Homemade Tim Hortons Breakfast Sandwich

Being the good Canadians we are, my husband Mike and I suffer from the occasional bout of Tim Hortons withdrawal.

For those readers who are unfamiliar with the institution that is Tim Hortons, allow me to educate you: Tim Hortons is the largest fast-food chain in Canada and it specializes in doughnuts, coffee and sandwiches. It was founded by Canadian NHL hockey player Tim Horton in the 1960s and there is a Tim Hortons in virtually every Canadian city, post-secondary campus, airport, community sports complex and corner gas station.  It’s known as Tims, Timmie’s, or Timmy Ho’s, in various communities. Their ‘Rrrroll up the Rrrrim to Win!’, ‘Camp Day’, Double-Doubles, Timbits doughnuts and the Timbits hockey teams (both of my nephews have started their hockey careers as Timbits, as well as NHL superstar Sidney Crosby), and their many other marketing tie-ins are extremely popular throughout my home and native land.

My Grandpa goes to the Tim Hortons in Olds, AB almost every day to visit with whoever’s there. My father-in-law makes daily runs into the Stettler, AB Tims for his large, black coffee. When we visit them, he often brings me back a small pack of Timbits, which I have to hide from the dogs. The chocolate ones are my favorite. Friends of mine swear the ultimate hangover cure is a large order of Tim Hortons chicken noodle soup and Mike has a soft spot for their iced-cappuccinos, no matter the outdoor temperature. I’ve often picked up coffee and snacks for my friends and coworkers as fuel during report card time, and almost every staff meeting or potluck lunch includes a box of Tim Hortons doughnuts.

So you can see how we would miss it occasionally.

In the winter, Mike and I would often pick up two sausage breakfast sandwiches, hashbrowns and orange juices on our way out to the cross country ski trails. Admittedly, not the most healthy pre-skiing breakfast, but it always hit the spot and gave us motivation to ski harder to burn it off.

The snow is scarce here in Le Plessis-Robinson, France and so are the fast-food places, which is actually a really good thing. But not when you’re missing a taste of home.

So we created our own, Homemade Tim Hortons Breakfast Sandwich and now you can too.

Ingredients:

-Half a pack of ground pork

-1/2 teaspoon each of paprika and cayenne pepper

-Cheddar cheese slices

-Eggs (1 per sandwich)

-Homemade dinner biscuits, which I made using butter instead of shortening, from this good recipe

Prep:

1-Mix the paprika and cayenne pepper in with ground pork.

2-Shape the pork into small patties and grill on a hot skillet. 

3-Make the biscuit dough and cook them for 13-15 minutes, as per the recipe. For a convection oven, set the initial time for 10 minutes and check them periodically to avoid burning. Allow them to cool a few minutes before assembling the sandwiches.

4-Whisk the eggs individually and pour each egg into a small, greased, microwave safe dish. 

5-Microwave the egg on a low setting, and check/pause it regularly to prevent mess and overcooking. Or cook them in the pork grease, if that’s what you fancy.

6-Slice the cooled biscuits in half and assemble the sandwich. Our order was egg, cheese, meat, top.

7-Pour yourself a Double-Double or a glass of orange juice and enjoy.

The result for us was a welcome taste of Canada on a balmy, French winter day. 

I’ll leave you to your sandwich making now, along with one of my favorite Tim Hortons commercials, featuring Sid the Kid himself and a nation of hockey-crazed Canadian folks.

Enjoy!

Bridges, Poulet Crudités and Being in the Moment

One day during my ESL Teacher training course in January, I bought a baguette sandwich from the bakery two doors down on Rue Dauphine (right in the heart of the Latin Quarter, such a cool area!) and walked a few blocks north to Pont Neuf and ate my lunch right there on the bridge, overlooking the Seine.

Lunch on Pont Neuf: Poulet Crudité, jus de pomme et pain au chocolat.

Pont Neuf, contrary to its name, is not a ‘new bridge’. It was actually built in 1578 and it has two parts that span the right and left banks of Ile-de-la-Cite. It’s a beautiful place and I was needing a few minutes of calm during a very busy and intensive course. I remember planting myself firmly in the moment, taking a deep, yogic breath, and deliberately acknowledging: “This is my lunch break. I’m eating on Pont Neuf. In Paris. Wow!”

Because life gets busy sometimes. And we often forget to just take a moment and acknowledge where we are and what we’re doing. Sometimes, the scenery of everyday, anywhere, can start to blend together and we can lose track of calm, lovely moments that make life interesting.

So I chose to make that moment count and to enjoy every single bite of my delicious sandwich, there on one of the oldest bridges in Paris.

