This is not original.
In fact, I have no idea who originated it, but I know I can't afford to misplace this recipe, so I'm posting it, where it will be safe as long as Blogger exists.
HANDY DANDY SANDWICH BARS
Pack these fun and tasty lunchtime treats in your brown bags for a change of pace from boring sandwiches.
A cross between a sandwich and a calzone, these handheld sandwich bars are great hot from the oven, cold, room temperature or reheated in the microwave or toaster oven. They are super easy to make in bulk and they freeze well. Best of all, there is an almost unlimited number of variations (including breakfast bars).
CHEESESTEAK SANDWICH BARS
7 frozen sandwich steaks (like Steak-Umms)
1 small onion, chopped
4 oz can mushrooms stems and pieces, drained
2 tubes refrigerated pizza crust
1 tablespoon Italian salad dressing
1/4 pound provolone cheese slices
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Break the steaks into strips and add to the skillet. Cook, chopping with a spatula. As the steak is browning, add the chopped onions, continuing to chop and stir with the spatula until the onions are tender. Add the drained mushrooms and stir. Drain off the excess fat.
On a greased rimmed cookie sheet, unroll one of the pizza crusts and roll it to a 12" x 10" rectangle. Brush with the Italian dressing. Spread the cooked steak mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2" border of bare dough around the edges. Place the provolone cheese slices evenly over the filling.
On a sheet of wax paper, foil, or a pastry cloth, unroll the second pizza crust and roll into a 12" x 10" rectangle. Flip over onto the filling and remove the wax paper. Press the edges all around to seal.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the dough is cooked and golden. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then use 2 spatulas to remove it from the cookie sheet and place on a rack to cool.
When cool, cover and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 10 bars. Wrap each individually and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.
These may be eaten warm, cold or room temperature.
Yield: 10 sandwich bars.
VARIATIONS:
Pizza Bars: Use pizza sauce (not too much), chopped vegetables (mushrooms, onions, green peppers, etc.), slivers of pepperoni and/or cooked crumbled sausage, mozzarella cheese.
Ham & Swiss Bars: Mustard, ground ham, swiss cheese.
Taco Bars: salsa, ground beef cooked with taco seasoning, chopped onions, diced tomatoes, shredded jack or cheddar cheese.
Chicken & Broccoli Bars: Cream cheese, cooked diced chicken, cooked chopped broccoli, cheddar cheese.
Greek Bars: chopped spinach sauteed with chopped onion and mixed with ricotta cheese and feta cheese and seasoned with dill.
Tuna Bars: Tuna salad made with cottage cheese and chopped onions, cheddar cheese.
Tuscany Bars: pesto sauce, prosciutto, roasted red peppers, provolone.
Breakfast Bars: Scrambled eggs, cooked crumbled breakfast sausage or ground ham, your favorite omelette ingredients, your favorite cheese.
A girlfriend passed these on ages ago, and she doesn't remember where the recipe came from either, but definitely a go-to recipe for lunches!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
SNOW DAY!!!!
I'm getting back to blogging, so look out!
We've been hit by a mammoth snow storm, which means plenty of time to cook and plan new goodies for lunch boxes.
Check back tonight!
We've been hit by a mammoth snow storm, which means plenty of time to cook and plan new goodies for lunch boxes.
Check back tonight!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Pizza for the lunchbox. . . .
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I've missed posting a lot. I hope to start making up for that.
One of the items my boys truly enjoy taking for lunch is pizza. Not leftover from takeout, slices of cold pizza, stiff from the fridge and covered in gelatinous grease. No, I'm talking about fresh, delicious, made that morning pizza, wrapped in foil hot from the oven and still relatively warm in the lunchbox when they eat between 11:00 and noon.
Here's how you do it:
You need:
Flatbread (I buy this from the local grocery, where it's sitting right next to pita bread.)
Prepared Pizza sauce (which comes in squeezable bottles, also on your local grocer's shelf)
Grated Mozzarella
Any pizza toppings you prefer.
Assembling this is easy--
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On an ungreased cookie sheet, place as many flatbreads as you have lunches to make. If you look at the flatbread, you'll notice that one side is very flat, while one is bumpier. Place the flat side down.
Top the top side with pizza sauce (spread this out evenly--our flatbread is filled with about two to three tablespoons of sauce. Sprinkle with some of the mozzarella. Evenly spread toppings on pizzas and add a little more mozzarella.
Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 min pr until cheese is melting and starting to be golden. While these are baking, you can make breakfast, gather other items for lunch, ow whatever you like. I prep these before I start breakfast, so they're baking while I'm making breakfast.
When they're done baking, let cool a few minutes, slice into quarters and wrap warm pizzas in aluminum foil. I tuck these into lunchboxes with a fruit cup or veggies and dip, and a drink.
It's easy, and it's a lunch that most kids will love.
One of the items my boys truly enjoy taking for lunch is pizza. Not leftover from takeout, slices of cold pizza, stiff from the fridge and covered in gelatinous grease. No, I'm talking about fresh, delicious, made that morning pizza, wrapped in foil hot from the oven and still relatively warm in the lunchbox when they eat between 11:00 and noon.
Here's how you do it:
You need:
Flatbread (I buy this from the local grocery, where it's sitting right next to pita bread.)
Prepared Pizza sauce (which comes in squeezable bottles, also on your local grocer's shelf)
Grated Mozzarella
Any pizza toppings you prefer.
Assembling this is easy--
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On an ungreased cookie sheet, place as many flatbreads as you have lunches to make. If you look at the flatbread, you'll notice that one side is very flat, while one is bumpier. Place the flat side down.
Top the top side with pizza sauce (spread this out evenly--our flatbread is filled with about two to three tablespoons of sauce. Sprinkle with some of the mozzarella. Evenly spread toppings on pizzas and add a little more mozzarella.
Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 min pr until cheese is melting and starting to be golden. While these are baking, you can make breakfast, gather other items for lunch, ow whatever you like. I prep these before I start breakfast, so they're baking while I'm making breakfast.
When they're done baking, let cool a few minutes, slice into quarters and wrap warm pizzas in aluminum foil. I tuck these into lunchboxes with a fruit cup or veggies and dip, and a drink.
It's easy, and it's a lunch that most kids will love.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Moveable feast
I pack meals for my family five days a week, minimum. That's for 3 boys taking lunch to school (including one teenager and a pre-teen who is in perpetual growth spurt), one husband who is an active duty Marine working round the clock shifts (so somedays he's taking lunch, sometimes it's breakfast, sometimes dinner, and sometimes he needs to cover two meal periods in one shift, if he's covering a 12 hour shift.) I pack my own lunch, too, for when I'm off to my part-time job.
Add to that a schedule that includes some before school activities and some after school activities, plus five practices a week for league soccer, plus games both on weeknights and weekends for the three boys, and many times, the lovely, elegant sit down meal I'd like to plan is dissolving in the wake of a fast moving family with the choice between picking up fast food at a local drive-thru or creating a meal that enables us to eat as a family on the run.
I know I'm not the only one. We live in a pretty typical neighborhood, with minivans in almost every driveway. On Saturday mornings, those minivans are loaded with foldup canvas chairs, coolers, and whatever sports gear is required, and the families are on the run.
I've taught cooking classes off and on for the last few years. Probably the most popular and requested sessions are those that include brown bag lunches and dinners that can be produced at high speed, and eaten on the go. That's what I want to share here. Meals, whether they're breakfasts, lunches, dinners, or interchangeable, and heavy snacks that will help you stave off the starving hordes long enough to make a nutritious, delicious meal when you can sit down.
I'm going to try to theme the days, so that if you're only looking for one kind of recipe, you can know what day to catch me.
Friday is "Plan Over" day in the lunchbox. That's because on Friday, if I'm home, I need to do laundry, coach the chess club at the elementary school and clean the house, just so we can keep up through the weekend. I don't have a lot of time for creativity or flashy cooking, so it's got to be something that can be made in a flash. I cook more than I'll need for a dinner earlier in the week, and then I plan to use the overage in lunches later. I didn't come up with the term, and I don't remember who did, but it beats the smack out of the image conjured up with the term "leftover" and by planning it, you don't have excess left anyway to dry up or spoil in the fridge, forgotten and unwanted.
(Yeah, I looked in your fridge, it's just like everybody else's. Go throw that mess out, and let's start fresh. Less waste, less money wasted, and more nutritious food for your family that they'll really eat is the goal, here. Stop getting the heebie jeebies over your penicillin farm in the many plastic containers and throw the mold out.)
