The Heat Is On...

     We're renting a house in Michigan for the month of July. Although a nice home, it lacks a major luxury that I am fully used to, central air conditioning. Oh, it has a couple small window units but only for specific rooms but, with the heat index rising above 103 degrees outside, I can tell you it's uncomfortable inside to say the least. The main level of house is left to fans for cooling. The kitchen is in the center of this floor with very poor air circulation. Why do I tell you this? Turning on the gas stove ads several degrees to the already stifling air so, we want to use it as little as possible. Its so hot and the air stagnant of any breeze, my husband doesn't feel like grilling outside either. So what do we do for eats?
    I went back to the link I sent you all, called "15 No Bread Sandwiches" and found a few ideas that turned out to be exactly right for what we needed. Each was simple to make, taking less than 20 minutes, and taste great.  
     If you don't have all the ingredients I used, use what you have. Be creative. Being summer, we have a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes, Cucumbers, cabbage, green beans and herbs are plentiful.
     I choose to tweak a couple of the sandwiches from the Buzz Feed blog. The Caprese Asparagus, the Portobello Mushroom chicken and bacon stack. We've also made the Cucumber Roast Beef Sandwiches too. I'll talk about those another time, not because they weren't really good. My husband gave them a 9. For Today, I'm going to share the two below.

#1                                             Caprese Asparagus became Caprese green bean and chicken sandwich.

     25/30 green beans
     2 large slicing tomatoes
     8 slices of rotisserie chicken
     1 log or ball of Mozzarella cheese
     12 fresh basil leaves
     2 cloves garlic
     1/4 cup olive oil
     3 tsp balsamic vinegar
     salt/pepper to taste
First, finely chop the garlic, basil leaves, mix with oil and vinegar. Set aside. (leave a good pinch of basil aside to garnish top. Steam the green beans til tender. Run under cold water. Chill in frig. While beans are steaming, slice tomatoes in 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices. Lay tomatoes in with oil mixture making sure to covering the toms with the mixture. Slice Mozzarella the same as tomatoes. (Mozzarella logs come pre-sliced) Start layering with a tomato slice, then a layer of green beans, slices of chicken, then a layer of mozzarella. Repeat, ending with tomato on top. Drizzle any extra oil mixture over top. Sprinkle left over basil. Makes 2. 
     I had my daughter over for lunch and served this. She gave it a 10 and proceeded to eat the leftovers. I think she enjoyed it.
 
#2   Portabella chicken bacon sandwich. Are you a mushroom lover? If so, this is the meal for you. It is so simple to make but the combination of taste is anything but simple. The original recipe has the bottom and top large portabella mushroom. I chose to make it open faced and it was plenty.
     2 Large portabella mushrooms
     1 garlic clove
     2 tbsp. butter or olive oil
     1/2 log of goat cheese
     4 slices bacon  (I pre cooked extra slices in morning with breakfast)
     slices of chicken (I used left over rotisserie)
     1 avocado
     1 tbsp. Braggs Amino Acids(does not contain the MSG that soy sauce does)
Clean the stem and the ribbon meat inside the mushroom. Melt some butter and added 1 clove garlic. Sauté for a couple minutes. Place mushroom hole down in butter and cover. Cut your chicken, bacon and avocado to approximate size of the mushroom. Steam mushroom for 4 minutes each side. Place hot on a plate and fill the pocket with goat cheese or your favorite cheese. Layer your bacon, chicken and avocado. Top with a dollop of goat cheese. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle Braggs Amino's across it and serve. I made this for myself, I give it a 10. I loved it.  I have enough left over to make it again, and I can't wait.

Let me know if any of you try these and how you like it. BTW...I rarely measure while cooking, I kinda just wing-it. The above recipes are close guestimates of quantity.