The sandwich I bought from that bakery was a Poulet Crudité, a chicken sandwich with vegetables and a salad dressing sauce on a crusty baguette. It was tasty and filling and kept me going through the busy afternoons of teaching, observing and planning during my course. Recently, I had some lovely leftover roast chicken and I was inspired to gather the ingredients and make my own version of the Poulet Crudité, right at home. And now, you can too!

Cheese and eggs

You will need:

-one baguette

-Mayo or salad dressing sauce, like ranch

-roast chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces or thin slices

-some cheese of your choice; we used some nice Bleu des Neiges, a combination brie/blue type cheese

-hard boiled eggs, sliced (1 egg per sandwich)

-tomato slices

-lettuce/salad greens

Chicken and Tomatoes

Prep:

1-Slice the baguette in half, lengthwise.

2-Drizzle the mayo/salad dressing on each half of the bread loaf.

3-Boil the eggs, using the method from the Colourful Egg Salad post.

4-Layer the bottom half of the bread with cheese, chicken, egg slices, tomato and lettuce.

5-Assemble the top half of the baguette, slice and serve. Makes two big, dinner-sized sandwiches!

Poulet Crudité: Pret a Manger!

This particular sandwich was eaten for dinner in the comfort of my own home, with the company of my husband. It may not be as exciting as a bridge in Paris, but it’s home and I enjoyed every bite of this sandwich just as much as I enjoyed the other one.

I want to mention that the first time I ate lunch on Pont Neuf, it was Friday, January 9 2015, the day there was a hostage situation underway in Porte de Vincennes. I didn’t know it was happening at the time and where I was in Paris, it was business as usual. The Paris attacks shocked me and my husband, as it shocked the rest of the world and we were quick to reassure our friends and family that we were safe.

Shocked though we were, we still went to the ballet at Palais Garnier that weekend, because life must continue. And the following week, I made a point to buy my lunch again (a different kind of  sandwich from the same bakery) and eat it on Pont Neuf. Because I refuse to live in fear and I want to keep looking for the good in my life, in the people around me, and in my surroundings.

And I’m happy to report that the view was just as picturesque and my sandwich was just as tasty as it was before! Paris is a beautiful and a tough city, having withstood a lot in her history, and I will continue to look for the good in it and take the time to deliberately acknowledge that I’m lucky and happy to be here.

One of my favorite lunch spots in a beautiful and tough city.

I hope you find the time to be in the moment and appreciate where you are, what you're doing and to find the good in it.

Thanks for your support and Happy Sandwich Making!

The Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo Sandwiches: a play on the Croque-Monsieur.

Sandwich Night is not a new concept in my house – it’s a fairly common occurrence, thanks to this blog. The type of sandwich obviously varies, depending on what ingredients are handy and how ambitious I feel.  Last night, ambition was high and so was the excitement level regarding our upcoming move to France. We were feeling French, so it felt like the right time to introduce ourselves to a new sandwich: The Monte Cristo.

The Monte Cristo traditionally is made with ham and cheese, coated in egg and fried. Sound a lot like French Toast, minus the ham and cheese? That’s because it’s also a spin-off of the French sandwich, the Croque-Monsieur, which will get its own post, naturellement.

I was intrigued by its origins, as I am with all the well-known sandwiches I make, so I did a little digging into its past. The Monte Cristo is believed to have been first served in Paris in 1910 and gained popularity when it was served at Disneyland restaurants in the mid-1960s. Apparently, it’s still on the menu at the Tahitian Terrace. It is not to be confused with The Count of Monte Cristo, an adventure novel from 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, unless you consider the joke that in France, this sandwich is served ‘with a vengeance’.

Ooh, la la!

To serve up your own Monte Cristo, you will need: 

-Sandwich bread, your choice (traditionally, it’s made with white bread, but I used a thick rye)

-Strong Cheddar cheese, sliced

-Turkey or Ham slices

Simple ingredients: eggs, milk, bread, mustard, cheese, meat.

-Whole grain Dijon Mustard

-2/3 cup of Milk

-3 Eggs

-1/4 tsp. each fresh Pepper and Thyme leaves

-Butter

-A hot skillet

Prep:

1-Spread a layer of mustard on half of the bread slices.

2-Top with cheese and turkey/ham slices and the other, non-mustard-ed bread slices.

3-In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, milk, pepper and thyme together.

4-Carefully dip the sandwiches into the egg mixture to coat each side.

5-Melt the butter in the skillet and grill the sandwiches 3-4 minutes each side, until brown.

6-Serve hot, with ketchup, ranch dressing or jelly, as its traditionally served with, for a little extra something sweet.

