3 Super Creative Sandwiches and a Pizzette!

Have you seen the 2015 food trends hot list?  Creativity, contract and convenience are the new watch words on the food scene this year and as we are becoming a nation of grazers, quick, portable and smaller Portioned foods on the go are replacing traditional meal occasions.

Adventurous sandwiches are tipped to become a hot trend in 2015 and Warburtons have asked me to come up with three creative sandwiches made with their Sandwich Thins to share with you.

Warburtons are a family bakery established in 1876 and actively run by the fifth generation of the Warburton family.  Warburtons Sandwich Thins come in four different types: White, Half and Half, Brown and Seeded and as an extra bonus, they are only 100 Kcal per thin.


First up is a real gourmet sandwich, this would be equally good for vegetarians without the chicken as there is so much flavour in the rest of the ingredients.

Chicken, Avocado, Mozzarella, Pepper and Spinach
1 chicken breast, 2 avocados, 1 Mozzarella ball and about half a jar of peppers and a handful of baby spinach will make four sandwiches. 

1. Spread both sides of the Warburtons Sandwich Thins with mayonnaise.
2. Cover with slices of cooked chicken breast.
3. Top with slices of ripe avocado (if you are not going to eat the sandwich straight away, dip the avocado slices in lemon juice to prevent browning)
4. Add some slices of mozzarella and drizzle with a flavoured oil (optional)
5. Now add some Antipasti roasted peppers (drain most of the oil off on kitchen paper first)
6. Top with a few baby spinach leaves and cover with the top of the Warburtons Sandwich Thin


Sandwich two is ideal for children but would also make a great breakfast or post-exercise snack.  I used the Warburtons Brown Sandwich Thins for this healthy and filling snack.

Banana, Honey and Almond Butter Sandwich Thins
1. Spread one side of the Sandwich Thin with Almond Butter (peanut or other butter would also be good)
2. Top with a sliced banana, drizzle with honey and place the top of the Thin on top and cut in half.

Serve with milk and a comic!


Now for something warming, we ate these melts for lunch but they would also work for breakfast or supper, using chicken sausages means they are lower in fat, the beans add fibre and you don't need much cheese to create the 'melt' effect.

Sausage and Bean Thin Melts
Serves 3
4  cooked sausages (I used Heck Food Chicken Italia sausages), sliced
200g baked beans
50g mature cheddar

1. Heat the oven to 200C
2. Place the thicker base slice of the Sandwich Thins on a baking tray.
3. Top with sliced sausages, beans and thin slices of cheese.
4. Add the top of the thin.
5. Place another baking tray on top and put in the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melting and oozing out of the sides.

My thoughts on Warburtons Sandwich Thins

• They make excellent toast, we had some Thin toast with soup
• Warburtons Sandwich Thins are handy to keep in the freezer and I was able to defrost them quickly in the microwave. They don't take long to defrost even without the microwave, if you lay them out on a wire rack. 
• I took the Chicken, Avocado etc sandwich to work for my lunch and, although the oil from the peppers had seeped through to make the base a little damp, the Thins did not disintegrate as some breads would have done.  The sandwich still tasted great, but I would recommend eating them fairly soon after making. 
• I did go a bit Sandwich Thin mad at the weekend and even turned them into 'Pizzettes', or little pizzas, usually I would use muffins (English Muffins) so these were a nice change and make a thin and crispy Pizzette.

I was supplied with Warburtons Sandwich Thins, received expenses and payment to develop these sandwich ideas. However, I was not required to give a positive review and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: almond butter, avocado, banana, Chicken, Chicken Italia, Heck Food, honey, Mozzarella, peppers, sandwich, Sandwich Thins, Warburtons

posted by Janice @ 07:00 12 Comments

Chorizo Burgers - A Random Recipe

It wouldn't be Christmas without a new cookbook. I was lucky enough to receive two new books, 'eat, The little book of fast food' by Nigel Slater:


 and 'Dear Francesca, a cookbook with love' by Mary Contini:


They are both lovely books to read as well as to cook from so it was no hardship to choose a random recipe from one of my new books as requested by Dom at Belleau Kitchen for the Random Recipes Blog challenge.



