November 3, 2010

earl of sandwich

oh yes my dear friends, it has finally arrived. national sandwhich day. it is the anniversary of john montagu's birthday - the 4th earl of sandwhich (coolest title ever). so apparently, instead of interrupting a 24-hour gambler bender, the 18th century british nobleman instructed his servants to serve his lunch meat between 2 pieces of bread, allowing him to eat with one hand. the world has never looked back.

the most important part of a sandwich, in my opinion, is the bread. i like mine 100% whole grain, possibly with some flax or sunflower seeds. my favourite, favourite, favourite bread is made by silver hills bakery. they have 9 different types of bread, including the big 16, mack's flax (my fave), little big bread and marvelous multi. instead of grinding their grains (a process which takes out most of the nutrition) they sprout their grains for 36 hours and then add them to the mix of other ingredients.
mmmmm, silver hills bread  : )
when you buy bread, you better read the label properly - companies are trying to trick you into thinking their product is 'healthy' when it's not. one day i went to the grocery store and was in a rush, i just picked up a loaf of bread that said whole grain. when i took it home and looked at the ingredients, i was sad. "enriched flour" doesn't count as whole grain in my books. here are some tips when looking for real whole grain bread.

leave it on the shelf if it says:
- made with whole grains
it doesn't mention how much whole grain is in the bread. they could've only put in a pinch! unless it says 100%, you won't get the potential benefits.
- multigrain/whole grain
this doesn't tell you anything about the grains being whole or refined. while you're getting 40 different grains, it doesn't help if they are all processed.

so, key points. when shopping for bread, look for the words 100% whole grain/wheat, and stay away from any kind with flour that is "enriched", "bleached", "unbleached", "semolina" and "rice". it must say whole wheat flour and it must be the first ingredient.

wow. that was a long rant about bread. anyways, back to sandwich day. today is a day where i sit down and enjoy a most righteous sandwhich. well, today i didn't quite have time to be so creative, so i settled for one of my faves.
my sandwich for sandwich day
what you need:
2 pieces of your favourite whole wheat bread
1/4 red pepper, sliced thinly
1 tbsp homemade hummous (recipe soon, i swear!)
1/4 avocado, mushed
2 leaves of romaine lettuce
handful of sprouts

step 1:
smear hummous onto once piece of bread, and the mushed up avocado onto the other.
step 2: 
lay the red pepper, sprouts and lettuce ontop of the hummous. take piece of bread with avocado and put on top. eat.

goodbye, national sandwich day. perhaps next year i will have time to honour you by making a more creative sandwich. until next year.

1 comment:

  1. Most mouth-watering veggie sandwich I've seen. I would add some swiss cheese and some Black-forest Ham. Yum!

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