Sure it counts! I mean, sure meatloaf sandwiches are a known type of sandwich, but meatloaf is a stand alone dish as well, so it counts. My meatloaf is too soft to make a good sandwich, but I've tried it. :) I once had a clean the fridge type of meatloaf sandwich which had firm meatloaf, hard crunchy toast (maybe retoasted garlic bread, but I'm not sure), provolone melted inside and a big ladleful of Bolognese over the top. I think the Bolognese stole the show, or at least that was the most memorable part. I'm sure your meatloaf sandwiches are really good given that they're your preferred way. I should make meatloaf...

I should say that the Kung Pao beef sandwiches were pick-up-able and didn't fall apart.

I make burritos and wraps more often than I make sandwiches.

I think Kung Pao beef would be good in a rice paper wrapper. I like rice paper wrappers because they keep much longer than tortillas, since they are dehydrated.

I'm just amazed that you get so many vegetables in your kung pao beef. lol!

plllog, I did not know that you had a thing for sandwiches! Thinking about it... I guess I don't eat sandwiches very often, and then it's usually tuna. But I do love a sandwich when it's made on really good bread... or a something akin to really good bread... like a ciabatta panini! Otherwise, there's no point for the sandwich. ;0)

I like sandwiches a lot and make them often and not just for lunch - breakfast and dinner sandwiches are darn tasty as well! But I generally do not use them as a carrier for leftovers unless leftovers like roast beef, roast chicken, meatloaf, etc. Or roasted veg, which are great additions to a panini.

For me, the bread is a critical component and you have to have the right bread for the right sandwich. The condiments are also a key component and those vary by the type of sandwich.

I would have a hard time with leftover Chinese or pasta or other casserole type items in a sandwich but that is really a personal preference. I prefer more traditional sandwich fillings ;-)

plllog, I am a good cook, but have never made a meatloaf I like... and so I get mine at TJs. It is in the fresh food section and is already baked. When I get it home I immediately cut it into 6 slices, return to the container, separate a little, and immediately freeze. I remove a single slice as needed, frequently for a sandwich made on a brioche bun with some BBQ sauce on top of the meat. YUM! I think I'll have one for lunch!

There is the old story maybe true maybe not that Omar Sherrif ended his affair with Julie Christie because of her liking of ”chip butties” ... translates to ”fries sandwiches”. Confession, when I lived in England I tried one, once only.

LOL! Neely, I'll bet it‘s like an American being faced with a Vegemite sandwich, or people from some other parts of the world faced with PBJ. Comfort food if you're used to it, not food if you're not. I did have a fantastic sandwich in Greece a long time ago, which had fries in it, but it was mostly meat and veg. I can't even imagine just fries! But then my mother had few food rules, but one was no starch with starch and no fat with fat. That is, no spaghetti sandwiches, which my friends all ate, and she reigned down the law on my father when he made me a cream cheese and butter sandwich when I was tiny, though she allowed cream cheese and jam.

Kate, that makes great sense, but you're right, it doesn't quite count when the meatloaf is purchased as sandwich filling. OTOH, it's still a good sandwich!

Gardengal, I did once try pasta in a sandwich, but I’m not sure that one should above the age of 7. I've put salad with a little vermicelli or ditalini in, and it's fine if it's mostly cabbage and stuff with a little pasta, but the textures of bread and pasta fight if nothing else. I consider things like you said if I'm serving sandwiches, but for plain old lunch it's more like what bread is out? Will this go? Okay!

PM, I think it's a California thing about the vegetables. Sometimes, Chinese restaurants just put a bunch of broccoli or bok choi in the container/plate with the dish, other times the vegetables are incorporated, as in the Kung Pao from this place. We love our vegetables here, and they help improve the ratios on the nutrition ratings.

I almost always have good bread. :) What's the point in not?

Peanut butter and jelly are greatly improved through sandwichification :-)

I’m interested in the idea of vegetables in sandwich form. For example, how about asparagus spears, crisp lettuce, and sliced tomato between toasted and buttered bread. Sort of an ALT.

John, I'd eat that ALT!

There was a cafe that a working lunch partner liked, which had great sandwiches, but the best was a vegetarian one, with slabs of zucchini, carrot, etc, alfalfa sprouts and other goodness, but I needed more concentated protein, so I got mine with bacon. Awesome! Another place had real sourdough toast spread with white goat cheese and piled high with slabs of grilled vegetables. Slabs are key. Eggplant, zucchini, carrot, onion, bell pepper, plus whatever. SO good. Easy to substitute tofu cheese, but it does need that texture to tie it all together. I also make my own vegetable sandwiches, but since they're ad hoc, they're rarely slabs, and go sliding out and are a big mess, though tasty. So if you weight down the spinach in a bread shaped, even stack, you get a carpet of spinach, which is a fab basis for a sliced hard boiled egg sandwhich. Or fried egg. Or omelette. With salty melted cheese. The other day, I was assembling tacos, and got all kinds of goodies in mine. It was delicious, but after I finished it, I realized it was all vegetables and I’d forgotten the meat!

Go for it!

I do not have peanut butter in my house, and I also do not have jelly in my house. We always have almonds and cashews, however.

