Showing posts with label Sandwiches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandwiches. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Cipollini Onion Vegetarian Sandwich


This sandwich is my new favorite. Why I never added these little sweet/tart onions before I don't know.  But I do know now and they are added regularly to all of my vegetarian sandwiches.

These little onions are pronounced (chip-oh-lee-knee) and are naturally sweet and white. The onions in my pictures are marinated and have an added flavor profile with tart and sweet results. I buy my onions from our local grocery store. They are found in the olive section. I have bought these before at Whole Foods too.

If you decide to buy these little morsels be prepared to encounter some peeling issues. Cooking Light has a nice piece about how to deal with the skin.

You can see from the picture below that adding them to your sandwich is easy. They are a little bit slippery-so be prepared. I slice the amount I need and then add them to the bread first. The bread kind of holds them on the sandwich.  I also use my favorite plant based mayonnaise. Recipe coming soon for the mayonnaise.


Of course, add as many as you want but I like to add a few more options to my sandwiches. For this sandwich I added: avocado, tomato, spinach, red onion, crispy jalapeno's, and orange bell pepper. Basically I want to eat the rainbow so I choose the ingredients that reflect that.

For the bread, I buy from our local bread shop a sour dough variety that is delicious. The name of it is Panini and the shop is small, smells amazing, and has really good baked goods.

This sandwich is not hard. I just wanted to share with you my new found obsession for these little onions.  They are an easy addition to any sandwich or bagel.

Eating vegetable sandwiches can get boring if you stick to the same basic ingredients and this is why I am always on the hunt for additional toppings.

ENJOY!

Sherron

Monday, April 28, 2014

Opened-Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and 26 Years of Wedded Bliss







Wedded bliss?

You bet!

Smooth Sailing?

Hardly!

Crazy days, long stretches, enduring years, sleepless nights, changing personalities, ups and downs in finances and the best roller coaster ride of a lifetime is what the last 26 years have been.

Through it all we have remained the best of friends, parents and lovers.  Friends can laugh and say things to each other that lovers cannot.   In the heat of the moment emotions and feelings come under attack and our walls of defense become stronger and more fortified when we fear that we may lose that friendship.  We communicate with our "friend voice" when issues arise.  We try to always keep things friendly.

This past year has been our rockiest to date; but also the most compelling.


WHY?

We have come of age.  The age when we just don't give a shit anymore and life is passing us by faster than we care to admit.  The age when we sit back and say, "I am too old for this" or "life is too short to keep beating a dead dog with the same stick".

That coming of age. We both arrived there at the same time last year while I was pregnant.  We had a sit down discussion that lasted into the night. Our talk was honest, real and raw.

We asked ourselves, and each other, some serious questions:

Is this going to last?

Do you want out?

Is our love strong enough to make it another 25 years?

To answer these questions we had to be painfully honest with each other.  It hurt.  There were a few tears (I was 5 months pregnant).  We laughed.  We promised.

At the end of the night we concluded that it will last, that neither of us wanted out and we hoped, with all  of our hearts, that we will get another 25 years together.

Our son, Drake, made an interesting observations this past year too.  He said to us, "Your relationship is different.  You act like friends most of the time.  My friends are amazed that you are still married after only dating for two weeks and marrying two months later.  They don't get it."

I looked at him and said, " You're right.  We have remained  the best of friends. I will always love your Dad but with any relationship you have to have a firm foundation. The love that we started with is not the same love that we have today but our friendship has remained the same."

Our foundation is friendship sprinkled with love, passion, responsibility, longevity, endurance, fun, adventure, kids, laughter and lots of "benefits"--insert smiley with a wink. 

I love Cory more today than any other time in my life.  When they say that a person's love only gets stronger with each passing year, it is true.  He is a fantastic father.   A hard worker.  A powerful influence for good in our family.  He is a very spiritual man.  His heart is pure with the best of intentions.   He is the strength in our family.  He carries a lot of weight on his shoulders to be a good provider for our kids.

Simply put--We love him. 

Cory makes me a better person.  He allows me to be the spice in his life; sweet like sugar and fiery as chili pepper powder.  He lets me be me.


