avocado + shiitake + ginger + mint

Hey glorious readers and friends. First sandwich back:

So, honestly, I never eat sandwiches anymore. No gluten = total change in diet. I'll make myself some gluten-free muffins, or pancakes every now and then, but for the most part, my main source of carbohydrates is LETTUCE. No joke. I eat a lot of salads. Lots of vegetables. I pretty much avoid grains and starches 90% of the time. Yea, even rice. Though sometimes I make my salads into spring rolls. I also rarely eat meat. Maybe once a week at most, sometimes not for months at a time. I even hold off on the cheese and eggs most days a week, and seem to be doing just fine. I'm not prescribing any diet. I'm not saying everyone should go paleo/gluten-free/or vegan. Do what makes your body feel good, and educate yourself.

In turn, this sandwich is very befitting of the re-naugural post, because were it not in sandwich form, this is pretty representative of what I eat on a daily basis. This wasn't really deliberate, this was just what's in my fridge. I imagine this will change, as I try to cultivate a food blog. Anyway, I love cooking with ginger. Ginger and mint, I don't think I could live without, at this point. Shiitake mushrooms are definitely the standout mushroom for me. They've just got this buttery, sweetness to them. Oh, and did I mention lime? At any given point, I have a bowl at least half full of limes in my kitchen. Running out would be the worst. Oh yea, and unless you previously read about this "bread", this post is VEGAN.

So, here's what's in this sandwich:

bread (gluten-free optional) 

1/4 avocado

4 small shiitake mushrooms

cucumber

red pear

red shallot

garlic

ginger

mint

basil

lime

broccoli sprouts

romaine lettuce

coconut oil 

sesame oil

What I did:

Pan toasted the bread in coconut oil. Fried up the shiitakes, garlic, ginger, and shallots in toasted sesame oil. Added some lime to the pan while cooking. Sliced everything up, and assembled, and squeezed just a touch more lime:

Those are brown bell peppers on the side btw. Cut in half and stacked for a dramatic money shot: