I just love a meal that you can fit easily between two slices of bread. That's the lazy person in me I suppose. I guess I just love sandwiches full stop . . . any kind, any place . . . You put it between bread and I am there.



When the Toddster and I used to work at the Service Station together (when I first moved over here) we used to sell tons of Bacon, Sausage, as well as Bacon and Sausage Baguettes every morning . . . just dripping with grease and fat . . . The bacon and sausage were baked in ovens, and then kept warm in a heat cabinet. I would have to clean the heat cabinet at the end of the day and the amount of fat that I had to scrape off and discard was nobody's business. Lots of it ended up in the baguettes too . . . crazy, crazy. Heart attack waiting to happen.



Breakfast sandwiches are always very popular . . .they are big business with fast food companies . . . all loaded with fat and calories. It's not impossible though to have a breakfast sandwich which is relatively low in fat, and yet still satisfyingly scrummy tasty! It's not really all that hard to do actually . . . and when you make it yourself in your own kitchen, you know exactly what's gone into it. No mystery there!



I always use whole wheat toast . . . it's better for you and you get lots of nice extra flavour . . . if it's whole grain as well . . . well that's just the ultimate in taste. (I love the Vogel Sunflower and Barley Bread, or the Vogel's Honey and Oat Bran Brown Bread!!) Now that's mighty good bread.



There is no butter used . . . not in the cooking of the egg, nor is there any butter going on that toast. You spread it with grainy mustard and a drizzle of honey . . . oh so good. I use weight watchers or another brand of low fat thin sliced baked ham . . . Low fat baked ham is not all that difficult to find anyways . . . Low fat cheese is also easy to find these days and I really like the low fat Leerdammer Light, which has great oozing melting qualities. It's a swiss type of cheese and also has a nutty sweetness.



The egg gets it's scrumminess from chopped peppers, onions and a pinch of salt and black pepper.



Put them all together and that's one heck of a sandwich . . . if I don't say so myself!! Oooooh baby, come to mama! The perfect weekend breakfast treat for sure!



*Big Breakfast Sarnie*
Serves 1

Beautifully tasty breakfast sandwich. Surprisingly low in fat too, so not all that bad for you actually!

1 large free range egg
1 TBS chopped spring onion, green and white bits
1 TBS chopped mixed peppers (whatever you happen to have on hand, red, green, orange, yellow)
pinch of salt and black pepper
4 thin slices of shaved ham (bundle them up so they look like more!
1 slice of Leerdammer light cheese
2 slices of whole wheat bread, toasted
1 TBS grainy mustard
drizzle of runny honey

Beat your egg together in a beaker along with the spring onion and peppers. Heat a small nonstick frying pan over medium heat. I spray mine with low fat cooking spray. Pour in the egg mixture. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Allow to cook until lightly browned and set on the bottom. Carefully flip over and then turn off the burner. The other side will cook in the residual heat. Immediately lay the slice of leerdammer cheese on top. The heat from the egg will melt it.

Take your two slices of toast. Divide the grainy mustard betwixt the two, spreading it to cover. Drizzle with a bit of honey. Lay the ham slices, bundling them up a bit, onto one slice of bread, honey and mustard side up. Top with the cooked egg, cheese slice up, then cover with the other slice of toast, honey and mustard side down. Cut in quarters and serve immediately.



Over in The Cottage today, a delicious Upside Down Pizza.

*Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tender, sticky delicious chicken. You can use only breasts or a combination of breasts and thighs. Delicious.

4 to 6 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken
1 bottle barbeque sauce (I used the Jack Daniels one)
1 ounces white vinegar (1/4 cup)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 ounces soft light brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tp 1 tsp garlic powder

Place your chicken pieces into the slow cooker. Stir together the barbeque sauce, vinegar, pepper flakes, brown sugar and garlic powder. Pour this over top of the chicken and give it a stir. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

The next recipe I tested on it was for a Crock Pot Beef Dip Sandwich. I love Beef Dip Sandwiches. It was always one of my favourite things to order when I lived in Canada and we would go out for supper. I remember having a particularly delicious one in Winnipeg Manitoba back in 1977 whilst we were waiting to board a train for Calgary. (You know something is good when 30+ years later you are still thinking about it!)

