Al contrario, we were heading to the town of Grinzane Cavour, just south of Alba, in the beautiful region of Piedmonte.  Although tempted to dream of warm weather, we knew we were heading to the heart of where the 2006 Winter Olympic Games were held.  And sure enough – Grinzane Cavour, 100 kilometers southeast of Turin, is ringed by magnificent, soaring snow-capped Alps.

Piedmonte lived up to all its accolades.

We were welcomed to our hotel, Casa Pavesi, a beautifully and comfortably restored palazzo into a 12-room hotel by Daniela Viberti, who whisked us off to lunch in Alba.  Over a lunch of velvety charcuterie, plump ravioli with butter and sage, and a glass of inky Barolo, Daniela told us about her family’s wineries, E. Pira & Figli. She also previewed us about her work at the Castello Grinzane, the site of our conference (more about the castle later).

After lunch we took a passeggiata through the lovely old town of Alba, people-watching, visiting a very ancient church, and peeping into store windows, going into one of them to buy a camera.  It was so wonderful to be back enjoying one of Italy’s beautiful towns again!

After some afternoon work and a small nap, we enjoyed another wonderful meal in Alba – a dinner in the wine cellar of Enoclub.  Our host and organizer of our conference, Attilio Giaocosa, a native of Piedmonte, (his uncle is Bruno Giaocosa, proprietor of wonderful Bruno Giacosa Winery in Neive) is also a practicing physician, cancer researcher, and co-author with his wife and colleague, Mariangela Rondanelli of the recently published book, La Verita Sul Vino. Attillio and Mariangela had worked closely with The National Observatory for the Conscious Wine Consumption, a new association headquartered at the Castello Grinzane to organize the conference we were attending, also called The Truth About Wine (La Verita sul Vino)!

They assembled an outstanding, high-level group of nutrition and agricultural scientists, NGO leaders, policy makers and government officials for this meeting.  Its purposes were to survey the current scientific evidence on the health benefits and pleasures of moderate wine drinking, and to craft a Consensus Statement on “The Truth About Wine” based on that evidence.

But back to the first night’s dinner!  This meal was a harbinger.  Attilio advised us on the dishes that were special to the place, to the terroir.  He said, we must order carne cruda, very lean raw veal chopped very finely and with no visible fat. We did, which was fabulous, even for Sara – a gastronome who had always avoided steak tartare.

Second, Attilio urged us to try the pasta of region, sauced this time with a local ragu, thick and rich.  It was heavenly.  Plus, we shared the cave with a wild group of singing salespeople from the UK!

Stay tuned next week for Part Two!

- Sara and Dun

PS. Learn more about Wine & Health on the Oldways website

Vienna, Austria: Beer

The next stop on our itinerary was Austria, home to some of the best beer in Europe. You’d be crazy not to try some, but those late night bar tabs can add up fast! So what did we do? Found a bar with a fantastic happy hour, offering pints of many different local brews for only €2 – about $3. Even better, the bar had tables outside, so we were able to enjoy the afternoon sun, take in our amazing surroundings, and drink some great Austrian beer. Many bars will also offer happy hour deals on food, giving you another opportunity to try some local cuisine at reasonable prices. Prost!

Venice, Italy: Bread, cheese, and olives

We spent almost the whole final week of our trip in Italy, and it took all our willpower – and occasional panicked checks of our bank balances – to keep from eating everything we saw! On our first Italian day we arrived in Venice, a magnificent city where everything seems out of a movie, but which unfortunately is not known for its affordability. Thanks to our trusty guidebook however, we found an adorable little café that offered small, tapas-like plates of local cheese, bread, and olives, and we were able to snack on some delicious authentic Italian food for a relatively small price. Just be careful not to order too many things, or you’ll be over budget in no time.

Rome, Italy: Pizza

No visit to Italy would be complete without pizza, and I had some of the best I’ve ever had in my life in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome. What’s not to love about a huge “individual” pizza that’s only about €7 and will keep you full all day? This was another trick we learned: if you eat a large meal mid-afternoon, you won’t need much else for the rest of the day…except maybe some gelato! The pizza in Italy is truly not to be missed – and with the fresh ingredients and thin crust, it’s not the high-calorie monstrosity that American pizza is, especially if you load it with veggies.

