SubscribeSandwich bites in a glass
Many people are spending a lot less money this year than in holidays past. Although tough times might mean severe cutbacks, we certainly don’t have to eliminate festivities completely just because our budgets are tight.
It’s the spirit of the season that matters most, and it’s far more important for people to gather with good cheer than to stress over serving expensive food.
Both my sister Diane and her husband Bill have been “foodies” since their college days, when they didn’t have one dime to spare for parties. Thirty years later, they’ve long since graduated to gourmet and give exquisite soires. This year, they hosted 60 guests for an incredible Thanksgiving feast. The next day, while Diane was making her traditional fancy leftover sandwiches, she reminisced about their early years together when fine dining meant creating sumptuous recipes out of practically nothing.
A hearty meal relies more on good tastes and than anything else.
This year, instead of a formal expensive sit-down dinner, host a chat-and-chew party around highboys with bar stools for informal sitting. If your budget is slim, stretch expensive food with portion control and present individual servings. Serve a variety of well-made but inexpensive finger foods with hot cups of made-from-scratch soup on the side. Instead of lining crudités on a platter, use glasses to house individual servings. Shot and juice glasses are perfect host to individual servings of olives and other garnishes. Even expensive sandwiches can stretch a long way when they’re cut and garnished properly and paired well. Sandwich wraps cut into small portions nestled in martini glasses over a bed of chopped salad or coleslaw take deli-food to an entirely new level.
Making the perfect sandwich is an art. Diane always starts with gourmet rolls and breads, and an impressive array of sauces and relishes such as olives, figs and sundried tomatoes. One of my favorites of her poor-boy creations is roast beef with cream cheese, red onions and tomatoes, which she puts on a huge roll, but I prefer wraps. Her recipe is loaded with calories, but I’ve adapted it to a healthier version that reduces fat and includes arugula, beets and coleslaw, and less or even no beef (replace it with smoked turkey breast, or a tofu or avocado spread to cut down on cholesterol).
Sandwich bites
Ingredients
- 1 lb thinly sliced roast beef, turkey breast or a tofu or avocado spread
- 1 cup low-fat cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- Thinly sliced vine-ripe tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded arugula
- 1 cup coleslaw
- 5 large sandwich wraps
- ¼ cup shaved parmesan cheese
- Three cooked beets, chilled and julienned
Directions
- Pre-heat oven to 300°.
- Mix red onions and cream cheese, and set aside.
- Mix beets and arugula, and set aside.
- Spread each wrap with a layer of cream-cheese mixture. and warm until bread is soft.
- Layer wraps in this order: roast beef, coleslaw, arugula and beets, tomatoes, and sprinkle on some parmesan.
- Roll each one tightly, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at 1east 15 minutes before serving.
- Slice into bite-sizes pieces just before serving, and place in martini glasses over a bed of lettuce, coleslaw or couscous.
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As the mother of five and a journalist, I've always encouraged people to empower themselves with information on healthy foods and lifestyles. Nurturing our children with healthy food is one of the most important jobs we have, yet as families have become busier or drifted apart, meal times have been sacrificed.
