Lettuce Wrap Sandwich

Heyyo! These lettuce wrap sandwiches have been rocking my world lately. They are nothing new, but I finally created my own instead of ordering my favorite (for $14) from East Hampton in Dallas. I’m sorry but I can’t pay $14 for vegetables. There is a learning curve on figuring out how to wrap these babies up, so keep scrolling for the ingredients deats and a little vid for the how-to!

Lettuce Wrap Sandwich
serves 1

Ingredients: (use these as a guide but feel free to fill your wrap up with any of your fave sandwich fillers)
3 slices of smoked turkey deli meat
3 slices of salami
2 slices of tomato, cut in half
1 thin slice of red onion, cut in half
2 sandwich pickles, cut down the middle
1/4 of an avocado, thinly sliced
micro greens or sprouts
3-4 leaves of iceberg lettuce
condiment of your choice
salt and pepper
parchment paper

Directions:
Tear off a rectangle shape piece of parchment and lay on a cutting board. Lay your leaves of iceberg onto the parchment, flattening them out and creating a rectangle shape. Overlap them, not leaving any holes. Make sure to leave a border of parchment paper around the lettuce.

Now start to layer the sandwich ingredients. You want to lay the ingredients in the middle of the lettuce and build up. If you are doing mayo or mustard, start with a spread of that on the lettuce. Then turkey, salami, pickles, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, sprouts or microgreens, and finish with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Now it’s time to roll. First, just like a burrito, you will fold in the sides of the lettuce. Then at the side closest to you, using the parchment paper to guide, begin to push everything in and tightly roll. As you make a roll, pull the parchment out so it doens’t get rolled up inside. Keep going, rolling and pulling the parchment out. Once you are almost to the end, fold in the sides of the parchment and then finish your roll. I like to seal it with a piece of tape and then cut in half. Enjoy!

Annie

Avocado Toast Grilled Cheese

Last week on my Facebook page, I asked for your feedback on what kind of posts you wanted to see on Take A Bite. One request was for "trendy grilled cheese." I can handle that, I thought. (Not to mention I've had a random weird craving for a grilled cheese and tomato soup).

I wanted to come up with something relatively simple, but something original. I'll be honest I'm not a huge sandwich person, but I do love a good piece of avocado toast. It hit me one day while I was on a walk. An avocado toast grilled cheese!!! I went speed walking home to go research. Not very productive for my workout but whatever, grilled cheese were more important at the time. 

I took a piece of the ever so trendy avocado toast and paired it with cheddar and pepper jack cheese. I wanted the classic orange color from the cheddar, but the spice from the pepper jack. The avocado doesn't take away from the cheese flavor but instead sort of melts into this buttery smooth layer. It's kind of amazing. 

Avocado Toast Grilled Cheese
yields 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:
4 slices of your favorite bread (this is what I use)
1 cup grated pepper jack (buy a block of cheese then grate it)
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
1/2 avocado
red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
olive oil

Directions:
Turn on your panini press or heat a grill pan over medium heat. 

Using a box grater, shred both cheeses and set aside. Take each slice of bread and brush olive oil on one side. Olive oil side down, pile a mixture of the cheeses on 2 slices. Mash 1/4 of the avocado on the remaining 2 slices. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. 

Top the cheese bread slices with the avocado bread slices. 

Put on the panini press until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Cut diagonally and serve. 

So William Webster does this satisfy your trendy grilled cheese request?

Annie

Open-Faced Winter Sammy

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey and homemade pumpkin butter make this sandwich hard to beat. I got the idea from an apple butter and smoked pastrami sandwichI had pinned a while ago. I threw this guy together for my sister and I last Sunday. We were so burnt out on Thanksgiving leftovers, but my mom was insistent on us finishing them off. My little creative juices started flowing on how I could put a spin on the leftovers.

Kathleen had made the yummiest pumpkin butter the day before (I'm hoping this post pushes Kat to post her recipe). We usually just spread it on toast or dip apples in it, but I decide to use it as the base of this sandwich. I layered on leftover turkey, red onion slices, cheese and a little bit of rosemary for an added wintery touch!

Open-Faced Pumpkin Butter and Turkey Sammy
serves 2

Ingredients:
2 slices of hearty wheat bread
fresh turkey, none of that fake deli meat stuff
pumpkin butter*
red onion slices
a few slices of any white cheese (white cheddar, havarti or gouda would all be good)
sprigs of rosemary (optional)

Directions:
Turn on the broiler of your oven. Toast your bread. Spread on a nice layer of pumpkin butter. Layer on the other components. Put your sandwiches in the oven under the broiler and just keep on an eye on them until the cheese is completely melted. About 2 minutes. Once the cheese is melted finish them off with some fresh cracked black pepper. Serve with a knife and fork.

*Pumpkin butter is super easy to make and there are lots of recipes out on the Internet. If you don't want to make your own pumpkin butter, you can usually find pumpkin or apple spreads at specialty grocery stores. A grainy mustard would also be a a good substitution. 

turkey, cheese, onion and rosemary all layered up

melty, open-faced goodness

This sandwich was so random but so good! Here is a recipe for another one of my favorite open-faced sandwiches!

Annie