Healthy and Hearty Sandwiches

A sandwich is great as a whole meal that fits into your hand. Often sandwiches become blah, the same old peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese. Here are a few new takes on old favorites in our house.

Egg Salad BLT
PB&J with Bananas and Cream
Cranberry Chicken Salad on Croissant

Each of these is incredibly filling and can be a meal, even half of a sandwich, for a summer athlete. But even better is that each is incredibly delicious and nutritious.



Egg Salad BLT
Hard cooked eggs, mayonnaise, olives, celery, mustard, bacon, lettuce, tomato between three slices of bread. For six sandwiches I boiled seven eggs and added about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise and 1/2 cup of olives with some celery and mustard. I don't like to add salt because the mayo and olives have enough to season the egg salad.

The bottom piece of bread is covered with egg salad then topped with a second slice. A few pieces of bacon, lettuce and tomato are added before the final piece of bread.


PB&J with Bananas and Cream
After softening one block of cream cheese, add about 1/2 cup of strawberry jam and mix. Spread the cream mixture on one piece of bread and a liberal amount of peanut butter on a second piece. Slice a half of a banana into three layers, lengthwise. Arrange on top of cream mixture and put peanut buttered bread on top. This is a sweet, creamy treat, almost like a banana split!



Cranberry Chicken Salad on Croissant
Dried cranberries add a touch of sweetness to savory chicken salad. I often use a rotisserie chicken but find it just as easy and tasty to boil a few chicken breasts for this salad. After the chicken is cut or shredded, add enough mayonnaise to moisten and add about one cup of cranberries for three chicken breasts or one rotisserie chicken. A little bit of diced celery and some pepper are the only other flavorings you need for this. Fill a buttery croissant with about three spoonfuls of chicken salad for a great sandwich. This one is my favorite; I could eat these every day for lunch or dinner.




All of these sandwiches pack easily to be enjoyed as a meal by the pool or even on a picnic. Try one!

Pull Apart Breakfast

Lately we have been enjoying monkey bread, a quick and sweet pull-apart bread, that uses refrigerated biscuits. I don't like buying canned biscuits so I have tried making my own dough for this treat. But to me it seemed a bit dry compared to the ready to go method.



Then I came across a recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Pull-apart Coffee Cake while planning breakfasts for our full house. It wasn't difficult to make and it came out better than the monkey bread {in my opinion}. I think the next time I make monkey bread I will use this recipe and just leave out the lemon rind and poppy seeds and use brown sugar instead of the white.


The lemon rind was like pieces of candied lemon peel. It was sublime {no pun intended, really}.

I was worried that the butter was way too much. The bread dough pieces just seemed to swim in it.


But as it baked, the butter made a gorgeous and crunchy crust for the bread dough.

It was fluffy on the inside and a bit crispy on the outside.


After tasting it, I decided this is a treat and I should certainly not cut back on the butter!



We enjoyed these tasty breads with some fresh berries. I would also recommend some cheese to cut the sweetness.

Lemon-Poppy Seed Pull-Apart Coffee Cake
from Betty Crocker Spring Brunches

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour {I used a bit more, added as I kneaded, ha!}
1/4 cup white sugar
2 packages or 4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup warm milk {between 105-115 F}
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel {I used the zest of one large lemon}
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 butter, melted

Recipe
1. In large bowl stir 4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, yeast, salt, milk and 1/2 cup melted butter; mix well. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5-6 minutes, adding flour as needed; continue to knead and add flour till dough is no longer sticky. Grease large bowl. Place dough in bowl; cover and let rise in warm place for 30-40 minutes until doubled in size. {I use a tea towel to cover my bowl. To warm the oven just the right amount, turn it on 350 F for 10 seconds, turn it off, and keep the light on.}
2. Grease bundt pan. In a small bowl mix 1/2 cup sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds.
3. Gently push fist into dough to deflate; divide the dough in half. Roll half of dough at a time into a rope, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut each rope into sixteen pieces. Return dough to greased bowl. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over dough pieces and toss gently with hands. Sprinkle poppy seed mixture over buttered dough and toss with hands to coat each piece. Place pieces into prepared bundt pan. {The original directions called for the dough at this point to rise again, but I forgot. The bread turned out beautifully in spite of my mistake.}
4. Heat oven to 350 F. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Immediately turn onto serving dish.

Buffalo Style Turkey Meatballs

Buffalo wings, an ever popular snack.  I've seen buffalo style cauliflower all over the web.  And there is all kinds of recipes for buffalo dip.  I just can't seem to get enough of the tangy buffalo flavor, myself.  My latest attempt at using the spicy~tangy flavors of this popular snack has been with meatballs, Buffalo Style Turkey Meatballs.

The first time I came up with the recipe the spices were off and it needed something to give it a crunch. After making them a second time, I decided that the chopped celery was key. It gives this snack a slight crunch and something to counteract the spice.

The easiest way to brown the meatballs is in the oven.  Since the ground turkey is almost completely fat free, you need to oil a foiled line baking pan really well.  Add the meatballs, not touching, and roast in a 425F oven for 15~20 minutes.  I don't turn them, just leave space between and they brown nicely.  Transfer the browned meatballs to serving dish and pour prepared buffalo sauce over; toss to coat and serve with blue cheese dip.  I've found serving them in little ramekins on top of a bit of shredded coleslaw mix {without dressing} gives a nice crunchy contrast and something to cut the spice of the sauce.

Buffalo Style Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey
2 stalks celery, chopped into small pieces
1 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c panko bread crumbs
2 tbsp buffalo wing sauce (Frank's is the best!)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
olive oil for browning meatballs

Sauce
1 c wing sauce
1/4 c butter

Directions
Mix first 8 ingredients. Form into meatballs {makes about 30 meatballs}. Brown in olive oil for about 15~20 minutes, turning occasionally to cook evenly and brown all sides. Alternately, place on well oiled foil lined baking sheet; roast in oven on 425F for 15-20 minutes {this is my preferred method}.

Transfer to a serving dish.  Melt butter and mix with wing sauce. Pour over meatballs. Serve with additional wing sauce and blue cheese dressing.