It’s my birthday today! Are you guys big on celebrating your birthday? For as long as I remember, my birthday has been an obsession of mine. It’s probably just a bit (okay, a lot) egotistical, but I just love the idea of a day celebrating me. I like planning elaborate themed parties with tons of friends (DIY grilled cheese party anyone?), but I also love the flip side of that – spending a day celebrating, just me and my boo.
No matter what I end up doing, there is one absolute must: eat ALL the things. It’s the one day you shouldn’t hold back. I know, I know, veggie sandwiches aren’t what one usually thinks of when they’re thinking about birthday eats, but when I saw this glorious picture of the ultimate veggie sandwich on Instagram, it had to be mine. I’m all about veggie sandwiches (and pizzas too, to be honest). I love the the different textures, the crunch, and the freshness.
This sandwich was truly epic – perfect for a pre-birthday treat!
The Ultimate Veggie Sandwich Recipe
makes 1 sandwich
- 2 slices bread of choice (I used multigrain)
- mayo and mustard, to taste
- 6 leaves romaine lettuce
- 1 small carrot
- 1/2 small cucumber
- salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 1/8 head red cabbage
- 1 avocado
- handful of sprouts
- 3 slices tomato
- thin slices red onion
Start off by prepping your vegetables. Trip the lettuce leaves to the size of your bread. Julienne or shred the carrot, thinly slice the cucumber and cabbage. Pit and peel the avocado and thickly slice. Toast the bread and let cool (so it doesn’t get soggy). Spread on mayo and mustard to taste and build your sandwich: 1/2 of the lettuce leaves, carrots, cucumber, salt and pepper, cabbage, avocado, sprouts, tomato, onion, then the remaining lettuce and top slice of bread. Wrap tightly in parchment paper or wax paper and slice in half. Enjoy immediately!
i put a candle in it, because birthday :)
Giveaway: I hope you guys like chopping vegetables (and everything else) because for my annual birthday giveaway, I’m giving away a shiny sharp Shun Nakiri knife and a Walnut Boos Block Cutting Board from cuttingboard.com. I absolutely LOVE my nakiri and there’s nothing better than chopping and slicing on a beautiful wood cutting board.
To Enter: Leave a comment below with your favorite birthday memory. I want to hear ALL the details! I’ll randomly choose a winner and notify them through email. Open to US residents only. (Sorry international friends!) Also, if you’d like some extra entries (one per follow), follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest (and let me know in your comment). Contest ends September 17th at 12pm PST. Good luck!
Update: Congrats Willow! Get ready to get your knife skills on! Keep an eye out for an email :)
love all the colors! and i’m with you on the veggie sandwiches- i always end up going for the ones with roasted veggies :3
I remember having a birthday party at McDonalds when I was super young. We only had cheeseburgers – without the burger – for the party and a ton of my friends cried about it since we were like 5 or something. I guess i was the only one that like steamed grilled cheese.
beautiful colors! i remember having birthday parties as a kid at cici’s pizza :)
I’ve been a pastry chef for several years now, and before that I was always baking and giving food to friends. No one ever bothered to bake for me, I guess since they were worried it wouldn’t be good or it wouldn’t compare. But my favorite memory was when I was 18 and my friend (who cannot cook even if her life depended on it) made me these cherry muffins. To be honest, they were pretty bad–they were underbaked and chewy. But it meant so much to me that she had bothered to try!
My favorite birthday memory is when my partner surprised me with a trip to Vegas for the weekend and not to do the usual “vegas-type” thins, BUT to SEE ELTON JOHN!!! I absolutely love Elton he is a legend. I cried for almost all of the show because I was so happy. Best Birthday Ever!
When I turned 20, my mom and sisters joined me in Paris, where I was wrapping up a semester abroad. The four of us were staying in a tiny little rented apartment on Rue des Grands Augustins, which was a few skips away from both the actual Seine and the kick-ass open market on Rue de Seine. For my birthday breakfast I toasted with some birthday rose (we had drunk most of the bottle the evening before with drippingly-good French market Poulet Roti and potatoes), and french cookies. Not macarons or anything fancy, just a little bag of store-bought Madeleines. Probably the Parisian equivalent of Chips Ahoy, when you think about it. From Vietnam to Nashville, the birthday wine-and-cookies breakfast tradition has continued ever since.
….and of course, after that fabulous breakfast, my mom and sisters walked across the bridge to Angelina (http://www.angelina-paris.fr/fr/) and had a once-in-a-lifetime birthday lunch of rainbow club sandwiches and salades au saumon fumé, chased by mont blancs and gateaux opera. Pretty sure they had to roll us out of there, and also pretty sure that still didn’t stop us from having Japanese ramen on Rue Sainte-Anne for dinner that very same day.
My favorite birthdays were years that my dad had a conference in Orlando that happened to fall right around by birthday. He’d take us along and we’d go to Disney World and then eat ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. (Those chocolate crunchy things are the best!) As a kid, I hated being the center of attention and having birthday parties, getting to spend my birthday in such a unique way made me feel so special.
Also, I follow you on Instagram!
Birthday buddies! Well, virgo buddies at least.
My birthday memory is when my mom, who is very frugal, bought me a cake (!) from my favorite restaurant/bakery (!) even though it was pretty expensive (!) and she had somehow picked my favorite cake there (!!). It was unexpected and generous.
(I do follow you on Instagram too).
Also, I could have sworn you had full posts about your birthday parties? I’ve been trying to find a non-gif version of those grilled cheese party pictures (or I think you did a cereal/breakfast party too?).
Awesome giveaway! My fave birthday memory is from when I was 5 or 6 – we had a huge luau in our backyard. Love having a simmer birthday!