This recipe is one I found online (forgive me as I can't remember where right now). The meat turned out deliciously tender and we both enjoyed this very much. I will make again. It was almost as good as that one back in 1977, and I loved that I could brown the roast a bit first by using that function in the Flavour Savour.








*French Dip Sandwiches in the Slow Cooker*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

Easy to make and oh so delicious with meltingly tender beef tucked into a soft roll, topped with cheese and then served with a beef broth for dipping.

1 medium brown skinned onion, peeled and thinly sliced
6 fluid ounces beef broth/stock (3/4 cup)
2 fluid ounces dark soy sauce (1/4 cup)
4 fluid ounces water (1/2 cup)
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS grainy mustard
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 pounds beef roast for braising (I used a rolled brisket)
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve:
6 to 8 soft sandwich rolls
6 to 8 slices of provolone cheese, or an equivalent
amount of grated emmenthal cheese
one pint of beef broth (about 2 1/4 cups)







Rub the beef all over with some salt and pepper. Place the onion slices in the bottom of the crock pot. Stir together the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, mustard, garlic and water. Put the beef into the crock pot on top of the onions. Pour the broth mixture over top. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until meltingly tender.

To serve, warm the rolls and cut open. Shred the cooked beef and pile onto the warmed rolls, top with some of the onion and a bit of the juice from the pan, along with a slice of cheese. Close over, cut in half diagonally and serve along with a small bowl of beef broth for each person to dip their sandwich in.

I then decided to test out it's normal cookery function and did a tasty stew in it. I was able to brown my meat and vegetables perfectly and then proceed as per the recipe. At the end we were rewarded with a deliciously tasty Irish Lamb and Barley Stew.

So yesterday I was invited out for a girlie day crafting with two fab friends. I was asked to bring cake for our picnic lunch, and so I was quite happy to comply!



Crafting, girlie friends, cake . . . sounds like a fabulous combination don't you think???



I wanted a portable cake though, because I knew I was going to be travelling first by train and then by car and I didn't want anything that was going to get squashed or ruined in the process, in other words . . . something that would hold up.



Loaf cakes are the perfect thing for such occasions. You can cut them into slices and then sandwich the slices together with the icing in the middle. Easy to handle, and easy to eat, with little or no mess! The perfect picnic portable!



This is one of my favourite loafs to make, next to banana or carrot . . . oh and lemon, let's not forget that. Cougettes make a lovely loaf cake, which always turns out moist and delicious.



I added cardamom and lime to this one to give it just that little bit extra zip and tang. The frosting in the middle? A delicious cream cheese, also flavoured with lime.

Altogether scrummy and the perfect treat for three crafting gals I think!

Cake sandwiches! I love them!



*Courgette, Cardamom and Lime Loaf*
Makes one 9 inch loaf, serving 8 to 10
Printable Recipe

Moist and nicely spiced. I like to sandwich slices together with cream cheese icing to wrap up and take along to picnics!

250g of grated courgettes (2 medium zucchini, grated)
100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
100g butter (scant 1/2 cup)
100g runny honey (1/3 cup)
3 large free range eggs, beaten
3/4 tsp ground cardamom
the zest and juice of one unwaxed lime
325g of self raising flour (generous 2 1/2 cup)
75g of ground almonds (3/4 cup)
3 TBS thick Greek Yoghurt

Icing:
100g of icing sugar, sifted (generous 3/4 cup)
75g of butter, softened (1/3 cup)
75g of low fat cream cheese, softened (1/3 cup)
juice and zest of one unwaxed lime

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark4. Butter a 9 inch loaf tin and line with parchment paper. Butter the paper. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in the honey and the eggs. Fold in the cardamom, lime zest and lime juice. Squeeze as much liquid as you can from the courgettes and fold them into the creamed mixture along with the flour and ground almonds. Stir in the yoghurt. Spread the batter in the prepared tin, smoothing the top off.