Rimini, Italy: Seafood feast

Ok, I’ll confess: we did splurge once. And that’s ok! When faced with the incredible seafood offerings in the gorgeous coastal town of Rimini, we felt it would be ok to indulge in one fabulous meal, as long as we ate even more cheaply than usual for a couple meals to keep things balanced. We found a reasonably priced restaurant facing the beach, and ordered to our hearts’ content: fried calamari, fish raviolis, salad, and some delicious wine. We didn’t go overboard, though it was certainly more than we’d spent on one meal before. But as long as the budget can be balanced out, there’s nothing wrong with picking one meal to splurge on. In our experience, the memory of that amazing meal made eating granola bars for the next two meals not seem too bad!

Munich, Germany: More beer, and good friends

The last stop on our trip was Munich, where we were delighted to find that we had scrimped enough to afford one last big night out at the famed Hofbrauhaus. We ordered steins of local beer from the impressive women who can carry eight at once, and reveled in the memories of the past three weeks.

If I had to pick one thing that made traveling cheaply through Europe doable, it was selecting the right travel companion. If the people you’re with are not fully on board with saving money whenever possible, budgeting will be a constant battle and make for some uncomfortable conversations. Katie and I always encouraged each other to find the best deal, and because of this cooperation we not only didn’t starve, we ate some amazing things.

Take home lessons:

• Find a happy hour for a cheap way to try the local brews
• Look for tapas-style restaurants
• Eat one large midday meal instead of a lunch and a dinner
• Splurge every once in a while
• Pick the right travel companion

Those three weeks in Europe were some of the best times of my life, and I didn’t go bankrupt in the process. If you approach traveling and eating cheaply as an adventure, it will seem less like a hassle and more like part of the fun!

Bon voyage and bon appetit!

- Molli

Ocean Reef in Key Largo, Florida is a special place for Dun.  His family first began visiting Ocean Reef in the early 50s, and most of his family spends all or part of the winter there now.  We’ve put our toes into the warm water more slowly, visiting for a week or two each March.

But this year we were lucky enough to be asked by our friend Carole Kotkin, journalist and radio host based in Miami, to teach a class at the Ocean Reef Cooking School.  Carole, also the Director of the Cooking School, directs a truly amazing cooking school program with local, national and international culinary stars like Sara Moulton, Susan Herrmann Loomis, Michelle Bernstein, Jonathan Eismann and Shannon Overmiller.

While the weather was on the cool side for Florida while we were there, we did one or two visits to the pool in between preparing and teaching our cooking class, titled “Mediterranean Magic – Recipes from The Oldways Table.”

We diligently prepared for our class, practicing the recipes and preparing the stories to go with each recipe:

• Ana Sortun’s Mediterranean Tapenade – a breeze in the food processor
• Bulgur Salad with Oregano, Feta and Cucumbers – unbelievably delicious and “clean” tasting
• Orecchitte with Broccoli Rabe – little ears matched with broccoli rabe and anchovies
• Edamamae Beans with Extra Virgin Olive Oil – the easiest, fastest, most delicious dish ever…and without scientific proof, we maintain we always lose weight when we eat it!
• Cretan Lamb Skewers with Lemon and Artichokes – created by Jesse Cool and Deann Bayless at an Oldways Symposium in Crete
• And last but definitely not least, Chocolate Sauce Royale – Dun’s favorite chocolate sauce!

At the end, we were relieved…the room was packed (extra seats had to be set up in the back), the recipes worked well, everyone loved the tastes, the questions came thick and fast, and we had a lot of fun.

We can’t thank enough Carol and Diane, the assistant director of the school, the Ocean Reef staff, and the fantastic group of volunteers.  Thank you for a wonderful day!

We followed the cooking class up with an Italian Dinner the next night in the elegant Golf Club dining room.  Part of a series run by the Clubhouse at Ocean Reef, we designed our Italian menu to feature the regions of Italy:

• firm and creamy Burrata from Puglia
• tart Trofie with Pesto from Liguria
• rich Bistecca alla Fiorentina from Tuscany
• sweet Baba Limoncello from Campania

Several recipes were from The Oldways Table including Scaffata, a recipe for braised beans, peas and artichokes, developed by Lidia Bastianich and her group of 10 Chefettes at an Oldways Symposium in Puglia in 1995.

The wines paired with each course were wonderfully elegant, especially a Nero d’Avola, the black grape from Sicily, a Carginno from Sardinia, and a Moscato d’Asti from Piedmonte.

