Make-Fast Mondays: Grilled Chicken and Brie Sandwiches with Honeycrisp Apples and Arugula

Ever try a Honeycrisp apple? Take one bite and you’ll be hooked -- they’re absolutely delicious, so sweet and juicy. Just as their name implies, these apples are nice and crisp, and they hold up great in this quick, suuuuuper tasty sandwich.

Grilled Chicken and Brie Sandwiches with Honeycrisp Apples and Arugula 
Serves 4 
8 slices whole wheat bread
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
¼ cup whole grain dijon mustard
1 large Honeycrisp apple, cored and sliced thin
1 pound shredded rotisserie chicken
4 ounces Brie, sliced thin
1 cup arugula

Butter one side of each slice of bread and then spread mustard on the inside of each slice. Layer half the slices, buttered side down, with apples, chicken, Brie and arugula. Top each sandwich with a second slice of bread, buttered side up.

Heat a large nonstick frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Put 1 sandwich in the pan at a time (or 2 if you’ve got a big enough pan) and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, carefully flipping once, until cheese has melted and the bread is toasted.

First attempt at making pie a humbling experience

You can’t win ‘em all.

As previously mentioned on this blog, I signed up for the pie contest at work, entering not just one, but two, different desserts.
I decided to make a chocolate almond pie and a caramel apple pie. Both seemed like doable desserts, even though I’ve never baked a pie in my life. Silly girl.

Although I was most worried about the crust, both my Nana Dollie’s 7-Up crust and a chocolate-graham-cracker base worked out great. What failed me in the end were the fillings.

The caramel, while fun to make, had a too-tough consistency that didn’t really mesh with the Golden Delicious slices my recipe called for, and didn’t really melt while baking. What came out of the oven, while ringed with gorgeous, flaky crust, was quite a soupy apple mess.

I tricked myself into believing the pie needed to set a little longer and loaded it into the trunk of my car, in what I thought was a tightly sealed and secured manner. That might have worked if I drove a straight line for 40 miles, but the turns and stops were too much, and I got to work and discovered the pie had tossed its cookies all over my trunk— caramel juice everywhere. Damn.

Even though the apples still looked good, and the crust would have tasted fine, it would have been a joke to serve this up to the judges.

Good thing I still had my chocolate almond pie, or so I though. I had fun making the filling, a mix of egg yolks, tons of chocolate, cream and both vanilla and almond extracts. It seemed pretty firm even to the point when I took it out of the fridge at work and sprinkled the edges with sliced almonds. For whatever reason, this pie filling softened up really fast, too fast to be taken seriously among my competitors’ creations.

Although neither of my pies won — that cash prize would have been pretty sweet — and I was bummed for about 5 minutes, I can laugh about it now, and know where to focus my efforts the next time I attempt to bake a pie.

I'm thankful for stuffing

Stuffing is my absolute favorite part of a Thanksgiving feast.

The turkey’s always great, especially with homemade gravy, and mashed potatoes are a given, but stuffing always seems to be that dish that really kicks up the texture and flavor factor.

For the past three years, my family has trusted me with bringing the stuffing, and I haven’t had a bad review yet. I was flattered when my younger sister Lydia — she’s kind of the picky eater of our family — requested I bring the same stuffing I made last year.

Of the many things I’m thankful for (don’t even get me started), at the moment I’m grateful my family liked the stuffing, but also saved me some to bring home.


Sourdough Stuffing with Sausage and Apples
12 cups 1/2 –to-1-inch sourdough bread cubes, crust removed (I bought two sourdough rounds and had just a little to spare)
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
3 cups chopped white onion
2 cups chopped celery
2 large Granny Smith (or other tart) apples, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
2-3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter

I prefer to cut the sourdough into cubes the day before, letting them get a little stale on cookie sheets set out on the counter.

Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake bread cubes for roughly 15 minutes, giving them time to dry out a little bit. When you take the bread out of the oven, bump the temperature up to 375 degrees.
While the bread is baking, cook sausage in large frying pan until light brown before adding onions and celery. Cook until onions and celery soften slightly, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in apples and cook for another 3-4 minutes before mixing in thyme and poultry seasoning and cooking for another minute or two.
Place baked bread crumbs in a large bowl and toss with sausage mix. Drizzle stuffing mix with chicken broth until you get desired results — two cups wasn’t quite enough for me, and I think three cups was enough to keep the top layer crisp while still retaining a good, moist consistency underneath.
Grease 9-by-13 glass casserole dish with butter and add stuffing mix. Cover it with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes to crisp the top.