Tuna Melt Recipe

Yesterday was a day filled with special events. As you may know, it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day and I made sure the entire festivities were recorded on my DVR. But if you’re involved in the specialty food business, yesterday was important for another reason. It was the second day of the Winter Fancy Food Show at Moscone Center in San Francisco.

It's the second year in a row I’ve attended this event, and I've had so much fun discovering what the latest food trends are. I can't wait to share with you what I've learned! I also met the manufacturers of some of my favorite products, such as California Lavash. They are a bread company that just went through a beautiful design makeover in which I participated.

It was great to see Lilea and the California Lavash team at booth #503 (you can still see them today), and I was so proud of how the backdrop turned out. I food-styled all the dishes and the photos were my contribution to the new look of this delicious product.

It seemed only fitting to share one of the delicious sandwiches featured at the California Lavash booth. I selected the tuna melt, which is perfect choice for the season. A combination of tuna, artichoke, olives and cheese is the filling of the delicious warm sandwich. Give this a try with California Lavash Sangak bread and you won't be disappointed! Sangak bread is a sesame-studded Persian bread that is part of their new flatbread product line. You'll be able to see the new packaging design in stores in a few months.

Butternut Squash Pocket Sandwich Recipe

My husband's youngest sister, who just started third grade, recently told me she didn't like "Wednesday Pizza" at school and asked me to give her a boxed lunch instead. I had leftover roasted butternut squash, so in the morning, I quickly improvised a flavorful hot pocket sandwich with 2 of my little munchkin's other favorite ingredients: salami and brie cheese. 

I assembled the pocket in a sandwich grill we have. I love this sandwich maker because it browns the bread and seals the sandwich perfectly. After they were done cooking, I wrapped the sandwiches in wax paper and packed them in her Disney Princess school lunch bag. The sandwiches cooled down to room temperature by lunch time, but they were still crunchy and delicious. If you were to make these as a box lunch for work, you could put them in the toaster to re-heat before eating. No microwave though!  

Mediterranean Pinwheel Sandwich Recipe

These colorful pinwheel sandwiches are loaded with Mediterranean flavors. Fresh and roasted vegetables are brought together with hummus and pleasingly tart capers. The cabbage and carrots were also briefly pickled in lemon juice and a little sugar to add a little brightness without sacrificing their crunch.

I made these pinwheel sandwiches a while back with the gals from California Lavash. I had a blast cooking with them and look forward to doing it again soon. Their pizza lavash is out of this world. These sandwiches are perfect for the summer and would look fabulous at any picnic, party or barbecue. Enjoy the sunshine!

Lentil Patties in Lavash Wrap (+ Giveaway)

Getting creative with sandwiches usually means changing the combination of meats, cheeses, veggies or sauces used. Another way to go is to use a different kind of bread. I’ve tried making sandwiches with naans in the past, and they turned out fabulously. So when our friend Lilea from California Lavash sent us packages of soft, thin, out-of-this-world lavash bread, I decided to make sandwich wraps with it. Fresh lavash bread is flexible and doesn’t tear so I tightly rolled up each lavash around the filling into a cone, folded the bottom and secured the wrap into a small glass cup.

For the filling, I used left-over mashed potato curry, tomatoes, lentil patties (for a vegetarian version), blue cheese, yogurt sauce and alfalfa sprouts for freshness. If you want to serve the same treats for your family, Pham Fatale and California Lavash have put together a giveaway this week. Just click the "like" button below and you’re entered in the contest! At the end of the week, we’ll pick three winners at random who will win two bags of whole wheat, original, spinach and pizza lavash. And check back again this week to see what else I do with lavash. Good Luck!

Healthy School Lunch: Raspberry Spinach Salad Recipe

I have to admit, we haven't had much problem getting the kids to eat their vegetables. How, you may ask? Well, my first rule is never trick them. Second, get your children involved in the kitchen. Once they start to enjoy cooking, they will become more emotionally interested in creating new dishes, which is exactly what you want them to do! Trust them and let them experiment with new flavor combinations.

They recently came up with a savory fruit salad with greens, which was delicious. Since today was my husband's little 7-year-old sister's first day at school, I packed a plastic container with the raspberry salad (my munchkin's favorite fruit) and raspberry salad dressing on the side. You could also make a sandwich layering a slice of cheese, raspberry salad and a slice of cold meat between toasted slices of bread.