A Pittsburgh Favorite Goes Clean!

We have all had the famous Primanti’s sandwiches, right? Well, I LOVE them and could probably eat one per week. Honestly. Well, I had a craving and figured I could make these at home the healthy way.

First I started with the fries. Clearly, frying them is out of the question. I simply took regular potatoes (though you could do sweet potatoes, but my picky husband doesn’t like sweet potatoes, so I had to go russet) and sliced them up like steak fries.

I tossed them all into a Ziploc bag and put 1 tablespoon of olive oil and some onion powder and pepper. You can use whatever spices you want, but try to avoid salt. You can always put a little salt on once they are done if you absolutely need it.

I baked them at 375 for 20 minutes turning them over about halfway through.

Then it was on to the meat. I chose turkey breast, but you can do chicken, beef, whatever floats your boat. I just avoid lunch meats because I never know what they do to it. I used Jenny O Turkey Breast and baked it at 375 for 30 minutes. I put garlic powder and pepper on to give it some flavor.

While that was all baking, I started on the cole slaw. I have never made cole slaw, so I set to the internet to find a clean recipe for it. I found one that looked delicious on Besos. You can check out the how to on their site. But here is my before and after.

So I had my meat, fries and cole slaw. I needed bread. I had thoughts of just using a nice loaf of wheat or whole grain bread, but I was trying to be creative with the carbs. Since there is already potatoes on there, I figured I would try a recipe I have been wanting to try forever – cauliflower pizza dough! Now I know what you are thinking – pizza dough?!? Once you see this recipe, you will know why I wanted to try it. Click the link to see the full recipe from The Lucky Penny Blog. Here are the photos from the process.

It is the weirdest thing to put that cauliflower in a towel and squeeze all the moisture out. I never realized how much was in there! Oh and make sure you let the cauliflower cool (just like they warn you) before squeezing. I burnt the crap out of my hand the first time! This was the pre-baked product. I made it into 6 “slices” of bread.

And the post-baked product!

They were really yummy! Messy and too big to eat by picking it up, but yummy! I ended up using a fork. Even my hubby, who I mentioned is super picky, thought they were delicious.

Full disclosure… I think I got a little too adventurous. The dough was AMAZING. However, the flavor definitely overpowered the rest of the sandwich and it would never have held up to actually pick it up and eat it. I can’t wait to make it again for an actual pizza though! I think I will just stick to a regular whole grain bread next time for the sandwiches.

So there you go! An easy-peasy healthy alternative to an old Pittsburgh favorite. Enjoy!