftovers. When I open the fridge and it's dark in there from all the Tupperware stacked high, I feel a deep sense of pleasure. Who knows. It's weird, but I love it.

As a side bar, i have been off line for a while.  Job change and life I guess, but im glad to be back! Thank you all for asking me to post again. I needed to do this!

Ingredients:

• Ciabatta roll
• Prosciutto sliced extra thin, 2 slices
• Arugula, 1 handful
• 1/4 cup Sargento's light mozzarella cheese shredded
• 1/2 tsp Olive oil
• Grill pan

Instructions:

Warm grill pan on medium heat. Slice open and scoop out roll. Add 2 slices prosciutto, handful of arugula and 1/2 cup shredded cheese. With a brush, brush on 1/2 teaspoon olive oil to 1 side of bread and grill it oil side down for 5 minutes or till grill marks appear toasty brown. I use a small skillet to press the panini in the grill pan for just a minute. Brush other 1/2 teaspoon oil to top them flip, cook 5 more minutes, pressing for just the first minute. Cut into thurds and serve.

Servings:

•  1 happy camper

Calories:

• Bread 180
• Prosciutto 60
• Cheese 80
• Arugula 10
• Oil 20

Total calories: 350 versus a fully loaded panini at 780 calories.

A regular panini with unscooped bread, 6 slices of prosciutto and lots of cheese and lots of oil to grill with is about 780 calories