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 when I turned 21. I have a summer birthday so a lot of people are busy, but my best friends all showed up from around the country to celebrate. My parents had rented me a hotel room and paid for dinner out. I will never forget it. I also follow on Instagram @alexandrarobertson7, twitter @alexandrairob, Facebook Alex Robertson, and Pinterest @alexpearson20 This sandwich looks killer!!!!
my birthday is 3 days before christmas, so although i love celebrating, it gets over shadowed quite a bit. one of my favorite memories was actually a couple years ago. we traveled to this little town outside Pittsburgh to have christmas with my husband’s family. i thought this was going to suck, but all his cousins came over for board games and it was a blast! i never really get birthday parties because people are so busy, so this was perfect! everyone came to his grandma’s house for cake and ice cream and we played games all night.
just followed you on ALL the socials… i can’t believe i hadn’t done that before! <3
Best birthday memory was hitchhiking by myself all day in Iceland to get back to the hostel i was working at. It was in the middle of the volcano eruption in 2010 so air was cloudy and ashy. I got dropped off in the middle of the clouds, but quickly picked up again by a nice French couple. Lovely day exploring by myself.
My birthday is also in September. Ever since I was old enough to have a birthday whose theme wasn’t “watch the toddler destroy a small cake from her high chair,” I’ve had apple themed celebrations. As a child, the spicy smell of fall in the breeze, apples ripening in the orchards, leaves hinting at change in the trees, all meant one thing. My birthday. I was a fall fanatic before Starbucks presented the PSL. My favorite apple birthday memory was when I turned 8. My mom baked the requisite apple pie and the whole house filled with its warm scent. I wore a navy, wool sweater from my grandma that had appeared in a package a few days before. Its sleeves were too long, but it was a rich dark color and soft. The neighbor kids arrived and we bobbed for apples and played pin the leaf on the apple. We feasted on fettucine alfredo and ate huge wedges of pie and ice cream. Our bellies were full, I felt celebrated, and the brisk air was charged with the change of seasons.
Every year I asked to Go ice skating for my birthday. Some of my favorite childhood memories.
Growing up, my family was (is) notorious for being loud, wacky, and fun. When I turned 18, I woke up with a note on my bed that said, “Welcome to adulthood…prepare yourself.” Next to it was a nerf gun! My dad and brother were waiting outside my door armed and ready. Turns out Mom and my toddler sister were even in on it with their own “weapons” downstairs in the kitchen. We had a blast, and I’ll never forget that keeping life fun is an absolute must!
By the way, great pictures–so colorful!
-Meredith
Growing up I always celebrated my birthday with my grandfather because his birthday is the day after mine. We would always go to the same restaurant but it was fun to open all of our presents together.
My favorite birthday memories always revolve around my grandfather, he was a professional magician! My parties always had magic shows, complete with bunnies, doves and snakes, yes snakes! And of course my requested confetti cake which I still have every year, even at 29!
Happy birthday, enjoy that sandwhich because dang it looks good!
This is my DREAM SANDWICH SCENARIO! Happy friggin birthday–here, have a whole avocado!
The year my now-husband and I started dating, he threw me a surprise birthday party. It really was the ultimate surprise because he’s not really the planning type. But he did it for me! And I loved it. It was perfect. He even found a way to make sure that I looked nice before we left the house so that I wouldn’t feel self conscious during the whole thing. That was my favorite birthday.
Happy birthday! That is the most epic veggie sandwich I’ve ever seen, I love it! And I am so incredibly smitten with Shun knives, I would die if I won one. (Not literally, but there would definitely be some “holy crap I need to sit down” going on.)
I have to say, my most epic birthday would have to be…. the first one. Try as I might, I just don’t think I can top being pushed from the womb and taking my first breath. You gotta admit, that zero-year-old you was pretty badass that day. :P
(P.S., I follow you on all of those social networks — turns out I wasn’t following on instagram yet… wha’? Remedied that right away!)