My nephews love helping me in the kitchen.  They’ve been my little assistants at the cottage for years and have tried their hands at making pasta and pizza dough from scratch, making chicken nuggets and hamburgers.  They’ve even helped me layer a lasagna!  We always have a great time giggling together in the kitchen.

This past summer, we had some fun making videos of some of their kitchen creations.  It’s a fun way to get kids excited about food preparation and, more importantly, about the food they eat.  Enjoy!

Master Chef Ryan: Tuna Fish Sandwich

I love watching smarmy love stories.  I look forward to when my honey man goes on his boys’ weekends because it means I can sit in my jammies all afternoon and watch one sappy love story after another on t.v.

Last night, they showed PS I Love You and I would have been more than happy to watch it snuggled up on the sofa upstairs with a bag of popcorn on my own but my honey man was home and he said “I’ll watch it with you.“  I was surprised because he rarely wants to watch a “chick flick” and even more surprised that he volunteered to watch it without my having to ask.  LOL

I made us a nice dinner of roast chicken and potatoes and salad and settled in to watch our movie.  Today, I turned the leftover roast chicken into a yummy club sandwich which I made solely for him (I don’t eat bread so I just nibbled on a few slices of leftover bacon).

PS I Love You Chicken Club Sandwich

3 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 pound Chicken breast, cooked and thinly sliced
3 to 4 slices tomato
4 slices cooked bacon
1 leaf lettuce
pepper, to taste

Spread the mayonnaise on one side of each of the slices of bread. Lay one piece of bread on a plate, mayonnaise side up. Lay the tomatoes on the bread. Season with fresh ground pepper, to taste. Top with the bacon slices and lettuce.

Top with second slice of bread, mayonnaise side up. Spread the sliced chicken on top. Top with final slice of bread, mayonnaise side down.

Insert four long toothpicks about 1-inch in from each of the sides of the sandwich. Carefully slice the sandwich on the diagonal into 4 triangles.

Kitchen Table Talk…

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American Thanksgiving is just around the corner and in a few days, there will be turkey leftovers a plenty in the fridge.  Here’s a tasty sandwich that can help put a fresh spin on your left over roast turkey and feels more substantial than deli meats.

Roast Turkey In Pita

1 whole pita (pocket bread or Greek style)
1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
2 ounces roast turkey breast, diced
2 ripe tomato slices
1 thin slice red onion
a handful lettuce, any kind

Spread pita pocket with mayonnaise.  Stuff with diced turkey, lettuce, tomato and onion.  Serve with a bean salad.  Variation: Substitute a tortilla wrap for the pita pocket. Substitute alfalfa sprouts for the lettuce.

At midnight last night, my honeyman turns to me and asks me how to make a Monte Cristo Sandwich.  Instead of answering, I asked “Why do you want one?“  He said it was too late for it and made himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  So today for lunch, I surprised him with a hearty Monte Cristo Sandwich, stuffed with lots of deli meat and cheese because I knew he had a long drive up North this afternoon and wouldn’t eat until long past dinner but I’ve noted the traditional amounts below.

Monte Cristo Sandwich

6 whole slices bread
8 whole slices black forest ham
8 whole slices roast turkey breast
8 whole slices Swiss Cheese
3 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Begin with three slices of bread.  Butter the bottom of the first slice.  Place one slice of ham and one slice of turkey on the face (non-buttered) of the bread.  Top with a second piece of bread, buttered side down.  Spread Dijon mustard on the top of the second slice.  Top with a slice of ham, a slice of turkey and two slices of Swiss cheese and finish with the final slice of bread, buttered side up.

Trim the crusts from the bread and cut diagonally to form triangles.  Secure with a toothpick for ease of grilling.  Prepare second sandwich using remaining ingredients.

Prepare an egg batter by beating the eggs, milk and salt together.

Place a non-stick skillet on medium heat and melt additional butter for frying.  Dip the triangle sandwich pieces in batter to coat both sides.  Allow excess batter to drip off and place sandwich into hot skillet.  Cook, turning once, until cheese is melted and sides are golden brown.  Continue to add butter as needed to the skillet to keep the remaining pieces from sticking.  Serve immediately, dusted with confectioners sugar, if desired.

Growing up, I never really had too much occasion to eat chicken salad.  My mum never made it (there were never any left overs to make it with!) and no one I knew made chicken salad.  The only time I’d see it was when my Brown Owl would bring in sandwiches for us when we volunteered at the arena during the Hockey Tournaments.  Cafeteria style chicken salad just didn’t appeal to my taste buds.  Once I started cooking for myself and experienced the rarity of left over chicken, I quickly started to search for the textures and tastes that would please me.  Guess you could say now that I’m all growed up, I finally appreciate the simplicity of chicken salad.

Chicken Salad All Growed Up

2 1/2 cups shredded roast chicken (use leftovers!)
1 large stalk celery, diced into 1/4″ pieces
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 whole sweet onion, diced
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I prefer less mayo)
1/2 whole lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients and serve.  You can serve alone (especially if your guest is gluten-intolerant) or on bread.  I’ve served this at showers on a nice grilled panini bun or foccaccia bread.