After my experiment with adding a vegetable with cheese to create a sandwich mixture turned into a successful green grilled cheese (check out the comment section over there–a lot of readers have tried the green grilled cheese with their kiddos and they loved it), I realized that I could use this concept with other vegetables and other cheeses. Meghan loves sandwiches, and what a great way to get extra veggies in her.
I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m all about hiding vegetables in my kid’s food. That’s not really my thang. What I do know, however, is that according to Ruth Yaron, author of Super Baby Foods, our children should be getting 4-6 servings of vegetables every day, including at least one serving from the “super green” group. So even if we present a number of vegetables to our children in their fresh, natural form, they still may not be getting as much as they should. So I add them to sandwiches and I’m not going to feel bad about it.
For this one I used some cream cheese and cooked broccoli. Add a few spices and you’ve got yourself a simple, tasty sandwich spread that would also be great as a spread for crackers or as a dip for chips or fresh vegetables. While a cream cheese sandwich doesn’t really appeal to me the way it did for Meghan, I found myself using the spread as a dip for my baby carrots and loving it.
I learned my lesson with the green grilled cheese and let Meghan be my helper. She wanted to eat the cream cheese straight from package. Confession: I let her.
Broccoli and Cream Cheese Sammy
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 sandwiches 1x
Description
A delicious and kid approved way of getting some extra veggies into your diet
Ingredients
- 2 ounces organic cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (mine was overflowing) of cooked broccoli
- 1/4 teaspoon tarragon
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 slices of whole grain bread
Instructions
- Put the cream cheese, broccoli, and spices in a food processor. {I used my mini}
- Process until smooth and creamy.
- Spread between two sandwich slices and serve. Extra spread can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Sandwich
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 sandwich
- Calories: 314
- Sugar: 3.5g
- Sodium: 114mg
- Fat: 12.5g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Protein: 11.5g
Meghan loved this and gobbled it up.
Since she had a green smoothie with spinach for breakfast, she had more than her requirement of the super green veggies for the day. Whew!
Question: Do your kids get 4-6 servings of vegetables a day? If you don’t have kids, do YOU get enough veggies?
How long does this cream cheese mixture stay fresh?
It will stay fresh for a few days in the fridge.
Ok – this is genius and I would have NEVER thought of it. Looks yummy too!
How did I miss this post?!
I LOVE this idea!
I seriously LoVe this idea!!
This looks DELICIOUS! I’m going to try it on my brother…he’s 16. Haha, but I think he will love it 🙂
He’s a growing boy–he needs his veggies! 🙂
Maryea, this recipe is genius. Simple and pretty too. I am loving the idea of green cream cheese. Perfect for St. Patricks day!
Thanks, Marla!
I wonder if you do it with raw broccoli?
Interesting! That would make this even quicker if you don’t have cooked broccoli on hand. Healthier, too! I’m going to have to give it a try!
Such a great idea. It looks delish!
I am totally making these for the kids on St. Patrick’s Day!
Great idea! I’ve had a lot of “green” recipes lately. 🙂
That looks really good! And Meghan is cute as always.
Aw, thanks, Lee!
Yum, this looks really good! I want to try it.
I just want to squeeze her!!! She’s so cute. (love the polka dots!!!) I bet cooking with her is so much fun. 🙂 This is the second cool cream cheese sandwhich idea I’ve seen this week. I’m thinking my kids will love these!
Neat idea. My boys really like broccoli so I will have to try this one out on them.
This looks great. I am going to give it a try. I think I would prefer it as a dip but I will try it both ways with my 3 /12 yr old. She loved making and eating the green grilled cheese!
This looks delicious! And, we loved the green grilled cheese. This would be a great one to pack in either of my kids’ lunchbox. Thanks!
Love this! This is a great idea to pack in my kids lunches for daycare!
Love that idea 🙂 I have such a hard time getting those veggies in for Carter because he just won’t eat them UNLESS they are in a smoothie or hidden. I think he may eat this if he can help me prep it. I wonder if you could add steamed carrots to the mix….hmmm.
Steamed carrots would be interesting, too! Let me know if you try it.