For His Master's Veneration: Carry Along Ham & Cheese

Summer is coming, restrictions are being lifted, life may be returning. Plan a get together to celebrate! Here is a back yard, summer time, walk about sandwich that is perfect for guests. Turn it into a fun picnic. Most of all use this recipe to build on with your favorite sandwich tastes and tricks. Make it your own!

This use of a store bought tortilla shows a way to enjoy a wrap with a strategically placed cut that allows you to fold the tortilla in on itself to create three layers of fillings, making for easy eating and less filling ‘spillage’. No one cares what you call it. Try it and have fun again!

Ingredients:

6 -8 ready made tortillas (keep them warm and supple)

½ lbs deli ham

2 roma tomatoes chopped and drained

2 cucumbers peeled and chopped and drained

1/3 cup mayonnaise (reduced-fat)

½ tsp garlic powder

½ cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Do your cutting first and have toppings ready to assemble.

Fold paper towels into 1/4^th and place in two bowls. Chop and drain the tomatoes into one and cucumbers into the other, sprinkle both with salt. This drains out most of the liquid.

Warm the tortillas. Place a warm damp paper towel on them to keep them fresh and supple.

For the carrot salad: place the dried cranberries into ¼ cup spiced rum to plump.

In a bowl place the tomatoes and cucumbers with the mayo and garlic powder, mix well.

Put out your cutting board with tortilla in the center and the toppings around the top within easy reach.

Picture the tortilla as if it were a clock face. Make a cut from the very center to the 3 o'clock position.

Now imagine the four areas for your toppings.

3 – 6: blank

6 – 9: the vegetables

9 – 12 the ham

12 – 3 the cheese

With a brush LIGHTLY brush the whole tortilla with mayo. This will help to hold things together.

In the 6 – 9 corner, place 1 – 2 Tbs of tomato/cucumber mix Don't use too much.

Pile a little bit of the deli ham on the 9 – 12 quarter.

Sprinkle cheese on the 12 – 3 quarter.

Swing the 3 – 6 quarter over the vegetables.

Fold this flap up over the ham.

Fold this to the side over the cheese. This holds it together while you make the other sandwiches.

Heat skillet for browning the assembled sandwiches. If you have a pan with ridges to leave grill marks, that would be impressive but not necessary.

Or a “George Foreman” type grill, Hell if you want, dig out that waffle iron you never use! Just remember do not squish the sandwiches together or the fillings will come out and make a big mess to clean up.

Basically, you just want to heat up the cheese to melt. Maybe warm up the ham but not to cook the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Now to make this for our back yard extravaganza. Lets prepare ahead of time and bake some beans and fix a fresh idea for carrot salad!

Don't Carrot All Salad

Not yo mama's salad!

Ingredients

2 cups freshly grated carrots (from 4 to 6 medium-sized carrots)
½ cup craisins (dried cranberries)
½ can pineapple tidbits, drained

1 container pina colada yogurt

¼ cup spiced rum

Directions:

In a small bowl soak the dried cranberries in the spiced rum for half an hour.

In a larger bowl mix the grated carrots and the pineapple tidbits while the craisins re-plump.

Spoon out the berries and mix into the pina colada yogurt. Mix this dressing into the carrot-pineapple mixture and cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve.

As my favorite Bravo TV Capt Lee would say: “Thems that die are the lucky ones!”

You can fix and bake the baked beans that day or the day before and serve cold if you wish.

For today's meal I drained the can of baked beans. Cut up some cheddar sausages and stirred in a bit of mustard and maple syrup. Bake this in a 350 degree oven for about an hour until no longer soupy!