Frontega Chicken Sandwich Remake and Avocado Fries

So this week I am making a remake of one of my favorite sandwiches (yes, I said sandwiches). If you know me very well, you may know that sandwiches aren't my favorite food. My husband on the other hand loves them, so I try to find ones I really like and make them at home. Most of my favorite sandwiches are warm grilled varieties.  My work is right next to Panera so if I need to buy lunch, I usually end up at Panera and the Frontega Chicken Sandwich is one of their sandwiches I really enjoy! Hopefully you will find this easy enough and you can save yourself some cash and make it at home! 

Next up, is my avocado fries. I saw a picture of avocado fries on a new website I am addicted to called Pinterest. It is an online bulletin board where people share pictures of basically anything they like - I think of it as an electronic vision board, if you are familiar with that term. I love to look at home decor and design pictures and of course food. I post all of the pictures from my blog and then also get to see others work. The great thing is when someone 'pins' a picture, it links back to the original author so appropriate credit is received. One item I saw a few weeks ago was avocado fries.  Unfortunately, when I tried to link back this time, it must have been 'pinned' incorrectly, because it took me to a blog about Christmas. I figured I would just guess what she did. If you don't like avocados, try portabella mushrooms - I have done this many times. If you don't like either, back to the traditional spud fries for you I guess. 

Better Bonus Tips: Avocados are not only delicious, but have great health benefits, which you can read more about here. More on this in a later blog.

Frontega Chicken Sandwich Remake

Inspired by Panera's Frontega Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread
Chicken
Basil
Red onion
Tomatoes
Mozzarella

More on the ingredients. You get to be flexible and do what you want, but here is what I did:

• I like sourdough, but use your favorite bread or what you have around.
• I used oven roasted deli chicken breast, but feel free to shred a chicken breast and use that. 
• I have made this a few times and sometimes I leave the basil as the entire leaf, other times I cut into small ribbons. If you can't remember how to chiffonade basil (make tiny ribbons), see instructions here.
• I decided to do half slices of red onion.
• Thinly slice the tomato.
• If you don't have or want to use mozzarella, try monterey jack. I like shredded, but if you have slices at home, use those.

Lay out your bread slices and layer ingredients. A lot of people like to butter both sides of the bread, but I find spraying the pan with oil spray works just fine.

Grill using a panni maker or grill pan, that is sprayed with oil spray. If you don't have either, you can use a skillet. Place the sandwich in the skillet and then place another smaller skillet on top of the sandwich. Adding a can of soup or veggies from your pantry will provide pressure to cook the sandwich, just like a panni maker would. The only difference is if you use the skillet method, you won't have the grill lines, but it will still be nice and crunchy.  Make sure to watch the bread while it is cooking and flip over once one side is browned.

Enjoy your homemade Frontega Chicken Sandwich with a side of my avocado fries below.

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Avocado Fries

Inspired by Pinterest (original blog: EXPRESS - O)

Ingredients:

Avocado (1 - 2 depending on size and how many fries you want)

Lemon, 1

Panko bread crumbs (you may be catching on that I love to use these)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice avocado into thin strips.

Squeeze lemon juice onto all sides of avocado slices and then add the avocado slices to the bowl of panko bread crumbs to coat edges.  A lot of people use an egg wash and flour combination, but the lemon juice helps the panko adhere well enough for me. Some benefits of using lemon instead of the egg wash and flour is the lemon will add great flavor and help the avocado from turning brown, plus a little healthier.

 

Spread out onto a greased baking sheet. Spray the tops of the fries with oil spray. Cook until brown and crispy, 20-30 minutes. 

Salt when warm out of the oven and enjoy these light, creamy, buttery delicious fries!

 

Better Bonus Tip: Next time I am going to try adding some seasonings and parmesan cheese. Maybe even try a dipping sauce. Try these modifications if you would like!

~Ashley
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