Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: La Fuji Mama

by The Meal Makeover Moms on August 3rd, 2009

Last week as we sat in Janice’s home office plotting out our wish list of blog posts for the coming weeks, we realized we had not handed out a Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal in quite some time. After surfing around some of our favorite food blogs, we discovered a new one (for us) called La Fuji Mama and a recipe for Hammie Sammie Cupcake Bites. But before we tell you about the recipe, we need to tell you a little bit about the blog.

La Fuji Mama, hosted by Rachael, is a blog where East meets West. It’s a home cooking blog dedicated to exploring the relationship between food and culture. Rachael’s recipes are a fusion of different tastes influenced by the variety of places she has lived – Japan, Paris, and the US – and the people she has met. She has two little girls, “Squirrel” and “Bug.”

When we first saw this recipe (by the way, we linked to it from Gourmet Mom on the Go), we knew we had a winner on our hands. It was so cute and looked like a nibble our kids would all like. The recipe – a tiny sandwich playing dress-up as a cupcake – is made with bread, ham, cheese, cucumber, and a “frosting” of cream cheese and sour cream. It’s quite versatile (we actually made a few modifications based on the ingredients we had on hand) and would be great as a snack, lunch or party food. Based on all that Hammie Sammie Cupcake Bites has going for it, we have awarded La Fuji Mama with our Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award. Here’s the recipe!

Hammie Sammie Cupcake Bites (from La Fuji Mama)
Makes 24 to 30 Sammies

Equipment:

  • Soda bottle cap
  • Toothpick
  • Mini cupcake liners

Ingredients:

  • Focaccia bread, thinly sliced (about 1/4″): I just cut a loaf into smaller pieces and then sliced those pieces horizontally into very thin slices. If your bread is sliced too thick, it will get stuck in the bottle cap when being cut and will be too thick for your sandwich bites
  • Provolone cheese, thinly sliced
  • Ham, thinly sliced
  • Cucumber, very thinly sliced (optional)

Frosting:
Makes about 1 ΒΌ cups

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1. To make the frosting, thoroughly mix ingredients and then refrigerate for about 15 minutes before using.

2. Using the soda bottle cap as a cookie cutter, cut circles from the bread, cheese, ham, and cucumber. For each sandwich you will need 2 circles of bread, 1 circle of cheese, 1 circle of ham, and 1 circle of cucumber (if you are using it). Occasionally you may have a stubborn piece of something that won’t come out of the cap. Just use your toothpick to gently loosen one of the edges and it will pop right out.

3. Spread a very thin layer of “frosting” on the bread circles and place half of these circles in the bottom of the cupcake papers. Then place a layer of ham, cheese, and cucumber on top of the bread. Finally, top with the other bread circles (frosting side down).

4. Pipe “frosting” on top of sandwiches (I used a small star tip).

Here are a few additional cooking notes from The Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen:

> Since all we had on hand were the larger cupcake liners, we decided to use them instead of the mini ones. To cut the bread, cheese, and ham, we used the lid of Janice’s oregano jar, and it worked wonders.
> We used 100% whole wheat bread and got 4 rounds per slice.
> We were in a bit of a hurry, so we used our frosting to create little Xs and Os on top of each “cupcake.” As a result, we didn’t need a full recipe for the frosting. We also used a plastic Ziptop bag with a tiny hole cut at one corner for piping.
> We opted for a reduced-fat cream cheese and sour cream and the results were still rich and creamy.
> To make this more of a lunch versus a snack or party appetizer, you could use two slices of ham and two slices of cheese per sandwich.
> We added the optional cucumber, and the flavor reminded Liz of the tea sandwiches her mother-in-law makes when she visits her in England.

We’re glad we found La Fuji Mama and thank her for such a fun recipe. It’s something we plan to pack for Simon and Leah’s school lunches in September. We’ll just have to wait and see how the “frosting” holds up when and if those lunchboxes get jostled!!

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8 Comments | Filed Under Awards, Lunch 

8 Responses to “Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: La Fuji Mama”

  1. Fuji Mama on August 3rd, 2009

    Thank you so much! I love the Xs and Os on the top of yours–very cute idea! I also love the kid pics!

  2. Pam on August 3rd, 2009

    Very cute and fun! I may have to try it…we are in a lunch rut!

  3. Toddler Nutrition on August 4th, 2009

    Great Makeover sandwiches. Surely kids will have it.

  4. Miranda on August 9th, 2009

    My 5 year old daughter and I just made these – she had so much fun! She loves them. It was her idea to use the frilly toothpicks to hold them together. We will be making these again for my son’s 1st birthday party this weekend. Thanks so much for this fun recipe.

  5. Adena on August 9th, 2009

    Okay, Moms, here’s a challenge for you! A friend just turned me on to this recipe from the Parade Magazine for ice cream sandwiches
    http://www.parade.com/export/sites/default/food/recipes/parade/090809-simply-delicious-ice-cream-sandwiches.html
    720 calories a piece! Yow!

  6. The Meal Makeover Moms on August 10th, 2009

    Hi Miranda:
    We’re happy to hear your daughter loved this recipe. The toothpicks are a cute idea! Let us know how the “cupcakes” work out for your son’s party. And if you happen to take pictures, don’t hesitate to send a few our way at moms@mealmakeovermoms.com.

  7. The Meal Makeover Moms on August 10th, 2009

    Hi Adena:
    We’re up for the challenge. This recipe would certainly be fun to make over. A few tweaks come to mind: (1) Replace the butter with a healthier fat such as canola oil, (2) Use a light ice cream — vanilla, chocolate, chocolate chip, etc, (3) Reduce the portion size.
    When we give this recipe a makeover, we’ll post it to the blog!!

  8. Vicky Thornton on September 6th, 2009

    I did this for Aidan (7 yrs) he first week back to school. My husband kinda raised his eyebrows at them – like “Really? He’s a boy. What are you doing?” When Aidan saw them he let out an enthusiastic “cool!” and has been requesting them every since!

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