We had a terrific and enthusiastic crowd, only smaller in size due to the sudden appearance at Ocean Reef of Newt Gingrich to make a speech.  We’re sure that that crowd didn’t have half the fun that we had!

Viva Ocean Reef!

- Sara and Dun

How did we manage that, especially being such foodies? Simple, really. It is possible to eat amazing local food on the stringiest of shoestring budgets – you just need to know what to look for, which foods to target, and when to opt out. Country by country, here’s how it went…

Bruges, Belgium: Fries

Our first stop was in the precious little town of Bruges, which, as a part of Belgium, is known for its frites, or fries. These can be found in just about any restaurant, but the cheapest way to sample this delicious local cuisine is by street vendor. In the central Market Square there are two fry carts, or frituurs, each with a dizzying variety of dipping sauces and toppings. At the recommendation of the cart vendor Katie and I opted to try a meat sauced called (if memory serves) stuffelsaus – essentially beef stew, poured over the fries and are eaten with a small fork. For just a few Euros, we got a filling and incredibly authentic Belgian meal. Just don’t eat too many…it’s not exactly health food!

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Gouda

The next stop on the trip was Amsterdam, and after spending a day doing typically touristy things (and strangely enough, eating Chinese food) we decided to rent bikes and venture out into the surrounding countryside. Much to our delight, just outside the city we happened upon a local farmer’s market, selling, among many other things, real Dutch Gouda. Being huge cheese fanatics, we couldn’t resist buying a large chunk, which we ate along with the granola bars we’d packed while sitting in a nice grassy area near the market. You’ll notice the prices on the cheese are €4 or €3 a kilo – that’s roughly about $2-$4 a pound. If we hadn’t had to keep biking all day, I would have bought an entire wheel!

Berlin, Germany: Currywurst

You can’t go to Germany without trying some variety of wurst, so when we spotted a street vendor (you may begin to notice a theme here…) selling something called currywurst, we had to try one. The dish consists of a hot pork sausage, covered in a ketchup-based curry sauce and sprinkled with curry powder. It’s essentially a dressed up hot dog without a bun, and it is quite delicious. It was only about €1.50, and made for a tasty lunch in the middle of a long sightseeing day.

Budapest, Hungary: Chicken and potato w/ paprika (I think?)

Part of the fun of traveling in countries where you don’t speak the language – at least, in my mind – is sitting down in a restaurant, blindly pointing to the cheapest dish on the menu, and saying, “I’ll have one of…whatever that is, please.” Katie and I ended up with some really cheap and tasty meals that way! Our best was in Budapest, where we ended up with what appeared to be chicken and some form of potato, all covered in a delicious paprika sauce – much of the world’s paprika comes from Hungary, so we were delighted to get to try some. The trick here is to find a place that is inexpensive but still attracting some people who seem to know what they’re doing, and be brave!

In transit: Cook for yourself

Because we crammed so many places in such a short period of time, Katie and I spent a LOT of time on trains, even sleeping on them overnight on several occasions. This made finding food that wasn’t from an overpriced station vendor a bit tricky. Fortunately, we spent some of our nights in hostels, and were lucky enough to have a couple with communal kitchens for guest use. The night before we knew we were in for along train ride, we cooked up some Ramen noodles – you can find these anywhere! – and put them in a plastic bag in the kitchen refrigerator to take them with us in the morning, along with some plastic forks. Cold noodles out of a bag isn’t the greatest lunch, but it does the trick in a pinch.

Take home lessons so far:

• Look for street vendors selling authentic local food
• Check for farmers markets
• Don’t be afraid to eat something you can’t identify
• When you really need to be cheap – cook for yourself

Eating while traveling doesn’t have to be expensive, and hunting for cheap deals can be a part of the adventure! Stay tuned for Part Two!

- Molli

It’s that time again – the Winter Olympics are upon us, and I must confess, I am a full-fledged Olympics nerd. That’s right, I said it, and I am proud of it! The pure, unabashed smiles, tears, and cheers  – I have my TIVO set to capture every last minute of it. I don’t know how some of those athletes hold it together on the podium, because tears still come to my eye every time the American flag is raised. There is something awe-inspiring about seeing an 18-year-old kid from Anywhere, America, doing extraordinary things. These athletes are passionate, spirited, and determined, and doing it all for the love of the sport.