Nigel Slater won the 'eeny meany miney mo' selection and then I just opened the little book of fast food randomly to find myself at the page for chorizo burgers. The recipe is copyright so I can't share it in it's entirety but there are only three ingredients: minced pork, cooking chorizo sausages, salt and pepper and ciabatta or pannini rolls. Nigel uses more chorizo than pork, my burgers were more like half and half. I simply formed the mix into burgers and fried them with a very little oil in a non-stick pan. 

I made the burgers rectangular to fit better onto the rolls!

The burgers were really easy to make on a Friday night, when I would usually stick a pizza straight from the freezer into the oven! The texture was nice and soft and the chorizo sausage gave the burgers a delightful smoky piquancy. I will definitely make these again.



I used Heck Smoky Chorizo style sausages, they have a good flavour and softer texture than some chorizo which made them easy to mix with the minced pork. Please don't be alarmed by the Use By date, they were frozen well before that date and defrosted in the fridge overnight before becoming burgers!

@FarmersgirlCook Thrilled to hear this. Thank you. And lovely picture.
— nigel slater (@NigelSlater) January 18, 2014

Labels: Burgers, chorizo, easy, fast, Heck Food, Mary Contini, Nigel Slater, Random Recipes, sausages

posted by Janice @ 15:34 9 Comments

On My Kitchen Table - New Year 2014

Well Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us.  Just before the start of the festive season the PRs seem to go into overdrive and offers of review samples tumbled into my inbox like  Christmas cards  popping through my letterbox.  I don't accept all the offers that are made, but try to choose products which are good quality and that I would be happy to share with my family and friends at my table as well as with you, dear readers, on Farmersgirl Kitchen Table.




We've been enjoying Whole Earth Crunchy Peanut Butter for many years, Mr Farmer is particularly fond of peanutty things.  The difference between the Whole Earth Peanut butter and the emulsified, trans-fat versions is marked and once you have tried it you won't go back.

There's a new nut butter from Whole Earth, it's 3 Nut and contains Cashews, Hazelnuts and Peanuts. It's got no added sugar and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.   This  3 Nut Butter makes a really nice change and is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!






As Whole Earth Foods also sent me some of their Peanut Butter too, I thought I'd use some in a recipe.  This isn't the most attractive of dishes, but it tasted pretty good, and was even better the next day.  I found this recipe for African Beef and Peanut Stew at The Kitchn.


Whole Earth 3 Nut Butter is available from most major supermarkets





The Qbag is perfect for this time of year when time is short and there is a lot of roasting going on!  Qbags are designed to be used on the barbeque to contain foods that might otherwise fall apart, they also have the huge advantage of keeping the food really moist and juicy as well as not making a mess of your grill or oven.

I don't own a barbeque and we don't have the weather for outside cooking just now anyhow.  So I cooked some minute steak with onions and stock inside one of the bags.

Minute steak can be quite tough to eat, it's cut thin and doesn't have a lot of fat, so only needs a short time in the frying pan.  However you can also braise it and it will be very tender.  I simply browned the minute steaks in a little oil, then added the sliced onions and browned them too.  I added a beef stock cube to about 100ml of boiling water until dissolved, then added to the steak and onions in the bag.  Then you simply scrunch up the foil part of the bag and place on a tray in the oven.   I cooked this for about 30 minutes checking through the handy clear window to see how it was doing.  You can even peel back the window to add ingredients or give your food a bit of a mix up if needed.

We really enjoyed the steak cooked in this way and it certainly saved on the washing up!

Qbags were available from the online shop, but this closed on 20th November.  Going forward, Qbag are partnering with trusted brands to get our products into your local shops. Look out for BacoFoil EasyCook Foil Bags in ASDA and Sainsbury's and buy 5 bags for £2.99.



