A St. Patrick's Day Sandwich

A "green" sandwich for St. Patrick's Day.

I know it's not quite St. Patrick's Day, but I've been baking "green" desserts with a St. Patrick's Day theme and for supper I decided to make a "green" sandwich for Dan and me. 

I spread pesto on each side of the bread, followed by slices of yogurt cheese. 

Spread pesto on each slice of bread.

Add yogurt cheese to each slice of bread.

I added fresh spinach to each side of the bread.

Add spinach.

On one side I put slices of a ripe avocado.

Add sliced avocado to one side of bread.

Then I put the two slices together to make the sandwiches.  

Put the two slices together to make the sandwich.

I grilled the sandwiches in butter.

Grill in butter.

Ready to eat.  Delish!

This is a new twist on grilled cheese sandwiches that will be good not just on St. Patrick's Day but any day of the year. 

A Recipe in My Inbox Each Morning

Chicken rollup with cheese and asparagus.

Somehow I got on the mailing list or I more likely subscribed to allrecipe.com so that each morning there is a new recipe in my mailbox.  Here's one that I received and made recently.  I'll keep this one in my recipe file. 


Chicken Rollups with Asparagus and Cheese
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonaisse
3 Tsp Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced and zested
2 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted the salt.)
16 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
4 slices of provolone cheese (I used Trader Joe's yogurt cheese.  It's low sodium)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.  Grease a baking dish.  In a bowl, mix together the first six ingredients until well combined.  Set aside.
2.  Cook asparagus in the microwave on High until bright green and just tender. 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  Set aside.  Place a chicken breast between two sheets of heavy plastic (freezer bags work well) on a solid, level surface.  Firmly pound the chicken breast with a meat mallet to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.  Repeat with all chicken breasts.
3.  Place one slice of cheese on each chicken breast and top the cheese with 4 asparagus spears per breast.  Roll the chicken breasts around the asparagus and cheese, making a tidy package, and place, seam sides down, in the prepared baking dish.  With a pastry brush (or spoon), apply a coating of the mayo mixture to each chicken breast, and sprinkle with panko crumbs, pressing the crumbs into the chicken to make a coating.
4.  Bake in the preheated oven until the crumbs are browned and the chicken juices run clear, about 25 minutes. 

Making the mayo mixture.

Flatten the chicken breast with a meat mallet.

Add cheese and asparagus to flattened chicken breast.

Roll up and place seam side down on prepared baking dish.

Coat breasts with mayo mixture and panko bread crumbs.

Out of oven.

Read to enjoy.

This is easy, tasty and makes for a great presentation.  It would be perfect for a light lunch along with a green salad or even a fruit salad. 

Low Sodium Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Low sodium grilled cheese sandwich.

I've had to adjust my cooking because I'm trying to limit my sodium intake to 2000 mg (preferably 1500 mg) daily, and it's difficult.  I find it especially hard to come up with low sodium snacks.  Grilled cheese sandwiches are a favorite of mine, and I have managed to make one that is low in sodium, thanks to Trader Joe's.

The only bread I have been able to find that has no sodium is Trader Joe's Sodium Free Whole Wheat Bread.  Each slice has 0 mg sodium.

Cheese on the other hand, and I love cheese, is loaded with sodium.  Trader Joe's has two cheeses that are fairly low in sodium.  Their raw milk Emmentaler Swiss Cheese has 50 mg sodium per one ounce serving and that is extremely low for cheese. And their Yogurt Cheese has 140 mg sodium per slice.  So it's possible to make a cheese sandwich limiting the sodium to 50 or 140 mg.  I must admit I like the Yogurt Cheese better even though it is a bit higher in sodium content.

Low sodium Swiss cheese at Trader Joe's,

Trader Joe's low sodium yogurt cheese.

I've made grilled cheese sandwiches with both of these cheeses, and I believe I can get accustomed to having these instead of sandwiches that are loaded with sodium.

Low sodium (50mg to 140 mg sodium) grilled cheese sandwich with bell peppers as a snack or to accompany soup for a meal.

 I had no idea how much sodium is in food until I started checking labels carefully. Consider that a typical 1-ounce slice of bread has between 100 and 200 milligrams, depending on the type and brand.  An ounce of cheddar cheese has about 180 mg of sodium.  So a typical grilled cheese sandwich could contain anywhere from 380 to 580 mg of sodium.  That would be about a third of my daily quota.  And I'm not about to use a third of my daily allowance on a grilled cheese sandwich, no matter how much I like them.

I'll be posting other low sodium recipes on my blog in the future from time to time.  I've found there are a lot of folks out there trying to limit their sodium intake.