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Building a Better Sandwich…For a Four-Year-Old

Posted by on Jul 22, 2010 in Recipes | 0 comments

The Challenge:  Alexandra, 4, is in theatre camp this week, her second week of it, and so we’ve had to make her a boxed lunch for the first time, including snacks.   We’ve made a variety of things, mostly different kinds of sandwiches, but she’s complained several times that the “sandwiches keep falling apart”.  She’s four and not terribly careful about the way she picks up the sandwich but still, perhaps I could try a bit harder to create something easier for her.

The Solution: Melted cheese, which acts as sandwich glue.  Very thin layers of cheese, placed under a broiler for 10 seconds per layer, creates a glue strong enough to withstand the carelessness of a four-year-old, or so my theory goes.

I just made this muffaletta sandwich, a request by Alexandra because she loves olives, and used thin layers of provolone cheese between each layer of olive salad, mortadella and ham.   The final sandwich is a fresh-tasting but sturdy sandwich and I’m sure she’ll love it.

So I guess for the next little while at least, we’ll focus on sandwiches that work well with cheese.   Peanut butter is also an excellent sandwich glue but not allowed in most schools and extra-curricular programs because of some kids with very severe allergies.

Alexandra’s Muffaletta Sandwich

Olive salad:

3 tablespoons chopped black olives

3 tablespoons chopped pimento-stuffed manzanilla green olives

1 teaspoon chopped capers

1 tablespoon sweet relish

1 teaspoon olive oil

juice of half a lemon

1/2 clove of garlic finely chopped (Alex loves garlic but leave it out if your kid doesn’t)

dash of pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Try not to eat it all before you make your kid’s sandwich.

For the sandwich

Two slices fresh bread

Several thin slices of provolone or mozzarella cheese

1 slice mild mortadella

1 slice ham

Spread a bit of olive salad on both pieces of bread and top with a layer of provolone cheese.  Place under a broiler for 15-20 seconds until just starting to melt.   Remove and place the slice of mortadella on one half of the sandwich and the ham on the other.  Put some more provolone on the either the mortadella or the ham, and place that slice under the broiler to just melt it.   Remove and slap the two slices together while the cheese is still warm.  Slice in two pieces and hope for the best.  I mean, geez, she’s four.