Beyond The Typical Sandwich - Treating Holiday Leftovers With Creative Direction

Thanksgiving, with it's short nature and over-abundance of food, is the quintessential leftover holiday. Even though it's the week after, many of us still have those good old leftovers sitting around. What to do with them? This week we'll share some tasty new twists on the same-old leftovers song. We are all familiar with the classic turkey or ham sandwich. You know, there was way too much turkey or ham at the holiday feast and now it can either sit in your fridge and go bad, or you can make sandwiches with the leftovers, over, and over, and over... you get the point. Sure, your home-cooked turkey tastes great and the sandwiches are tasty, but unless you do something different, even your best sandwiches will get boring quickly. Here are a few ideas to keep your taste buds entertained - and stock your lunch-box this week!

Dress It Up

Sandwiches (Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik)

A turkey sandwich will always be a turkey sandwich and a ham sandwich will always be a ham sandwich. That is, unless you dress up your sandwich and bring out an entirely different flavor with the simple addition of a few key ingredients. For instance, instead of the typical mayonnaise and mustard, try adding a new spice to your favorite sandwich. Try using a chipotle mayo or sweet chili mayo, or use exotic sprouts instead of lettuce, or arugula, shredded cabbage, or even sauerkraut.

Think high-end boutique sandwich shop when you are creating your masterpiece. If you are a fan of avocado, try adding a few slices to your sandwich, or experiment with different types of cheese. When you are trying to break out of the holiday sandwich blues, toppings can be your best friend. Put away your regular sandwich cheese and grab the bleu cheese and bleu cheese dressing. Rethink each layer of your sandwich and use something you've never used before. That is how you dress up that slice of turkey or ham.

Change Clothes

If you have your toppings down to your liking, or don't want to experiment too far from normal, you can always change the method you use to close up your sandwich ingredients; you know, the bread. You can try a wrap, or grilled on a bun, or even leftover dinner rolls. With hundreds of different kinds of breads, you have an endless supply of possibilities.

Try your next grilled ham and cheese on Rye bread instead of the familiar wheat or white. You can also try authentic Chibatta bread for a distinct and unique taste. Don't forget pita and tortillas. Or, if you are trying to cut the carbs, you can always go naked. Okay, not you, but the sandwich. Use a piece of romaine lettuce to wrap the ingredients and enjoy the crisp, crunchy and healthy alternative to your typical holiday leftover sandwich.

Brie & ham sandwich with walnuts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take a Flavor Trip

Now that you have dressed up your sandwich and changed its clothes, you may also want to experiment with flavors from around the world. Take your typical turkey sandwich on a trip to Italy or Mexico. Dress it up with different flavor combinations and try authentic ingredients to completely make over your sandwich.

For instance, use a peanut flavored sauce, combined with shredded cabbage and some crispy noodles to give your sandwich a Thai flare. Or try a mango chutney with some spicy peppers for a Southwestern sizzle. Choose roasted sweet peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and sliced olives for a Mediterranean inspired sandwich.

There are hundreds of different possibilities you can try with your holiday sandwiches. All it takes is a little creativity, an open mind and an empty stomach. No matter if you dress it up, get it naked or change its culture, your leftover holiday sandwich doesn't have to be boring any longer.  And all it took was a little creative direction!

Quick and Easy Lunches for the Cooking Challenged

Let's face it, cooking is not a top priority in the lives of everyone on the planet. In fact, far too few people have made learning to cook a priority in their lives. This means that we often exist on convenience foods and boxed mixes rather than taking the effort to prepare healthy meals for our families and our own personal enjoyment.


Image via WikipediaThe same holds true for lunches, when we often resort to a can of soup or box of macaroni and cheese or some other such product rather than putting our creative efforts into making a quick and easy yet delicious (and healthy!) lunch. You will see many ideas in this article and the hope is that these ideas will not only get you off to a great start for ending the lunch rut we all seem to find ourselves in at some time or another, but also get you to try new things on your own.

First of all, not all great lunches require actual cooking in order to prepare. Some of them will need no cooking whatsoever, while others may require the use of the microwave, and some of them will need to be cooked or at least prepared before-hand and reheated. But the choices are virtually limitless once you understand the creative concept that must be in place. You should also find that many of these ideas are so simple you will wonder why on earth you have never thought of them.

Try lettuce wraps: These make delightfully delicious lunch treats and the filling can be prepared ahead of time, which leaves only reheating the filling and wrapping when you're ready to eat. This is a fun lunch to share with your little Image by Portrait Artist - Enzie Shahmiri via Flickrones and it teaches them that lettuce is much more versatile than people often give it credit for. Some people choose to go with a teriyaki or Asian-inspired filling; some like taco-like fillings for their lettuce rolls. You are free to come up with a favorite filling of your very own, so have fun, and get creative!

Try sandwiches with different breads. Some children have a little difficulty with thick or crusty bread. Instead, try perhaps something like Hawaiian sweet rolls. Just put the meat, cheese, mustard, and pickle in the roll as if it were a bun. Other great ideas include hollowing out crusty rolls and filling them with roast beef and cheddar. You can broil this in your oven for a few minutes for a rare sandwich treat. The cooking part is very minimal and you do not have to have in depth knowledge of anything to prepare or enjoy these simple treats.

Other good bread ideas include croissants with ham and cheese or chicken salad, taco pitas (another great favorite in our household), and paninis (this works really well if you have a George Foreman grill or a panini press).

While this is by no means the end-all-be-all guide to cooking quick and easy lunches it is good food for thought. The hope is that this will get your own creative juices flowing so that you can prepare wonderful lunches for your family without needing to do more heavy cooking than you have or want to.

We'd love to hear your own ideas for quick and easy lunches (particularly ones the kids like), so please feel free to post these for our other readers to benefit from!

Related articles on Fast, Easy Lunch Ideas:

• School Lunch Ideas: Nutritious Lunches For Kids (lifescript.com)
• From Last Night's Dinner To Today's Lunch: Add Taste, Save Cash (mint.com)
• Simple Strategies for Using Your Leftover Food (wisebread.com)
• Healthy, No Cook, Easy Meals (healthadel.com)
• 7 Healthy Lunch-Box Favorites (lifescript.com)