Reuben

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Because celebrating this holiday warrants eating warm delicious reubens, it stands as one of Luke and my top four favorite holidays. Important note: reubens need not be reserved only for St. Patrick's Day, but may be consumed any day of the year. If Luke had it his way, we would probably be eating them at least once a week. Unfortunately, they are not the healthiest meal, and they certainly are not paleo, but read on and I'll give you an almost paleo version.

Reuben

Ingredients:
Corned beef with spice packet
Rye bread
Sauerkraut
Swiss cheese
Light thousand island dressing
Panini maker or skillet

Spices (if your corned beef doesn't come with spice packet):
1 tablespoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
2 teaspoons crushed bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole mustard seed
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-4 whole garlic cloves

Directions:
Place corned beef and spice packet or spices in a crock pot early in the morning and cover with water. Set on high and simmer. The longer it simmers, the better. A minimum of about 3 hours will be necessary in order for internal temperature to reach 170ºF. I've simmered for up to 9 hours and had great results.
When meat is fully cooked, remove from the crock pot and slice against the grain. The meat should easily fall apart while slicing. Prepare remaining ingredients by heating sauerkraut in microwave or on stove, slicing swiss cheese, and preheating panini maker or skillet to medium high heat.
Once all the ingredients are prepared, sandwiches can be assembled by layering the corned beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing between two slices of rye bread. Place the sandwich on the panini maker and press the lid closed. Remove after the bread is light brown and crisp. If using a skillet, cook the first side until light brown, and then carefully flip and cook until light brown. Finally, slice the sandwich and serve while warm.
Paleo version: place a pile of warm sauerkraut in a bowl, and then layer with corned beef, and swiss cheese. Optional: thousand island dressing, although it is not paleo. I haven't tried a paleo version of thousand island dressing yet, but I plan to attempt one soon!