So how do these kids become Olympic athletes? Aside from their physical regime, what do they eat to make these performances possible? I have always assumed they had an army of trainers, measuring every ounce of food in order to achieve optimal fitness levels. State of the art supplements – perfectly mixed energy shakes – complex mixtures of proteins and carbs – this must be the only way to do it, right?

My assumptions were proven incorrect after reading a recent article in the newest edition of Sports Illustrated. The article bestowed the virtues of Apolo Ohno, and talked about his strategy for the 2010 games. He set out to reinvent himself, his technique and his body, by performing exhausting exercise routines and by shaving down his body fat. However, instead of shakes, supplements, and potions, Ohno sought out the basic elements of the Mediterranean Diet to achieve this goals. He relied upon oatmeal, salmon, brown rice, greens, fruit and pasta to furnish his body with the energy and strength he needed to succeed. Imagine that, despite all the advancements in nutrition science, the age-old ingredients of the Mediterranean Diet allowed Ohno to attain his competitive edge.

So then I started to think…wait a minute – maybe its not that hard. I like salmon. I like brown rice. I like them even more when eaten together!  Maybe, I too can be an Olympian? Just as the faint sounds of the anthem are heard, and I begin to visualize just where I will hang my medal…I snap out of it, and take my place on the couch, right in front of my TV for the next round of the Olympics.

- Erika

For more information on the Mediterranean Diet, visit the Mediterranean Foods Alliance website.

First, the tradition.  Sette pesci means “seven fishes,” and the Festa dei sette pesci, or Feast of Seven Fishes, is thought to have begun in southern Italy where fish and fish dishes are fresh and plentiful all year round.  This Christmas Even tradition usually involves a variety of seafood or even fresh water fish and mussels, with each course or dish using a different type.  You might have dried salt cod, then a light clam chowder, then baked lobster, fried eels, etcetera and so on.  Why seven fishes?  Well, I’ve heard theories that the seven fish dishes represent the seven virtues, or possibly represent the seven Sacraments, but I think one of the best things about Festa dei sette pesci is that it’s interpretive.  You don’t have to serve dried salt cod if you don’t want to, and some families serve seven, nine, or even thirteen different fish dishes.  It’s all about how your family chooses to celebrate the tradition.

In my family, we choose to experiment and try new recipes, and we’ve learned that portion control is the biggest factor in making it all the way through this dinner.  Even though dinner lasts for hours, beginning around 6:00 PM and ending well after midnight, keeping dishes small means you get to taste everything and enjoy it all.  Best of all, we don’t do it alone – we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have friends-who-are-family opt to celebrate Christmas Eve with us and bring a dish of their own creation.  This is a huge help, because the other Christmas Eve day tradition is a 4:00 AM trip to Philadelphia (more on that next month), and mise en place for five dishes after a wake-up time like that is much better than prepping for all seven.

Okay, enough about what we do, let me show you what we did.  Yes, that’s right, it’s time for food porn!  Now, I confess that I got caught up in the food and fun and missed taking pictures of two of the courses, so I hope you can forgive me for that. Here we go, dish by dish…

This was the first of our three appetizers, baked crab cakes served over caviar and herb pesto.  One of our friends-but-family guests brought these, and I’m not normally a crab cake fan, but these were phenomenal – and so light!

Next came salmon skewers, seasoned with a long-time favorite blend from Chef Paul Prudhomme.  His seasoning blends never contain MSG, which is a big deal for my mom and I, so they’ve been spice cabinet staples for years.  We skewered and seasoned the salmon early to let flavor develop, then popped them in the oven for a quick broil before serving each skewer over homemade tomato relish.  Then we broke out some seriously spicy shrimp that came from this Bobby Flay recipe.  Rather than serve the shrimp with tomato salad as this recipe suggests, we paired the fiery little devils with lightly pickled cucumber slices.  Since I don’t have a picture of those, I’ll show you part of the cheese spread as it was waiting to go out.

After appetizers, a prosecco toast, and some wine, we were herded to the table to enjoy small bowls of striper soup.  Disambiguation: This was soup made from striped bass, commonly called “stripe-ers,” not soup made from go-go dancers.  It was a very light chowder, and the guest who brought this dish actually caught and cleaned the striper himself out on the ocean a few weeks earlier.

