Thanksgiving is coming – my favorite holiday of the year. In anticipation of this joyous food-based holiday, I’ve begun making these Thanksgiving-leftover-esque sandwiches. I went through several iterations of this recipe, finally settling on the one you see here. Deli turkey breast just doesn’t cut it – it’s watery, slimy and lacks in flavor and texture. Solution: go to Costco and get the “kettle fried turkey breast” in the refrigerated section. Despite it’s name there is no added fat and it’s solid meat (no bones, no fat) that tastes just like a roasted Thanksgiving turkey. Disregard the directions on the label, just cut open the package, dry it and slice for consumption. The other key ingredient to this sandwich is cranberry sauce. I tried using dried cranberries but they didn’t add much to the experience and often just fell-off the sandwich. Solution: get canned whole-berry cranberry sauce, store brand if possible. Yes, the sweetener is high-fructose corn syrup but check this out: 1 serving (70g) of whole-berry cranberry sauce has 22g sugar while 1 serving (40g) of dried cranberries or “craisins” has 26g sugar! The cranberry sauce has 4g less sugar in a serving that is 75% larger! Besides, cranberry sauce makes this sandwich twice as delicious and addicting. There’s one other ingredient here that brings the whole thing together, read on for details.
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4-6 slices roasted turkey breast
3T nonfat cream cheese*
2T canned whole-berry cranberry sauce*
1 handful fresh spinach
2 slices whole wheat bread
2t honey mustard
Directions:
1. Open the can of cranberry sauce and dump it into a tupperware. Add 6 shakes of cinnamon, 2 shakes of nutmeg and 2 shakes of pumpkin pie spice. Mix well. For the cream cheese, open up the tub, get a knife and mix/stir it very well until it is whipped, light and creamy – this makes all the difference in the world.
2. Cover each slice of bread with honey mustard (about 1t for each). Lay the turkey on top of one slice and spread the cream cheese on top. Then spread the cranberry sauce over the cream cheese and lay the spinach on last. Top with the other slice of bread and consume or wrap for lunch. I often prepare it at night for the following day’s lunch.
Additional Info:
* Cranberry Sauce – I found the store brand to be cheaper and contain less sugar than Ocean Spray. Choose whatever is available to you.
* Nonfat Cream Cheese – I know some people can’t stand this stuff but I’ve mentioned this before: only get Philadelphia brand in the tub! The bar form isn’t the same and any other brand is awful if you’re going the nonfat route. Make sure to whip it up prior to use as per the directions above.
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This is definitely one of the best things about the Holiday season. I like Organic valley low fat cream cheese and Trader Joe’s cranberry apple butter. Even though it’s “apple butter”, it tastes just like canned cranberry sauce
Ooo, I’ll try out that cream cheese and look for the TJs product. Thanks for the tip!
mmmm. now i want it to be thanksgiving!!!
I adore the combination of turkey and cranberry sauce in a sandwich. I like to add on leftover mashed sweet potatoes for the full “Gobbler” effect!
Excellent point, I may have to make a batch of mashed sweet potatoes just for this…
ok dude I’m so loving this, but take off the spinach and add some stuffing. I know that just blows the whole fattening thing right out of the water right? And just so you know, pb actually goes very well with cranberry. you knew that.
Haha, stuffing would be tasty, I agree. But you don’t want to get into a lunchtime Thanksgiving food coma at work. And peanut butter, can’t believe I didn’t think of that!
Wowow your sandwich sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing :)
TASTY! you know- this is missing a very important ingredient…
PEANUT BUTTER! I bet it would be great mixed right into that cream cheese :}
I know and I didn’t even think of it! Am I fizzling?
a great everyday sandwich, esp. now for the Holidays!! :)
Wow, love spinach. I usually use spinach for my salad and pasta. Will surely try this.