Hi Everyone,
You already know I am a huge sandwich person, I swear I could eat anything sandwiched between two pieces of bread. Mmmm, bread! Yes, bread is my weakness!! Anyway I had the sandwich craving and I didn’t want Subway or an ordinary sandwich shop sandwich. I wanted something with flavor, pizzazz and something that would make me want more! Well, I did it! I think I may actually like this sandwich better than my Caprese Sandwich, which is just pure craziness!!
This sandwich is one of those wing it / use up what is in the refrigerator sandwiches. I had some basil that was standing on its last legs, so I decided to make a pesto with it, and by mistake I added a tad too much lemon. When I mixed my basil into the fat-free mayonnaise, the flavor of the lemon and basil was incredible. I thought this would be perfect with zucchini!! So out came the skillet and the zucchini!
I added some cooking spray to my pan, added some peppers and onions, because you know I put that stuff on everything, cooked that a tad bit then in went the zucchini. I didn’t add any seasoning to it because of all the flavor the basil had. Once I cooked the veggies, I added it to my sweet french baguette. I have said this before, but I highly recommend doing this. Hollow out your bread! Just cut your bread in half and pull out all the bread on the inside so you have a nice shell, basic all your eating is the crust. Then you have a ton of room to fill all of your ingredients, plus it’s fewer calories and less carbs. I do this all of the time when I make a sandwich. On this sandwich I went from 197 grams to 128. I just saved over 100 calories!
I added just a tad amount of mozzarella cheese because I didn’t want to go to high in calories. Since this was dinner I was looking at about a 400 calorie meal and this sandwich with pesto and all came in at 403. Boy am I good! 🙂 Almost as good as this sandwich! lol, just kidding! I placed my sandwich in the broiler for about 4 minutes and it was perfect! I couldn’t wait to eat it!! It’s creamy, lemony, savory from the basil and the vegetables are tender and hot. This was my perfect sandwich!!
- Serves: 1 large Sandwich
- Serving size: 1 Sandwich
- For Pesto
- 25 Basil Leaves
- 1 tsp. garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. mayonnaise, fat free
- Vegetables:
- Cooking Spray
- ⅓ cup (74 grams) onion, sliced thin
- ⅓ cup (48 grams) sweet bell pepper, sliced thin
- 1 medium (100 grams) zucchini, sliced thin
- 6" french baguette (128 grams)
- 3 slices, tomato, cut thin
- .03 grams mozzarella cheese, lite
- To make pesto; in a mini food processor add basil, garlic, parmesan cheese and lemon juice. Process until all combined and chopped. This will not be creamy. Place pesto in a bowl and add mayonnaise. Mix until creamy smooth. Add salt & pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Spray a medium non-stick skillet with cooking spray, add onions and peppers. Cook until slightly tender, about 2 minutes; add zucchini; cook until soft about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If the vegetables start to stick to the pan, add a touch of olive oil or chicken stock)
- Slice baguette horizontally, and carefully, pull the center of the bread so it's hollow and you have basically just the crust of the bread.
- Add pesto to both the insides of the bread and top with vegetables; tomato slices and top with cheese.
- Place in a broiler on the lower shelf; cook until the cheese is melted, about 4 minutes.
I will tell you this sandwich is pretty filling and I can guarantee if you have this, you will be stuffed! I did what I could to finish mine and I wouldn’t have a problem doing that again. If you’re not too much into bread, this would also be amazing in a wrap!! Heck, serve it as a side dish with some chicken. Ok, my brain is getting crazy ideas again! I love it! i think with that said, I better get going!
Have a great weekend!
Toodles,
Jennifer
You can pack my lunch any day!
Ahhhh thanks Chris, but I think you have it the other way around, you need to pack my lunch, oh and breakfast and dinner too! 🙂
This looks absolutely delicious! So springy!
Thank you Marie! My CSA people said that zucchini is growing like crazy this year so expect a lot of zucchini. You have to love Spring!
Like the mayo idea! Lemon and pesto, YUMMMMM! Looks nice and toasty too!
Thank you Sophia! I really enjoyed this sandwich! It wasn’t what I expected, but it’s better!!
I love sandwiches, too! And oh my lord, this has pesto, my favorite ingredient, hands down! Pulling out the bread is such a good idea, too…you always need more room for the fillings 🙂
I agree the more room for filling the better!!
Beautiful sandwich!
Ahhhh thank you Shea! I love the name of your blog!
Jennifer, thanks for stoppping by and adding your link to the “plummy” collection. Cheers
Thanks Carole for inviting me! I’m sorry I don’t have any plum recipes, but now you give me something new to try!
This just goes to show you don’t need meat to make a hearty sandwich! This looks so good and I love the lemon pesto!
Thanks Stephanie! This is the first time I ever had lemon pesto and I love it!!!
Ohhhhh drool. I had a panini that looked similar yesterday at a restaurant and I’m still enamored, but I bet yours is even more amazing with the lemon and this bread!!!
I love finding new uses for zucchini – especially because the CSA shares are about to start! This sandwich is just so summery!
I know what you mean! I love zucchini and I love how versatile of a vegetable it is!