You may notice my soup isn’t actually on the table.  That’s because The Man and I were busy putting together our contribution for the feast, and I just couldn’t leave my tasty little bowl behind.  And what did we prepare for sette pesci?  I’d been struggling with a few options, but finally chose scallop cevich, a dish I’ve always wanted to make.  The tricky thing with ceviche in my parent’s house is, we can’t use grapefruit, but that opened the door for experimentation.  So instead of grapefruit, we chose blood oranges, lemons, and limes after checking with a culinary RD friend of mine to be sure there would be enough acidity in the mix to chemically cook the scallops.  The ceviche turned out beautifully, and we served it over a bed of baby spinach and arugula topped with blood orange segments.

Dish six was one of my dad’s specialties – seafood risotto with tiny bits of tender lobster tail, paired with broccoli rabe.  Yeah, that one didn’t last long enough for a picture, sorry folks.  When my dad makes risotto, it comes out so creamy and mild that the spoon doesn’t stop shuttling between bowl and mouth till it’s gone.  Instead, I give you our final dish, which may have been my absolute favorite from the night.  My mom came up with idea of making monkfish “sliders” using naan, which is this leavened, oven-baked flatbread from India.  She also whipped up a tangy, spicy mayonnaise and we used some of the extra arugula to go with it.  You might think this was a heavy note to end on, but monkfish is a very light and flaky whitefish that paired very well with the chewy naan.  And again, portion control – these were sliders, little bites, not big ol’ slabs of fish on bread.  See how big the arugula looks?  Yup, tiny little fishy sliders…

There you have it!  Seven fish/water-dwelling-creature dishes.  And yes, we did have dessert afterwards.  There was a flourless chocolate cake, assorted cannoli, three different types of pies, various cookies, any or all of which would be washed down with the digestif of your choice.  For me, this meant a small but satisfying glass of utterly frigid limoncello.  A perfect ending to another perfect Festa dei sette pesci!

- Kara

We did exactly this in celebration of my birthday during my semester abroad in Paris. A few of my girlfriends and I picked up cheese, bread, fruit, and wine, and headed over to a park near the Eiffel Tower, where we spent a delightful afternoon eating, drinking, and people-watching.

The whole meal probably cost us all of $20, and provided the six of us hours of dining pleasure in the center of one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Do you know what you’d have to pay for a restaurant meal with this view??

There are a few important things to bear in mind when picnicking in a foreign country:

1. Make sure you know the open container laws – France doesn’t have one, so we were able to enjoy our wine al fresco, but many countries do not permit drinking of alcohol outside.
2. Be aware of your surroundings – don’t plant yourself in a sports field; don’t sit too close to car, bike, or foot traffic; look out for suspicious people, especially at night.
3. Take all your trash with you when you leave – there’s nothing worse than a litterbug!

As long as you’re mindful of where you are and what you’re consuming, a picnic is a wonderful way to get to know the food, people, and nature of a new place.

- Molli

PS. Oldways is going to France!

The second half of our Houston trip took us grocery shopping – not really shopping, but talking and sampling with shoppers at Central Market.

It was fascinating.  We spent six hours in the seafood department, right next to the cooking demo kitchen (a full kitchen!) where Central Market’s cooking staff prepared Wild Yukon River Salmon for shoppers to taste.

Ellen and Humphrey Keyes, Yupik fishermen from Emmonak, Alaska were on hand too – talking with customers about the subsistence and commercial fishing that they do.  Ellen also brought her ulu, a special knife that they use to cut and prepare the Yukon River salmon they catch for their family’s winter food.  (We’re sure the ulu was in her checked baggage!)

I found it really interesting to talk with customers about the Wild Yukon River Salmon.  Many were committed to wild salmon only, some had no idea how to cook salmon while others shared their favorite recipes with us.  Others were confused about the phrase “previously frozen,” which really can be a positive – frozen immediately at sea in order to deliver fresher flavor to consumers.   Overall, most customers were fascinated to hear the story of Emmonak:  how the community has been revitalized through the sustainable fishing, and how the Yukon River salmon has incredibly high levels of healthy omega-3s, because it is caught at the mouth of the Yukon River, before swimming hundreds of miles upstream to spawn.

We weren’t really surprised….these are the exact reasons we selected Wild Alaskan Yukon River Salmon to be part of the Oldways’ Traditional American Table initiative, celebrating the old ways of eating and living here in the U.S.

