Open-Faced Blue Cheese Sandwich with Pears

I'm fried from a full day! Thought I'd quickly share an easy way to make a simple but complex tasting sandwich. I'm not big on blue cheese, but this Open-Faced Blue Cheese Sandwich with Pears caught my attention. It's part one in the two sandwich series "Blue Cheese Heaven" from the New Moosewood Cookbook.

Start by toasting a slice of your favorite bread. Mine, as I have mentioned, is Dave's Killer Bread.

Then combine equal amount of blue cheese, cream cheese, and toasted walnuts. Spread these on the bread.

Slice up a perfectly ripe pear. Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the slices. Arrange them artfully. I chose the "ray of light" theme for mine.

Lastly, you put it in your face! This sandwich was filling. I just can't get into blue cheese though!  I'm gonna keep trying ... For my health!

Salad Sandwiches

I know it sounds a little crazy, but these Salad Sandwiches were sans sliced meat and cheese and were TOTALLY BODACIOUS! As a recently recommitted full fledged vegetarian, I have been relying heavily on cheese for fun and flavor. This meal showed me that you can have substantial taste without the added fat and calories from cheese.

I began the spectacular salad sandwich journey by gathering the necessary ingredients.

I'd like to take a moment right now to apologize for the lighting in my kitchen. It's terrible, I know. I don't have the time and patience to make beautiful food in beautiful daytime light everyday, so my post late night school situation will have to do from time to time. I hope you will still date me.

After gathering came rinsing, slicing, and shredding.  The crispy lettuce was rinsed and patted down, the cucumber, onion, and tomato was thinly sliced, and the carrot was shredded. I decided, before embarking on this sandwich adventure, to have all of the toppings ready to go for assembly.  I wanted the real sandwich deli effect here, folks!

The recipe called for "slices of great bread."  In this house, we go for the greatest: Dave's Killer Bread! This bread seriously rocks. It is organic, vegan, and comes with an inspiring message. A thin layer of mayonnaise went on the bread, followed by some salt and pepper, the veggies, and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.  I accidentally forgot to put the lettuce on the sandwich, so I improvised and put it under the bread. Truly a salad sandwich!

I served the salad sandwiches with some extra slices of cucumber and some delicious tots (so much for the calories and fat slashed from cheese!). Here are a few rare photos of myself enjoying my sandwich. I don't like to slather my face all over this blog, but this sandwich was so out of this world delicious, that after my first bite, I knew the goodness needed to be documented!

Thanks for reading!

Broccoli and Friends

I tried the quick, simple Broccoli and Friends sandwich for lunch the other day. First, I softened some onion and broccoli in a pan on the stove.

Then I toasted some bread and topped it with a slice of Havarti. This is a little different from the recipe in the book, because I didn't have any of the Greek Lemon Sauce it called for handy.  Lastly, I spooned the broccoli and onions onto the bread!  It was a wonderful afternoon treat.