Brtish Sandwich Week - Peanut Butter & Strawberry Bagel

If you weren't already aware, this week is British Sandwich Week (8th - 14th May 2016), the week where we celebrate the good old British food staple. The sandwich is one of the easiest meals to make & take with you, wherever you go. Pop your creation in a sandwich bag or wrap it in foil, and you're good to go.

To help celebrate sandwich week, Skippy Peanut Butter have invited me to develop a sandwich using one of my very favourite sandwich ingredients, peanut butter. Personally I love a peanut butter & apple or banana sandwich, but neither of these fruits are great eaten later once they've been sliced. However, juicy strawberries are a great alternative for packing in the kids lunchboxes, and although it may seem like an odd combination, lovers of the classic PB & J sandwich (peanut butter and jelly, or jam as we call it this side of the pond), will see where I'm coming from.

Instead of using sliced brown or white bread, I made the sandwich a little more exciting with the use of Tiger Bagels, but plain or cinnamon bagels would work just as well.

Peanut Butter & Strawberry Bagel

Bagel
Skippy smooth or crunchy peanut butter
sliced strawberries

• slice the bagel in half and spread both cut sides generously with peanut butter
• lay slices of strawberry on one half of the bagel, and top with the other bagel half

My kids absolutely loved this, and the youngest would happily take it to school in his lunchbox.

This post has been commissioned by Skippy Peanut Butter

Simple Lunchtime Pizza Sandwich

I'm often guilty of not eating lunch, or even taking a break, and it's usually just before I go out for the afternoon school run that it dawns on me that I haven't eaten since breakfast (although that isn't usually eaten until mid morning).

I'm lucky that I work from home so it's easy for me to take a look in the fridge and grab whatever takes my fancy, but if I was going out to work I would have to make sure I was prepared in advance to avoid snacking on the office biscuits.

A new research from Philadelphia reveals that 80% of Brits are either bored, depressed or even embarrassed by their lunch.

• 32% are stuck in a lunchtime rut, eating the same thing every day
• 95% of workaholic Brits do not take their full lunch hour, with 23% taking less than 15 minutes per day
• 44% don't eat with their colleagues, and 68% fail to leave their desk for fear of missing a deadline or work e-mail
• 95% of Brits claim that they would like to take more pleasure in their lunch hour

With all this in mind, Philadelphia and psychologist Sue Firth are stepping in to help the nation 'Love Lunch Again'.

Just watch this video to see how tasty lunches can be created quick and easily, with the help of Philadelphia

A delicious meal + 1 hour away from work + fresh air 
+ socialising with friends/colleagues = The Perfect Lunch

Psychologist Sue Firth comments "Doing the same thing every day such as eating the same sandwich is pretty much guaranteed to make you feel bored, and when you feel bored your mood drops. So push yourself a little. Variety is fun and makes you feel great, surely that's a good enough reason to try something different. With a bit of effort you can make your lunch great again - get excited about the food you make, step outside, make it sociable - that way we can all learn to love lunch again!"

My lunchtime recipe was inspired by one of the favourite British takeaways - pizza. This sandwich is packed full of delicious ingredients and can be put together in a matter of minutes.

Simple Lunchtime Pizza Sandwich

Ciabatta

Philadelphia 

Roasted red peppers from a jar, drained

Cherry tomatoes, cut in half

Fresh Basil

• Slice the Ciabatta in half and spread each side generously with Philadelphia
• Lay slices of pepper onto the bottom half of the Ciabatta
• Arrange a few halves of cherry tomato on top of the pepper
• Scatter a few leaves of basil on top before placing the Ciabatta lid on

Optional extras : jalapenos, ham, salami, olives

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The Best Toastie...EVER

A couple of weeks ago I attended a cooking event in London hosted by Warburtons. It was all about the sandwich and ways to be creative and make them more exciting, whether it be open or closed, brown or white, toasted or not.

There was a huge amount of ingredients to choose from, fresh meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables and all the condiments you could dream of (well almost), along with Warburtons square(ish) wraps and sandwich thins

Our challenges were to create sandwiches, using the ingredients available, along the themes of 'flavour pairings', 'British with a twist' and 'International sandwiches'. There were some really interesting combinations and flavours created, including chocolate & bacon (oddly nice), mango salsa and roast beef, fish & chips to name a few.

My sandwiches were :

• Hot peppers, beef and chocolate
• Cheese & Pickle with a twist - Mozzarella and Lime Pickle
• Brie, Walnut, Honey & Rocket
• PB & J stack - with a twist as there was no jam so I used cranberry sauce instead, which is a good alternative at Christmas!
• My all time favourite toastie - Banana, Cheese, Chilli & Mango Chutney. This may sound very odd but it is amazing and one that I eat quite often. It was met with scepticism at first but one bite changed their minds and amazingly it was awarded first prize!

I even managed to convince the taxi driver that it was the best toastie ever and he said he couldn't wait to get home and make one.

