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Bite into this colorful veggie sandwich, made with a homemade roasted red bell pepper dip that is smokey and tangy! This plant-based sandwich contains an array of vegetables that provides many nutrients.

With vegetables and herbs blooming in the garden, I decided to put them to good use and make a hearty vegetable sandwich that doesn’t sacrifice any flavor. Vegetables are often seen as complements in a sandwich, but this sandwich will prove that thought wrong! I used a variety of cooking methods to prepare the vegetables to create different flavor combinations. I incorporate pickling, grilling, and food-processing to the vegetables so that the vegetables contribute unique flavors to the overall sandwich.

On another note, gardening can be tedious, but it’s highly rewarding. Nothing is better than picking fresh vegetables from your garden and consuming it right there and then. Since many people seem to be bored with the current COVID-19 situation, gardening is a good hobby to pick up. If you have a backyard, you may clear a plot of land for gardening, and if you do not, you can also plant some vegetables in pots. Most of the vegetables I plant are from regenerating vegetable scraps or using seeds from the vegetables I eat! Eating Well has an informative article on how to regenerate plants HERE. Do note that to regenerate plants, you must do it correctly. If done incorrectly, your plants may die. I have included a list of plants that are simple to grow:

• Green onion (regenerate)
• Lettuce (regenerate)
• Basil (regenerate)
• Tomato (from previous tomato seeds)
• Bell pepper (from previous pepper seeds)
• Jalapeno (from previous jalapeno seeds)
• Sweet potato (regenerate)
• Taro root (regenerate)
• Onion (regenerate)

I hope this list of vegetables inspires you to grow your own produce!

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Colorful Veggie Sandwich (Vegan)

yield: 1 sandwich

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of bread of choice (I used white bread)
• 3 pieces of lettuce or handful of spinach
• 4 two in. slices of grilled squash, lightly salted
• 2 slices of roma tomato OR tomato of choice
• 1/2 small avocado, sliced
• 1/4 c. pickled carrots (Place sliced carrots in pickle juice overnight OR pickled them yourselves HERE)
• 2 tbsp. of my roasted red pepper spread 

Directions:

1. Lightly toast the two slices of bread and evenly spread on the roasted red pepper spread on both slices.
2. Layer on the vegetables. The order I used was lettuce, squash, avocado, carrot, tomato. I found this order of layering prevented the vegetables from sliding off the bread.
3. Place the second bread on top and slice in half. Look at the cross-section!

Enjoy this nutritious sandwich right away for lunch or dinner. It is absolutely delicious and the cross-section is beautiful to look at! I do not recommend storing the bread for later because the sandwich will become soggy, so enjoy it right after you make it. You may consider wrapping the sandwich in sandwich paper before slicing so that the contents do not fall out.