Très bien!

This fancy French sandwich needs a knife and fork.

I really liked the different textures and flavours of this sandwich: the egg batter made the bread soft but also a bit crispy around the edges and the smoked turkey and strong cheddar complimented themselves well. And in my opinion, everything tastes better with Dijon mustard.

This is a knife-and-fork sandwich, since it’s best when it’s hot off the skillet and feels fancier eating this repas français with utensils. My only recommendation would be to layer the turkey/ham between two slices of cheese for maximum cohesion while grilling. The numerous cheese possibilities are also definitely worth playing with: Gruyere or Emmental would be the top two on my very long list….

Vengeance optional, but couldn’t hurt for authenticity’s sake.  Bon appétit!

For more information on the Monte Cristo, check out:

History of Monte Cristo Sandwich

The Count of Monte Cristo

A Stack of Waffle Grilled Cheese

University: a place of discovery and learning.

It was during my first year that I discovered I hated living in res and I learned how to live away from home.

Other poignant discoveries were that I liked coffee (thank you and miss you, Java Jive!), that the U of A campus in fall is one of the most beautiful places in Edmonton, that the stairwells of the Fine Arts Building are a great place to meet people and rehearse directing projects, and that walking into the Engineering building with your Complete Works of Shakespeare will get you a lot of funny looks.

And I learned to love that campus and my time there like no other time and place.

This sandwich is one of my proudest student achievements.

Being a university student also forced me to learn how to cook for myself. It wasn’t ever fancy or all that pretty but I learned because I had to and because there was only so much Subway or Edo that I could stomach. By the time I earned both my degrees, I had also graduated from Kraft Dinner and had moved on to other meals. But the one student meal I love to bring back from time to time is the Waffle Grilled Cheese. 

I wish I could say this sandwich was born from a great stroke of culinary inspiration but it was the stack of dirty dishes marinating in the sink that forced me to find another way to make a midnight study snack. It was out of desperation, and I’d like to think a subconscious sense of courtesy towards the upstairs neighbors that I wasn’t about to tackle the dishes at that hour, that I turned to the waffle iron I got for Christmas.

That silent, reliable, quick-heating waffle iron then became one of the best gifts I had ever received. In the student days - and in some of the first-year-teacher days - I used it more for grilled cheese than for waffles. It always saved on dishes and time and it got the job done with only a little mess. Plus, the waffle ridges are perfect for holding lots and lots of ketchup, salsa or hot sauce.

About to become golden and waffle grilled.

Like any good student meal, the required ingredients are minimal (Got bread? Got cheese? Got power? Go!), but for this post-grad version, I added some bonus ingredients to tackle that other great student meal – breakfast for dinner!

You will need:

-A sturdy waffle iron

-Sandwich bread, any kind

-Mozzarella cheese

-Cheddar Cheese

-Eggs, fried sunny-side up with the yokes medium done

-Sausage patties

-Ketchup or your choice or condiment

The sizzling means it's working.

The Process:

1-Plug in the waffle iron and let it heat up.

2-While it’s heating, fry the sausage patties and the eggs.

3-Slice the cheese and arrange on the bread slices.

4-Once the eggs and sausages are cooked, layer them on top of the cheese on one slice of bread.

5-Top of the sandwiches with more cheese and the other bread slices.

6-Carefully place the sandwiches in the waffle iron and close it up as best you can.

7-As the sandwiches grill, press the waffle iron down gently to compress them more compactly.

8-Let grill until the waffle ridges are golden and the insides are melted.

9-Remove from heat, slice and serve with your favorite topping.

Definitely one of the quickest and easiest grilled cheeses I’ve made, but the real fun is in the presentation. Stacked up on each other, they resemble an ordinary pile of glistening waffles, fresh from the grill, just waiting to be drowned in butter and syrup. But these are special waffles stuffed with spicy sausages and smothered in gooey, melted cheese. Try adding your favorite spices to the eggs for a little something extra and swap out the syrup for a hearty drizzling of ketchup. Eat it with a knife and fork or get greasy with your hands, in true grilled cheese style.

I traded-in the student-poverty and exam angst when I finished degree #2 in 2009 and finally moved above ground. To quote the teacher that I've now become, "the learning never ends" and although I’ve moved on in so many ways, that waffle iron has always come with me. Even now when I own a small sandwich grill, it’s still fun to haul it out for some Waffle Grilled Cheese so I can appreciate where I was and how much I still discover and learn each day.

Green Eggs and Ham Sandwich

Classic Dr. Seuss: try something new and you may like it!

Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?

Let’s go make some, Blog-I-Am! 