Here's the starting point:
WHEN YOU HAVE TIME:
Roast a chicken.(One day, I'll offer a recipe, but somewhere in your books, you should have a red and white checked cookbook, or some other general cookbook. I promise you, if it's any good at all, there is a basic recipe for roasting chicken.) Or, buy a rotisserie chicken. Or, take a few boneless, skinless pieces of chicken (I use boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces all the time). Or, grill chicken and grill a bit extra for this recipe. I sometimes make a roast chicken for Sunday dinner, and get my planned over chicken from that.
Anyway, what you need is cooked chicken, in fairly small pieces. If you bought a rotisserie chicken or roasted one of your own, strip the meat from the bones. We can talk about what to do with the carcass another day, but for now, pull as much meat off the bone as you can. If you're starting with raw, boneless, skinless pieces, here's what I do.
Spray a rimmed cookie sheet, or roasting pan, or glass baking dish with a pan spray. (Pam or whatever brand suits you.) Place your boneless, skinless chicken pieces on your pan or dish. Sprinkle them generously with garlic pepper (same kind of container as garlic salt on the grocery spice aisle, but less sodium, trust me, if you can't find it, ask for it). Put them in the oven to bake at 300 degrees for an hour and a half, or two hours, depending on how thick your pieces of chicken are. The butcher at my preferred store puts out family packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are HUGE, so I need two hours, but you might need less. If you're cooking from frozen, you should expect to need the two hours.) Do this when you have other stuff to do at home and set the timer so you don't forget they're cooking. The house will smell good, but some of us are easily distracted.)
When they're done cooking, take them out and let them sit for fifteen minutes. (If you cut them right away, you lose all the juice that keeps them moist.) Now you can cut them up and bag the bite sized bits in freezer bags for later use.
Now, assuming that you've muddled through all of this, and you're now the proud owner of bags of cooked chicken, sans skin and bones, let's actually make a lunch that you'll be pleased to pack and your kids won't want to trade.
Chicken Caesar Pitas
2 cups cooked, chicken, cut or torn into bite sized pieces
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
4 whole pitas, whole wheat preferred
2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup Ranch or Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing
Cut your pitas in half, to give you 8 "pockets"
Combine romaine lettuce, chicken, Parmesan and salad dressing in a medium sized bowl. Really toss it well, so that the cheese and salad dressing are dispersed through the bowl.
Now you can stuff about 3/4 cup of the salad mixture into each pocket (I do this for my youngest child), or you can provide a container of the salad and put the pita pockets in a ziplock for the diner to put together fresh for him/herself at lunchtime. A full serving is 1 1/2 cups salad, plus 1 whole pita (2 halves).
That's your main dish. You can add whatever you like, but at my house, this goes well with a cup of green grapes, a lowfat yogurt and a bottle of water. If you make the chicken early in the week, and then throw the salad together in five minutes, this is a fast lunch, that offers protein, a serving of veggies and a whole grain, plus the sides I suggested will add fruit and dairy. It's tasty, and an adult will enjoy it every bit as much as my 8 year old son, who loves the novelty of pocket bread. You can add more veggies to the salad, if you like, or choose a side item like fresh carrots or broccoli and dip. If you're feeding someone who's wearing a suit to work, cut the pitas into small wedges and include a fork. That way, they can stay plenty tidy.
It's not hard to pack delicious lunches that satisfy your family. Planovers are just one strategy. If you've got a little time this weekend, cook some chicken, or pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken from the deli. That precooked chicken can be used in so many ways. Enjoy!
Chicken Caesar Salad--yes, you can get it to go.
Add to that a schedule that includes some before school activities and some after school activities, plus five practices a week for league soccer, plus games both on weeknights and weekends for the three boys, and many times, the lovely, elegant sit down meal I'd like to plan is dissolving in the wake of a fast moving family with the choice between picking up fast food at a local drive-thru or creating a meal that enables us to eat as a family on the run.
I know I'm not the only one. We live in a pretty typical neighborhood, with minivans in almost every driveway. On Saturday mornings, those minivans are loaded with foldup canvas chairs, coolers, and whatever sports gear is required, and the families are on the run.
I've taught cooking classes off and on for the last few years. Probably the most popular and requested sessions are those that include brown bag lunches and dinners that can be produced at high speed, and eaten on the go. That's what I want to share here. Meals, whether they're breakfasts, lunches, dinners, or interchangeable, and heavy snacks that will help you stave off the starving hordes long enough to make a nutritious, delicious meal when you can sit down.
I'm going to try to theme the days, so that if you're only looking for one kind of recipe, you can know what day to catch me.
