When I was a child, my parents rarely had friends over.

Now that I’m grown, I totally understand why they didn’t: they had four kids, jobs, volunteer obligations, church duties… the list seems never ending today.

I can only imagine it was harder in the days before robot vacuums and automatic phone reminders.

So those rare occasions when they did have people over really stand out in my mind.

One of those times was always the World Series. My dad would have our neighbor, Mr. McMinn, over to watch at least a few of the games.

I didn’t care about baseball, but I did care about snacks, so those evenings were special to me, too.

In fact, I still haven’t forgiven the players involved in the strike of 1994. The strike that denied fans the World Series. The strike that denied me my chips, dips and sliders.

Thankfully, the players’ strike did not affect Mom and Dad’s other yearly event.

See, the other time of year my folks had people over was at the end of the semester. My dad sponsored an honor organization for students within his department, so he would invite the members and officers over for an end-of-year celebration.

Mom would clean the house from top to bottom and make a delicious array of warm appetizers and desserts.

Students would come over to the house for the evening, laughing and recalling stories out on my parents’ side porch.

I don’t remember everything Mama made for those gatherings. Mom is a great cook, and I imagine some dishes changed depending on recipes she wanted to try or what she had on hand.

But one recipe I’m pretty sure she made every year was something she called party ham and cheese sandwiches.

A classic in the 80s, these little sandwiches were made on brown-and-serve rolls with a poppyseed and butter sauce drenching the top.

When I became old enough to contribute food to gatherings, I knew I had to learn to make them.

And so I did. I remember that they seemed terribly messy and time consuming when I first started making them. I laugh at that memory now, because today I consider these to be a go-to option when I really don’t feel like cooking.

I guess those early memories of this being difficult caused me not to consider these an option for a regular meal until many years after I first started making them.

These days, I think they are the perfect accompaniment to any type of soup, especially meatless ones.

I’ve even been known to mix up a bit of the sauce and drizzle it over the cheese before adding the top piece of bread for a hot ham-and-cheese sandwich. It feels a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll.

I’m here for it. Just don’t ask me to clean the house first.

PARTY HAM AND CHEESE SANDWICHES

Ingredients
1 package brown-and-serve type rolls (the type that are already fully cooked and all connected; many people today use Hawaiian rolls)
1 package (about 1 pound) sliced ham
1 package (about 1 pound) sliced or shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon minced, dehydrated onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon poppy seeds (optional but recommended if you have them; substitute Everything Bagel seasoning if you have that on hand)
Note: Depending on the thickness of the slices of ham and cheese you purchase, you may be able to make two pans of these sandwiches. For two pans, I would double the butter sauce. These freeze beautifully; just slide the entire pan of assembled sandwiches into a freezer safe zip-top bag.

Directions
■ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
■ Make the sauce: microwave butter in a small glass mixing bowl until melted, about 45 seconds. Add mustard, onion flakes, Worcestershire and poppy seeds. Mix well. Set sauce mixture aside.
■ Slice rolls in half horizontally. Place bottom layer of rolls into oven-safe pan. Layer on about half the ham slices, enough to cover the roll layer. Add about half the cheese, enough to cover the ham. Mix the sauce again and pour about half the sauce over the cheese. (This is my mother’s trick; it keeps the rolls pretty on top but less messy than adding all the sauce over the top.) Add the top layer of rolls. Pour over the remaining sauce and spread evenly over the top.
■ Bake in the oven until heated through, about 20 minutes. (You can bake covered or uncovered; many recipes suggest baking them covered until the final 5 minutes.) Cut the sandwiches apart into sliders before serving.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.