Open-faced Cuban Sandwiches

There's no such thing as a regular sandwich in this house. I don't do regular. Never have. Regular insinuates boring. Run of the mill. I like to kick things up a notch. Sometimes my kids accuse me of messing with something... "Why can't you ever leave ________ alone?" my daughter often whines... Because I can't. I just can't. Because I like to create. And make a mess. It's like painting. I'm not a stay within the lines kind of a girl.

It was lunchtime and the boys were hungry. Somehow we managed to devour about $50 worth of deli meat in just a couple of days. What was left was some Black Forest ham and some cheese... Swiss, American and Smoke Gouda. I had some rye bread. The good rolls were all gone.

I knew that if I slapped together some ham and cheese together on some bread my boys would take a few bites and walk away. They love Cubans but I didn't want the mess of cleaning the stove top grill... or pan. (I am lazy!) I decided that I would make a sort of open faced version of their favorite sandwich. It turned out to be, I think, even better than a Cuban!

Ingredients:
4 slices of good bread - Rye, Semolina, Italian
4 - 8 slices of  good quality ham such as Black Forest
4 slices of Swiss Cheese
1/4 pickle spear per sandwich, cut into pieces
Good quality mustard, mayonnaise

Directions:

Place bread in toaster and toast lightly.
Spread a little mustard and mayonnaise on the toast
Add a slice of ham or two to each slice
Place the chopped pickles on top of the ham slices
Add the Swiss cheese on top of the pickles

Turn the oven on to Broil, High

Place the open faced sandwiches on a cookie sheet - lined with aluminum foil if desired - and place on top shelf of the oven. Leave for a few minutes as the cheese turns golden brown and bubbles. Watch closely so as not to burn the cheese. Remove and serve immediately!

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

Photo Courtesy Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen - Recipe is NOT!

In my quest for the new and different and non-boring dinner... in the quest to make my meals a bit trimmer and healthier and in my quest to have a warm, comfort meal while I decided that I would try to make a pesto turkey meatball. (I almost always use non-fat or low fat items as a substitute for their full-fat counterparts and never feel as though I have sacrificed taste, quality or consistency.)

Yes, I know this has been done. I did not go to any recipe. I winged it and made it mine. My goal was flavor, texture and healthy. These will be on our dinner table again, for sure! Truthfully. They were amazing!

What made them even better was that I turned them into meatball subs!


Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (though you could use ground chicken)
1 egg
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 water
1 cup pesto
1/4 - 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper -- a couple of dashes!

Preheat oven to 350

You can either make your own pesto (I have several recipes here on the blog) or use a good quality store bought pesto.

In a large mixing bowl mix all ingredients together until it is all well blended.
Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil
Roll into about 1 1/2 inch sized balls
Place on baking sheet
Bake in oven for 15 minutes, then with some tongs flip the meatballs over and cook for 15 more minutes. Repeat one more time, flip and cook for 10 minutes so that they get a nice golden brown.
When done remove from oven and set on paper towel to drain.

To make the meatball subs.
Take a nice roll like a ciabatta (I look carefully at the labels. Some have about 150 calories while others have 250. I stick to the lower versions!)
Slice the bread in half and place under the broiler so that it toasts to a nice golden brown.
Add mozzarella (low fat, part skim) if desired to the tops of the rolls, place back under broiler to melt. Watch closely so they do not burn!
Add Pesto Mayo to the other half.
Cut meatballs in half and arrange onto the rolls.
Place tops on and mangia!


Pesto Mayonnaise

I add equal amounts of pest to mayo (Hellman's Light) and mix well.
I use pesto mayo on all sorts of sandwiches from turkey to chicken salad. It's a great way to kick up a sandwich!

Simply Sandwiches

Who says sandwiches have to be simple, childlike and boring?

I made a couple to bring to a 4th of July party. First I made a Tomato, Boursin and Basil Sandwich on a baguette that I blogged about here, and then I made a prosciutto, mozzarella and arugula sandwich with a hint of lemon -- also on a baguette. And the brownies I wrote about in the post below that disappeared practically the very second I brought them out! I cut the sandwiches into (roughly) one inch strips so that they could be eaten easily as appetizers. These might be my new go to sandwiches of choice for potluck picnics!

Prosciutto, Mozzarella & Arugula with Essence of Lemon

*1 large good quality French baguette*Sliced prosciutto and mozzarella (enough to cover the length of the baguette entirely), or a prosciutto wrapped mozzarella roll, sliced to cover the baguette
*Arugula (baby spinach may be substituted) to cover the length of a baguette
*Several Tbs of good quality olive oil, to be brushed on to each side of the baguette
*Zest from 1 lemon, gently placed on one of the baguette halves
*Lemon juice, squeezed lightly over each half of the baguette
*Place one half on top of the other and slice as thin or as thick as you'll need your sandwich slices

 Optional, festive toothpicks to place in the center of each sandwich slice.

Chicken Salad with Pesto

Chicken salad is a great summer dish... perfect for stuffing ripe tomatoes, or serving at a picnic or barbecue. I make it in all varieties. Since I had a bunch of pesto I thought of adding it to the chicken... some feta... a little mayo and voila, a fabulous chicken salad. This one is particularly grilled when served on a nice Italian bread and grilled or served on a Pannini-like sandwich. Warmed, the Parmesan and the feta melt slightly making this a wonderful and hearty sandwich.

Ingredients:

4 cooked chicken breasts, cut or shredded into bite-sized pieces
3 heaping Tbs of pesto
2 heaping Tbs of crumbled feta
2 (or more per taste) heaping Tbs of mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.

To create the grilled sandwich, or panini, add a little mayonnaise to one side of the bread and place a generous amount of chicken salad over it. Place the other slice of bread on top.

