Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

Did you must remember that school starts in a few weeks? How do you feel about that? Make a This-Is-My-Face-Today Pizza to show what you are feeling.

This-Is-My-Face-Today Pizza
Ingredients
1 corn thin, gluten-free English muffin, or 1/2 Sandwich Thin
1 or 2 tablespoons mozzarella cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon spaghetti sauce
2 slices pimento-stuffed olive
1 thin slice red bell pepper, cut into a smile and a nose

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay the corn thin (or 1/2 Sandwich Thin or 1/2 English muffin) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper of a Silpat mat. Spread about a tablespoon spaghetti sauce over the corn thin. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese for hair. Decorate with slices of pimento-stuffed olives for eyes, a slice of red bell pepper for a mouth and a strip of red bell pepper for a nose.

Ask an adult cut the olive and bell pepper. Also have the adult help put the baking in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Let the adult remove the baking sheet from the oven and let cool for five minutes.

The corn thin face needs to cool at least five minutes so it can firm up again. Corn Thins are gluten-free and available at Whole Foods.

Makes 1 This-Is-My-Face-Today Pizza.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

I was re-reading biography I had as a kid, Gene Rhodes, Cowboy. When he was herding cattle or riding the range, he and his friends would often make breakfast and lunch out of bacon sandwiched in cold biscuits. My grandpa's letters also talks about bacon and biscuits eaten in the saddle. You don't have to be a cowpoke or riding to eat these.

"Bacon" was not necessarily the kind we know now. It was a word used more or less to mean any kind of pork meat. Often times it was salt pork.

Bacon Biscuits
Ingredients
4 slices thick bacon, cooked crisp and drained
1/3 cup unbleached flour*
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour*
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 teaspoons butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder and salt. Add butter mix lightly with your finger tips until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the milk and stir just until everything is moistened.

Turn out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead (fold and press the dough with your hands) about 8 to 10 times. If the dough is too moist, add a bit more flour.

Pat the dough flat until it is about 3/4-inch thick. Cut with a 2 1/1 inch biscuit cutter. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, simply cut the patted out dough into 4 pieces. Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake in preheated 450 degree F. oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly brown.

Cool.

To make one Bacon Biscuit Sandwich, split a biscuit in half. Break one slice of bacon into 2 or 3 pieces and put on one half of the biscuit. Place the other biscuit half on top. Repeat for the remaining biscuits.

*If you don't have unbleached flour or whole-wheat flour, you can use all-purpose flour. After you mix the dough, if you might have to adjust the amount of milk.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Sandwiches are fun to make because you can make them so many different ways. How could you change up the Blue Cheese and Roast Beef Sandwich to make it your own. There are so many ways to change it.

Instead of a roll you could put everything on a slice of bread or stuff them into a pita pocket.

Instead of making a blue cheese sauce, you could buy one,leave it off completely, or use mayonnaise and mustard.

Instead of Swiss cheese, what kind could you use? Cheddar? American? Pepper Jack?

You don't want to use roast beef? Try sliced turkey or ham or chicken or tuna salad.

Along with or instead of the tomato and spinach you could use sliced red onion and lettuce.

Make it the way your family likes it best.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Make this vegetarian by omitting the roast beef. Need it a bit more kid friendly? Omit the blue cheese. Serve the sandwich on bread and/or cut it in half or quarters.

Ingredients
1 cup sour cream
1 to 2 tablespoons blue cheese, crumbled*
Salt and pepper to taste
4 hard rolls
4 ounces sliced Swiss cheese
8 ounces thinly sliced roast beef
1 large vine ripe tomato, thinly sliced
8 to 12 spinach leaves, washed and dried

In a small bowl, combine sour cream and blue cheese. Season to taste.

Cut the hard rolls in half, horizontally. Spread about 2 to 4 tablespoons blue cheese mixture on cut surfaces. (It depends how "gloopy" you like your sandwiches. Save any leftover for salad dressing. See * at the end.)

For each sandwich layer 1 ounce sliced Swiss cheese, 2 ounces sliced roast beef, 1 to 2 slices tomato, and 2 to 3 spinach leaves on the bottom half of the roll. Top with the other half.

Enjoy.

*Some people really like the taste of blue cheese so will want to use 2 tablespoons of cheese in the recipe. Others will go for the lesser amount. Any leftover blue cheese-sour cream mixture can be used as a dip for vegetables or thinned with a bit of milk and used as a salad dressing.

Makes 4 sandwiches.
Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

The Breakfast-for-Lunch Sandwich has only three ingredients. Which ones could you change to make it different?

I thought about using frozen French toast instead of the frozen waffle. Yesterday, D.M. commented, thinking about making this with pancakes.

Maybe I'd use a different kind of cheese.

Instead of ham, what meat would you like to use? Remember, it would have to be already cooked. Or maybe you wouldn't use any meat.

Maybe you'd like to have the Breakfast-for-Lunch Sandwich for breakfast.

Be sure to wear your pajamas to lunch.

Breakfast-for-Lunch Sandwich

Ingredients
2 frozen waffles*, thawed for five minutes
1 slice American cheese
1 ounce thinly sliced ham

Place the American cheese and ham on one waffle. Top with the other waffle. Put it in a non-stick skillet. Grill over low heat until the waffle starts to brown and the cheese begins to melt.

Makes 1 "sandwich"

*You can use whole wheat waffles or gluten-free ones.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Toasting marshmallows for S'mores is a favorite "something on a stick" food. What can be yummier than a burnt marshmallow squished with chocolate between two squares of graham crackers? Well, try this!

Stick-Stick-Stick "Sandwich"
Ingredients
1 thinly sliced deli turkey
1/4 ounce processed American cheese, cut into a stick about the size of your little finger
1 thin carrot stick
1 thin celery stick
1 pretzel rod

Lay the sliced turkey on a clean cutting board. Place the slice on cheese along one edge of the turkey slice. Lay the carrot stick, the celery stick, and pretzel rod alongside the cheese. Roll the turkey around the sticks, ending with the side with the cheese. Gently squeeze the "sandwich" closed, using the cheese as a glue.

Eat within 15 minutes or the pretzel stick may start to get soggy.

Makes 1 "sandwich."
Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

My favorite cheese is cheddar cheese. What kind of cheese might you use to make this sandwich? What do you think this would taste like if you used one of the foods mentioned yesterday (dates, pomegranates, grapes, or olives) instead of figs?

Ingredients
4 ounces grated cheese of your choice
1/3 cup minced celery
1/2 cup finely diced dried figs, about 3 or 4 depending on their size
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 6-inch whole wheat pitas

Put grated cheese, minced celery, and finely diced figs in a small bowl. Lightly mix together with your clean fingers. Add mayonnaise and stir with a spoon.

Cut the pitas in half. Divide the filling between the halves.

Makes four servings.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010