The following day, armed with some Warburtons square wraps I made one for my lunch. If you do fancy being brave and trying it for yourself you will need the following :

2 slices of bread or square wrap

1 banana, sliced

cheddar cheese, sliced

a few slices of fresh chilli (or dried chilli flakes)

Mango chutney

• Lay the ingredients onto one slice of bread or on 1/3 of the wrap
• Lay another slice of bread on top, or fold the wrap over to enclose the ingredients
• Place in a sandwich toaster, panini press or in a frying pan and cook until the cheese has melted
• Enjoy!

I received expenses to allow me to attend the event, as well as some samples

Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Picnic Loaf

Hands up who knew that it's National Picnic Week from 17th to 23rd June? I didn't until Unilever contacted me with a challenge to come up with a recipe that will jazz up my picnic. Picnics are often uninspiring with just sandwiches, crisps and pre packed cakes or biscuits but they don't have to be.

I remember watching an episode of the Naked Chef once where Jamie Oliver made a picnic to have on Southend Pier that consisted of roast chicken, flatbreads and cous cous, which he wrapped up in tinfoil reinforced with a cardboard base and they ate off paper plates with plastic cutlery. Once everything was eaten they disposed of their foil & utensils and didn't have anything left to carry, such a genius idea.

This recipe has a similar concept - an all in one picnic meal that doesn't really need anything else to go with it. A big slice of this is a meal in itself, bread, cheese and veggies all in one bite. You could add salami or ham as well but I chose to make a meat free one this time. You can use any size loaf you like and adjust the ingredients accordingly - I used a 800g (approx) homemade Bloomer for this one.

Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Picnic Loaf

1 large Bloomer
1 Aubergine
1 200g block of Apetina (Greek cheese)
1 red onion, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 x 125g Mozzarella balls
Chestnut mushrooms
Pitted Olives
Fresh basil leaves
1 jar of roasted red peppers
Colman's Garlic & Chilli Sauce
Colman's Sweet Chilli & Mango Sauce
Hellmann's Chilli mayonnaise
Olive oil
black pepper

• Slice the Aubergine lengthways and brush sides with olive oil
• Slice the mushrooms and brush with a little olive oil
• Cook the aubergine & mushrooms on a griddle pan in batches until softened & set aside
• Slice the top off the bloomer and scoop out the inside leaving approx 2cm around the edge
• Spread the inside of the loaf with Garlic & Chilli sauce
• Layer up the loaf with the ingredients (I layered mine as shown below, with a squirt of chilli and mango sauce on top of the Greek cheese and a few scatterings of basil & a twist of black pepper here & there)

• Once the loaf has been filled spread some chilli mayonnaise over the cut side of the lid and place on top
• Wrap tightly in clingfilm and place in the fridge with a weight on top (I used bottles of milk)
• Leave overnight

Very enjoyable with a big squeeze of Hellmann's Chilli Mayonnaise....

I was sent a hamper of goodies to use in my picnic recipe

I have also entered this into a new challenge on Délicieux and Chez Foti which for June is Picnic Food & Outdoor Nibbles 

Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti

Chilli Turkey Ciabatta

We've had a few nice days recently so I hope I'm not tempting fate here by saying 'I wonder if Summer is finally on the way'....

I'm hoping that this year we manage a bit more Al Fresco dining that we did last year, although to be honest I think we've managed that already. We have new garden furniture and a parasol that I hope will get plenty of use keeping the sun off us rather than the rain.

I also hope (I'm doing a lot of hoping here) that we get to have some days out with a picnic. We may be just about the furthest from the beach that you can possibly be in this country but at least that means we won't be eating sand sandwiches. Picnics don't have to be boring and this turkey ciabatta sandwich was rustled up in 20 minutes and can be eaten hot or cold.

Chilli Turkey Ciabatta - serves 4

4 Turkey breast steaks
Olive oil
4 tsp Hot Sweet Chilli Sauce
2 tbsp Mayonnaise
squeeze of lemon juice
4 Ciabatta rolls
handful of rocket

• Lay the turkey steaks between 2 layers of clingfilm and bash with a rolling pin to flatten



• Rub both sides od the flattened turkey with olive oil and chilli sauce - use approx 1 tsp of chilli sauce per steak

• Heat a griddle pan (or you can use a bbq) and cook the steaks for approx 2-3 minutes on each side, until cooked completely through
• In the meantime mix the mayonnaise and lemon juice together & set aside
• Halve the ciabattas and once the turkey is cooked lay the bread cut side down on the griddle pan to toast for a minute
• Spread the toasted sides of the ciabatta with the lemon mayonnaise
• PIle some rocket onto one half of the ciabatta and lay the turkey steak on top and then place the other half of the roll on top

This post is an entry for BritMums’ Summer Turkey Recipe Challenge with Lean on Turkey

I have also entered this into a new challenge on Délicieux and Chez Foti which for June is Picnic Food & Outdoor Nibbles 

Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti