To be honest, I am not a huge lunch meat person so it was very easy for me to stop buying it on a regular basis. The main reason is because (especially after watching Food, Inc.) we made a decision to focus on eating locally raised meats. And have you ever seen someone slicing off pieces of deli meat at your local farmers’ market? One benefit of this decision is reducing our overall meat consumption, which is better for our health and environment anyway. So this is the reason I now only buy sandwich meat on a rare occasion – once every month or two – and it’s organic when we I do!
With that being said, this change opened up a whole new window of opportunity when it came to sandwiches. But with anything, I can sometimes get in a rut. So I recently asked my wonderful facebook community to share their most favorite sandwich combinations, which helped inspire this fresh list of sandwich ideas below. Please also feel free to leave your ideas in the comments at the bottom!
Cold Sandwiches / Wraps
- Hummus with cheese, avocado and veggies (like carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers or tomatoes)
- Egg salad (variations include: curry or chopped green olives)
- Egg salad BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato)
Egg Salad Sandwich - (Who doesn’t love) PB&J
- Peanut butter and banana
- Cream cheese and jelly
- Sprouts, provolone, honey mustard and avocado
- BLT with or without crabmeat
- BLT with avocado and spicy mayonnaise on focaccia bread
- Open faced with black bean hummus, roasted red bell peppers, and avocado
- Brie cheese, thin slice of green apple, and homemade chicken salad with grapes and walnuts
- Chicken, black bean dip, tomato and avocado with a little squeeze of lime
- Open faced with tuna salad, melted provolone and a slice of tomato
- Herbed cream cheese and cucumber
- Pecan-raisin bread with granny smith apple, goat cheese and honey
- Pimento cheese
- Cheddar, tomato, cucumber, a little mayo, salt and pepper
- Grilled chicken, baked apples and brie, fig jam and lettuce
- Sliced cucumber, tomato, hard-boiled egg, mayo
- Cream cheese on whole-wheat cinnamon raisin bread or banana bread
Hot / Grilled Sandwiches
- Caprese (pictured above – great on bread or a pita)
- Pimento cheese (yes…it is amazing served hot!)
- Roasted veggies, pesto, and cheese
- Grilled cheese with or without tomatoes (trick: sprinkle a tad bit of grated Parmesan just before the bread gets fully browned!)
- Grilled swiss cheese and avocado
- Grilled egg, cheese and tomato
- Melted brie with thin sliced apple
- Grilled veggie sandwich with garlic mayonnaise and feta
- Mushroom, roasted bell pepper, goat cheese, and pesto panini
[Entered into Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday]
Thanks for the suggestions! I’m a huge hummus and zucchini or broccoli sandwich fan, but I’m always looking for new ideas.
These look wonderful…we have significantly reduced our lunch meat consumption, but I would like to end it totally and with this list we may be able to do just that! Thanks!!
Thanks for this list of sandwich ideas…I really need the inspiration!!
Because my children have severe food allergies to (collectively) eggs, soy, dairy and nuts and food sensitivities to nitrates and other additives/preservatives and artificial colors/flavors it is extremely hard to pack a school lunch! At home, I tend to focus our meals around meat (plain, no sauces, no seasonings, no breading), fruit and raw veggies. But lunches away from home are more difficult to plan with all the dietary restrictions (especially since the kiddos won’t eat “normal” sandwiches). These ideas may help break them out of the nitrate-free hot dog rut! Thanks so much for the suggestions!
Lisa, do you make your own mayo? I gave it up because I haven’t been able to find commercial mayo with 5 ingredients or fewer. Also, do you make your own pimiento cheese? With one exception, the commercial versions I’ve seen are loaded with fake food ingredients. The exception was made with “normal” ingredients that you would have in your own kitchen but it tasted absolutely awful.
