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 :)
My favorite birthday memory is a huge slumber party with all of my girlfriends. Telling secrets, playing pranks, eating too much pizza and candy. :) I followed on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, AND Pinterest! :)
This isn’t really a memory, but there’s a pair of birthday pictures of me that make me laugh every time I see them. The first one is me, a naked & excited four-year-old, grinning over my shoulder with my chocolate birthday cake in the background. The second one is me, a naked & excited four-year-old with chocolate all over my face.
Also, I’ve followed you on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, and Pinterest! Can’t have too much food blog in my life ;)
When I turned 16, my big sister planned a big, all day surprise for me. My birthday fell on a school day, which was a bummer for a 16 year-old because people stopped bringing me cupcakes at like 10. I arrived at my first class for the day and a few minutes later, the class was interrupted by the school’s admin assistant delivering a message. She called my name and handed me an envelope. Inside was a handmade birthday card, with rhyming birthday greeting. It was from my sister! I thought it was awfully nice of her to surprise me and made a mental note to thank her on the walk home. Imagine my surprise when in my second class, another one of my teachers appeared in the doorway and declared he had a message for me. It was another handmade card, with a different birthday greeting! I realized that the 2nd was a continuation of the message from the first, and an ellipsis followed the end of the 2nd message. Over the course of the day, my sister had 8 handmade, rhyming birthday cards delivered to me by various friends, faculty, and administrators. The last card ended with, “But you’ve been my best friend, and I love you sister! Happy birthday! (I swear this is the last one.)” And with the last card came flowers, balloons, and tiny chenille teddy bear from my Grandma. Everyone in school thought I had a secret admirer who had planned this giant surprise to profess his love to me on my birthday, but it was my sister who had orchestrated the whole thing. That’s why she’s the best, and that’s why I’m throwing her a raging surprise party complete with brand new tattoo for her 30th birthday! :)
PS- I also started following you on Pinterest.
My boyfriend (now husband) surprised me with an engagement ring for my birthday a couple years ago. It was such a great surprise I pretty much forgot that I turned 30!
I follow you on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest!
My favorite birthday memory was this year when I went running outside in a snowstorm and then hosted a dinner party using your dumpling recipe. :)
Happy Birthday! And thanks for sharing that beautiful sandwich. My favorite birthday memory isn’t even my own birthday– one of my cousins has a December 25 birthday, and always complained that his birthday was always overshadowed by Christmas. One year when I was about 11 my aunt and Grandma piled everybody in cars and took all 12 of us cousins to a local park. Weather was warm and perfect (a rare treat in South Texas where the heat setting seems permanently set to “Hell.”) We had the whole park to ourselves, and there was cake, ice cream, Grandma’s famous chicken salad sandwiches and giant tins of salty potato chips. One of the last birthdays I remember being able to just be a kid :)
Oh, and I follow you on Pinterest.
I had the best 30th birthday, celebrated with a sunset sail on the Chesapeake Bay after spending the day at the Chestertown Tea Party Raft Race. The link takes you to this year’s video, and my 30th was NOT this year, but you can imagine the fun…
My favorite birthday memory would have to be my mom surprising me with the Barbie birthday cake I so desperately wanted – she baked and frosted the cake/doll skirt herself, and even managed to get the frosting to stay on the plastic doll topper to make the bodice of the dress – I’m still not sure how she made that happen (birthday magic!)
Happy birthday & thank you for the opportunity to win the knife and cutting board! I follow you on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as well
Aww…..Happy Birthday to you!!! I looooove a good veggie sammich! And this one looks so dang good! One of my fondest birthday memories…. was when I turned 7 years old. I had a birthday party at a skating ring…and instead of a birthday cake, I requested a huge pickle(because I loved pickles at the time)! And my mom was so sweet about it and found the biggest pickle that she could find, put and big #7 on top and she sliced that pickle up and passed it out to everyone like it was cake! All the kids thought that was the coolest thing…and I loved her for that. :) Here’s to hoping you and your boo enjoy the day!