Today I am sharing his favorite sandwich.  It just happens to be National Grilled Cheese Month and this worked out great because I also got a surprise box from Kerrygold Cheese.   (Not a paid post)  The stars just aligned perfectly and this all happened at the same time: anniversary, free cheese and another national food day.  BONUS!

When I first met Cory we were young and poor.  We ate these a lot along with bowls of tomato soup.   He believes this is the "meal of the Gods".   He is totally a keeper in my mind. 

In my mind this would best describe the title of my blog: simply gourmet.  A simple sandwich using the best ingredients to create a gourmet meal in a matter of minutes.

SIMPLY.

DELICIOUS.

In my opinion.

ENJOY!


Opened-Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2 tomato slices per slice of bread
1 square slice of cheese per slice of bread
2 pieces of bread
salt/pepper

1.  Set your oven to broil.

2.  Prepare your ingredients.

3.  Use a cookie tray to set your slices of bread on.

4.  Place tray under broiler until edges are brown and cheese is melted.

5.  Add fresh slices of tomatoes to each slice.

6.  Season with salt and pepper.





Written by Sherron Watson

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Italian Loaf



This sandwich is a family favorite!

I wanted to share it with you right before the big Super Bowl game coming up on February 2nd.

What I enjoy about this sandwich is that you make it the night before and let it sit all night.  Then when you are ready to eat, you simply pull it out and slice it up like a big pie or pizza.  The wedges look amazing, your guest will be thrilled with the flavors and the best part--you are not spending a lot of time away from the game.  

You did all the work the day before.

As with all of my recipes, I urge you to use the best ingredients to bring out the full flavor and potential of this show stopping meal.

Serve with a few of your favorite side dishes, chips, a vegetable platter and some cold drinks.  You should be set for the game!
ENJOY.




Italian Loaf

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 8-10

1 (6-8 inch) round loaf of your favorite bread (Use a gluten free loaf to make this gluten free)
4-6 slices of ham
12-15 slices of Genoa salami
4-6 slices of turkey
10-12 slices of pepperoni
3-4 slices of provolone cheese
3-4 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup olive medley-recipe below
2 slices of red onion
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped
A handful of Arugula or lettuce greens
Dash of olive oil
Dash of balsamic vinegar-your favorite flavor

To prepare bread:  Cut a 5-inch circle in the top of the round loaf of the bread.  Using your fingers, dig out the inside so that you have a hollow shell of crust. Remove any extra bread on the "lid" of your loaf.

Layer your meat and cheese in any order on the bottom. 

To make the olive medley: Buy three different kinds of your favorite pitted olives; add them to a food processor. Pulse a few times.  Add this medley to your sandwich after the meat.

Layer the onions, sun-dried tomatoes and fill the top in with your favorite lettuce greens.  

Top the lettuce with a dash of olive oil and vinegar.  Replace the 5-inch circle and wrap the sandwich tightly in plastic wrap.

Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.  When ready to serve, slice like a pie. 

Serve with your favorite side dishes and condiments.

Written by Sherron Watson



Tuesday, April 30, 2013

299. Sweet and Savory Grilled Cheese



I love how a sandwich can resonate with so many generations and bring back such fond memories.  A grilled cheese is one such sandwich.  I remember as a kid visiting my grandparents and being served a grilled cheese with a bowl of soup for lunch.  As a young adult recently married, many years ago, I often wanted the comfort of this sandwich when I was ill and far away from family.  It just reminded me of home.

I was excited when Kitchen PLAY invited me to participate in 30 Days of Grilled Cheese and that Land O'Lakes® Deli Cheese would be our cheese of choice.  Why my excitement?  Two reasons:  creamy and delicious.  This cheese melts to a creamy texture in your favorite grilled cheese sandwich and the flavor is, well, delicious.  I also like that you can buy it freshly sliced from your deli.  This gives you the choice of buying just the right amount and you can even mix the flavors.  Land O’Lakes has yellow and white Deli American Cheese and a wonderful 4 Cheese Italian Blend. They are both creamy and delicious for grilled cheese sandwiches! 

So what makes the perfect grilled cheese sandwich?  I bet we would each have our own list of the combination of flavors we would enjoy the most.  I am going to share mine with you today.  I love the combination of flavors that you get when a cheese tray is ordered: fruit, cheese and meat.  I wanted to combine these flavors into a sandwich.