We barely ever use mayo so when we do we use the least processed store-bought stuff we can find (which all contain refined oils by the way)…most things are okay in moderation though! I do make my own pimento cheese, which isn’t hard to do and delish. Here’s the recipe! https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/07/26/recipe-grilled-pimento-cheese-sandwich/
Mayo is super easy to make!!! Mix 4 egg yolks,1 T. vinegar, dash of sea salt and stream in 1/4 c good olive oil. It is soooo yummy and healthy.
I am just on the fence about feeding my kids raw eggs…that’s the problem. Sometimes it is hard to think differently from what you’ve been taught your whole life!
I’m very late to this thread, but we LOVE vegenaise
http://www.followyourheart.com/products/original-vegenaise/
Ingredients:
Non-GMO Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Filtered Water, Brown Rice Syrup, Apple Cider Vinegar, Non-GMO Soy Protein, Sea Salt, Mustard Flour, Lemon Juice Concentrate. Contains: Soy
What do you suggest as a replacement for a boy who LOVES ham sandwiches? My son absolutely LOVES, LOVES, LOVES ham and cheese. He won’t eat PB&J, and I am trying to stop buying lunch meat. He does not like hummus, or avocado, or any other healthy sandwich replacement. LOL. Ideas?
My daughter loves ham. She was eating it at 7 or 8 months old & used to have it several times a week (before I discovered real food & watched food inc). She now almost 7 &, in fairness, she has done very little complaining over the last year & a half about all the food she could no longer have. Ham was an issue though. She really really loves it & cried when I explained to her why it was bad for her. I have since discovered that parma ham is just ham & salt so it is a “special” treat that she can have every couple of weeks.
How about locally/humanely raised bacon or proscuitto (as an occasional treat!)?
There is a world of other nut butters to explore – cashew is out of this world! Also, try almond butter and I know Lisa posted about using sunflower seed butter since PB is not allowed at her daughter’s school. A mix of hazelnuts and almonds is tasty, too.
Wish I could partake, but I’m just starting a primal diet lifestyle, which entails getting rid of grains. I wouldn’t do it otherwise, but I have PCOS so doing whatever I can to eliminate the culprit cause.
We have been buying the nitrate-free luncheon meat such as Hormel’s Natural Choice. I wish we could afford to get the Applegate Farms brand, but we have four kids to feed so their prices are regrettably not in our budget. Either way, there is a lot of sodium in lunch meat, so we limit the amount the kids eat of it. We make the kids a lot of egg salad sandwiches for their lunchboxes.
By the way, I have gotten locally-produced nitrate-free salami from the local food Co-op (http://www.oklahomafood.coop/), but I have not seen them selling meat or cheese at the farmer’s market so I guess it is not allowed here in Oklahoma.
Yes, ideally, I would roast my own turkey breasts and hams and then slice them thin and use that for sandwiches and I think those would be much tastier. But, I haven’t been able to coordinate my life to do that yet.
I’m with you on the Hormel nitrate-free. I have a son who LOVES ham and cheese omelets (we raise layer chickens). And a daughter who gets nitrate-sensitivity migraines but LOVES turkey sandwiches. It’s a little compromise that’s totally worth it for us, especially come school lunch time since I’m packing for all 5 of us. Oy!
Stacey–
I don’t know if you have a Trader Joe’s out there, but Applegate Farms brands are 1/2 the price there as they are anywhere else.
That sandwich looks awesome!
I love anything with balsamic :)
I love curried veggies, so I roast them and then slather on some hummus on complete protein bread, throw on the veggies and eat!
The recipe is on my blog!
I use liquid aminos for the veggies! :)
We eat lots of PB & J around here, and I haven’t cut deli meat out of our lives completely, but I have started cooking much larger cuts of meat (turkey breast, roasts, ham, etc.) or more chicken breasts than my husband and I would eat for dinner, then I use my slicing knife to cut the leftovers into very thin slices, which I freeze and keep in a bag to pull out what I need each night. Much tastier and much healthier than storebought!
We LOVE hummus sandwiches here at our house. We usually use hummus, seasonal veggies and feta cheese. YUM. Also, have you ever had grilled PB & J? My husband introduced me to that…it’s wonderful!
Hmmm…grilled PB&J? Never heard of such a thing and now I am intrigued!
There is a food cart in Portland called PB&J that does gourmet grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. So good!!http://www.pbjsgrilled.com/pages/about.html
Grew up on these and LOVE them!
Applegate Farms makes lunch meat slices that are supposedly from family farms, raised cruelty-free…It’s expensive, but might do in a pinch for someone who can’t give up their ham sandwiches! Also, a favorite of mine… pita or flatbread with hummus and sliced apple, then topped with cheese and toasted in the oven.
My mom and I have a new favorite sandwich! Avocado reuben…rye bread, mustard, homemade thousand island (so easy, mayo, ketchup, relish, chopped olives) avocado slices and sauerkraut – grilled. Cannot tell you how good this is! I am hooked!!
I never was much of a sandwich person, mostly because I can’t stand mayo, and lunchmeats have always been fairly ick to me. However, ever since I discovered hummus, I’ve been a sandwich eating fiend! One of my favorite sandwiches as of late was some garlic hummus, with roasted green beans and mushrooms. It was really, really good. I would definitely reccomend something like that, especially if you’re trying to ease your way out of the overly processed sandwich ingredients.
I just ate the best sandwich yesterday… It was a crepe w/ chicken, tomatoes, mozarella cheese and pesto… I’ve always thought of crepes as a sweet treat, but this was the best sandwich I have ever eaten!
Bravo! Lunchmeat stymies people and you have a whole host of suggestions. I just did a blog post on lunches and I will add your link in the comments. Stopped over from Fight Back Friday.
We stopped buying lunch meat when we tried to control my husband’s high blood pressure through diet. Even though we were eating “healthy”, if not local, at the time, there was still a lot of high sodium foods we could cut out, deli meat being one.
I’m with Mary above who cooks extra meat and slices it thin for sandwiches. I have an idea for Stacey at Feeding My Tribe -> I started cooking my “lunch meat” in my crockpot. Drop in a roast, or a chicken breast, let it cook while you are at work, cool and slice.
What a fantastic list! You’ve got some rockin facebook fans! Thanks. I’m going to print this and refer to it once school lunch season starts.
We’ve recently started buying free-range organic whole turkey breasts and roasting them in the oven – just a bit of olive oil or butter, cracked pepper and salt, and it makes enough sandwich meat (for 2 of us) to last awhile, as we freeze half. Works great for us, tastes great too (today’s sandwich was turkey, smashed avocado & sliced tomatoes)! You may have luck finding a local farmer who raises turkey, but I’m sure chicken would also work well, if its accessible to you! Thanks for your blog! :)
I love all these ideas, not much of a lunch meat eater here. Thanks everyone for sending them in and can’t wait to try them.
I made the pimento cheese last night and it was amazing!
Cashew Butter and local raw honey on multigrain bread – also fruit spread is better than jelly
OK I know better but I choose to do whats wrong! I am reading over this and remebering all the things I have done in the past…putting olive oil in the firdge to allow it to become a spread…(seasoned of course) I wanted to share my favorite sandwich…I am not able t oeat lunch meat because of the migraines I get…so instead of lunch meat I have replaced it with either mushrooms or avacados…I have not been able to find the mushrooms since we have moved…but they are pickled with peppers and they give me the texture of meat and the tangy vinegar flavor that I love… :D
Chicken salad with pesto and tomatoes (instead of mayo). Deliciousness on toasted bread or in pepper cups (red, green or yellow).
My favorite sandwich is grilled tuna cheese melt with homemade tomato soup. Tuna + mayo + cheese + wheat bread = Good!
Two suggestions: Smucker’s natural crunchy peanut butter and any locally produced honey
Grilled cheese and onion
And of course, do them on some kind whole grain bread: wheat, oat, or multi-grain.
I also like pita bread with hummus, chopped tomato in season, and just a sprinkle of goat cheese
Thank you so much for these ideas! I pack my husband a sandwich in his lunch because he has to be able to eat on the move (sad but true), so he can’t have leftovers that need to be heated up. These ideas are wonderful! We are trying to remove dairy from his diet for inflammation, so that part hasn’t been as hard with sandwiches, but also trying to remove wheat, which is so hard! I bought brown rice bread at TJs and he hated it, I tried it and hated it too and I am not picky! I’m going to try to make some gluten free homemade bread, but would love to someday perfect whole wheat bread as well-saw your recipe, but unfortunately I don’t have a bread machine. :( I’m also thinking about taking some of these ideas and packing them with gluten free crackers.
Lauren, I am eating a gluten free diet and it is hard to find decent bread. The best brands I have found are either Udi’s or Rudi’s whole grain breads. they are quite good especially toasted!
One of my favorite sandwiches in the world is cucumber, sprouts and veggie cream cheese on whole wheat or any hearty bread.
Thanks for the awesome list! My daughter’s favorite is cream cheese and sliced strawberries-I’m kind of partial to it as well!
Love this! I have a question about your consumption of raw milk. I live in GA and raw milk is illegal to sell for the consumption of humans…but farms can sell it when it is labeled “for consumption of pets.” I can get a gallon for $7, is that reasonable? And, did it take your girls a while to adjust to the difference in taste/texture?
Thank you so much for leading the way in this initiative..your family rocks!
Raw milk is illegal (for human consumption) here in North Carolina as well so we drink the least processed milk we can get here, which is non-homogenized whole milk from a farm in Virginia. I hope that helps and thanks for your nice comment!
Misty, I’m in MO and we get raw milk delivered for $7. a gallon so I don’t think that price is unreasonable. Our granddaughter won’t drink it, but she will no longer drink the store-bought 2% that her parents buy either. She’s very very picky about what she eats, which is a constant frustration for us {ie: none of it is even remotely healthy} but if your kids aren’t super picky I doubt it will be a prob. You might want to cut the first gallon with what they are used to then reduce the prev milk product until it’s no longer present in what they drink.
a favorite sandwich of mine is open faced, on whole wheat with a wedge of laughing cow garlic and herb, sliced tomato and avocado with salt and pepper… it’s so good and great for a snack even.
You should really try tea sandwiches for meat options. They’re sort of like tuna salad but with shredded turkey or chicken. Curried chicken with slivered almonds is one of my favorite, but there are so many out there in the land of tea. =) This is a great post & I knew I wasn’t the only one who loves cream cheese with jam!
I was wondering what kind of bread you liked best for the grilled panini sandwiches?
I just use regular whole-wheat bread (that I make or buy from local bakery – 5 ingredients) and it works great!
Do you order from the farmer’s fresh market here in Charlotte? I get fresh eggs from them and I know they have lots of different varieties of goat cheese that I hear are really yummy! (I don’t care for goat cheese, so I haven’t tried it!)
We frequent the Matthews Farmers’ Market, which is great for eggs, cheese, meats, veggies and all sorts of stuff!
We buy gluten free bread from Sami’s bakery at http://www.samisbakery.com It is very tasty as well as there other gluten free products. We have tried most of their products and have been very happy. To minimize shipping we order large quantities and freeze.
If you’re interested in homemade mayo that is healther, I use Beannaise, from this site: http://www.godairyfree.org/Recipes/Condiments-and-Salad-Dressings/Beannaise-Vegan-Gluten-Free-Nut-Free-Soy-Free.html
My son has food allergies, and it’s hard to find healthy, nutritious substitutes for familiar foods, but I don’t mind feeding him this, because it’s half bean. It adds a boost of protein and fiber to any sandwich.
Thank you, I’ve recently been looking for info approximately this topic for a while and yours is the best I have found out till now. However, what in regards to the conclusion? Are you positive in regards to the source?|What i do not understood is in reality how you’re not actually a lot more smartly-preferred than you might be right now. You are so intelligent.
If you’re not eating processed food, how do you explain the bacon? Am I missing something? The bacon you get from any store is most definitely a processed food.
The bacon is uncured (and not seasoned) and from a local farm with humanely raised animals. One of our real food rules is that we can eat meat if it is local.
What kind of Jelly do you use? I was went to 2 different places today to check out their selection. I found one with only 5 or 6 ingredients, but wasn’t sure if it was “allowed” so I left it on the shelf, the only one I found that didn’t have sugar though!
I found some good jelly by Crofter’s that’s organic and sweetened with fruit juice concentrate instead of sugar. Hope that helps!
I love the idea of eating real food, but I would also like to loose weight. Any suggestions ?
That is the beauty of eating real foods. When you eat healthy foods, you find that you fill up faster than with processed foods, and you stay full for longer. Processed foods are empty calories and empty in satisfaction; when you eat them, you think you are hungry again in a short time when, in fact, you are simply addicted to the additives, sugar, salt, etc. After you have been on a whole foods diet for some time, you will find that you don’t crave junk food at all and you end up eating less.
In the first three months of changing my diet, I lost 12 pounds without trying. I found that I don’t crave salty snacks or sweets; BUT, if I do want to eat something, I eat. I do not deprive myself of anything, but I find that the things that I want now are healthy foods.
My humble suggestions? Give a healthy diet a try. Switch sodas and sugar drinks for water flavored with fruit or fruit juice. Make sure you have healthy, easily-accessible snacks on hand. Plan meals in advance so that you aren’t scrounging around at the last minute for something. And, don’t punish yourself. If you want something outside the diet, eat it. Eventually, you will gravitate toward healthy choices if you see it as a pleasure and not a chore.
Good luck!!
Hi Beverly. You may want to check out these posts: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/04/29/mini-pledge-week-8-stop-eating-when-you-feel-full/ and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/06/24/not-cleaning-your-plate/. Jill
Would love to know what kind of bread you use or if you make your own?
Hi Morgan. I personally get mine at Great Harvest – the honey whole wheat. I know Lisa makes her own quite often. Here are a few recipes for you to take a look at. Jill
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/05/25/recipe-whole-wheat-cinnamon-raisin-bread-for-bread-machine/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/17/recipe-honey-whole-wheat-sandwich-bread-for-bread-machine/
We have Microgreen Salad Sandwiches often… A handful of fresh microgreens (any variety will do, but we prefer our Lucky Mix of brasica micros), a slice of garden tomato, garden cucumber, drizzle with vinegar and oil and a touch of sea salt. Whole grain local bread, toasted or grilled. The nutrition is the equivalent to 3 servings of veggies, with the crunchy, crisp texture you crave.
A fantastic sandwich that I love is a broiled avocado, tomato and cheese on whole wheat (preferably home-made for the delicious chewy factor). Whatever cheese you want. SO GOOD.
We’ve had good success with using yogurt in place of mayo – we’ve been making our own yogurt mostly in the last year or so, but any plain yogurt would work. Strain overnight in a coffee filter to get a thicker consistency, and then use in place of mayo – we started out half yogurt half mayo, and worked our way up to just yogurt.
Eating quinoa with roasted veggies sprinkled with parm right now. Did send the kiddos with organic applegate uncured ham today.
All of these sandwich ideas are making my soul ache (and my mouth water, obviously haha). I found out I can’t have egg yolks, any form of dairy, wheat, yeast, gluten, or garlic last year, so it has sadly been a sandwich-less year for me full of boiled chicken and veggies. I find out in a couple weeks after my re-test if I can eat any of these things again now that I’ve healed up my insides. I hope with all my might that perhaps one of these delicious items on the list will be in my mouth later this summer! :D the brie one….omg brieeee come back to meeeeeee!
