Delicious Deli Meat

Hey, everybody! I have a post on a super awesome sandwich that I ate a few minutes ago. I know the poll results aren't final, but it looks like Mediterranean Pita is the winner. Even so, I thought I'd post a recipe for a delicious deli meat sandwich. I've never been much of a fan of what most call "lunchmeat," but lately I've actually enjoyed ordering paninis with chicken "lunchmeat" on them. As I was thinking about ways to make my own deli meat sandwich (I prefer the term "deli meat" over "lunchmeat"), I decided I'd find random things in the fridge and turn it into a warm sandwich. I had apples, gouda cheese, lots of tarragon, and lettuce. These ingredients work beautifully with each other, so I figured I'd combine them in an amazing sandwich. My dog got to eat the leftovers, and she came back to me wanting more! This sandwich works very well with homemade bread, but you can definitely use storebought bread if that's all you have on hand.

Turkey and Apple Sandwich with Tarragon Butter
Serves 1

Ingredients
2 slices whole wheat bread
1 or 2 slices all natural turkey deli meat
1/4 of a cameo apple, thiny sliced
1/4 cup shredded gouda cheese
1 small leaf of lettuce
2 tbsp minced tarragon
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
Canola or olive oil spray

Preparation
1. Combine minced tarragon, butter and olive oil in a very small bowl or ramakin. Spread the tarragon butter on both slices of bread.

2. Heat a pan with a bit of canola or olive oil spray on medium heat. Place a slice of bread in the pan, tarragon butter side up. Layer with sliced apples, shredded gouda, slice(s) of turkey, lettuce and the other slice of bread. Spray the top slice of bread with oil spray. Check periodically to see if the bottom slice of bread is golden-brown and crispy, and when it is, flip over the sandwich with a large spatula (the kind that you would use to flip pancakes or a crepe). Once the other side is crispy and golden-brown, remove sandwich from eat and cut into 2 triangles. Serve with your choice of grapes or cherries on the side.

The winner of the poll will have a video made to demonstrate how to make it. The rest will get pictures and/or recipes posted. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel, follow this blog, and pass on this link to your friends that love to cook!

Fourth of July and a Cooking Class

Hey, everybody! I had so much fun cooking a red, white and blue meal on the Fourth of July: Strawberry Melon Gazpacho, Chicken with Lemon Yogurt Sauce, and Blue "French Fries." The Strawberry Melon Gazpacho was a free recipe I picked up at Whole Foods, and it was interesting. The cucumber in it was weird, considering the other ingredients were strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and lime juice. The chicken was my own recipe. It was simple and delicious! As for the "fries," I used beautiful blue potatoes and cut them into french fry shapes. I coated them in olive oil and spices, and roasted them in the oven. They were delicious!

Chicken with Lemon Yogurt Sauce
Serves 4-8

Ingredients
4 split (2 whole) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 garlic cloves, minced
Olive oil
1 cup plain yogurt
The zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation
1. Preheat grill. Put chicken in a glass dish. Toss with enough olive oil to coat the chicken. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and minced garlic.

2. Combine yogurt, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Adjust seasonings if needed.

3. Grill the chicken for about 4-5 minutes on each side, or until the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve chicken with yogurt sauce.

I have pictures of everything I made, but they're all terrible because we forgot to take pictures until halfway through dinner... oops. The chicken is half-eaten and the other dishes are almost gone from the bowl.

Blue: Blue Fries

White: Chicken with Lemon Yogurt Sauce.



Red: Strawberry Melon Gazpacho

On July 9th, I taught a cooking class! A girl that's going into 5th grade at my school won it as an auction item. We made pizza, Italian Wedding Soup, Italian Salad, and appetizers with grape tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and basil. For a beverage, we made watermelon lemonade. Everything we ate was delicious! Here are some photos.



Slicing tomatoes




We're ready to eat!




The pizza. Yummmmm!




Our salad

 My blog link has now been posted on http://dinnertool.com/! http://dinnertool.com/ is an online meal planning website. I think that after you've planned a meal, they show you a list of great cooking blogs and websites. Mine is one of those! So make sure you check out http://dinnertool.com/ to support both of our websites.

Mexican Wedding Soup: Revised

Hey, everybody! I apologize for not posting... I've been a little lazy in the blogging world these past few days. Fortunately, my work in the kitchen has not been lazy at all. After I made Salmon Salad, I had Honey Mustard Chicken and Veggie Kabobs, a great recipe I picked up for free at Whole Foods. The next day, I had a Greek Salad. It wasn't really that special, so I won't post it here because it was so ordinary. The day after that, I revised Mexican Wedding Soup to fit my newly discovered sensitivity/intolerance/allergy (it hasn't been looked at by a doctor, but I'm seeing signs of the beginning of an allergy) to carrots. To make the meatballs moist, I used grated zucchini and squeezed the water out of it. Instead of diced carrots, I made it with diced yams. My parents loved it, but I wasn't so sure. There was just something off about it (for me), but my parents totally disagreed. Weird. If you want to try this recipe and tell me what you think and how I can improve it, please email me at tweenchef123@gmail.com asking for the recipe. Here's a photo.



Anything you think I can improve?

Please answer the newest poll! I want to work on making some sandwiches that kick Subway's butt, so please give me feedback! I'll most likely use my favorite bread: Dave's Killer Bread. It's locally produced in Oregon, has 5g of fiber per slice, 6g of protein per slice, 16 whole grains and 5 seeds. Not to mention, it's organic. Of course, these are the nutrition facts for the 21 Whole Grain variety. The Good Seed bread is great, too. If I don't use Dave's, I'll use Rudi's Multigrain. It looks like white bread, but it actually has organic oats and whole wheat. Yum. Now that you know what my favorite store-bought bread is, answer the poll and then go try some bread!