March 2, 2014, marked the late, great Dr. Seuss’ 110^th Birthday!  He was born Theodor Seuss Geisel and is still beloved by children and adults alike around the world for his quirky, imaginative and surprisingly profound children’s books. 

When I think back on some of my ‘learning to read’ memories, Dr. Seuss is there, right along with Robert Munsch, Shel Silverstein and Beatrix Potter. Green Eggs and Ham was a classic (probably because I was such a picky eater) and we always watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas during the holidays. The speech of the valedictorian of my high school graduating class was even interspersed with excerpts from Oh, The Places You’ll Go. There was not a dry-eye in the house...

Dr. Seuss has been part of my journey through childhood, young-adulthood, auntie-hood and teacher-hood. As an auntie to two amazing little boys, we’ve spent hours reading aloud together and nothing is more fun than stumbling through the tongue-twister masterpiece Fox in Socks while a little four year-old giggles uncontrollably! Even the older kids in my life love to get ‘Seussified’, like the Junior High students I directed in The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet, the Drama 7 class that brought The Lorax to life, and the English 10 class who enjoyed listening to Green Eggs and Ham. Those almost-too-cool high school students didn't even notice they’d transformed back into kids while I read to them.  Plus, it helped them understand the tricky concept of theme.

To honor the birthday of the man whose books hold a special place in my heart, as they do in the hearts of so many others (Beatrix Potter herself included!), I was inspired to recreate the most famous, oddly-colourful food in sandwich form: Green Eggs and Ham!

You do not like them. So you say.

Try them! Try them! And you may.

Green Eggs and Ham ingredients!

For this Special Literary Lunch, you will need:

Eggs (for two sandwiches, I used four eggs)

Ham

Sandwich Bread, toasted

Chopped Green Pepper

Fresh Dill, finely chopped

Green Food-Colouring (a few drops)

Mustard

Mayo

Ground Pepper

Swiss cheese (for the Mouse, while you enjoy it in your House)

How to make them here or there, how to make them anywhere:

1 – Crack the eggs in a skillet over medium-heat.

2 – Keep them moving by constantly stirring them in the skillet to avoid burning/sticking and add the green pepper and dill.

3 – Squeeze a few drops of the green food colouring onto the eggs while they’re still runny and keep stirring them to set the colour.

4 – Divide the eggs into sandwich portions and remove from heat. Bread should be toasted now to avoid drying out.

5 – Spread some mayo and mustard on the toasted bread and place the eggs and cheese on one slice.

6 – Arrange the ham (the damn ham, as Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird might say) on the other slice and sprinkle with dill. (Or if you want to dye your ham green too, go for it!)

7 – Assemble the sandwich and slice for easy eating.

Seuss-tacular! 

Ready for lunch! Munch, munch, munch!

The crisp, faintly bitter flavor of the green pepper contrasts nicely with the sweet, slightly tangy taste of the dill – much like the up-beat, optimistic Sam-I-Am and his bitter counterpart. The melted cheese and the sharp tinge of mustard combine with the other ingredients at just the right moments; just as the profound themes of Dr. Seuss’ stories don’t overpower the plot, they are subtle, yet truthful.

Plus it’s just so much fun to eat a Green Eggs and Ham sandwich! My inner four year-old was giggling along with my adult-self.

You can eat them in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse. 

You can eat them here or there, you can eat them anywhere!

If you try Green Eggs and Ham, you may like them, Blog-I-Am!

I do so like Green Eggs and Ham!

Some fun, little-known facts about Dr. Seuss:

*He wrote Green Eggs and Ham on a bet with his publisher that he could write a book using only 50 different words.  He won when it was published in 1960 and it remains one of his best-selling books.

*If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, introduces the word nerd. Thanks, Doc!

*Many of Dr. Seuss’ books have a political bent: Yertle the Turtle, 1958, opposes tyrannical dictators, The Sneetches and Other Stories, 1961, decries racism and Antisemitism and The Lorax, 1971, warns of the dangers of exploiting the environment.

*Due to its political themes, The Lorax has been on the American Library Association’s Annual List of Banned Books.  Who knew?

*Dr. Seuss was awarded in the Pultizer Prize in 1984.

For more Seuss titles and info, check out:

http://www.seussville.com/

https://www.epl.ca/

Happy Reading and Eating!

Colourful Egg Salad

I love colourful food and I am of the opinion that a meal should have a broad colour pallet: rich reds and oranges, bright greens, a dab of yellow or crisp white and even sometimes a pop of blue or purple (purple potatoes are delicious, in case you couldn't think of a purple food).  When I create a sandwich, like any designer, I consider the colours of the ingredients and how they will look together.  I like to build something with a range of colours  because it's aesthetically pleasing and hints at variety in taste and texture.  And let's face it, when something looks good, chances are it tastes good too. 

