Tomato Bisque Soup

We also had tomato bisque soup with our sandwiches. We started with a prepared soup that we spruced up and stretched a bit by adding some more ingredients.

One container Block and Barrel Classic: Tomato Bisque (available at restaurant food suppliers)
2 quarts whole milk
1 can diced tomatoes
4.5 ounces corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained
4 ounces basil pesto (one-half of a small jar)

Combine tomato soup and milk in a pan and heat until steaming (be careful not to boil or the milk will curdle). Add diced tomatoes, pasta, and pesto. Stir well and serve.

Triple Decker Finger Sandwiches

We had these scrumptious sandwiches at the General Relief Society Broadcast. The three layers are egg salad, cheddar cheese and deviled ham. The amounts given below are enough for 8-12 sandwiches.

DEVILED HAM
3/4 cups cooked ham, cut into pieces
1/4 cup Dijon style mustard
1/2 cup lite mayonnaise
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons minced onion
3 tablespoons minced sweet pickle

PREPARATION: In a food processor, grind the ham until it is minced. Add the mustard, mayo, honey and cloves. Blend until mixture is smooth. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and stir in the onion and pickle.

Notes: This may seem like a lot of Dijon mustard, but when it's combined with all the layers it's just right.

EGG SALAD
8 large eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped pimiento stuffed green olives
1/2 cup lite mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. If you want a smoother egg salad, pulse a few times in a food processor.

CHEESE LAYER: Any spreadable cheese will work. We used Kraft Old English Cheddar.

SANDWICH CONSTRUCTION
Put about 2 tablespoons of egg salad on one-fourth of your bread slices. Spread cheese on another one-fourth of your bread.

Place the cheese covered slices on top of the egg salad.

Put approximately 2 tablespoons of deviled ham on one-fourth of your bread slices, and place them on top of the cheese layer.

Finally, top each sandwich stack with a plain slice of bread. Press down on each sandwich to help the layers stick together. Put your stacks of sandwiches in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Once the sandwiches are chilled and the layers are a little firmer, move the sandwiches to a cutting board. Trim off the crusts with an electric knife and then cut each stack into four pieces, cutting straight down the middle, rotating 90 degrees, then cutting straight down the middle again.

Transfer the sandwiches to a serving tray and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until time to serve.

Carole's Granola

This recipe was developed by a good friend of mine by trial and error. All ingredients can be stored in your food storage! It is fabulous, and your house will smell divine while it's baking. It's great with milk or stirred into plain yogurt or cottage cheese with fresh fruit on top. It's also pretty great just to nibble on for a midday snack.

Ingredients:
7 cups rolled oats, or 7-grain rolled mixture
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup flaked coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup nonfat dry milk
2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup sunflower seeds (omit if you used the 7-grain mix, as it includes sunflower seeds)

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1-1/2 teaspoons imitation maple flavor
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup honey
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
Combine first group of ingredients in a large bowl and stir together well. Combine second group of ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour wet stuff over dry stuff and stir until well combined. Divide between three cookie sheets and bake at 250 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Mixture should be soft and moist when removed from oven. Cool. When dry and crisp, put in a plastic container. Yields 19 cups.

Notes:
Play around with the ingredients in the first group according to what your family likes. 1 or 2 cups of dried fruit is great - raisins, dates, chopped apricots, pineapple, candied ginger, etc. Ground flax seeds would also make a healthy addition.

Enjoy!