Lightly butter outsides of the bread and place on a hot grill, griddle or pan.
Cook a few minutes on each side, on medium high, until the bread has a nice golden color.

I love using a good dense Italian or French bread for this sandwich.

when the Nutella jar is empty...

Don't panic! You may or may not want to run out to the grocery store. I went to my local Trader Joe's. But came out empty-handed. Devastated and empty-handed. I promised my 9 year old that I was going to make him a Nutella and Banana Pannini. I really didn't want to waste more gas by going all the way to the grocery store. I really didn't want to waste my time at the grocery store on a Saturday morning for the sole purpose of a jar of Nutella. So as I drove home I knew I had to be creative. To some peanut butter I would add a little powdered sugar and cocoa powder and create a chocolate peanut butter spread.

So as soon as I returned home I headed to the kitchen. In a bowl I added:

2 Tbs. peanut butter (Skippy Natural)
2 Tsp. cocoa powder
2 Tsp. powdered sugar

I placed the bowl in the microwave for 12 seconds to soften the peanut butter.

In a hot pan I added about a tsp of butter and let it melt. On fresh challah bread (or any other really good bread) I spread a generous amount of the peanut-chocolate-butter spread on top of which I added a few slices of banana and topped it off with another slice of bread.

Into the hot pan (next time I will use the indoor grill) my sandwich went. I let each side get golden brown and crispy, then I sprinkled a little bit of powdered sugar over the top.

The sandwich was a big hit!

Note this is not as sweet as the Nutella is.

Good to the last bite!

The Cuban (Jewish American) Sandwich

We love the flavors of Cuban sandwiches... my kids really love anything with ham and pickles, so when I first introduced these I knew they would be a huge hit. In my version I use no pork, but I do use a good Kosher dill pickle and seeded Jewish Rye bread which makes this sandwich a close cousin to that fella, Reuben!

You can take this Jewish girl out of the city, but you cannot take the city out of me! The best delis in New York (for the most part) are Jewish. They make the best sandwiches E-ver.

Yesterday the boys were home from school for lunch. Alexander has half days on Wednesdays and his brother had Pink Eye... I use that term loosely, more like a pink eye (there is such paranoia surrounding eyes that are not white white white... Anyhow, my oldest had a hankering for our version of a Cuban, so I headed out and got what I needed. The boys had an indoor picnic with lemonade and a few potato chips thrown into the mix!

(Apologies for the blurriness!)

Ingredients: (Per sandwich)

A good Dijon or Deli mustard, about 1 tsp
Mayonnaise (I used Hellman's) about 1 tsp

1 tbs of butter
3 or 4 slices of thinly sliced top quality ham like Boar's Head Black Forrest
1 to 2 slices of thinly sliced Swiss cheese
Sliced pickles, enough to cover sandwich

On a cutting board butter one side of both slices of bread -- this will be the outside of the sandwich
Flip the bread over and place the cheese on one half and the mayo and mustard on the other half
Place ham on the mustard and the pickles on top of the ham
Place the cheese part of the sandwich on top of the ham half
Heat a small pan, when hot add the sandwich and turn the heat down slightly.
You want your sandwich to have a nice brown to it, but not burnt!
After checking for done-ness flip the sandwich over and brown the other side.
Cook well so that the cheese is fully melted and oozy. You might want to monitor this as sometimes the bread will be done but the cheese won't. If this is the case, just turn the heat down and cook a few more minutes.

When the sandwich is cooked to your liking remove, cut in half and serve immediately!

One of the Best Darned Sandwiches I Have Ever Had!

I love to make sandwiches. Not the boring ham and cheese variety. I like to use fresh ingredients and give things a little twist. I would just love to open up a gourmet sandwich shop one day. My sandwiches titilate the senses. My husband always prefers mine to his own. Today I came home starving. I wanted something fairly healthy, satisfying and easy to fix. I saw a ball of fresh mozzarella in the fridge next to the jar of the cilantro garlic sauce (recipe below) I made the other night for dinner. I grabbed the sliced sour dough from the freezer (I keep all my breads in the freezer) then turned my griddle on to toast the bread. I sliced up a tomato (I like Campari this time of year since I can not get fresh or local) and the mozzarella. I spread some of the cilantro garlic sauce on one slice of bread then placed the mozzy on top of it. The sliced tomatoes went on the other slice. As the bottoms started to brown, getting those lovely grill marks, I placed one half on top of the other and used a weight to press the sandwich down. I kept it on for a minute or two.

I cut the sandwich in half and took a bite. Seriously, it was the best tomato mozzarella sandwich I have ever had! The sandwich had so much more flavor than it would have had I just used olive oil and fresh basil and stayed nice and crispy right through to the last crunchy bite!

Fluffernutter Sandwich

Sometimes you want to be a fun mom and throw everything involving good food and nutrition to the wayside! Nothing says Yum and Fun like a Fluffernutter sandwich! But your kids can have this and still have a fairly healthy treat. Shhh, don't tell them though! My kids were brought up on whole wheat bread and as a result do not care for the soft white kind that gets all stuck in your teeth (thank God!) so using a good 100% whole wheat bread. I like Peppridge Farm 100% whole wheat as it has no high fructose corn syrup and many other whole wheat breads do, and Skippy Natural (as opposed to regular Skippy) contains no hydrgenated oil. Fluff isn't too terrible, just plain ol' corn syrup, sugar, dried egg white and vanillin. Not sure what that last ingredient is, but it must be related to vanilla. This isn't a sugar-free snack, that's for sure, but let me tell you, I would rather my kids gobble up one of these than a bologna sandwich -- Let's not go there!

For more information on these products go to http://www.marshmallowfluff.com/ and http://www.peanutbutter.com/