Ham & Spinach Stuffed Sandwiches

I meant to get this posted last week in time for New Year's Eve, but it completely slipped my mind.  These have a wonderful mix of flavors and are great make ahead little sandwiches.  My family has been making these for Christmas Eve for close to ten years now--they are a major family favorite.  This is another one of those "Why don't I make these more often?" recipes.  They are pretty easy to make, so I really don't know why I don't make them more often.  And I discovered that the Peanut was absolutely in love with this sammich {sandwich}, so I definitely need to make these more than once a year.

These traditionally call for sourdough baguettes, which I normally get in a five pack from Costco (cheater, I know).  But my Costco doesn't carry those (grrr).  Instead, I made do with my own homemade loaves of bread (I used all purpose flour this time--cheater again, I know.), but on the second rise, my towel stuck adhered to the rising bread, so when I pulled back the towel to put the loaves in the oven, the loaves deflated like pathetic old balloons (double grrr).  All that to say, these loaves were not nice and fluffy like they should have been.  But in the end they worked out good, so I was happy.

Ham & Spinach Stuffed Sandwiches

1 (24 inch) baguette or 1 larger loaf of homemade bread, baked like a loaf of french bread

8 oz. cream cheese, slightly softened
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. dill weed
2 green onions, chopped
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of all excess water

4 cups minced ham (this time I used leftover ham, but I've purchased deli ham in the past and it works just fine)
1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. mayonaisse
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

If using a baguette, cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out centers, leaving about a 1/2 inch shell.  Remember you can dry the centers out and save them for pre-made bread crumbs!  Set baguettes aside.  As mentioned, my loaf wasn't all fluffy and thick, so I skipped this step--but if you have a bready normal loaf, you'll want to do this too.  

Combine the cream cheese, lemon juice, dill, green onions, and spinach. Coat the inside of the bread shells (and all cut edges) with spinach mixture.

Mix ham, pecans, mayo, and mustard.  Fill coated bread shells with ham mixture and place each half together.  Wrap tightly and refrigerate several hours.  Slice to serve.


This recipe is linked to:

Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Designs By Gollum Foodie Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Hearth 'n Soul Recipe Swap  
Life As Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap