Not So Wordless Wednesday - It's Sandwich Night!

Photo Credit: Butterfly by Hailey Lommen, Dallas

The Grain Foods Foundation and The Deen Brothers (yes, that's Jaime and Bobby, Paula Deen's sons) want you to make one night a week sandwich night! I don't know about you, but Wednesday tends to bring out the 'blah's' in me. It's not yet Friday but just smack dab in the middle of the week and I usually never want to cook an elaborate meal mid-week.

While I tend to think of sandwiches more often for lunch, and it's not always my first go to choice for dinner, I will admit that attending this recent event hosted by the Grain Foundation and the Deen Brothers,  made me want to accept the challenge of incorporating more whole grains into my diet. So long as it's in such a way that it is not harder or more time consuming for me, yet still tasty, I'm all for it! (I'll let you in on a little secret, the Sandwich Night Event was actually held during the day, LOL) Below is a pic of me posing with the Deen Brothers! They were very gracious hosts, I'm sure Paula would have been very proud!

 

Photo Credit: Tracy, Ascending Butterfly's Founder with Jamie and Bobby Deen (C) 2010

To help bring out your inner 'sandwich-ista', the Grain Foods Foundation has created an Endless Sandwich recipe database at gowiththegrain.org where you can download recipes and add your own sandwich favorites. The Endless Sandwich database also features exclusive recipes created by the Deen brothers!

“Any night of the week can be Sandwich Night,” says Bobby Deen. “Making sandwiches for dinner is a nutritious and convenient solution to the age old question of ‘what’s for dinner?’”

The USDA dietary guidelines recommend eating six one-ounce servings of grain foods each day, with half of those servings coming from whole grains. Bread and grains provide many of the essential nutrients needed to stay healthy and help fight diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and birth defects.

“Enjoying a sandwich at dinnertime ensures at least two of the required six servings of grain foods each day,” says Judi Adams, MS, RD and Grain Foods Foundation president.

“Better yet, sandwiches taste good, no matter how you build them!”

There were tons of great sandwiches prepared and you go to the website to get more recipe ideas, but there was one particular stand out that was my favorite, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you!

The Deen Brother's Grilled Bacon Pimento Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - 8 Slices White Bread (or better still WHOLE GRAIN)
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1/4 cup butter, softened
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -8 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -pinch of garlic powder
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1/4 cup mayonnaise
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -2 oz. cream cheese
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1 (4 oz.) jar of pimentos, drained and diced
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -1 teaspoon grated onion
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl using a hand held mixer, beat cream cheese mayonnaise and garlic powder until smooth. Add in Jack and Cheddar cheese, pimentos and grated onion. Beat until well blended. Stir in crumbled bacon. Salt and pepper to taste.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Top 4 of the slices with bacon pimento cheese spread. Top with the remaining 4 slices of bread (butter side out).

Heat grill pan or griddle to medium. Grill sandwiches until golden brown on one side.

Flip to other side and continue cooking until golden brown. Serve warm. 

I will admit I was a bit reluctant to try this one, but it turned out to be my absolute favorite sandwich of the night! (well, technically day!)
 
Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - And for reading my entire 'Not So Wordless Wednesday' all the way through, I have a special treat for YOU! Fans of GoWithTheGrain on Facebook can also enter to win a chance to Share a Sandwich with the Deen Brothers in their hometown of Savannah, GA! How cool is that? Hurry, go like Go With The Grain on Facebook for a chance to win!
 
Can't get enough Deen Brothers? Check out their website TheDeenBros.com!  

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This is a non-compensated post. I attended a local event. No incentives, compensation or merchandise was provided to attendees other than Sandwich Samples! Special thanks to Jennifer James (mom bloggers club), the Deen Brothers, the Go With the Grain Foundation, Bimbo Bakeries and Pepperidge Farm for a great event! 

This weeks 'Moment of Gratitude' and Great Giveaways!

On Sunday's, 'Today's Moment of Inspiration' becomes the weekly 'Moment of Gratitude'. While I do still live in Gratitude each and everyday, I decided to change this feature to a weekly to allow a full week of Inspirational messages and focused breathing meditations.

This week, I am grateful for:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - For YOU! Yes, that's right, YOU. I have received so many emails and tweets this weekend asking for inspiration back! One message really stood out in particular it read 'Don't get me wrong I love your giveaways, you really host great giveaways, but my favorite way to start my day are with the inspirations, can you please bring them back soon?' <-This was actually sent to me via twitter. It really meant a lot to me. I've been having a challening week on many levels, and when I read this it really filled my heart to know that my writing was being missed. Really missed. There were a ton of very nice emails, other tweets and even facebook messages. I feel very grateful to know that I am a part of a community of inspiration seekers who take the time to check in with each other! Thanks for checking up on me everyone!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - My community of fellow bloggers! I want to send a particular shout out this week to Jennifer James who you may know from the Mom Bloggers Club. She invited me to an event recently that I will share here soon, where I had the opportunity to meet The Deen Brothers (yes that's right, Paula Deen's sons), they were very warm, open, and personable. Gracious hosts and extremely well mannered, they did Paula proud! It was fun being with a community of fellow bloggers, meeting their little ones in person, and learning easy new recipes for those nights when you are way too busy to be in the kitchen for hours!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - The Fall TV season is underway and I'm happy to catch up on some guilty pleasures!

What are you grateful for today? I'd love for you to write in and share what you are grateful for this week. The more you say it, the more you speak it, and the more you live in gratitude, the more you will find reasons to be grateful for, and the more reasons that the universe will send you to be grateful for. So join me on this journey of gratitude and inspiration. And you can post here daily (even though my list will be posted weekly).

Remember, attitude really does determine altitude.

It is OK to *Re-Tweet* the link to this post and You can find me on Twitter here (@Tracy_Iglesias) Twitter love: re*tweet by copying and pasting the following into your update field at Twitter:

OK to RT: @Tracy_Iglesias This Week's 'Moment of Gratitude' and Great giveaways! - http://tiny.cc/n4Thx

Active Giveaways:

1) ENDS MONDAY 09/27 @ 3pm EST - "Fall Into Bags' - Amber Pollard's Taqueria Satchel Giveaway! HERE <- This is one hot Fall bag in a red color called "salsa Picante" (ARV $295)

2) Ends 10/01 - Ascending Butterfly Book Club - 'Unforgettable You' by Daisy Fuentes Giveaway! HERE

3) Ends 10/04 - Celebrate National Singles Week with our 1800Flowers.com $40 Gift Card Giveaway! HERE

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Keep your eyes on the homepage's 'Win Here - Today's Butterfly' section we have more great giveaways to come! (And we are working on our Holiday Buying Guide! so Stay Tuned!)

For those of you who are interested in keeping a gratitude journal this year, here is my recommendation and a direct link to purchase it:

Make this your best day ever, Bless and Be Blessed!

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•●•٠·˙