Grilled Cheese With Sliced Apple and a Little Whole Grain Mustard on Sourdough Bread
4 slices sourdough bread
4 sandwich-sized slices of cheddar cheese
2 T. whole grain mustard, divided
1 apple, cored and cut into thin slices
2 T. butter
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
While skillet heats, spread mustard thinly over all slices of bread.
Lay one slice of cheese and layer apple slices on one piece of bread per sandwich. Gently join the two halves, so that each has a layer of apple in the middle.
Put half the butter into heated skillet and coat skillet surface with the melting butter. When butter is melted, place sandwiches in skillet.
Cook sandwiches on medium heat, so cheese has time to melt, but the bread doesn't burn. Use a spatula to check on the grilling bread's progress.
When first side is toasted and cheese has begun to melt, gently flip the sandwiches. Slip remaining butter into skillet just before flipping the sandwiches, to brown the other side of sandwich.
When the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown, remove from the skillet and serve.
While skillet heats, lay one slice of cheese on each piece of bread and layer the ham on top of the cheese, on one piece of bread per sandwich. Gently join the two halves of each sandwich, so that each has a layer of ham in the middle.
Put half the butter into heated skillet and coat skillet surface with the melting butter. When butter is melted, place sandwiches in skillet.
Cook sandwiches on medium heat, so cheese has time to melt, but the bread doesn't burn. Use a spatula to check on the grilling bread's progress.
When first side is toasted and cheese has begun to melt, gently flip the sandwiches. Slip remaining butter into skillet just before flipping the sandwiches, to brown the other side of sandwich.
When the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown, remove from the skillet and serve.
Kraft singles, provolone and cheddar on whole wheat
4 slices of whole wheat bread
2 KRAFT Singles
2 sandwich-sized slices provolone cheese
2 sandwich-sized slices cheddar cheese
2 T. butter
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
While skillet heats, assemble sandwiches so that there is one slice of each kind of cheese between two slices of bread.
Put half the butter into heated skillet and coat skillet surface with the melting butter. When butter is melted, place sandwiches in skillet.
Cook sandwiches on medium heat, so cheese has time to melt, but the bread doesn't burn. Use a spatula to check on the grilling bread's progress.
When first side is toasted and cheese has begun to melt, gently flip the sandwiches. Slip remaining butter into skillet just before flipping the sandwiches, to brown the other side of sandwich.
When the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown, remove from the skillet and serve.
Kraft singles with sliced tomato, baby spinach and honey mustard on a length of French bread
1 French baguette
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
1 cup of baby spinach leaves, washed and patted dry
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced thinly
2 T. honey mustard
2 t. canola oil
If you have a panini press, use it to make this sandwich. If you don't have one, you can use a George Foreman grill, the flat, griddle side of a waffle iron or a plain old skillet.
Heat cooking vessel of choice to medium heat.
Cut ends off baguette, then cut baguette into 6-inch lengths. Cut lengths in half and spread the insides with honey mustard. Spread half of the cheese on the bottom halves of bread. On top of the cheese, layer the tomatoes and spinach. Top with the remaining cheese and close the sandwich with the top of the bread.
Panini press: Brush with canola oil and put sandwiches in.
Electric grill/griddle: Brush the top and bottom of the sandwiches with oil.
Skillet: If using a skillet, top it with a cast-iron skillet. Add a can or two from the pantry to this top skillet to give it extra heft, and give it a push to compress the sandwiches a bit.When bread begins to brown, remove the top skillet and turn the sandwiches gently. Replace the skillet you're using to weigh it down and compress again.
The sandwiches are done when the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted.
Grilled Cheese and Chicken on Cinnamon Raisin Bread
4 slices cinnamon raisin bread (with or without nuts)
2 T. mayonnaise
1 package pre-cooked grilled chicken strips
4 sandwich-sized slices of Harvarti cheese
2 T. butter
Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
While skillet heats, assemble sandwiches. Spread bread with mayonnaise. Lay one slice of cheese on each piece of bread and layer the chicken on top of the cheese, on one piece of bread per sandwich. Gently join the two halves of each sandwich, so that each has a layer of chicken in the middle.
Put half the butter into heated skillet and coat skillet surface with the melting butter. When butter is melted, place sandwiches in skillet.
Cook sandwiches on medium heat, so cheese has time to melt, but the bread doesn't burn. Use a spatula to check on the grilling bread's progress.
When first side is toasted and cheese has begun to melt, gently flip the sandwiches. Slip remaining butter into skillet just before flipping the sandwiches, to brown the other side of sandwich.
When the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown, remove from the skillet and serve.