I enjoy a sandwich that has a bit of sweet combined with a hint of tart; crunch with a smooth texture; warm and cold tones.  I look forward to every bite being filled with flavor, textures and maybe even a bit of a surprise.  I like to use bread that has a rustic look to it, like French or sourdough.  The holes in the bread allow steam to rise through it and melt your cheese.  I also like to use smaller loaves so that as your grilled cheese sandwich builds to a certain height it is easier to hold in your hands.  If it gets too big then things start falling out and slipping all over the place—that just will not do, in my opinion.
  

Recipe:  Sweet and Savory Grilled Cheese

¼ cup of sliced red onions
1 teaspoon of butter
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, any flavor
2 slices of your favorite rustic bread
4 slices of Black Forest ham
2-3 slices of Land O Lakes® Deli American Cheese
4 strawberries, sliced
Honey or Dijon mustard
¼ cup Arugula greens
Butter, to grill bread

·      In a medium saucepan, melt butter and add onions.  Let brown for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add balsamic vinegar and let cook an additional 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.

· Lightly butter each slice of bread on one side and add to hot skillet. Top each slice of bread with a piece of cheese and let melt. In a separate part of the pan, add the ham with another slice of cheese. This allows the ham to be warm and more cheese to be added to your sandwich.

·      When the cheese has melted, on one side, add the Dijon mustard and ham.  Then add the slice strawberries, Arugula,  and grilled red onions. Top with the last piece of toasted bread.

·      Gently press down on the top piece of bread to allow the ingredients to hold together.  Remove from heat and serve immediately.

If you need a gluten free bread recipe, I have one that would work great for this sandwich.  The recipe can be found HERE.

Written by Sherron Watson

Friday, March 22, 2013

Croque Monsieurs, fancy ham and cheese sandwiches


While traveling in France with my high school french class during the summer of 1984, I fell in love with French food.  You could say it was the butter, the cream sauces or even the french bread, but I think it was more about the french kitchen and the french cook.  

They were passionate about their food, they loved their kitchen tools, the techniques were perfect and most dishes had the most deliciously sounding titles.  The French language is music to my years.  Even to this day if I hear it spoken I just want to sit and listen.  I don't care that I don't understand much anymore because it reminds me of the time I did spend in France when I could understand a few things.

Many of you know that I write for a local magazine, Capital Style Magazine.  For the month of March my assignment was to find family friendly French recipes.  I looked to my own family for inspiration.  My kids eat a ham and cheese sandwich every single day, sometimes two a day.  I go through about 6 pounds of ham a month.

I remembered this sandwich and thought of several things.  First it's French.  Secondly it can be prepared in a short amount time (family friendly) and thirdly, it can be made the traditional way with white bread or you can substitute gluten free bread or a croissant (pictured above).  It is a sandwich that can be altered to fit your dietary needs and still retain some of the original idea.

I know that at Whole Foods you can buy frozen gluten free croissants or attempt to make them from scratch.  I found this recipe HERE, although I have not tried them myself.

I will tell you the cheese sauce that goes over the sandwich is heavenly.  Smooth, creamy and the right balance of flavors.  I had some left over and added it to a bowl of noodles...YUM!  Just saying--it's super good.

Enjoy this recipe and I will be posting the other recipes that I shared with the magazine soon, so check back!

Recipe: Croque Monsieurs

Makes 8 sandwiches
Prep and Cook Time: 25 minutes

2 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons flour (I used brown rice flour to make it gluten free)
2 cups of hot milk
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
12 ounces of Gruyere cheese, grated
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
8 croissants or 16 slices of white bread (use gluten free bread if this is an issue for you)
Dijon mustard
8 ounces of ham, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Melt butter in a small sauce pan, add flour and stir for 2 minutes.  Slowly pour in hot milk and whisk until sauce is thick.  Remove from heat and stir in salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup of Gruyere cheese and Parmesan cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted and set aside.

Cut the croissants in half and place on the cookie sheet.  Bake for 4 minutes, flip and bake for an additional 2 minutes.

Remove croissants, spread Dijon mustard on one half.

