Apr 16, 2007

the perfect vegetarian sandwich

The perfect vegetarian sandwich consists of the following items, in descending order of importance:

1) Good bread. We like Aspen Mills, which is whole wheat with very little else. We buy it at Sam's for a cheap price. Any whole wheat or stone-ground-wheat bread (check the ingredients, if it says simply "wheat flour" it doesn't count, and color is no indication,) it will work.

2) Avacado. A nice, ripe avacado will yeild slightly upon pressure. Hard ones will not taste good, and rotten ones are gross. Sometimes you can buy hard ones and put them in a dark paper bag or other container with a banana and they'll ripen up nicely. You smear this in lieu of mayo or other spreads.

3) sprouts. Sprouts MAKE a veggie sandwich. If you don't like sprouts, try them again in a sandwich-- you might like them this time. Don't get hot sprouts. Alfalfa and broccoli taste the best, IMO.

4) Onion. Very thinly shaved. If you don't like onion, you're allowed to forego this, but you might need to add some seasoning like lemon pepper, a light sprinkle of garlic salt or onion powder to your avacado in order to enhance the flavor.

5) A nice, ripe tomato, sliced thin.

6) Nice, crisp romaine lettuce leaves (or spinach, if you prefer).

7) If you don't mind being un-vegan, I'm noticed that a couple of pinches of parmesan cheese over the avocado is very nice.
8) olives, sliced thin, are a favorite with us.
9) We also like to shave off the green part of a broccoli floret so that all the little green things fall over the avocado. This lends nice flavor and crunch, but not too much because you aren't getting the woody stems.

Voila, the perfect vegetarian sandwich, with no unhealthy ingredients, and a nice amount of fat and calories to stave off those mac attacks. They taste verrrry nice, too.

5 comments:

Lucy Stern said...

That sounds really good. Have you ever tried making your own whole wheat bread? My husband is totally spoiled and will hardly eat store bought bread....

Unknown said...

Yes, I plan on trying it at some point. I want to save up for a good wheat grinder, first, though. I'd like to do it the real way, when I do it, otherwise it'll be too much trouble and not enough benefit (for me. I know, I'm lazy :)

Joy said...

I grew up on homemade whole wheat bread. consequently, I can't bring myself but to buy anything but soft wheat or white bread.

I do love a good veggie sandwich though.

Unknown said...

Sherpa-- I think I know how you feel. I can't eat rice pilaf for that very reason. My mom is a good cook but (ahem, she's probably reading this, sorry mom) I never really liked the way she cooked rice.

Stephanie said...

This will sound random, but since (I think) you live in UT, have you ever tried the veggie sandwich at the Health Food Junkies cafe on State street in Orem? When I was still in school at BYU (8 years ago) and pregnant, I would drive all the way over there just for a veggie sandwich once or twice a week. It was stacked about 5 inches high and so good!