Sandwich Tuesday: Low Carb Wrapless Smoked Turkey and Bacon Avocado "Sandwich" and the Slider that Started It All

Happy Sandwich Tuesday, LilyOnTheLam.com Readers!

When I decided to first dip my toe into the low carb cooking and baking world, I wanted to start with low carb food blog 24-7 Low Carb Diner's recipe for a Bacon, Avocado Grilled Cheese Slider on low carb coconut flour bread.  However, the avocado I purchased was rock hard and needed a few days to ripen.  I chose 24-7 Low Carb Diner's Piccolo Panini-Italian Slider recipe for my very first low carb baking experiment instead.  It was delicious and inspired my "Sandwich Tuesday" series on my blog with various seasoned coconut flour breads.  

I had made a batch of coconut flour bread seasoned with chipotle pepper powder, cumin and jalapeño flakes.  It was excellent - smoky and almost whole wheat tasting.  However, I did not know how well it would freeze.  I let the loaf sit out on the counter for the day to dry out.  I then sliced it and placed each slice between pieces of foil and froze in a zip-lock plastic bag.  

Several days later, I pulled out two slices of my Smoky Jalapeño coconut flour bread and placed them in a toaster oven for a few minutes.  I wanted to warm and lightly toast the bread.

I thought it was time to try 24-7 Low Carb Diner's Bacon, Avocado, Grilled Cheese Slider.  I pan-fried two slices of center cut bacon and then browned one side of each coconut bread piece in the bacon fat.

After pan-frying one side of the bread, I flipped over one piece of bread and folded half a slice of white Vermont aged cheddar on the browned side of the bread.  I then folded one slice of crispy bacon on the cheese.  I placed a large square of avocado and the other half of the slice of cheddar on top and then the remaining bread slice, browned side toward the cheese.  I carefully flipped over the sandwich and toasted the other side until the cheese was melty.

This Bacon, Avocado, Grilled Cheese Slider is less than 200 calories (depending on the calorie content in the ingredients you are using) because instead of slicing the coconut flour bread into 4 pieces, I sliced it into 8 slices and used two for my sandwich.

The sandwich was delicious - the sharp cheddar, smoky bacon, smooth as silk avocado and the heat of the smoky jalapeño bread worked very well together.  This is one flavorful sandwich.  The freezing actually seemed to make the coconut flour bread even more whole wheat bread-like.  I think the process of completely cooling the loaf and letting it dry out on the counter, then further drying out in my freezer, toasting in the toaster oven then pan frying in bacon fat really made the "bread" crispier and toast-like.  I know it sounds like a complicated process, but it's not as involved as it sounds!  I was happy to find that freezing did not negatively affect the coconut flour bread, because I like trying new flavor combinations and then putting the rest of the bread in the freezer.  These frozen sliced loaves are great for last minute canapés for entertaining or a quick snack.   

(Word of Warning:  I also made a coconut flour bread with oregano and 1 teaspoon of Parmesan cheese.  It smelled great and tasted pretty good for a "non-bread."  I froze the remainder of the loaf for 2 days, then when I went to reheat it - it was all crumbly and fell apart.  It also had a weird bitter taste that it did not have before I froze it.  So while I had great success with freezing the sliced Smoky Jalapeño bread, for some reason my Italian seasoned bread with a hint of Parmesan failed miserably after I froze it.  Was it the cheese?  I have no clue.  More experimentation is needed!)  

Gorgeous little sharp smoky slider!

Since I only used one slice of center cut bacon for my slider, I had an extra piece of bacon leftover.  I took three slices of smoked turkey, cut one piece of center cut bacon in half and topped with avocado slices that had been sprinkled with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a healthy dash of fresh ground black pepper.

I folded the smoked turkey like a taco and ate this "mock" sandwich.  The smoked turkey, crispy smoky bacon and smooth avocado with the tart lime juice was a perfect handheld "sandwich."  It was around 100 calories.  I very much enjoyed the around 200 calorie bacon, avocado, grilled cheese slider, but to be honest I found the loaded avocado "wrap less" smoked turkey sandwich to be more satisfying. Two of these easy "smoked turkey as the wrap bread" mock sandwiches would have been very filling.  It also would have been the same amount of calories as one of the bacon, avocado grilled cheese sliders.  So if you're craving a sharp cheese and bacon sandwich, try the slider.  If you're looking for a more filling lunch, try two of the simple to throw together turkey "wrap less" wraps below.  It is lower calorie than most frozen "diet" entrees.  

However if you're watching your sodium, instead of two of these turkey "wrap less" wraps you may want to try one with a side salad.  Equally as filling, however less sodium.

   
I am happy to report two successful low carb sandwiches for "Sandwich Thursday."  Try them out and let me know what you think in the comments section.  Enjoy!

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