What about roast beef sandwich? We put a roast in the crock pot with cream of mushroom and cook it until it falls apart. Then use that as our ‘sliced meet’ with cheese, lettuces, a dressing, etc…
Any tips are welcome – my husband loves his ham lunch meat sandwiches and has one everyday for lunch. He will eat PB&J once a week but doesn’t like chicken/turkey/tuna or veggies in his sandwich and says he needs a meat or he won’t feel full (exception is peanut butter). Any thoughts for helping him cut out the lunch meat??? Also doesn’t like the texture of beans and only likes small amounts of hummus spread thin so it’s not filling enough. He needs a cold sandwich for work. I haven’t tried egg salad sandwiches yet and if he likes that is it healthy to eat 4 days a week? thanks!!!!
Cook a whole or 1/2 ham and slice it yourself?
I sometimes make pulled pork from a botson butt. It’s good with bbq sauce and cold. My husband likes it!
Hi Anastacia. If he doesn’t want to give up the ham, perhaps you can make sure the one you are using is free of nitrates and try and limit the number of times a week he has it. How about a grilled chicken or fresh turkey sandwich? I would say variety is key. Good luck. I hope he finds a few options he can enjoy. Jill
I think my favorites are egg salad (preferably made with duck eggs) with baby spinach and avocado on a homemade Ezekiel bun and, in the “grilled” department, it’s gotta be grilled baby spinach, avocado (do you see a trend here) and some yummy local feta.
What about cooking a ham and slicing it yourself? Is that a healthier option? I know in lots of areas you can get local pork, ham, and sausage. I’m not a big ham fan, but at least you’d be skipping nitrates that way, right? Also, I’ve been eating cold pasta salads for lunch instead of a sandwich. A good one was homemade pesto, whole wheat pasta, and leftover shredded chicken from a crockpot whole chicken dinner. Simple and really good hot or cold.
One of my favorites is Peanut Butter with Cheese…especially a sharp cheddar. Mmmmm!
grilled cheese with sauteed spinach or squash or portabellos or apples or pears or asparagus…oh nevermind Grilled Cheese with ANYTHING clean!!! Check out my I LOVE Grilled Cheese board on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/reaolliemama/i-love-grilled-cheese/
Favorite sandwiches?
Leftover grilled salmon with spinach and goat cheese in a wrap.
Leftover steak, thinly sliced. Serve with balsamic pickled onions, leafy greens, a little pesto mayo, and some leftover cooked mushrooms… open faced on crunchy bread.
Thinly sliced apple with peanut butter. Spread the pb on both pieces of bread to keep the apples crisp and unbrowned.
Grilled veggies and goat cheese on arugula on a crispy whole grain roll. (best with balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil)
lately i’ve been craving a meatloaf sandwich. but that requires making real-food meatloaf first.
We’re in a bind… i’m lactose intolerant & my daughter has a milk protein allergy (which means no dairy), peanut (& treenuts), & egg. Are there honestly no luncheon meats that would work??? Deli sliced (at the store) is not an option for us because of cross-contamination with cheese. Perhaps, it will it just be something i close my eyes at.
There are not any local meat farmers nearby to get our meat. We make it to Whole Foods about once every 3 months & do a stock up of my daughters special foods. The drive is about 45 minutes there & another 45 back. Thoughts, freezing??? Any ideas? We’re trying very hard to clean up our already healthy lifestyle & taking it to the next level.
Hi Meta. Have you checked out the Applegate Farms luncheon meats? They are pre-packaged, but, I’m not sure about the cross contamination with the cheese, but, they might be an option. You may also want to check out these other lunch ideas:
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/05/17/a-week-with-the-leakes-lunch/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/04/19/school-lunch-roundup/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2010/09/23/homemade-school-lunches/
https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/08/12/real-food-tips-10-ways-to-switch-up-your-kid’s-lunch/
Jill
Hi Meta – we are in the same boat with my son (dairy & egg allergy) Applegate Farms is Casein free! They state that clearly on the ham that I buy from them and the salami. Not that my son will eat that. sigh. I am experimenting with making healthy egg and dairy free muffins to put in his lunch box. Using some ideas from the sneaky chef along with ideas I have found on this site. Good luck!! Food allergies do make it especially challenging in some ways and in others we are naturally going the less processed route because of them!
