Anyone who has been around the Columbia area prior to 2010 probably heard about Nice N Natural, if they had not eaten there too. Nice N Natural was located on the left bottom corner of the building that houses Cool Beans, and served a pretty health-focused menu. They'd been open for 28 years total, and had a legion of followers from college students to state house workers, thanks to the location. Nice N Natural closed in 2010.
With Richland Library's new focus on their Local Family and History Center digital collections that include restaurant menus and cookbooks from the area, I came across Nice N Natural's menu. I had only been there a handful of times myself, despite having been on campus a lot in the early 2000s. Their menu is pretty small, only spanning three pages including the juice and beverage offerings on the back.
Their grilled cheese caught my eye though and I thought it looked like a perfect summer weekend lunch. I decided to recreate it to see if it was something worth sharing with everyone, and I am glad to report that it is. We've enjoyed several more renditions of this sandwich, and not just because there was still a half a loaf of Healthy Nut bread and a bunch of sprouts left that needed to be eaten.
In addition to the sandwich, the fruit salad looked exactly like what my Mimi made for us as kids, complete with the coconut flake sprinkles. I've tried over the years to recreate it but I kept drowning it with sticky-sweet ambrosia syrups that I swore existed when I was a kid, but in fact, did not! This fruit salad is perfect and light, and tastes like childhood to me. A small bowlful of fruit salad next to this sandwich will keep you sated from lunchtime through to dinner. In fact, I'd say this would be great to make for lunch daily on your beach trip if you're staying at a beach house or condo with access to a kitchen. No muss, no fuss here. Just a knife and a small frying pan are all you need to get everything made here.
Nice N Natural Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 slices Arnold brand Health Nut bread
- dijon mustard
- mayonnaise
- 1 small handful alfalfa sprouts
- 2 slices Muenster cheese
- 1 slice tomato optional
- nonstick spray
Instructions
- Assemble all ingredients before starting. Spray a small frying pan with the nonstick spray. Turn the heat up to medium.
- Use a butterknife to spread a thin layer of mustard on one slice of bread, and a thin layer of mayonnaise on the other.
- Once the pan is heated., place the mustard-spread bread mustard side up in the pan. Top the mustard with one slice of Muenster cheese. Spread the sprouts evenly over the cheese, add a tomato on top if using, then the last piece of Muenster cheese. Place the mayonnaise spread bread mayo side down on the sprouts.
- Flip the sandwich carefully with a wide spatula once the bottom side is golden. Re-spray the pan if needed with nonstick spray, and heat the sandwich until the other side is golden.
- Remove from heat and cut diagonally.
You might be thinking "Um, pass," on this sandwich because of two key components: the bread, and the sprouts. I am a fellow whole wheat bread hater, if that's your worry. Whole wheat bread to me, tastes like cardboard, and is way too much effort to chew. I am glad to say that this Arnold Health Nut bread is actually flavorful and isn't impossible to chew up and swallow. The original Nice N Natural sandwich calls for honey bran bread, but this seemed to me like an adequate replacement, if not an actual improvement. I don't often buy bread, and especially not specialty bread like this, but eating these sandwiches on this bread has been a real treat.
As for the sprouts, use your hands to spread them apart into a thin layer on the sandwich. Wadding them up in the middle will ensure a few unpleasant bites where you get a mouthful of tiny leaves. The key to using sprouts on a sandwich is to not overdo them in the name of health! and nutrients! but to make them an addition that adds texture and crunch, with a little bit of health and nutrients as a bonus.
Nice N Natural Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 apple diced into bite sized pieces
- 1 pear diced into bite sized pieces
- 1 banana sliced into rounds
- 2 kiwis peeled and diced into bite sized pieces
- ½ pineapple cored and diced into bite sized pieces
- ⅛ cantaloupe diced into bite sized pieces
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Put the diced apple pieces into lemon juice for 30 seconds. Discard remaining lemon juice.
- Add all ingredients in a bowl and serve. If not serving immediately, leave the banana out until serving time.
Whether you're from Columbia, or haven't even heard of Nice N Natural, I hope that this sandwich and accompanying fruit salad fills you up with memories and fuel to keep having lots of summertime fun, whether its at the beach or just kicking it around the kiddie pool that's set up under the edge of the carport for adult use only. Find more recipes that are filled with summer produce in my recipe archives!