Bake for one hour until baked all the way through and well risen. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. Place (still in the tin) on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Icing, beat all the ingredients together until smooth. Cut the cold cake into slices and sandwich them together with some of the icing to serve. Alternately you can just spread the icing on top of the loaf and cut into slices to serve.

I was recently invited to become part of the 2015 Better with Leerdammer Blogger team. As a member of the team I would be challenged to create a sandwich with the ingredients provided for five days running. I am a big fan of Leerdammer and so for me, this is a delicious challenge to fulfil! I also love sandwiches! This is a definite win/win situation! This is Day Five!  The final day!

I was recently invited to become part of the 2015 Better with Leerdammer Blogger team.   As a member of the team I would be challenged to create a sandwich with the ingredients provided for five days running.  I am a big fan of Leerdammer and so for me, this is a delicious challenge to fulfil!  Welcome to day one!

As I mentioned last week, I was challenged recently by the people from The Laughing Cow to come up with some recipes for the new year using their Laughing Cow Extra Light Spreadable Cheese,  and leftovers.   Last week I showed you some delicious Hot Ham and Cheese Rolls and today I am showing you a recipe I made for Turkey Monte Cristos, which you can not only make using leftovers (turkey and cranberry sauce) but which are also quite healthy in comparison to the original version!

I don't know why I didn't think of this before.   Making my own Turkey Subs.   I love the Turkey Subs at Sub Way back home and every time I go home I treat myself to a six inch turkey sub with all of the trimmings at least two or three times.  I guess I never thought I would be able to make one at home that would taste like theirs do, but the other day the craving got the best of me and I attempted to do just that!



I lived on these subs back in 1999 when my marriage broke up and I was living in a rented bedroom in someone else's house.  The girl I was renting the room from wasn't very nice.  Although I was supposed to have kitchen privileges, she didn't like me having any food in her cupboards or her refrigerator.  She didn't like me using the stove either, which really put a damper on my cooking mojo.  I survived by eating a lot of salads, using a kettle and microwave that I had in my room, and buying six-inch turkey subs from SubWay.  With all of the vegetables on it, I figured I was getting at least some of my five a day!



Which brings me to my topic for today . . .  how to build a perfect turkey sub sandwich.   It's not that hard but it does involve a few "must haves."

One,  you need to begin with a really good bread.  It's not necessary to have an artisan bread for these, just a good one.   I think subs need soft buns, not crisp buns.   That's a lot of sandwich. You want something that you can easily fit into your mouth once you get it stuffed with all of your meats/cheeses/toppings!

I really like the honey and oat buns that SubWay have, but you can't really buy them in the shops here.  I just bought generic fresh sub buns and they were pretty good!  You can toast them or not as you wish.  I prefer mine un-toasted.

  

You want a nice sauce to place on the base of both sides of your bun.  I like the Hellman's garlic mayo. It's really nice and it comes in a squeeze bottle and is really easy to squirt it on.  I also like the Hellman's Lemon mayo and their mustard mayo. . . .  and their roasted onion mayo is also really good.

This "Sauce" will help prevent the bread from getting soggy.  You could of course use ketchup, or a mayo/ketchup combination, mustard, etc. You can use whatever floats your boat.  You just don't want anything that will prevent you from tasting that lovely turkey you are going to put onto it.

Once you have the bun split and slathered with your chosen sauce it's time to begin building your sandwich!  



You want to use only the freshest of ingredients . . . fresh meat, vegetables, etc.

