Tags: No Cook Meals Quick Recipes Weekday Meals

We’re not big on snacking throughout the day, but we do enjoy one good afternoon snack. Adrian gets home from work about 3:30pm. After he greets everyone and asks how everyone’s day went, he goes straight to the kitchen to make coffee and a snack—every day like clockwork. It’s so routine for us, that the boys start asking for “snack” about five minutes before Adrian walks through the door. It’s like they have little inner alarm clocks that go off.

Along with our coffee we’ll do a small snack…usually bread. Adrian could live on bread—something Liev has inherited. I didn’t understand this when we first got married. We’d go to the market and he’d pick out a nice loaf from the bakery. They’d slice it for him and, I swear, two days later that entire loaf would be gone. But how? How could one person eat 3-4 loaves of bread a week and not blow up like the kid from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? He’s a medical marvel!

Our families are drastically different on the bread front. When Adrian and I got married he found it odd that I didn’t like bread. But I didn’t eat a whole lot of bread growing up. My mom would serve toast with Saturday breakfast, and we would eat sandwiches now and then, but we weren’t heavy bread eaters. Adrian’s family, on the other hand, is from Chile and they have a daily custom of doing “Chilean Tea”. It’s a lot like British afternoon tea with only a few differences. It usually starts about five in the afternoon and includes tea served alongside avocado, egg, tomato, sliced cheese and lunch meat all to be placed on slices of toasted bread. When we first started dating I thought this was the weirdest thing in the world. Tea is HUGE in my family as well, but our tea is served with cookies or maybe a slice of my mom’s homemade banana bread—you’re not supposed to drink tea with avocado toast!

But the more time I spent with his family and the more Chilean Tea’s I attended, the more I understood why the custom was observed. I still don’t drink tea with my Chilean Tea, but I’m onboard with the toast and spreads. To my surprise (and Adrian’s I’m sure) I’ve become quite a bread lover and most of my favorite afternoon snacks are bread based. Here’s our recipe for a proper Chilean Tea:

CHILEAN TEA

*Served family style

• Sliced bread (whatever kind you like best), toasted
• Avocado spread (literally “smashed avocados”, but doesn’t “spread” make it sound fancy?)
• Egg Spread (recipe below)
• Sliced tomatoes (sometimes with a little olive oil)
• Cold cuts
• Sliced cheese
• Pickles or olives (or both)
• Butter
• Jam (for those wanting something sweet)
• A variety of cookies (you just can’t go wrong adding cookies to anything!)

AVOCADO TOAST

“Avocado toast” started popping up on menu’s about four or five years ago. I’m not sure how it became such a phenomenon, but it is just that. You can find avocado toast on just about every restaurant menu now days. We went to Dunkin’ Donuts the other day and they’re serving avocado toast! The really hysterical thing is what they’re charging for it…some places as high as $18.00!! By far the strangest food phenomenon I’ve seen yet.

But don’t fret. You don’t have to pay $18 for avocado toast…in fact, NEVER pay $18 for avocado toast. While menus across California make it sound fancy and complicated, it really is as simple as smashing an avocado and spreading it on bread. You can add a little olive oil or lemon juice and red pepper flakes if you like, but I prefer just sprinkling a little salt on top. If I have it on hand, I’ll add sliced radish. So simple, yet so delicious! And when made at home…three bucks total?

EGGS ON TOAST

Egg spread is also as simple as it sounds. Take a few hard-boiled eggs, smash them in a bowl with a little mayo and salt and spread the mixture on bread. The amount of mayo you add is completely up to you. I’m not a big mayo fan, so I don’t add much…but that’ll be a judgement call on your part. There’s another version of this toast that I actually prefer: Cook a few 4-minute eggs, break them up in a bowl and spread that mixture on toast. The whites should be cooked through, but the yolk runny. The runny yolk gives just the perfect amount of liquid to make the mixture spreadable. Again, so incredibly simple…but so unbelievably yummy. Oh don’t forget the salt!

The wonderful thing about serving “Tea” family style is that you can mix and match. I’ll do a slice of cheese with a little avocado and tomatoes, a little egg spread with the cold cuts, or just go all out and pile it all on. Whatever combination you choose, you really can’t go wrong.

I know these are so simple, but sometimes I think it’s good to create simple, nutritious snacks without all the fuss and preservatives that come with so many other snack options these days. Often, we forget how delicious a perfectly ripe tomato can be. And even better when all that tomato needs is to be sliced and eaten.