Healthy Cooking: Panini Day

"Healthy Cooking Day" at SAM (Stroke Recovery Association of Manitoba) is really being a success.

We are becoming such a great group and our friendships are really growing as well as a sense of teamwork. We all bring a variety of skills to these lunches. Candace, for example brings a dedication to making healthy food choices, Dave in organizing and cheering us on, Jim has experience in the food industry and is full of practical ideas for making these things actually work. Then there are a few like me that are all for social events and especially food related ones!

Today's plan was "Panini Sandwiches".

Jim offered to bring his Panini maker and told us about enjoying Havarti cheese and luncheon meat Panini sandwiches at his house. We wound up deciding to bring a variety of ingredients and to experiment a bit.

We served this with a purchased veggie platter. I actually picked up a premade tray at Safeway. I had originally planned on preparing the platter myself, but I got too busy and too tired. If our plan is healthy eating made easy for stroke survivors; prepared fruits and veggies from the supermarket can save a lot of energy, time and stress. I was thinking it was going to be kind of an expensive decision, but I found the package was actually on sale today. I also think that by time I bought all the different veggies and dip separately there would be so much wastage and trimming that it really would not have been that much of a saving after all.

            Panini Variations

7 grain bread

low fat margarine (butter would have been a good idea too)

4 or 5 kinds of deli sliced luncheon meats such as shaved ham and smoked turkey

2 tomatoes

bag of washed fresh baby spinach

Havarti cheese slices 

light Italian 3 cheese blend

Heat the close topped grill or panini maker and it will tell you when it is ready. Butter two slices of bread. Put in what ever you want -- but keep the buttered side out to help it toast and keep it from sticking to the grill!  One hint is that cheese is good to include because it helps stick it all together.  One of us liked having a mix of different meats and cheeses, and another liked making a veggie and cheese only option.

It was so good that most of us had seconds and tried out a different combination of ingredients.

Next month will be "wraps".  We talked about what kind of wraps are out there and we will be doing a grilled chicken based wrap. We also agreed that we want to taste a Heart Smart Granola Cookie. We are also looking forward to Carol's Famous Chocolate Brownies.  We think Healthy Cooking and eating can include reasonable portions of yummy treats.