1.  Freshly sliced roast turkey from the deli counter.  Don't get that stuff that you buy already sliced and packed in those plastic packets.  I have always found it to be a bit slimy.  Yuck.  It's also pressed meat, and not actually sliced turkey breast.   I hate re-formed poultry.  Double Yuck.  Two or three slices is ample for one six inch sub.

2.  You want a nice mild cheese, something with a buttery flavour like an edam, gouda or a havarti.   Of course if you want to really kick it up you could use something a bit stronger, but I think with turkey you want a mild cheese.  One slice, cut diagonally, does the trick!

3.  You want sliced really fresh peppers (red and green if possible), some ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, mild red onions . . . all very thinly sliced.  Slice them as thin as you can.  I used my mandoline.  It did them perfectly.  You will also want some sliced gerkin/dill pickles.  I like the garlic ones myself.  These pickles add a nice touch of flavour and piquancy to the mix.  You will also want some pickled hot peppers.  In Canada they use pickled hot banana peppers, which we can't get here in the UK.    I used the Discovery sweet pickled yellow jalapeno peppers.  They are not as hot as the green ones and have a nice sweetness, which goes well with the turkey, but of course,  if you like a lot of heat, use the regular pickled green ones.  You want some finely shredded lettuce in there as well. I like to use baby gems, because they are sturdy and have a lot of flavour. They are almost bitter. Nice, nice!! 



4. I like sliced black olives on mine.  I just buy the sliced black olives in brine.   Don't pimp for fancy dried Spanish black olives.  They are too strongly flavoured.  The purpose of all of these fillings is to enhance the turkey, not overpower it.

5.  A final drizzle of some oil and vinegar (if desired) and a light dusting of salt and pepper and Bob's your uncle!  You are done.   Shut that sub, cut it in half crosswise . . . . and dig in!



Mmmm . . .  these are so good!  I am in love!  I seriously fed my craving and was a very happy camper after this and the best thing of all is . . .



I won't have to wait until I go to Canada again to indulge myself in these fabulous taste treats!  I can make myself one whenever the craving hits.  I like that idea, and I am betting you will too!

Of course you could get really fancy and add assorted meats, bacon, capers etc., but when you just want a good old fashioned turkey sub, this is the way to do it.  Manga!  Enjoy!

There is one flavour combination that isn't totally embraced over here in the UK, that of Peanut Butter and Jam.  The Toddster says it is about as appealing as eating fish and custard together . . .  but then I remind him that parsley sauce is a bit like custard . . . just not sweet.  He begs to differ.



He will eat a jam sandwich.  He will eat a peanut butter sandwich.  He will not eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich.  I, on the other hand . . . think that peanut butter and jam or jelly are a taste marriage made in heaven.



How can you resist that combination of salty peanuts . . . pulverized to a thick unctuous cream  . . .  and sweet, sticky and fruity jam????   The two together are absolutely perfect!  Like pancakes and maple syrup . . . bacon and brown sugar . . .  peas and carrots . . .  mango and chillies . . . they just belong together!



This beautiful cake showcases that marriage beautifully.  You have amoist,  delicious and buttery cake base, which is slathered with softened jam . . . prior to baking . . .  I used Raspberry and Scottish Whiskey  jam . . .


The jam layer  is covered with tasty sweet clumps of peanut butter/flour/sugar and chopped peanuts all rubbed together.   Again, prior to baking . . . the magic happens in the oven . . .



A delicious magic that you can smell as the warm smells of buttery cake, salty peanut butter and sweet jam waft through the house as the cake is baking.   You just know this is going to be fabulous.  And then . . .



A final layer of a sweet peanut butter drizzle icing seals the deal on the cooling cake . . . drizzled here and drizzled there . . . making it even more impossible to resist. Why even try?   Go on . . . dig in.  You know you really want to.   Tradition be damned.  Throw caution to the wind you Brits!  Embrace Peanut Butter and Jam.   Isn't it time?  (As I write this you-know-who is out in the garden sitting in the sunshine snuffling down a nice big slice.  Me thinks he doth protest too much!)



