The Tastiest Toasty Sandwich Ever

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I woke up early for no reason today.  I meant to sleep in until 8:00 or so, but ended up being woken up by some unknown factor around 7:00.  There’s a whole slew of things I should be doing right now, with my hour of extra time, like doing laundry, taking a shower, reading the entire book I’m supposed to have read by today, or washing the now towering mountain of dishes that’s accumulated on my counter.

But I’m not.

Instead I’m telling you about the most marvelous lunch item I happened to create yesterday.  Simply because it’s worth telling.

I’ve been trying to eat better and save money this past week.  I now have a box of whole grain cereal in my cupboard and soy milk in my fridge instead of tromping down to the University Center every morning for a bagel and tofutti. I’ve been making my chick pea salad and eating oranges for lunch instead of eating in the Commons and spending my entire daily quotient of “dining dollars” on one meal from the dining hall (that really isn’t all that good for me anyway).

But yesterday, I didn’t feel like making my chick pea salad (partly because my food processor and bowl were dirty and partly because I didn’t have any pickles or onions to put in it), so I made something else.  I headed down to our little market and scrounged up whatever looked like it might make a good sandwich.

A bag of Ezekiel bread, a container of hummus, and a little box of veggies from the salad bar later, and…

tada!

Yumminess between two pieces of bread.

TOASTY HUMMUS VEGGIE SANDWICH

• two pieces of Ezekiel bread, toasted.
• about 1 tbsp. hummus
• 1/2 tbsp. grey poupon mustard
• veggies of your choice (I used spinach, thinly sliced carrots, and olives)

I think sandwiches are pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll tell you how I did it anyway.  Toast up your bread, spread the hummus on one side and the mustard on the other.  Pile up your veggies, put the pieces together and enjoy!

Chick Pea of the Sea

This is a very special blog post for two reasons:

1.  This is my first non-baking recipe!  Woohoo!  (And it’s delicious, by the way…)

2.  The title of my blog has changed, as you may have noticed.   I didn’t take Spanish this January term, and feel like I’m getting a little rusty.  It’s been over a month since I’ve been in a Spanish class, and I miss it!  So, this is a way to practice my Spanish writing and translating skills.  This blog is officially, for real, legit a bilingual blog!  Bear with me, as it might take me a little longer to post, since I have to write each post twice.  But it’ll be fun!  Just wait.

Now, for the recipe.  I got home from college last Friday night, and Saturday was craving a sandwich from Sweet Pea, a bakery in Portland.  This recipe was inspired by a sandwich that my cousin and I had when I was in town last.  They have a whole line of “un-salads,” and this one was an “un-tuna” salad sandwich made with chick peas.  YUM.

I didn’t want to waste the gas to drive all the way across town for a sandwich, so I made my own.  I call it my “chick pea of the sea sandwich” (get it? like, chicken of the sea, but I’m vegan…).

CHICK PEA SALAD

• 1 can of chick peas (or garbanzo beans, whatever you want to call them)
• 1/2 to 1 whole white onion, diced
• a couple of pickles, diced
• spoonful of vegan mayo
• squirt of mustard
• salt and pepper

Rinse and drain the chick peas, then transfer them into a bowl.  Mash them up using a fork or a potato masher (I found the potato masher worked better).  I like to leave some whole, just because I’m quirky like that.  Then, add in your onions, pickles, mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, and whatever else you liked to put in tuna salad before you became vegan.  Mix it up, then pile it up on a slice of toasty bread with some vegan cheese (I also added alfalfa sprouts, because I love them and they happen to be in our fridge right now), and enjoy!

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Este es un correo muy especial por dos razones:

1.  ¡Este correo es mi primer que no es de hornear!  ¡Ay, ay, ay!  (Y es delicioso…)

2.  El título de mi blog cambió.  No tomé una clase de Español este enero, y creo que mi capacidad para la lengua está débil.  Entonces, el cambio es una manera para practicar mis habilidades de escribir y traducir en Español.  Por favor, ten paciencia, porque es más difícil para escribir en Español, y tengo que escribir cada correo dos veces.  Pero, ¡será divertido!

Ahora, la receta.  Me volví a Pórtland este viernes, y el sábado, quería un bocadillo de Sweet Pea, una panadería aquí.  Ellos tienen bocadillos que se llaman “no ensaladas,” y este fue un “no atún” bocadillo hecho de garbanzos.  ¡mmm!

No quería malgastar el gas para manejar al otro lado de la ciudad para un bocadillo, entonces hice mi propio bocadillo.

 

ENSALADA DE GARBANZOS

• una lata de garbanzos
• un medio o todo de una cebolla blanca, cortado
• unos pepinillos, cortados
• mayonesa vegetariana estricta
• mostaza
• sal y pimienta

Lava y drena los garbanzos.  Ponlos en un tazón.  Muélelos con un pasapurés o un tenedor (un pasapurés funciona mejor).   Pon las cebollas, pepinillos, sal, pimienta, mostaza y mayonesa en el tazón y mézclalo.  Pon la mezcla en pan con queso vegetariano estricto y ¡cómelo!