Sure, we have a problem with childhood obesity in this country but, come on, what country doesn't? What's it going to hurt to let kids pig out one night a year? I mean, Halloween only comes once a year, just like Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, the Fourth of July, birthdays (of siblings and friends), anniversaries... Okay, so maybe they do end up eating a lot of junk a lot of the time.
Some parents are trying to make a difference -- by skipping the Halloween candy and handing out less fattening treats. Toys, pencils, stickers, Play-doh, and glow sticks are some of the alternatives people are handing out. "I thought, here I am trying to take care of my health," says Lisa Bruno, of Des Plaines, Illinois, who ditched the candy five years ago. "I felt a responsibility to my community to take care of the kids around me."
Experts suggest that Halloween can be used as a vehicle for teaching kids about portion size and limits to help them deal with food issues all year long. "It's important that we as parents help them find the balance between that very traditional fun activity and a healthy lifestyle," says Connie Diekman, past president of the American Dietetic Association.
I like the idea of giving out pencils or Play-doh -- things that will last longer than the length of a single swallow. I'm not so sure, however, how kids feel about it. Are you giving out candy or a less sugary alternative this year?
I doubt any parent thinks of a product called "Sugar Smacks" as nutritious. We reserve that kind of labeling for cereals that have no taste or taste like compacted sawdust. Still, would it surprise you to find out that many cereals, especially those designed for kids, are essentially candy? Move over Butterfinger, moms and dads could be handing out samples of cereal to the sweet seeking trick-or-treaters hitting their doorsteps this October!
Sugar Smacks were renamed Honey Smacks some time well after I stopped eating cereals (and being a kid--I guess those two things are linked) but a consumer group still found they were half sugar by weight. So, too did they find as such for Golden Crisp. Never heard of that one. If you'd told me that Cocoa Puffs were half sugar I would believe you, but the consumer group didn't test those.
As you might expect, Cheerios (champion cereal of small children everywhere) and Honey Nut Cheerios were found to be the healthiest. Cheerios ranked first with only one gram of sugar and three grams of fiber per serving. The study of cereals also found that kids serve themselves at least twice as much per serving as recommended. Who doesn't--especially if it's delicious and full of sugar??? Kellogg, who make Honey Smacks, noted they've made strides to increase the nutritional content of several cereals, including Fruit Loops, and that a serving of yogurt contains more sugar than a serving of Honey Smacks. What they didn't point out is the size of a serving of each--I'd wager you get a lot more yogurt than you do cereal per recommended serving. It also depends on what kind of yogurt you're discussing, as some brands add sugar a lot more liberally than others.
Considering all we've heard about the childhood obesity epidemic, it really should come as no surprise that parents are turning to surgical procedures to help their kids lose weight. According to a 2007 study, nearly 800 U.S. kids had weight-loss surgery in 2003. Those surgeries range from gastric bypass operations to stomach banding.
While weight loss surgery for kids may not be surprising, it is rather alarming. Research has shown that one in every 200 patients dies from gastric bypass and one in every 1,000 patients dies from banding. Why would a parent subject a child to the risks associated with major surgery when perhaps all that is really needed is a better diet and more exercise?
Karen Hanrahan is a wellness educator who teaches a workshop titled Healthy Choices for Children. Her class is for parents and is intended to teach them about healthy alternatives to the processed food products so widely available today. To illustrate just how unhealthy some of our diet staples are, she carries with her a rather unusual prop: a 12-year-old McDonald's hamburger.
Before you start cringing in disgust, go have a look at her blog and the burger in question. The plain hamburger Hanrahan says she purchased back in 1996 looks exactly like one you would purchase today. It's not moldy, maggoty or otherwise decomposed. Hanrahan claims to have done nothing at all to preserve the burger other than to store it in a plastic sandwich container. She says that the burger's unchanging appearance over the years illustrates her point: McDonald's hamburgers are not real food.
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She writes: "Ladies, Gentleman, and children alike - this is a chemical food. Not one ounce of food value. Or at least value for why we are eating in the first place."
Of course, Hanrahan gets beat up in the comments to her post, but most seem to accept her claim that the burger has survived basically unchanged for over a decade. We aren't big McDonald's eaters around here, but I know plenty of families who are. I wonder if this 12-year-old burger might impact the way they feel about their favorite fast-food stop. Does it give you pause?
Sure, we have a problem with childhood obesity in this country but, come on, 
Considering all we've heard about the childhood obesity epidemic, it really should come as no surprise that parents are turning to 
Karen Hanrahan is a wellness educator who teaches a workshop titled Healthy Choices for Children. Her class is for parents and is intended to teach them about healthy alternatives to the processed food products so widely available today. To illustrate just how unhealthy some of our diet staples are, she carries with her a rather unusual prop: a 12-year-old McDonald's hamburger.