*Glazed Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake*

I have always been a fan of Leerdammer cheese.   Sweet and nutty it's long been a choice of  mine for in salads and sandwiches . . . and yes, I confess, I have even been known to just snack on it neat . . . without anything else.  It just has a nice mellow flavour which I enjoy.  That's why when I was recently asked would I like to participate in the Leerdammer Toastie Challenge, I jumped at the chance!

 

I was sent several packs of the new Leerdammer Toastie cheese and challenged to come up with a new toastie sandwich.   This new Toastie cheese is creamier than the original and comes in a new square shape, the perfect size for fitting into a toastie.  The original sweet and nutty flavours remain!



First I played with it a bit, creating a panini pressed sandwich, which had several slices of the leerdammer toastie slices, along with some sliced Italian ham, some grainy mustard and a pickled red onion relish, and whilst it was good . . . I felt it was lacking in some way.  It wasn't quite pushing all of my taste buttons and so I went back to the drawing board.



I decided to stick with the panini bun because I like their texture . . . crisp and yet chewy.   I love a toasted panini, don't you?



Something smokey goes really well with the sweet and nutty flavour of Leerdammer cheese, but the ham wasn't quite doing it so I scrapped that as well and decided to go with something a bit smokier and a tad sweet . . . rich dry cured smoked streaky bacon.   Cooked until crisp . . . 4 rashers because I am greedy that way.



I liked the idea of the pickled onions, but they were too sharp I thought and so I decided to replace them with a really good red onion marmalade.  I had a jar of this particular brand in my larder just waiting to be opened and this is what I chose, but you could use another brand if you wanted to, or even make your own from scratch.   There is a lovely recipe on the BBC Good Food page.



The red onion marmalade added just the right touch.  It is sweet, but not cloyingly so . . . there is just a small hint of sour and a smack of spiciness that goes so well with the bacon and that creamy sweet nutty cheese . . .



So . . . with each bite you get the crisp chewy panini bread . . . buttery (or if you really feel hedonistic, you can pan grill it in the bacon fat from cooking the bacon.  mmmm . . . I was and I did.), the sharp sweetness from that lovely red onion marmalade, the crisp smoky saltiness of that lovely bacon  . . .  all intermingled with that oozingly rich sweet and nutty Leerdammer!



In short, this was a toastie that rang all my bells and tooted all my whistles!  This was a winner/winner toastie dinner!  I just adored it, and I think you will too!  To me, this is the perfect Toastie!  Oh so incredibly scrumdiddlyumptiously good.  The perfectly tasty toastie!



First cook the bacon.  Place it into a cold nonstick skillet and cook according to your preference.  I like mine just a tad crispy, but still a bit flimsy.  Others may want their totally crisped.   Once cooked, drain well on paper towels.  Spread the bottom slice of the panini bun with the onion marmalade.  Top with one slice of Leerdammer, cut into halves diagonally and placed slightly overlapping over the onion marmalade.  Top with the cooked bacon and then top the bacon with another slice of the Leerdammer, again cut into halve diagonally and placed slightly overlapping.  Place the top half of the panini bun over all.   Lightly butter both sides of the panini.  Heat a clean skillet (or a panini press) to medium high.  Add the panini, top side down first.   Grill for  several minutes until just toasted.  Flip the panini over so that the top is upright and continue to toast in the pan until the bottom is golden brown and the cheese has melted and is all gooey.   Remove from the pan and cut into half diagonally to enjoy.   Delicious!



Don't be surprised if you are addicted at first bite!  Many thanks to the Leerdammer people for sending me this wonderful toastie cheese and inspiring me to stretch my creative toastie wings!

Leerdammer Toastie is the latest addition to the Leerdammer range, which also included the original and light slices, as well as the original block.  Leerdammer Toastie is now available nationwide in Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Asda, prices at a RRP of £1.75 for a pack of six slices.