Friday is "Plan Over" day in the lunchbox. That's because on Friday, if I'm home, I need to do laundry, coach the chess club at the elementary school and clean the house, just so we can keep up through the weekend. I don't have a lot of time for creativity or flashy cooking, so it's got to be something that can be made in a flash. I cook more than I'll need for a dinner earlier in the week, and then I plan to use the overage in lunches later. I didn't come up with the term, and I don't remember who did, but it beats the smack out of the image conjured up with the term "leftover" and by planning it, you don't have excess left anyway to dry up or spoil in the fridge, forgotten and unwanted.
(Yeah, I looked in your fridge, it's just like everybody else's. Go throw that mess out, and let's start fresh. Less waste, less money wasted, and more nutritious food for your family that they'll really eat is the goal, here. Stop getting the heebie jeebies over your penicillin farm in the many plastic containers and throw the mold out.)
Here's the starting point:
WHEN YOU HAVE TIME:
Roast a chicken.(One day, I'll offer a recipe, but somewhere in your books, you should have a red and white checked cookbook, or some other general cookbook. I promise you, if it's any good at all, there is a basic recipe for roasting chicken.) Or, buy a rotisserie chicken. Or, take a few boneless, skinless pieces of chicken (I use boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces all the time). Or, grill chicken and grill a bit extra for this recipe. I sometimes make a roast chicken for Sunday dinner, and get my planned over chicken from that.
Anyway, what you need is cooked chicken, in fairly small pieces. If you bought a rotisserie chicken or roasted one of your own, strip the meat from the bones. We can talk about what to do with the carcass another day, but for now, pull as much meat off the bone as you can. If you're starting with raw, boneless, skinless pieces, here's what I do.
Spray a rimmed cookie sheet, or roasting pan, or glass baking dish with a pan spray. (Pam or whatever brand suits you.) Place your boneless, skinless chicken pieces on your pan or dish. Sprinkle them generously with garlic pepper (same kind of container as garlic salt on the grocery spice aisle, but less sodium, trust me, if you can't find it, ask for it). Put them in the oven to bake at 300 degrees for an hour and a half, or two hours, depending on how thick your pieces of chicken are. The butcher at my preferred store puts out family packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are HUGE, so I need two hours, but you might need less. If you're cooking from frozen, you should expect to need the two hours.) Do this when you have other stuff to do at home and set the timer so you don't forget they're cooking. The house will smell good, but some of us are easily distracted.)
When they're done cooking, take them out and let them sit for fifteen minutes. (If you cut them right away, you lose all the juice that keeps them moist.) Now you can cut them up and bag the bite sized bits in freezer bags for later use.
Now, assuming that you've muddled through all of this, and you're now the proud owner of bags of cooked chicken, sans skin and bones, let's actually make a lunch that you'll be pleased to pack and your kids won't want to trade.
Chicken Caesar Pitas
2 cups cooked, chicken, cut or torn into bite sized pieces
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
4 whole pitas, whole wheat preferred
2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan
1/4 cup Ranch or Creamy Caesar Salad Dressing
Cut your pitas in half, to give you 8 "pockets"
Combine romaine lettuce, chicken, Parmesan and salad dressing in a medium sized bowl. Really toss it well, so that the cheese and salad dressing are dispersed through the bowl.
Now you can stuff about 3/4 cup of the salad mixture into each pocket (I do this for my youngest child), or you can provide a container of the salad and put the pita pockets in a ziplock for the diner to put together fresh for him/herself at lunchtime. A full serving is 1 1/2 cups salad, plus 1 whole pita (2 halves).
That's your main dish. You can add whatever you like, but at my house, this goes well with a cup of green grapes, a lowfat yogurt and a bottle of water. If you make the chicken early in the week, and then throw the salad together in five minutes, this is a fast lunch, that offers protein, a serving of veggies and a whole grain, plus the sides I suggested will add fruit and dairy. It's tasty, and an adult will enjoy it every bit as much as my 8 year old son, who loves the novelty of pocket bread. You can add more veggies to the salad, if you like, or choose a side item like fresh carrots or broccoli and dip. If you're feeding someone who's wearing a suit to work, cut the pitas into small wedges and include a fork. That way, they can stay plenty tidy.
It's not hard to pack delicious lunches that satisfy your family. Planovers are just one strategy. If you've got a little time this weekend, cook some chicken, or pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken from the deli. That precooked chicken can be used in so many ways. Enjoy!
Chicken Caesar Salad--yes, you can get it to go.
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