I like vegetable sandwiches, however. I used to make sandwiches with fried slices of tofu, combined with avocado, tomato, Monterey Jack cheese, and alfalfa sprouts in the 1970s. The first sandwich I had like this was in Santa Cruz in 1972.

I do have peanut butter in my house as well as other nut butters from time to time - they are a good source of protein and other nutrients. Research shows that people who regularly eat nuts and nut butter, including peanut butter, are less likely to develop heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

I also have jellies now and again (pepper jelly, mint jelly for lamb) but prefer jams and preserves for their textures. And not just in a PB&J - they are a tasty addition to other sandwich ingredients as well.

I like veg in my sammies too but also like a protein - a chicken Caesar sandwich with avocado is a fav. Also a panini filled with roasted veg and goat cheese.

I'm reminded of an "invention" I made many years ago. As a little kid, I never had a peanut butter sandwich. We had peanut butter, used in other ways, but PBJ never appealed to us. Then, sometime in the last 20 years, I bought some almond butter on spec. I had a loaf of delicious dark whole grain bread and thought to try it with almond butter. It needed something bright, so I added some blackcurrant jam. It was lovely. But I still didn't like the peanut butter version. :) I'm fine with peanut butter cookies, Peanut butter cups if the chocolate is good, Thai peanut sauce (coconut free), fancy Asian compound peanut butter on rustic bread, etc. I just don't like PBJ.

I like nut butters, but I don't like peanut butter, which is not a nut butter. I've never liked peanuts either. When I make a Thai dish that calls for peanuts, I use cashews instead, partly because I always have cashews on hand (and never peanuts), and partly because that is what I like..

Growing up, we had pecans all around our house plus an English walnut and black walnut tree in the side yard. We also had a huge pecan orchard on the other side of the road from our house, and that was one of our cash crops. I never did really get tired of eating pecans, especially since they were free, and I was surprised to find out what they cost in the stores.

Chip butties are a northern thing. I've never eaten one. I couldn't swallow peanut butter and jelly LOL My sandwiches must be very boring. I like a baguette with butter, ham and gerkhins. Or what the French call an American. Baguette, mayo, egg, ham, tomato, lettuce. Or a good English sandwich. Egg mayo, ham and tomato or cheese and pickle. very boring!!!

I rarely eat a PBJ, and I seldom eat potato chips, but during covid shutdown, I decided that peanut butter and wild grape jelly, swirled together in a small dish, made a very nice dip for potato chips. lol!

I totally get that! Salty, sweet, gooey, crunchy. Flavorbomb. Comforting. Naughty (but harmless).

Speaking of sandwiches, a friend who lives out of the area, stopped at a fantastic deli on the way here, and brought me a kit: World's best pastrami, cut just so, and cole slaw. Too busy to make rye bread, but I had some appropriate rolls in the freezer. Heresy—I accidentally discovered, years ago, that much as it's really beyond the pale, pastrami is enhanced by mayonnaise. Just a bit on the bread. And, really, is cole slaw dressing so different?! Just not as sharp and sweeter. The slaw was nice and crunchy, Plenty of mustard, of course, and for some extra pop, a row of spicy green bean pickles. Fantastic!

I have only ever eaten pastrami in a Ruby D —- the pastrami rather than corned beef, version of a Rueben. :)

Multi-grain toast ... peanut butter and a slice of vidalia or red onion between two slices. Especially good for 'shore lunch' when fishing.

Yesterday, I made AnnT’s Greek Salad (recipe below). I love love love it. It needs to mingle for a day. So, it was perfect today. Except I didn’t have anything I wanted to eat it with. Finally, I remember this thread. I had ham; I had bread. I made a Ham and Greek Salad sandwich on extremely boring white bread. It was fantastic. Better bread and it would have been out of this world.

Here is my copy of AnnT’s recipe. I tried to find it on her website. While it is referenced in several places, the actual recipe/template seems to be lost.

I use grape tomatoes cut in half. I also halve my kalamata olives. Even with my less-than-stellar ingredients, it is great!

Thanks, plllog, for the “make it a sandwich” idea!

Now, that's a sandwich! Love it!

My dinner tonight was a BLT piled high with all ingredients. Best ever!

The Greek Salad with Ham sounds good too.

@CA Kate z9, I love making BLTs (and BLATs) with Millionaire’s Bacon. I first had Millionaire’s Bacon at Fred’s Coffee Shop in Sausalito. Below is the recipe that I found at Bacon Today, a bacon newsletter.

Note:

• The amount of sugar/pepper will only do about 1/2 pound.
• The amount of cayenne/black pepper is too much for me. I cut them in half.
• Remove the bacon immediately from the pan. It will stick as it cools.
• Do not drain the bacon on paper towels. It will stick and then you are left trying to pick paper towels off the bacon.
• Freezes well. Zap for 30 secs to reheat.

bbstx, this sounds way too good. I guess it must taste good on a BLT since you're already doing it, How does it change the flavor of the sandwich?

Pretty much, you go from just salty to sweet and spicy but with a little bit of salty. YUM!

Eons ago,I enjoyed working as a server in a very well known Kosher deli in the Catskills. Fun work for a college girl. That’s where I learned about using slaw on all kinds of deli sandwiches: corned beef, pastrami, and turkey, in particular. Oh, and hot dogs, too.