What all do you put in your egg salad?
Hi Christin. I know LIsa uses the Spectrum brand organic mayonnaise in her egg salad, but, in great moderation (probably only like once a month). Jill
I love having new ideas for lunches, but I wonder how you keep the hot sandwiches warm? If you find a way to keep them warm, does that introduce the possiblity of having bacteria grow in the food from being at a room temperature setting for too long? just wondering, these are the things I think about when preparing my kids’ lunches!
Hi Rhonda. My kids actually eat the sandwiches that are supposed to be warm cold. They don’t care at all. That eliminates the potential for spoilage as well. Jill
One of my favorites is a “vegetarian reuben” inspired by one I had at a vegetarian restaurant in Green Bay, WI. (name escapes me, sorry) Saute some sliced mushrooms and onion until the mushroooms are brown and onions soft, add some sauerkraut and heat through. Pile onto some toasted pumpernickel or rye, add shredded enmental or swiss cheese and homemade sauce (mayo w/ketchup and a drop of tabasco). Yum!
I love shredded chicken with pesto and grated parmesan cheese. Mix it all together, and it’s great in a pita, on bread or in a wrap!
All yummy ideas! I also love nutbutter and honey!
Wow, you guys use a ton of cheese and eggs. I’m conscious of it because I’m allergic to both those things :( I make a lot of similar sandwiches but without any cheese! I love subbing hummus and/or avocado for the creamy fattiness, or pickles and olives for something salty. One of my favorites is making “grilled avocado,” which is really just like a grilled cheese but with soft avocado between the bread slices (I like tomatoes in there too).
What is your homemade chicken salad recipe?
Hi Marsela. We don’t have a chicken salad recipe that we’ve perfected enough to share. Jill
Hello Marsela, My husbands fav is one that I make. I use organic chicken breast (boil them with a little salt or use chicken broth) when done let cool, shred, add sour cream , grapes, pecans. Its really good.
Here is my favorite I buy from whole foods.
Sonoma Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
5 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Salad
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted
2 cups red seedless grapes
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
Method:
In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, salt and pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad. This can be prepared up to 2 days
ahead.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Place the chicken breasts in one layer in a baking
dish with 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake 25 minutes until completely
cooked through. Remove cooked chicken breasts from pan, cool at room temperature
for 10 minutes, then cover and refrigerate.
When the chicken is cold, dice into bite-size chunks and transfer to a large
bowl. Stir in pecans, grapes, celery and dressing.
Serves 6
My favorite chicken salad recipe is a staple in Venezuelan cuisine. It has boiled chicken breast (shredded), chopped avocado, chopped cilantro, mayo, lime juice, salt and pepper. It can be used in sandwich, or corn tortillas for a “cold” taco. It is great as an appetizer with tortilla chips as well.
Some creative sandwich ideas. But it seems many of these are either too high in fat or too expensive.
The egg salad are pretty basic. I make once a week. I also make tuna melts. Wild caught tuna in the foil packet, but I suppose that isn’t on the approved list.
Egg salad BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato)? Isn’t bacon ‘processed’ pork? which is not so healthy?
Lisa occasionally uses Applegate bacon in recipes.
Does anyone know if the Applegate lunch meat sliced at Target’s deli is the same as in the packages?
Thanks!
Not certain but I would imagine, yes. Did you ask the deli?
One of our favorites is a toasted bagel open faced with cream cheese and apple slices on top. Occasionally we will add crispy bacon to this and it is such a delicious treat!
What is the best clean gluten free bread to buy??? Don’t really want to make it unless I have too! Thanks!!