Oh and before I go, here’s a tip from our friend in Seattle, Marti Castle-Bickford:  The simplest and best way to prepare Wild Yukon River Salmon is to sprinkle the fish with sea salt and pepper plus a bit of olive oil and let it sit for awhile. Then sear it meat side down, and then turn it and cook it the rest of the way either in a pan or in the oven until it is translucent, about 10-15 minutes, depending upon thickness.

What’s your favorite way to cook salmon?

- Sara

When one of my two college boys ambles into the kitchen in search of breakfast (or more accurately, lunch) after a night out on the town with his buddies, I usually think of eggs, and, if I have time, I’ll offer to make him an Oven Pancake, or an O.P., as it’s known in our house. His eyes will light up as much as they can.

One of the biggest milestones in my egg history has been nailing the O. P.

Years ago, I came across a recipe for Dutch Baby, a mixture of eggs, milk, and flour, baked in a frying pan in the oven and sweetened with powdered sugar and cinnamon. I tried it one Sunday morning with spotty success: it emerged from the oven looking puffy and interesting, but it stuck to the pan and resembled pieces of a run- over popover by the time I had scraped it out and arranged it on a plate. My oldest son, Eli, who was about three at the time, loved it.

So I kept experimenting.

And now, I can make a killer O.P. every time.  It’s incredibly easy to make and it looks truly awesome. The secrets?  You need a perfectly seasoned cast iron frying pan. Let the batter sit for several minutes before you pour it into the pan, so any tiny lumps you can’t see dissolve. Preheat the oven and wait until it gets hot before you put the O.P. in. And be prepared to spend a good 25 minutes from start to finish. There’s no rushing an O.P.

Here’s the recipe:

The Upland O.P.

• 2 eggs
• ½ cup flour
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 400 ° F. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat them with a whisk until they’re foamy. Add the flour and the milk and beat until smooth. Pour the olive oil into the frying pan and add the butter. Put the pan in the oven for about 2 minutes, until the butter melts. Put the pan on the stovetop and tilt it, making sure the butter and oil are blended and the bottom and most of the sides are greased. Pour the batter into the pan. It will look like this:

Set a timer for 18 minutes and put the pan into the oven. Don’t peek before the buzzer rings. Check the O.P. after 18 minutes. It should puff up and be lightly browned around the edges. Let it go for a few more minutes if it isn’t brown.  Using a spatula, gently lift the O.P. out of the pan and set it down on a dinner plate. It should come right out in one lovely piece.   Dust it with a little powdered sugar if you wish and eat it at once.

And here’s Eli, getting in touch with his inner appetite.

For sure, amazing things happen when you bite into an O.P.

- Georgia

(photo via Vanilla Swirl)

There’s no reason for a sandwich to be an after thought. Think of it as an opportunity to put together a well-balanced meal, for now or for later. Wonderfully portable, whether tucked into a lunch box or a picnic hamper, or sitting within reach on a long car ride, a sandwich can also be a quick and nutritious late-night supper.

The key to keeping it healthy is using delicious whole grain bread or a whole grain wrap and a robust filling that’s high in flavor and healthy fats. To start, spread the bread with Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, mustard, peanut butter, guacamole, hummus, tapenade, tzatziki, or baba ghannouj instead of mayonnaise, or use any of these ingredients as its own tasty layer. Add tuna, smoked salmon, sliced chicken or turkey, a bit of cheese, olives, roasted or grated, raw vegetables, sliced cucumber, lettuce, spinach and/or sprouts.

Turkey Hummus Sandwich
*Makes 2 sandwiches*

Shop for your favorite flavor of hummus as the centerpiece for this sandwich. There are many choices: artichoke and kalamata olive, roasted red pepper, horseradish, zesty lemon, and cilantro and jalapeno, among others.

Ingredients

• 2 whole grain pita breads
• 2 tablespoons hummus
• 4 thin slices turkey
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 small tomato, thinly sliced
• 2 handfuls baby spinach leaves
• 1 carrot, peeled and grated

Preparation

1. Cut each pita in half. Tuck one half inside the other and repeat, so you have a double thickness to hold the filling for 2 sandwiches.
2. Spread in inside halves with a layer of hummus and fill each pocket with half of the remaining ingredients.

Recipe created for Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods Inc.