Red Bell Pepper Sandwich
14 Jun
Red bell pepper sandwich with turkey and cheese
Yesterday I was in a rush packing a lunch for Evleyn’s field trip. The other kids were having sandwiches and so the teacher asked if I could send some kind of sandwich on gluten free bread or something.
But gluten free bread is still processed rice flour junk food so I opted for grain free crackers instead. I bought those kale, sesame seed things you see in the health food store. But they just crumbled in our fingers.
So I rolled the turkey in the cheese and thought I’d throw in some bell pepper and olives on the side. In a hurry, I cut the bell pepper, not down the middle, but off to the side a bit so one side came out looking flat.
“Hey,” I thought, “I could make a sandwich with two of those.” So I cut the other in the same way, put the turkey and cheese in between, threw some olives in the bag, and ran off to camp.
Later, I put the thing up on Facebook and after a couple hundred likes and a hundred shares I realized that just maybe no one had ever done this before. In all the years I’ve been avoiding bread – that’s 8 – I haven’t either.
So, nature really did make something perfect for fitting stuff between two pieces of something that won’t fall apart or give you diabetes. We just didn’t know about it till now.
When I picked up Evelyn later and asked her how she liked her sandwich, she said, “YUMMAY!”
Here was my version of the sandwich I made for myself the next day. The possibilities are endless!
Red bell pepper sandwich with avocado, seaweed strips, and trukey
Great idea!
This is a GREAT idea! Love it!!
Brilliant. Not sure how any of us missed this one before
I know, right? I can’t wait to get a little more creative with it and add some fixins. But you only get one sandwich per bell pepper so I need to go buy some more.
This is a great idea!! I eat raw red bell pepper constantly, I don’t know how this hadn’t struck me before! Thanks for taking something good and making it great.
I saw your picture on fb yesterday and couldn’t wait to try it. I made it today with red pepper, turkey, and cheese – in the panini press. It was soooo good. I think it will be a summer staple around here
A panini press!!! Wow, that sounds interesting! Too bad I don’t have one of those. I saw a few comments yesterday about grilling it and I wondered if it might become too juicy and lose its crispness.
I love getting creative with grain free sandwiches, or open sadwiches too. Eggplant rounds work well (for an open cooked sandwich), big leaves of greens for wraps, even mini wraps in sweet potato skins. Love the pepper idea too, definetely going to try that out.
My son eats red bell pepper strips almost every day in his lunch. I think this is a brilliant idea to mix it up a bit! Good job! I was actually worried he was going to turn into a bell pepper he eats it so much. Every. single. day. a bell pepper.
For a fast lunch or snack I like smoked salmon in bell pepper pieces. It makes some kind of boats for the salmon to nestle into. Yum!
I am definitely going to try this. And grilling it would be delicious. Stuffed bell peppers were a staple meal when I was kid. They don’t lose their crispness as long as you don’t overcook them – like anything.
Awesome idea!
It might also work well with grilled pumpkin in lieu of the pepper.
We do this to make mini pizzas. Slice sides, fill with sauce, meat and cheese, broil in oven. Delicious. Never thought to use them cold.
So evelyn has dairy? What is your selection process like for dairy? Are you raw only, fermented only, high fat only etc?
I only ask because one day (no time soon- I’m only 22), I intend to be a primal parent and you’re a pretty example to learn from :p
Actually, I think I remember that you do dairy too? Yoghurt if I’m correct. Do you ever worry about the whole casamorphine conundrum everyone goes on about?
I guess I’m just really on the fence about dairy at the moment…
All of us around here go on and off with dairy. It seems to be one of those things that is better in moderation for us. I definitely believe in dairy, though. Some of the healthiest people on earth thrive on raw dairy.
I had done a little experiment with yogurt recently but that ended. I/we have done dairy in every possible form and it never seems to make a difference. Within a few weeks, I am tired and grumpy.
I’ll probably go off and on with it forever.
This looked so good and I was so hungry I ran out to the garden, picked some tomatoes, bell peppers, a yellow squash, and greens, and whipped me up a sandwich. Unfortunately I didn’t have any sliced meat, so I fried up squash in butter, and stacked that with the other veggies on the bell pepper. It was sooooo good!
That sounds good! I am impressed.
I am enjoying seeing what you have come up with to replace the bread in your diet. I personally can’t do it… I really don’t like bell peppers unless they are chopped and cooked, but…. I have made some wraps using roman or some of the other large leaf lettuces and they were very satisfying. One of the things that drew me to your site is the fact that you consume meats and cheeses. I stayed with my daughter the VEGAN and thought I was going to die….. So, while I can’t follow your diet completely …. You are helping me slip slowly into a little more healthy eating pattern.. {:0)
I love lettuce wraps too, though, they’re messy so I rarely bother. The best are lettuce wrap burgers, mmmm. Better than bread in my opinion! I am thrilled to hear that I am helping you make better food choices. I know it can be tough!
I’m GF too and doing more the nourishing traditions rather than straight primal (so I do have some limited fermented grains).
But I did discover some excellent coconut wraps that actually hold together and are tasty too! I imagine that they are primal friendly since all they have in them are coconut, salt, and water (and curry powder if you get the curry flavored ones).
see here: http://improveat.com/whatoffer.php
Those are interesting!
also can use portobello mushroom slices, like a bun for a burger
I really cannot wait to try this. I have not had any sort of sandwich in about a year and this is going to fill that void for me.
Question though. Is that just regular cold cut turkey that you get at the deli counter? Is that “Primal?”
That is regular cold cut turkey that I got from Whole Foods. Cold cuts from a regular grocery store would have countless unreadable ingredients and I wouldn’t touch the stuff. Is minced up and then pressed turkey breast Primal? Well, hunter-gatherers certainly didn’t have the machinery to make it so I’d say, no, not really.
I haven’t personally bought cold cuts for years but Evelyn’s school read me off the ingredients to the cold cuts they were using for the field trip and I was appalled. “No,” I said, “She can’t have that. I’ll bring her something similar.”
When you have school age kids you do your best to be as Primal as you can. But I can tell you we don’t make a habit of eating processed foods in general.