Easter Basket Deviled Eggs

My youngest brother, Matt, works on Sundays and was unable to get Easter Sunday off to join us for a family meal.  This year, he requested Palm Sunday off and it was approved, so 15 of us joined together to celebrate Easter a week early.

In order to get this up quickly, in case you would like to make these cute deviled eggs for your Easter meal this weekend, I won't be posting how to make deviled eggs, just how to decorate them to make them look like a basket of Easter eggs.  I will let you know, however, that when preparing the yolks, I add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and mustard to make mine.

As you can see above, I used a wavy cutter I purchased from Pampered Chef years ago to cut the eggs.  Somehow I thought that would give them more of a basket look.  After removing the yolks to a bowl, where I added the ingredients listed above, I used a plastic bag to pipe the filling into each egg white half.

Then I added a pinch of alfalfa sprouts.  I was hoping they would stay more contained to the yolk area, but those little sprouts have a mind of their own and there were 24 of them to prepare, so I refused to fight them.

Using five different colors on each egg, I added some candy-coated sunflower seeds, which became the eggs in the basket.  I found the colorful sunflower seeds at Trader Joe's, but I've also seen them at party stores.  I kept my eyes open for them when shopping since the first of the year.  By sticking them into the yolk mixture a little bit, it ensured they would not roll off the egg when picked up by the consumer.

The final step was to add the "handle" of the basket using a short piece of chive.  I thought they would be a bit more rounded in appearance.  But, they preferred to bend instead of curve nicely.  There wasn't time to fight them into submission, so each one is a bit different.  I will try to perfect this before I make them the next time.

All in all, I was pleased with how they turned out.  The were a cute addition to the table and they tasted good too!  Enjoy!

Alpine Garden Sandwich

We always get a large turkey for Thanksgiving.  This year we had a 23.5 lb. bird.  This always ensures plenty of leftover turkey for some of our favorite meals.  Other than making a turkey (dark meat) and stuffing sandwich, this has to be one of my favorite sandwiches using the white meat.

I first tasted this sandwich on my first day of work at an international accounting firm when a co-worker took me to lunch to meet some of "the girls" in the office.  We went to The Healthy Food Place restaurant and she ordered this sandwich for me, telling me it would be the most amazing sandwich I would ever taste.  Had I known what was in it I would have never ordered it for myself, for I was only 18 yrs. old and still a PB&J on white bread kind of girl.  But I was willing to try anything and loved this sandwich from the first bite.  Of course, I then made some for my family and we make these sandwiches following Thanksgiving every year.

The assembly begins with 7-grain bread.  Any whole grain bread can be substituted.

Both slices get spread with mayonnaise.  As you can see, I like to spread it a little thicker on the slice that will become the bottom of the sandwich.  It's just one of my weird quirks.

Next I place a double layer of fresh baby spinach leaves on one slice of bread.

I top that with the rings of one thin slice of red onion.

The onion is followed by the sliced turkey breast.

Then, I add Swiss cheese.  I know it doesn't have any holes in it, you'll just have to trust me that the cheese pictured is Swiss.

The final layer is alfalfa sprouts!  This is a generous amount.  You may want to skip this layer, but the flavor of the sprouts is a key ingredient in this sandwich.  One time I was making one of these sandwiches for my son and forgot the sprouts.  He took a couple of bites before I realized my omission.  I took it back and added the sprouts.  He said it made a huge difference in the flavor because the sprouts really added something special to it.  On that first day I ate this healthy treat, knowing that there were alfalfa sprouts in it would have kept me from ordering it.  I'm so glad I didn't have a choice!

The last step is to place the other piece of bread on top, mayo side down, cut it and consume.

I suppose a little leftover cranberries added couldn't hurt, but we've decided not to mess with an already terrific turkey sandwich!  Enjoy!