Sammie Saturday

Last Saturday, I posted a luscious waffle sammie since I had missed Waffle Wednesday (again!--one day I will actually eat waffles on a Wednesday!). Anyhoo, I called it Sammie Saturday, and I'm thinking of making it a weekly installment. What do you all think?

Part of the reason I think I could go weekly with this is that I have gotten SO many fantastic suggestions from the apple giveaway--don't forget--only two more days to enter! Giveaway closes first thing Monday a.m. (Sunday at midnight). In fact, I had so many idea bobbling (I just made up that word) in my head, that in true Experimetnatrian fashion, I made TWO halves for lunch yesterday because I couldn't decide. That's just how I do.

The first slammin sammie sprouted from this idea by Food Makes Fun Fuel: turkey sandwich with cream cheese, trader joe cranberry apple butter, and apple slices. Ok yum. But I couldn't find any Cranberry apple butter or cranberry chutney or cranberry relish at either of the two places I went grocery shopping yesterday. I wanted to stop by Target and grab some cranberry mustard, but my tummy was NOT having any more errand-running before lunch times, so I had to improvise. Here's what I came up with for this half:

• 1 slice of mulitgrain bread
• Smear of whipped cream cheese
• maple walnut mustard
• raspberry jalapeno preserves
• oven roasted turkey

I figured the combo of preserves and mustard would approximate the sweet and sour taste of the cranberries. I don't know if it was an exact match,but it sure was good! I toasted it up in my George Foreman--oh man! Yum-o. I loved the tart 'n tangy contrast with the crisp apple slices. I will definitely be making this in a full-sized version again soon! My second half of lunch wasn't really a sammie, it was a wrap. Close enough. I had seen a peanut turkey wrap in my Women's Health mag last month and had an idea for a spicy peanut sauce using PB2 and my ginger snap preserves. In this one:

• 1/4 lavash wrap
• 1 tbs. PB2 mixed with 2 tbs. water
• blob of spicy ginger preserves
• Ginorm spinach
• more turkey

This one was good, too, and I really enjoyed the saucy mix oozing over everything. It really reminded my of a Thai dipping sauce. In fact, I think I wold even mix up the sauce and dip my wrap into it next time. Fabby lunch for sure.

But wait, there's more! To truly make it a Sammie Saturday, I kicked off my morning by chowing one of my other favee suggestions form the giveaway. Lara from Thinspired had mentioned a crafty concoction form good old Martha Stewart that I couldn't wait to try: peanut butter on potato bread with a piece of bacon, apple slices, and drizzled with honey. I healthified it a little bit by using only one slice of turkey bacon and some whole grain bread. Grilled up (but not in the Foreman--I didn't want any of the peanut butter to run out of the sides!).
At first it was just like biting into a regular sandwich as the pb hit my tongue, but then the sudden flavor of bacon permeated my mouth too. I have to say, this was MUCH better than the bacon gumballs! At least this was supposed to taste like bacon! It may sound weird, but I actually loved it. It was so good, I totally wanted to hit up a second round. But I exercised some self-restraint cuz I've got loads of other yummy things coming up this weekend, including some extra special blue-ribbon apple pie form my Dad's award winning recipe. Stay tuned for that one!

It's also super lucky that I have all these fantastic recipe ideas form you guys because hubs is leaving me for work this next week, and meals will be solo. Boo. But I am excited to make up some of my favorite things that he doesn't necessarily care for. What are some of your favorite dishes for dining solo? I'd love to hear your suggestions there as well! Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and possibly a Sammie Saturday of your own! xoxo