Cheese Stuffed French Toast
My husband returned from a two-day corporate conference with stories of the meals that were served. When he mentioned French toast stuffed with ham and cheese, I remembered a similar recipe from the box of Alaska-sweetened condensed milk. Fortunately, we have two unopened boxes and the featured recipe is still the same. The Alaska recipe does not use ham, however, only cheese. Moreover, the proportions were for an entire loaf of bread. Too much for breakfast. On top of that, it seemed to me that the cooked dish would be too sweet. So, I played around with the proportions until I got the exact blend that I wanted and proceeded to make ham and cheese stuffed French toast for breakfast today. The result is what you see in the photo.
Beat the egg and the sweetened condensed milk together until well-blended. Place a slice of ham over a slice of bread, arrange a slice of cheese on top, and cover with another slice of bread. Repeat for the remaining bread, ham, and cheese. Carefully dip both sides of the sandwich into the egg-milk mixture and fry in the hot butter, turning over once. Cook until the bread is golden. Drain on paper towels (please do this since the fried sandwich is oily) and cut each sandwich diagonally into halves.
Tuna Spread
Before we were married, my then-boyfriend, now husband, and I used to go to Tagaytay City for picnics. We would bring food to last us the whole day and a bottle of wine. Roast whole chicken and a special chicken sandwich filling were among his favorites. Those days, according to him, started ruining his figure. This is a variation of that sandwich filling. Instead of diced chicken meat, I used canned tuna in brine. Our daughters, 12 and 10, who wouldn’t touch whole pimientos and pineapples, forgot all their prejudices when I offered them these little snacks earlier today.
The tartness of the bottled sandwich spread goes well with the saltiness of the cheddar cheese and the natural sweetness of the crushed pineapple. The pimiento and the parsley add just the right amount of color and additional flavor to the mixture. There’s only one thing to do: mix all the ingredients. Add or subtract the amount of bottled sandwich spread or mayo depending on the consistency you want. I prefer a thick sandwich filling; runny fillings are rather messy to eat. This tuna spread is good for sandwiches, and canapes or you can serve them with saltine crackers. Or, you can place a teaspoonful on top of sliced tomatoes or cucumbers. Instead of tuna, you can use chopped boiled chicken breast meat or chopped hard-boiled eggs.