Cobb Salad Sandwich

Speaking of cobb salad. This is another yummy and easy summer dinner. I found the recipe over at Real Mom Kitchen. Nice spin on the traditional salad.

4 croissants, split
4 lettuce leaves
1 medium tomato, sliced
4 cooked bacon strips, halved
8 slices deli ham, turkey or chicken
3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing

Spread dressing on croissant and top with lettuce, tomato, bacon, meat, and eggs.

Zesty Sloppy Joes

Like I said, I have never been a big fan of sloppy joes but these are really good. It makes a lot so you can easily freeze it or half it and still have left overs or share!

• 4 pounds ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup finely chopped green pepper
• 2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
• 1 can (15 ounces) thick and zesty tomato sauce
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon ground mustard
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 20 to 25 hamburger buns

Directions:

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add green pepper. Cook and stir for 5 minutes; drain. Add the next 10 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Serve on buns. Yield: 20-25 servings.

Tomato and Cucumber Sandwich

I'm a little bored, so... be prepared for a long sandwich post!!

I'm enjoying the fruits of my neighbors labor and loving the veggies!

Please find a delicious tomato and cucumber

Butter one side of two slices of bread



Peel and thinly slice the cucumber. I like my cucumbers refrigerated cause they taste better!

Get some cream cheese, you can even use the reduced fat kind.

Get about 1 ounce and microwave it for about 13 seconds

Put the buttered side of the bread on a preheated skillet

Toast it like so:

Turn it over and spread half the softened cream cheese on the un-toasted side.

Spread a layer of cucumber on the cream cheese

Then sprinkle salt and pepper on it.

Then put a layer of thinly sliced tomato on top of that.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on that too.

Toast the other piece of bread in the pan like this:

Spread the rest of the cream cheese on the untoasted side of this piece too.

VOILA!

Let me know if you like it!

If you're feeling a little dangerous, add a slice or two of cooked bacon.

Chicken Salad

I love chicken salad and have tried a few different recipes but this is the only one I actually LOVE. We used it with pita and just as a salad and it is good both ways. We left out the sweet relish and the pimientos but you know, you probably like them. This is half of the recipe and serves 6.

3 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
2 Tbsp. shredded carrot
1/2 jar (2 oz) sliced pimientos, drained
1/2 cup mayo
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups romaine lettuce (more or less depending upon if you are making a salad or sandwich)
1cup shredded Colby cheese
1 cup grapes, halved
1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges
1/2 slivered almonds, toasted

In a large bowl combine chicken, celery, green pepper, relish, carrot, and pimientos. In another bowl, combine the mayo, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper, Mix into the chicken mixture. Mix in the grapes, cheese, almonds, and gently mix in oranges. Serve over lettuce. (If you are not going to eat it all at once I might not mix in the almonds and just put them as needed on top).

Pita Pizza Sandwiches

This is quick, easy, and very good!

Take a piece of pita bread and cut it in half. Put sauce on both sides, then top with your favorite pizza toppings, close together like a sandwich. Brush both sides with olive oil and grill it until it is brown. (We just threw it on our george forman) You can probably just stick it under the broiler too if that is easier for you, just make sure to turn it and keep an eye on it. Yum.

My Favorite Lunch!

So last night for David’s birthday dinner we made those sourdough sandwiches I posted before. We used some rosemary olive oil sourdough bread from Costco that we stole from my parents and it was SOOOO good! Anyway we had lots of leftover sandwich makes so I had my favorite sandwich for lunch. Susan (David’s mom) made these before and now it is my favorite!

Obviously you will need two slices of bread (honey whole wheat is the best, when I say whole wheat I mean the real stuff where you try to fold it in half and it breaks!), put a little Dijon mustard on both slices and then put some turkey, cheese (provolone, cheddar, whatever. I used left over pepper jack which was really good too!), apple slices, and avocado slices. It is way good!!!

*To cut the apple slices: don’t core apple or start dicing it up, just start cutting up the side of the apple until you get to the core, then turn and do the other side. Cut thinly and you will have little round apple slices, perfect for a sandwich!

Classic 100% Whole Wheat Bread

I've tried a few different wheat bread recipes, and this one is our favorite.

3½ cups whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cups water
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey, molasses, or maple syrup
¼ cup nonfat dried milk
1 ¼ tsp. salt
2 ½ tsp. instant yeast OR 1 packet active dry yeast in 2 Tbs. water

Mixing:
In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine programmed for “dough” or “manual.”) Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

Shaping:
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into in 8-inch log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 ½ x4 ½-inch loaf pan. Cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for about 1 hour, or until it’s crowned about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly.

Baking:
Bake the bread in a preheated 350 oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping on the bottom (it should sound hollow), or measuring its interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer (it should read 190 at the center of the loaf). Remove the bread and cool completely before slicing. Store in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Sourdough Sandwiches

David really loves these...

Brush the outside of sourdough with some olive oil. Mash some avacado with a little bit of ranch dressing to put on the inside of the bread. Top with pepperjack cheese, bacon, turkey, and ham and grill! Add some tomato and lettuce if you want.