Such is the case for my latest sandwich creation.  The white and yellow mix of hard boiled eggs provided the basis for a lovely, multicoloured egg salad sandwich.  When mixed with some green celery, red pepper and rusty-tinged spices, the sunny yellow hue reminded me of springtime.  It's a cheerful-looking (and tasting!) sandwich to enjoy this slushy winter week.

This Colourful Egg Salad requires:

Red, green, white and yellow!

5 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 ribs of celery, diced
1 tsp diced fresh dill weed (estimated)
1 tbsp-ish of mayo
1/2 tbsp-ish of Fresh's Dijon with Chardonnay mustard
Paprika and Cayenne pepper flakes to taste
Spinach 
Bread or buns, split


Hard Boiled Eggs can be tricky, but luckily there's no shortage of tips online to try!  Some say to add vinegar or salt to the water to prevent the egg whites from oozing if the eggs are cracked and others don't; I recommend reading a few and trying whatever stands out to you.  I've used this method many times with consistent hard boiled results:

Just add water, boil, remove from heat and cover.

1. Place the eggs in a single layer and fill your pot with cold water that covers the eggs with an extra inch and a half.
2. Bring the water to a boil for 1 minute and remove the pot from heat.  I know the expression "a watched pot never boils" but it's important that you do watch it so they don't overcook.
3. Cover and let the eggs sit in the boiled water for about 12 minutes. 
4. Run the eggs under cold water and peel.  Fini!

Sandwich Creation:

1. After peeling the eggs, mash them in a bowl with a pastry cutter.
2. Add the diced celery, red pepper, dill weed and mix.
3. Mix in the mayo and mustard.  I don't like my egg or potato salads drowning in sauce, which is why my measurements were 'ish' amounts as I constantly taste as I mix.  Add more/less to suit your liking.
4. Sprinkle on the paprika and cayenne spices to taste.
5. Scoop egg salad on one bread slice/bun half and pile with spinach.
6. Enjoy! 

Chopping fresh herbs with this is so easy and they smell amazing!

Delightful!  The eggs were still warm and the spices and Dijon mustard added some zip. Since there was some leftover egg salad the next day and I was feeling inspired, I added some diced radishes, and fresh basil to the mix for even more colour and flavor!  Fresh basil smells and tastes lovely but in the leftover amount, it was a bit intense, so I recommend either using a smaller amount for the leftover batch or adding it the whole batch next time.  

For even more colour, I added some baby carrots on the side because for me, the more colours, the better the sandwich.  Enjoy!

Weekend Breakfast Sandwich

I am very bad at breakfast.

During the week, that is.  I have always been the kind of person who can’t eat a meal as soon as I get up in the morning and it used to drive my parents crazy when I was growing up.  I just couldn't do it though and we eventually figured out that if I ate something later in the morning, I would be just fine.

Now in my adult life, the breakfast battle continues.  I’m not proud to say that I’ve often skipped it entirely, but since working on an empty stomach is really not fun or healthy, I’m back to my practice of the morning snack.

But weekend breakfasts...I've never had a problem there.  I look forward to them!  I like to start my weekend off right by making a pot of coffee and cooking a nice, big breakfast.  This morning as my coffee brewed, I created my own version of a sausage and egg breakfast sandwich.

Ingredients:

Toasted rye bread
Tomato, cut into thin slices and fried
Piller’s Turkey Kolbassa Sausage, sliced up and fried with the tomatoes
Scrambled eggs, divided into sandwich-sized portions (for two sandwiches, I used four eggs)
Dill and Cayenne Pepper seasoning on the eggs
Havarti and Cheddar cheese

Timing and Assembly Tips:

1. To avoid that burning-egg residue on your skillet, fry the tomatoes and sausage first and keep them warm on a plate while you scramble the eggs.
2. Use a medium heat setting for the eggs and constantly stir them as they cook to prevent both sticking and burning.
3. Season each side of the egg portions to your desired spiciness and flip them to seal it in.
4. Toast the bread during the eggs’ last few minutes to avoid drying it out.
5. For easy assembly, pile the eggs and sausage on one bread slice, the cheese and tomato on the other, and combine the two.
6. Serve with ketchup, hot sauce or salsa.

The result is warm and melty, with just enough crunch and spice to be unique!  This sandwich will definitely make another appearance on a chill weekend morning.

Or as my husband praised: “This would be really great for a hangover breakfast!”

Good to know; I’ll make sure the ingredients are stocked come New Year’s Day.