Fruition Sandwich

I have a new-found obsession preoccupation with food blogs. They are simply wonderful. My friend, Darla, and I sit at work and drool over beautiful looking recipes on blogs such as Pioneer Woman and How Sweet It is. It's not enough for them to write down these sinfully delicious recipes, but they also show pictures. I have a love/hate relationship with these blogs. I love looking at them, dreaming of them. I hate realizing that I don't get to eat food like that because I live at college and must eat Dining Common fare. Not that the DC is all that bad. For cafeteria food, they do okay. But it's nigh unto impossible to make this for 5,000+ people. Or this. Or any of these for that matter.
Needless to say, there is a large disconnect between the food I would like to eat and the food that I am eating. Until tonight. Necessity is the mother of invention, you know. I was lying in my bed at 4pm because I had gotten off work a little early and decided to take a small nap before dinner. However, my body (who had been tired all day long) decided it was not time to sleep, it was time to think about food. It's a side effect of reading food blogs, you see. As I thought about some of the good food I had enjoyed in the past, I remembered this sandwich.

Turkey, Apple and Havarti Croissant
Boars Head turkey, havarti cheese, sliced apples, lettuce
and cranberry chutney on a freshly baked croissant.
Served with choice of side.

I had it at this wonderful little restaurant called Mary's in downtown Greenville. And that's when I decided that I was going to recreate that sandwich. There would be no croissant, but there was going to be turkey on the deli bar tonight. Check. Cheese? Well, it won't be havarti because I don't really know what that means, but provolone sounds regionally the same, right? Lettuce, I can get. Apples are served in the DC. Then I hit the cranberry chutney. It's the main reason I loved the sandwich, but I have no earthly clue what chutney even is. But here's what I do know. It's kind of like a paste . . . like peanut butter! It has cranberries in it . . . I have Craisins! It was full of cinnamon . . . I have that in my room!

So here's what I did. I gathered all my ingredients. I cut my apple into rings. I mixed peanut butter, cinnamon, and Craisins to spread on two apple rings. Then I placed all the ingredients onto a soft wheat roll.

I don't know exactly how, but it worked. It worked!! It wasn't quite restaurant quality, but it was pretty stinkin' close. And it was GOOD. So good that I had two. I'm still very pleased with myself and if I had a camera I would have taken pictures and put them up here for you to see.

I'm going to try and find more delightful ways to change up some of the food that is served in our dining common. It's a bit adventurous for me, but with all these food blogs seeping into my subconscious and making me think about food combinations . . . it's inevitable. If I make any new discoveries, I guarantee I'll document the recipe here. Food is such a beautiful thing.

m(r)