More lovely comfort food. These Heck Sausages 
are very good indeed.  There is a whole range of different flavours, but so far I've only tried the 97% pork sausages.  What I can say is that they really taste of meat and are well seasoned with no artificial taste at all, they are also gluten free.  I'm looking forward to trying the Pork and Apple and Chorizo Style sausages and will report back to you when I do.

Heck Food is a small family run business, farming and making sausages from pork shoulder.  The quality shines through.  Well worth trying.  Heck sausages are available at many supermarkets for around £2.98 for 400g.





Cheese is perfect for snacking, quick lunches and suppers or as part of a cheeseboard after a celebratory meal.
 

This year, why not bring some originality and flair to the table and wow your guests with an innovative cheeseboard.  Instead of the usual cheese pairings of quince jelly, pineapple, a salty cracker and the odd decorative grape, Castello has created more inspiring combinations based on molecular science.






Three of the Cawston Press sparkling drinks have been awarded prestigious Great Taste gold medals.
It’s no mean feat – Great Taste is the world’s largest and most rigorous food awards scheme, involving over 400 judges and thousands of hours of blind tasting.
Here’s some of the judges’ comments about the gold medal winners. The word ‘lovely’ keeps cropping up!
“Quaffable drink; lingers comfortably; lovely apple on the nose; lovely natural appearance; very clean, zesty and refreshing; would make a delightful alternative to an alcoholic drink; the carbonation added a lovely sparkle”
The range of sparkling drinks are available from selected Tesco, Waitrose stores and online via Ocado.


End a dinner party in style this festive season and earn yourself a reputation for creating a truly memorable cheeseboard with the help of Port Salut and cheese expert Juliet Harbutt. Here’s her top ten tips for pulling together a show-stopping centre piece.

• A slate or marble cheeseboard, decorated with a few autumnal leaves and berries is great for making a lasting impression

• Ideally a cheeseboard should include five to ten cheese from the seven different types, but don’t over cater – allow approximately 75-100g per person

• Offer a range of shapes – logs, wedges, cylinders, squares – and cut blocks of cheese into different shapes for an attractive finish

• Try to provide a separate knife for each type of cheese so that more guests can help themselves at once and there is less cross contamination of flavours

• Ideally buy cheeses you have tasted and had cut at the deli from the original cheese, or buy pre-pack cheeses as near to their best before date as possible for the best taste

• Before serving ensure all the cheeses have come to room temperature – a slither will take 5 minutes and whole Brie will take at least an hour so best to serve similar sized portions

• If you are lucky enough to have a whole or half Stilton don’t pour Port into it; rather than adding to the taste of either, it is an old tradition used for style not taste

• Ideal accompaniments to the cheeseboard include: oat cakes, rustic breads, pickled walnuts, savoury, mildly spiced chutneys, mixed nuts, dried fruit or fresh apples or pears

• As well as wine, beer & cider also go very well with most types of cheese so encourage guests to have fun experimenting with their pairings

• Impress your friends and family with your newly acquired expertise with these quick facts:
• 95% of cheeses are suitable for vegetarians

• Stilton is just one of 90 British blue cheeses on the market Box-out: Visit the Port Salut website at www.portsalut.co.uk for Juliet’s downloadable cheese guide, listing all her cheese recommendations for the perfect dinner party cheese board.


And finally, it's time to sit back and relax with the lovely Feel Good Food magazine from Woman and Home.  I'm a bit of a magazine addict and love these themed food magazines from Woman and Home.  The award winning Lir cupcake chocolates were perfect to savour while reading about food!







I was not paid to review any of these products, but was supplied with samples for review.  All opinions are my own.

Labels: Apple juice, Castello, Cawston Press, cheese, Heck Food, Lir chocolate., New Year, On my Kitchen Table, peanut butter, Port Salut, Qbag, sausages, Tickler, Whole Earth, Woman and Home

posted by Janice @ 08:00 1 Comments