Family Bites

Grilled Shrimp Rolls

Tomorrow morning I'm taking four pre-teen boys camping. By myself. For two days.

I'm oddly excited about this little adventure, and I've been busily getting my work assignments done so I can escape for a few days, mid-week, without falling too far behind. I spent most of yesterday afternoon working, following a long and luxurious bike ride around the lake, leaving me little time to focus on dinner. But a quick heating of the grill gave way to some cooked shrimp, which found their way into this sandwich, one that could quickly become a summer favourite thanks to the bold flavours and simple execution of the meal.

If I was entertaining, I think I might purchase a pack of mini rolls and serve these as two-bite appetizers. Feel free to change the seasonings in the recipe; I'm thinking chili powder and lime juice can stand in nicely for the tarragon and lemon, and chopped avocado would make a great addition as well. 

Wish me luck on my little outing! It'll be a testosterone-filled two days and I'll tell you all about it when we return!

 

Grilled Shrimp Rolls

I like my sandwiches toasted, so I place my rolls on the grill when I'm cooking the shrimp, or in the oven for a minutes, to crisp the bread before filling it with the lettuce and shrimp mixture. 

serves 4

• 1 lb. grilled shrimp, deveined and tails removed
• 5 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• 4 pieces of lettuce
• 4 dinner rolls

1. Roughly chop the shrimp and place it in a medium mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, tarragon, lemon juice, salt and a few grind of pepper and stir to combine.

2. Place a piece of lettuce into each of the buns and top with 1/4 of the shrimp mixture. Serve immediately. 

Egg Salad with Zucchini

I've been staring down a packed fridge this week, wondering how we are possibly going to eat all the food that lies within before we leave for our camping trip on Sunday.  I've managed to purchase more produce that we can possibly eat because the summer harvest looks so inviting, not to mention my memories of what romaine in February tastes like.  I'm stocking up and trying to eat it now, to remind myself that lettuce isn't really limp and murky-coloured all year round. 

Garden greens aside, it's really the zucchini that has me scratching my head though, as I ponder the possibilities for using up my supply over the next three days.  I've done the requisite loaves (with chocolate chips!), muffins (with quinoa!) and biscuits (with cheddar!).  I've sauteed, grated and sliced and added it to many of my cooked meals, and until yesterday morning I was convinced that I had given my zucchini more personalities than it could handle - until I decided to make use of it raw.

Which is how the very best egg salad sandwich was born.

Hard boiled eggs, a touch of creamy mayo and grainy mustard, fresh herbs, a grind of salt and fresh ground pepper, combined with raw zucchini, has yielded what can only be dubbed as the best sandwich ever.  It seems impossible to believe, but give it a try and I think you'll see that I'm right.  

What's even better is that the kids like it.  They really do.  They may think the "green stuff" is chopped herbs, and who am I to correct them.  While I'm not in the habit of filling their foods with hidden items - at least not that often - I'm not opposed to letting them believe it's parsley that's tucked in with the eggs if that's truly what they think they're seeing.

Speaking of which, I have a bunch of that lying around too if you have any ideas.

 

Egg Salad and Zucchini Sandwiches

• 5 eggs, hard boiled
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons grainy Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoons fresh dill, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup grated zucchini

Peel the eggs, place them on a cutting board and give them a rough chop with a knife.

Place the eggs in a bowl and add the mayo, mustard, dill, salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper.  Mix well.

Add the zucchini and fold into the egg mixture until everything is combined well.

Serve in a small bowl with crackers or spread onto bread and make a sandwich.

 

 

 

Fried Shrimp on Focaccia Buns

As much as we loved being in New York the week before last, we didn't enjoy trying to find places to eat. Places that would accommodate two boys who needed space to perform simple magic tricks with their purchases from FAO Schwartz, space for stroller storing and high chair eating, and space to change the baby somewhere other than the washroom floor.  Trust me, it was much harder than you might think.  And call us crazy, but air conditioning was an essential requirement as well, given that we were touring the city by foot in the middle of a record-setting heat wave, and it might surprise you to know that that was also not the easiest to find.

One afternoon, after searching the streets for about an hour we stumbled upon a little pub and it was fabulous. The decor was lovely, the music was great, they smiled when they saw us walking in with three sweat-soaked kids and the food was uber yummy.

I deviated from my normal pub grub choices and opted for the sandwich special: fried shrimp and shredded lettuce with horseradish mayo on toasted egg bread.  Perfection.  Paired with seasoned sweet potato fries, it was one of my favourite things I ate while we were away.  Which naturally means I needed to re-create it when we came home.  

