Panini
Pane is Italian for bread and Panino is Italian for small bread or roll or sandwiches made using a roll or bun rather than sliced bread. The plural is panini which refers to a toasted or grilled sandwich in the United States. They have become so popular in the U.S. many Italian restaurants offer panani sandwiches and panani presses are available from less than $50 to many hundreds of dollars.
Italian sandwiches are made with salami, mortadella, capocollo, provolone, mozzarella and vegetables like zucchini, eggplant and bell peppers.
Sandwiches can be high in calories and sodium providing 50 percent or more of daily calories and up to a days worth of sodium.
The homemade Italian sandwich made with a 7-inch roll has about 600 calories and 2100mg of sodium without potato chips. Two ounces of potato chips adds 320 calories and 300 mg of sodium. This is an example where less processed meats and more low sodium vegetables significantly reduces both calories and sodium.
Bread for grilled panini is often brushed with butter or olive oil adding more calories. A lower calorie alternative is tasting the roll or bun using a toaster oven or broiler. This produces warm, soft, crisp bread for your sandwich.
Bread adds a lot of calories to the American diet. Toast or bagel for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, rolls or biscuits for dinner. Eliminating one or more cuts 100 to 300 calories or more from your diet.