Food Rookie: The Toasty

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Ah, the toasty what most Americans would called a toasted or grilled sandwich. These are simple and tasty, and today I will go over tips to keep them more healthy too.

The healthy toasty relies on the flavor of the ingredients, not the grease you would normally fry them with. Below I will state the steps to making 3 kinds of toasties that will keep you coming back for more.

As always, the leaner and lighter you go with ingredants the better for you this is. I tend to use low salt, and fat meats simply because I prefer them.

I also noticed because these are toasted with out grease, they reheat well and make a good warm up lunch to brown bag.

Ham and Cheese Toasty

Ingredients

• whole wheat sliced bread
• low fat thin sliced ham
• Swiss, Cheddar, or Any cheese that melts easily (shredded or thinly sliced)
• One good non-stick pan
  

Directions:

Simply roll the cheese in side a slice of ham, make enough to fill your portions of bread.
On a hot non-stick pan grill the roll of ham on all sides until it looks slightly wilted. Place inside bread slices, then transfer back to hot pan and grill the exterior of the sandwich on both sides.

With out any grease or oil on a good nonstick pan, the toasty should still brown evenly. Because it takes slightly longer to brown bread with out grease, the cheese will be perfectly melted when it's ready to eat.


Grilled Steak Toasty

Ingredients

• Roll or section of crusty bread
• Steak
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Swiss, Cheddar, or Any cheese that melts easily (shredded or thinly sliced)
• Garlic Powder
• 1tbl olive oil divided
• A good non-stick pan
• A Meat Tenderizer, Hammer, or heavy cup

Directions
Lay Steak out on counter and beat with until it begins to tear, then add salt and pepper to taste. Cut in to 1 inch strips and set aside.

Cut open the roll or bread as for a sandwich, spread half a table spoon of olive oil between the soft interior of the two halves. Sprinkle on Garlic powder then grill, soft sides down on the hot non-stick pan. Remove when browned, be sure not to burn garlic.

Add other half spoon full of oil to pan, toss in meat and brown until desired doneness.
Place on bread, add cheese and close sandwich. Now return to pan and toast the both exterior sides of the bread pressing firmly to melt cheese.

I add canned or onions and peppers to this for my tastes.

Toasty Chicken Wrap or pita.

Ingredients

• Seasoned Cooked or canned Chicken breast
• 1 Pita or Wrap
• Swiss, Cheddar, or Any cheese that melts easily (shredded or thinly sliced)
• Shredded Lettuce
• Sliced Tomato
• Sliced and Peeled Cucumber
• Sliced red onion

Give a light toss to the chicken on a hot pan to warm it through out. Quickly add chicken, veggies and cheese to bread, then heat on open fire or in the broiler. This will brown FAST so be careful not to burn it.

These recipes are nothing special, but we enjoy them a lot, and using a good non-stick pan you can totally eliminate the need to grease such a lovely food.

Stay tuned for recipes to liven up these toasties even more. I also hope to get a new camera to be able to share more instructional advice.