The first Saturday night back, I made these sandwiches for Rob and I.  I pan-fried the shrimp, swapped the shredded lettuce for a simple slaw made with radicchio, carrots and romaine, and the horseradish mayo was replaced with a chipotle aioli, all of which was stacked on a focaccia bun. 

Side Note: I would've made them for the kids as well, but Jackson is on an I-want-to-make-my-own-dinner kick, and I'm just rolling with it. Twice a weak he hulls out the ingredients to make a pizzas sandwiches for him and Ben.  My favourite thing about him cooking is how very serious he takes this task. He kindly asks Ben what he would like on his, he chops, grates and spreads his toppings and he always sprinkles a little dried oregano over the top of each pizza (so adorable), which must be made on buns or a baguette.  

I don't want to say mine version was better, but....it kind of was. Rob couldn't eat it fast enough, and insisted I write about it, so here you go. My New York City dinner made my way, with air conditioning and kid-friendly spaces included for free.

Fried Shrimp Sandwiches

Don't let the lengthy list of ingredients deter you from making this sandwich.  It comes together easily and more quickly than you might imagine.

• 2 lbs shrimp, peeled, deveined and rinsed
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup panko or Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon each of sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup chopped radicchio
• 1 cup chopped romaine
• 1 cup grated carrots
• lime juice
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 can chipotle peppers, juiced drained and reserved
• 4 focaccia buns

Place the flour in a small bowl, the beaten egg and water in another, and the panko and chili powder in a third. Stir the panko and chili powder to combine.

Heat the oil over medium high heat until it's hot and slightly bubbling.

Dredge the shrimp in the flour, dip it in the egg, and coat all sides with the panko. Fry until golden brown, about one and half minutes per side.  Repeat with the remaining shrimp, and place them on a paper towel lined plate when cooked.

Toss the radicchio, romaine and carrots together in a medium sized bowl and drizzle with the juice of half a lime.  Season with salt and pepper, and add more lime if necessary.  Set aside.

In a small bowl combine the mayo and 1 teaspoon of the reserved chipotle liquid.  Roughly chop one of the chipotle peppers and add it to the bowl.  Mix well to combine.

Slice open the focaccia buns and lightly coat each side with a smear of the chipotle mayo.  Top one side with  five or six pieces of the fried shrimp, cover with a hearty scoop of the slaw and top with the remaining bun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Food Fast: Mushroom, Leek and Cheddar Bruschetta

Without intending to do so, I've created an unofficial dinner theme here at Family Bites this month; good food fast. 

It started with pasta e ceci soup, followed up by the pinto bean and bacon hash, potato nachos, beer can chicken and now the bruscetta.  

Cook up a few veggies loafing around in the fridge, spread over some crusty bread, top with a bit of cheese and bake. Serve alongside a simple green salad and dinner is served.  For the record, I have yet to make a veggie based bruschetta that my boys enjoy so their version usually involves some pizza sauce and a slice of ham or leftover chicken breast, but either way it's just as quick as this one.  

Simple dinners don't have to mean that everyone in the house eats the same thing. We're all different, we all have different tastes, and as a somewhat reformed picky eater I can certainly empathize with those who don't want to eat mushrooms (or, ahem, tomatoes). For a more time consuming meal you can even cook up a bruschetta bar and let everyone assemble their own meal.  Or just make a veggie bruschetta for you and pizza bruschetta for the kids.

Either way the food will hit the table quickly, you will all be eating together, and it'll be so very good. 

Mushroom, Leek and Cheddar Bruschetta

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 pound mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 1 leek, washed and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• Fresh or dried thyme leaves
• Fresh or dried rosemary
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 slices of crusty bread
• 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the butter and olive oil in a skillet set over medium heat.  Once the butter had melted, add the leeks and garlic and saute until softened.  

Add the thyme and rosemary and combine well.  Add the mushrooms and cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the mushrooms are cooked through.  

Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper.  Scoop onto slices of crusty bread, top each with 1/ 4 of the grated cheese and bake for 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

 

The Open-Faced Sandwich

An open-faced sandwich is made with a single slice of bread, and one or more individual toppings.  They can be served as hors d'oeuvres, brunch and even dinner when you're looking for something fun and simple. They also make for an excellent and easy option for a kiddies's party, when the guests in attendance are prone to fussy or peculiar preferences.

All you need to successfully make an open-faced sandwich is a robust bread - something with a tough exterior and soft interior - which provides both texture and balance for the toppings, and assortment of goods for garnishing.

Rob and I like to experiment with our sandwiches, creating unique combinations of flavours, but the boys prefer to stick with what they know.  And what they like.   Our mashed avocado mixture is a great base for many creations, but has yet to be eagerly received by the kids, who would likely say the open-faced pizza sandwich is probably their favourite.