Add the ham and Gruyere Cheese, top with croissant.  

Spoon cheese sauce over each sandwich, top with more Gruyere cheese.

Bake in the oven for 5 minutes or until tops are browned.

I have included the pictures below to walk you through the process of making the sandwiches.









Friday, December 28, 2012

Chicken/Tuna Melts



December is coming to an end and with that we must face a New Year.

2013 almost did not happen-according to the Mayan calendar or those that predicted the end of the world in previous years.  Personally, I never believed any of the dates or calendars.

I won't judge, though if you did.  We are each entitled to our own belief.

I will have to share a funny story with these events in mind.

On December 20, my family and I were enjoying our 12 Days of Christmas celebration (we each were given a white shirt and asked to decorate it).  Having just finished and restoring the caps to the markers, the lights began to flicker.

We live in a very wooded community and so this is not unusual.  We roll our eyes and jokingly say, "not again?".

This time, it was different.  The lights flickered off and on at least 10 times-fading in an out-not the usual on and then off again motion of previous outages.

Eventually they were out.  I mean OUT OUT-for 6 hours OUT!

We looked outside and the darkness was so black.  Usually when we lose power you can see a glow in the distant and we know that the big city is still bright and merry.  Not this time.

It was silent, dark and very cold.

We decided to light our candelabras and sit around the table.  I have had these candles since we were married.  They are silver and have been used for every Christmas and important holiday.  They are showing their age and yet I cannot depart from them.  As I watched the wax roll down the side of each candle, heard the laughter of my children and saw their smiles--I knew that I was being given a very special memory to archive for future story telling opportunities.

Little did I know that our night would get even better.

We thought it strange that we did not hear any fire trucks or sirens.  When the power has gone out before we hear these in the distant and this will sometimes give us a clue as to why we may have lost power- a fire, a car accident or something else.

What we did hear was a hum.  A low hum coming from outside.

Drake walked to the front door, opened to find a green glow over in the direction of the high school.

We all quickly ran to the windows and peered outside.

For the first time, I thought the Mayan's might have been right.  I know it's funny but when you see something that you have only seen in movies before your eyes, your mind does strange things.

Mine did.

I really said this, "Cory, are those aliens?"  Silly, huh? For a few seconds I thought the Mayans had predicted the end of the world and it was going to be at the hand of little green men.

It made me anxious, Isabella was in tears and the big kids thought they were in for the ride of their lives.  Dad was just cool and sat there working on his shirt, by candlelight and taking in the conversation at the table.

We mentioned more than our fair share of Zombie and Apocalypse type jokes through out the rest of the night.

To end the night we brought out our Tarot cards and had some fun.  This is something that we enjoy doing as a family.  I know that many don't understand the cards, don't believe in them or may even think they are evil.

To us, they have been a fun way to see our lives, think about the possibilities of our future, help understand the past and refine things in our present day.

It's not for everyone, but our family, on this night, drew comfort from being together and doing something that sparked great conversation and a memory that none of us will soon forget.

I awoke the next day thinking to myself, that I had just partook of the best day of my life for the year 2012.  My Christmas gift came a few days early and I can still feel the gratitude I will forever hold to; that for a few hours, the lights went out, technology turned off, the candles were lit and we enjoyed each other uninterrupted.

With the memories of 2012 still close to our hearts and our future before us,  my goal to simplifying my life is one that I will take with me into 2013.  This recipe is an easy one that I hope will lighten your load on a busy night.

I am sharing with you a biscuit idea that I first tried for my family a few years back.  I am pretty sure I found the recipe on the back of a Grands biscuit tube.  You can use tuna or chicken to make the salad.  My family prefers chicken.

If you need to use gluten free biscuits, HERE is an easy recipe that I make.  They will need to be precooked as the recipe below suggest.

Recipe:  Chicken/Tuna Melts

1 (13 oz) can of diced chicken, drained
1/4 cup of green onions, diced
1 celery rib, diced finely
salt/pepper to taste, usually just a dash of each
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 Tablespoon of red pepper, diced finely
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese + more for topping
1 can of Grand's biscuits or a batch of Gluten free biscuits

Preheat oven according to directions on biscuit can.

