Having gained nearly 25 pounds between us over the last two weeks, my partner and I decided to keep Christmas dinner simple this year. We didn’t have any dressing, vegetables with cheese sauce, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, scalloped oysters, yeast rolls, mashed potatoes or gravy. Nope. Just roasted turkey breast, cranberry sauce, and green beans, lightly seasoned straight out of the can.
The best thing about roasting a turkey is having enough leftover for sandwiches. I prefer mostly white meat, plenty of mayo, and an optional leaf of iceberg lettuce on white bread. On occasion, I enjoy a healthier version with cranberry sauce instead of the mayo.
White bread was an early casualty of our healthy lifestyle. We switched to whole wheat loaves a long time ago. Last year we replaced whole wheat bread with multi-grain wheat thins. Although definitely better for me, these substitutes fall short of the overall experience of eating a sandwich made with white bread.
At Thanksgiving I couldn’t stand the thought of yet another mediocre turkey sandwich. I broke down and bought a loaf of Sunbeam. The resulting sandwich was excellent. Bravo! Encore!
We ran out of turkey halfway through the loaf. Since then, that half a loaf of white bread has sat on our kitchen counter, untouched.
Christmas Eve, the turkey breast was cooling on top of the oven. We decided to slice off enough for a couple of sandwiches. As I reached for the multi-grain thins, my hand stopped over that month-old loaf of white bread. I picked it up and opened the plastic bag.
When I was a kid, unless you made your own at home, white bread was the only choice. Within a day or two, it got stale, but was still good enough for toast. Unless you froze it, green mold sprouted on the bread a day or two later and you had to throw it away. Considering the age on this loaf, I expected the worst.
I sniffed. No moldy smell. I looked inside the bag. No mold. I picked up a slice of bread and was amazed to find it as soft and pliable as that long ago day when we’d purchased the loaf. Amazing!
My turkey sandwich on white bread was excellent. Again, we ran out of turkey before we ran out of bread. There’s about a quarter of a loaf left. I’m saving it for ham sandwiches at Easter, here in…
My Glass House