Would you serve open-faced sandwiches to guests? How about for an easy appetizer? What topping combinations do you like best?

Mashed Avocado Spread

• 2 avocados, halved, pitted and peeled
• 2 teaspoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and chill.  Smear over bread and top with desired ingredients. 

 

 

Witchy-Finger Sandwiches

October has moved along at quite a clip and Halloween is finally just a few days away. My kids, like yours I'm sure, are filled with excitement and the countdown for costume-day has officially begun. I was never much of Halloween fan when I was younger, but I appreciate it now that I see the day through the eyes of my boys. And to tell you the truth, I love it. So much so that Rob and I are planning on surprising the kids with our own costumes this Hallows Eve. Shh...don't tell them!

In thinking of ways to inject a little spooky fun into our week, I thought these witchy sandwiches might make for some eerie edible fun. They are a wonderfully versatile Halloween treat that I think any kiddie would love to eat.  They can be made for classroom parties, school lunches or just for fun if the kids are bored and looking for something to do.  Filled with tuna, cream cheese, ham and plain old peanut butter, they are a healthy treat that will keep your kids from climbing to the top of the Glycemic Index Mountain.  

And we all know how scary that can be! 

Witchy Finger Sandwiches

• 5 slices sandwich bread, crusts removed
• 5 almonds, pained red or black with gel-colouring paste)
• Fillings of choice: peanut butter, jam, Nutella, cream cheese, tuna, etc.

Remove the crusts from each piece of bread and roll flat with the rolling pin

Spread or top each slice with your choice of filling (I used peanut butter for these) and roll lengthwise into a thin log.

Cut around the top to round the tips of the bread, then score it with a sharp knife where the "knuckles" would be.

Add the almonds (paint them first with gel colour or food colouring) and stick them into place by adding a dab of your filling to the back of the almond before placing it on the bread.

Platter the sandwiches to make a hand, and slip a spider or spooky ring onto the third "finger".

Paninis Please

 

I'm quite smitten with my panini press and feel it really offers my family a plethora of dinner options, all of which can be ready in less than fifteen minutes.  Gifted to me several Christmases ago, it has become a beloved kitchen gadget despite it's limited use.  I go through phases with my small appliances, and think I'm more seasonally dependent on them that I like to admit.  The ice cream maker is in continuous use from May to October, and the panini press comes out of hibernation those months as well.  Both items seem to find their place back in our cupboard sometime in the early winter, and the slow-cooker then takes centre stage on my counter top.

All of this to say that, while I wish my solution for quick and easy meals including turning out a twenty-minute beef bourguignon, I'll settle for other forms of yumminess via a stuffed sandwich.  And let me tell you, there's something about those grill marks that my boys positively giddy with excitement, making this a win/win meal for all. 

Similar to making a pizza, a tortilla shell or piece of thick-sliced bread can be lightly buttered or oiled and topped with an assortment of favourite ingredients, then grilled to warmed perfection.  Don't worry, if you don't have a panini press you can create a similar sandwich by using a regular pan and a foil-covered brick (heat a small amount of oil in a pan, add the sandwich and cover with the brick to "press" the sandwich flat), or alternatively you can make them in a toaster oven.  

These sandwiches really make for a simple dinner, which makes for a simpler evening and it's hard to argue with any form of simplicity these days, isn't it? 

Panini Sandwiches

Here is a list of some possible filling combinations, or at least the ones that our family enjoys:

• Leftover roasted butternut squash, grated Granny Smith apple, walnuts and parmesan cheese
• Black beans, mashed sweet potato, roasted garlic and cheddar cheese
• Turkey, cranberries, spinach and brie
• Pesto, prosciutto, arugula and roasted red peppers
• Roast beef, red onions, basil mayo and provolone cheese
• Chicken, pears, mozzarella and arugula
• Peanut butter, honey, banana and pecans
• Tuna, cheddar and tomato
• Chicken, dried apricots, apple and  brie
• Roasted squash, red pepper and Monterrey Jack cheese
• Scambled eggs, pepperoni, pizza sauce and cheddar cheese

Can you think of something I may have missed? What do you love to eat in your grilled sandwiches?

The Family Road Trip (and our favourite sandwich recipe)

 

The Griswolds we're not, but we do love us a good road trip.

We began road tripping when the boys were quite young (2.5 and 4 yrs).  Our first trip took us eight hours away and since then we've done yearly getaways taking us six to twenty-six hours on the road.  While I wouldn't consider myself a road-tripping expert, I do think we've mastered a few tricks I'd love to pass along.

Essentially a good road trip comes down to three things - The Forethought, The Fun and The Food.  Oh my, how important is the food!  We've learned, the hard way, that it is almost essential to have good food on a road trip.  But first things first.