Bake the biscuits according to those directions.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.

After the biscuits have cooled for a few minutes, cut in half.

Turn oven to broil.

Put a small scoop of chicken salad on top of each biscuit halve with a bit more cheese.

Place each halve on a cookie sheet and broil until cheese has melted.

Remove and serve.

Written by Sherron Watson


Friday, February 17, 2012

Turkey Cranberry Panini Sandwich


Tricks for a successful sandwich include:

1.  Preheat your meat.  Do this by warming it up in a saute pan or microwaving it for a few minutes.

2.  Use cheese on both sides of the sandwich.  This does two things: makes it yummy but also holds your sandwich together so the insides do not slip out.

3.  Use good bread.  We love all multi-grain pieces of bread, dark slices of bread and especially a homemade rustic loaf.

4.  Experiment.  Try new things.  It's fun to be the sandwich king once in a while.


Recipe:  Turkey Cranberry Panini

Layer your sandwich in this order:

bread
honey mustard
cheese
turkey
green onion
cranberry sauce
cheese
honey mustard
bread


Butter both sides and press it baby!

TA-DA…you're done.  Now go be the sandwich king and impress your family!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Monte Cristo Sandwich


I first had this sandwich about 20 years ago while I was a manager for Bennigan's, a restaurant in Austin, TX.  I thought I would never eat anything else again.  I love every bit of this sandwich.  The ham, turkey, and cheese.  The powdered sugar and jam.  WOW...then deep fry the sandwich!  I know, it's deep-fried.  I have tried all types of Monte Cristo's through the years and I can tell you that the baked sandwiches don't taste like the deep-fried.

The last time I had this sandwich before I made them last week, was probably 5 years ago.  Obviously not being able to eat bread is a huge issue with this sandwich..it takes 3 pieces.  I have to say that I wanted this sandwich and was willing to experiment with my GF bread.  It worked!  I made my family sandwiches using traditional wheat loaf bread and mine with my flatbread.  There were happy faces all around.

The success of making this sandwich is to get it done early.  I try to make my sandwiches the night before or first thing in the morning.  You have to create a seal between the bread, meat, and cheese.  You will see in the pictures below what I mean.

I served it with Blackberry Jam for 2 reasons.  One, that is what I had (you know me, use what I have) and second, my kids do not like the seeds in raspberry jam.  I have to say it tasted just as good.  ENJOY!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

For each sandwich you will need:

3 pieces of bread
3 slices of ham
3 slices of turkey
1 or 2 slices of Cheddar cheese
1 or 2 slices of Swiss cheese
Saran Wrap

A dusting of Powdered Sugar
Raspberry or Blackberry Jam

To Deep Fry:

Pancake mix ( I used a GF version)
about 2 inches of oil in the bottom of a large pot


When I make this sandwich, I decide how many I need and make them all together.  I lay my bread out, layer the cheese and meat and then stack.  Your layers will be: bread, swiss, turkey, swiss, bread, cheddar, ham, cheddar, bread...with me so far?  See pictures, it helps.



Before and after





Take a piece of Saran Wrap and place a sandwich in the middle.  You want to squish the sandwich and then wrap it tight.  The sandwich should be half of what you started with.




Place sealed and wrapped sandwiches in the fridge until you are ready to fry them up.

Make Pancake batter according to the box.  It should be thinner than the cake mix batter.  Add some milk/water to make it thinner. The mixes are all different.  Thick will work, but it adds a lot of bread to the sandwich.

Heat oil in pot.

Remove sandwiches from the refrigerator and unwrap.  Cut them in half, from corner to corner.  You should have a triangle.

Dip each triangle into the batter and VERY CAREFULLY add the triangle to the hot oil.  It will bubble up over the sandwich.  Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.  They should be golden brown.

With long tongs, remove sandwiches and set on bakers rack to cool.  Sprinkle each sandwich with powdered sugar and serve with jam.  If the cheese did not melt in the middle of the sandwich you can microwave for 30 seconds.


Most adults can eat a whole sandwich, but if served with something else you can plan on 1/2 per adult.  They are filling


Written by Sherron Watson

Donut Breakfast Casserole

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.  Share  this pos...

Popular Posts