The Forethought 

Or in other words, the planning.  The organization of a road trip is essential to a positive experience. Detailed maps and directions, designated pit-stops, plenty of gas, necessary papers (passports) in an easy to locate spot.  Predetermined time of departure and estimated time for arrival are also important aspects to plans.  Lots of forethought equals lots of fun.

The Fun

Crucial to a good road trip, is lots of fun.  When the boys were little I would pack "bins of fun" for our trips. Small baskets filled with an assortment of entertainment would be placed between them.  The bins were meant to last two hours and I would pack as many as were needed for the duration of the trip (eight hours on the road = four bins).  We would stop every two hours for a leg-stretch, trip to the washroom and a bin swap. Each bin would contain one small surprise (something new I purchased or borrowed for the trip), and the anticipation of the swap was almost as fun as the packages themselves.

We don't do movies in the car unless we're travelling for more than three hours at a time.  If that's the case we pack some favourite movies and individual DVD players for the road.  Often I will add in a new movie (bought or borrowed) and that guarantees almost two hours of quiet.  Lastly, we make a family music CD. Each person chooses five songs and I make a compilation of the tunes for the road.

The Food

For us, the most important part of the road trip.  Hard experience has taught us that nothing good can be found on the road somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Too often we've been forced to face the villains of the vending machine and as such we rarely travel without a nice supply of good food.  

Fruit and veggies are always a must-have but they can get a little boring after a while.  Muffins, pretzels, sandwiches, drinks, granola bars, cheese and crackers, breads and meats are just a few of the options we now include.  

Ben and I are road-tripping from Toronto to New York City today and here is what we're packing:

Lemon-Poppyseed Muffins

Yogurt

Chocolate covered strawberries 

Grapes

Assorted sandwiches

Carrots, celery, cucumber and hummus

Granola bars

Cheese and chocolate

I expect we'll be on the open road for eight hours, over both breakfast and lunch, so we'll be well supplied of good, REAL food.

Have a good week friends...I'll be back next Monday.  But tell me, are you a road-tripping family?  What are your secrets to success?

Avocado, Bacon and Goat Cheese Sandwich

• 1 baguette
• 1 avocado
• 1 tbsp mayo
• salt and pepper, to taste
• lettuce
• tomato
• 10 slices of bacon, cooked
• goat cheese

Scoop out the insides of the avocado into a bowl and mash with the back of a fork.  Add the mayo and salt and pepper (to your taste) and mash together to create a smooth spread.

Slice open the baguette, lengthwise.  Spread one side of the sandwich with goat cheese and the other side with the avocado mash.

Layer the lettuce, bacon and tomato on one side of the bread.  Close it up and and slice into four sandwiches. 

Open-Faced Curried Chicken Sandwich

  

Do you want to know one of my cooking secrets?  Each and every time I cook chicken I cook double, sometimes even triple, of what I need.  It may seems a little extreme, so I'll explain.

Chicken is one of those foods that is so versatile, it's almost essential to have extra on hand.  So, when I cook me some fowl I cook a whole lot extra which allows me to make more than one meal with the plucky goods.  I use the leftovers for sandwiches, quesadillas, pizzas, feeding the dog, soups, salads and much more. Sometimes it really is the simple things that make life so much easier, isn't it?

 

We had some chicken breast in the fridge this week and I remembered a sandwich I had read about once, so I gave it a go.  Grilled bread, topped with mixed greens and a curried-honey-chicken-carrot salad with a crunchy almonds and sweet raisins.  Dead easy to make and so yummy to eat.  The flavours are mild enough for the little ones and with the exception of mixed greens (which aren't well received here) everything is quite kid friendly.

Do you cook anything up in bulk?  How do you use leftover chicken?

Open-Faced Curried Chicken Salad Sandwiches (adapted from Beautiful Breads)

• 1 cup cooked chicken, cut into 1/2" cubes
  
• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
  
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
  
• 1/4 cup whole almonds
  
• 1/4 raisins
  
• 1/3 cup curry sauce (see recipe below)
  
• 4 slices of thick-cut bread or baguette
  
• 2 cups mixed greens
  
• 3 tbsp butter
  

In a medium mixing bowl combine chicken, grated carrot, both almonds, raisins and curry sauce.  Mix well and set aside.

Spread both sides of each bread slice with butter and cook in a skillet, over medium-high heat, until each side is golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Top each slice of grilled bread with 1/2 cup spring mix, then top with 1/2 - 2/3 cup of chicken salad mix.

Curry Sauce

• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  
• 2 tbsp grainy mustard
  
• 1/2 cup honey
  
• 1 tsp curry sauce
  
• 1 tsp lemon pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.