Vegetarian sandwich options

[alliebear]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to eat as many vegetarian meals as possible, but as an avid meat-eater I'm having a hard time changing habits. One thing in particular I'm having trouble with is what to make for my lunch that I bring to work.

Right now, I have been making turkey sandwiches on wheat bread. So, I'm trying to phase out the turkey. Can anyone suggest good and simple sandwich combinations that are vegetarian?

[todao]

Got a microwave at work? Cook up some Swiss chard and drain it well. Veg. spinner works well. Drop it into a frying pan with some olive oil, chopped rosemary, onion powder, salt and pepper and heat for about five minutes. (You can cook this up ahead of time and carry it to work for microwave heating. Meanwhile, heat up a flour tortilla until its nice and flexible. Roll the Swish chard up in the tortilla and enjoy.

[Emme]

make a *salad* of chopped tomatoes, chopped red onions, and balsamic vinegarette (love the FF from TJ's) and allow to marinate. scoop out a baguette, toast and fill with salad and if desired some grated parm on top.

warm artichoke and spinach dip makes a nice sammy too esp if you scoop out the bread and toast it.

[Querencia]

1) The birthday party standard of my childhood is still delicious: egg & olive. Mash up hardboiled eggs, mix with mayonnaise and lots of sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives, salt to taste, and eat this on whole wheat bread (lettuce optional). 2) Take a large container of salad and a pita to work. To eat, partly slit open the pita and keep stuffing salad into it as you eat. If you use a TINY bit of meat so that your stuffing is 95% salad and 5% meat you can fool yourself. Use plenty of dressing, whatever kind you like.

[msmarabini]

I spent some time in Australia & fell in love with a veggie sandwich over there, ever so appetizingly called the Salad Roll. Basically it had avocado, lettuce, tomato, cheese, grated carrot, and sliced beets...but the kicker was the sweet chili sauce. Usually served between two slices of multi-grain/seeded bread.

[lmoy]

PESTO!

We made loads of pesto over the weekend, and I am pretty much obsessed with eating it at the moment. I like a pressed hot sandwich w/ pesto, brie, and honey. My SO likes pesto on toast w/ thin-sliced tomato, tofu, and a hard cheese. Many people like pesto w/ eggs, so you could try a pesto and egg sandwich (or pesto egg salad?).

[RVAwino]

Try this thread:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/496697

TONS of good sammies.

[ms.mandylou]

If I want a more 'substantial' vegetarian sandwich, I like to use tempeh. I'll cut it into slices and marinate it for a bit in olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar and pan fry it. Then I'll add those slices to some nice whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and goat cheese.

[alliebear]

Yum. These are all great suggestions to start out with. I'd love to do a sandwich with eggplant, but I've never actually cooked with eggplant before. Maybe that will be a project for this weekend.

[kpzoo]

Grilled eggplant in sandwiches is yummy and quite easy. Slice the eggplant into about 1/4 inch thick slices. Put pieces in colander and sprinkle all the slices liberally w/kosher salt. Put plate on top with a weight (I use an upside-down marble mortar). Leave for about half an hour. Rinse the salt off. This process drains out a lot of the moisture and makes the slices absorb less oil when you grill them. Mix up in a bowl with olive oil (and salt & pepper & some balsamic vinegar if you want) and grill on an outdoor BBQ, or regular indoor grill, or Foreman grill, until you have nice grill marks and fully cooked through.

I often use these slices in a panini togther with grilled halloumi cheese, which is a great cheese for grilling because it doesn't completely melt into goo - you can actually put slices right onto the grill. It's very salty, so omit the salt in your other ingredients if you include it. Other veggies I choose from to grill up and combine with the halloumi in the sandwiches are onion slices, zucchini slices, roasted red peppers (I often use jarred to save time) and canned artichoke hearts. For everything, including the halloumi, I mix up first w/olive oil whisked with a little balsamic & s/p (again, no salt if using halloumi) and baste while grilling. If I have time, I also may roast some garlic and spread it on the bread slices. Yum!

[Val]

In a like manner, grilled portobello caps are VERY meaty...if you could bring yourself to perhaps preparing some portobello caps at night (either on the grill or in a grill pan) and then saving them for tomorrow, that would work! Wanna tellya ... any grilled or roasted eggplant sets me over the edge...it is SO delicious--and satisfying! Likewise, the portobello caps...I bought 4 for $3.09 down here in expensive SWFL...if you need more specifics on how to cook, let me know...it usually involves rubbing with olive oil and/or balsamic vinegar and grilling til tender...they are great!

[alliebear]

I'm a little confused about this sentence. "Put plate on top with a weight (I use an upside-down marble mortar). "

After I sprinkle the slices with kosher salt, I put them on a plate and weigh them down with something?

[kpzoo]

Sorry! Let me try to explain better.

Put the colander in the sink or over a bowl. Get a plate that will fit well into the colander and put that plate on top of the eggplant slices which are still in the colander. What you then want to do is weigh down that plate that's on top of the eggplant in the colander so that there's a bit of pressure on the eggplant, and no gap between the eggplant and the plate, or else it may turn brown. So what I do is put a weight on the plate.

Still clear as mud? ;-)

You might just be able to leave the eggplant sit in the colander with no plate and/or no weight, but the way I do it seems to work well, a lot of moisture comes out and the eggplant stays nice and white.

[alliebear]

Ok. That clears it up a bit. Thanks. I'm going to give the grilled eggplants a try Saturday. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[kpzoo]

Cool, good luck! I forgot to mention you should also pat the eggplant dry after rinsing off the salt.

[laliz]

eggplant may be the best sandwich ever. I salt the eggplant and layer between paper towels to absorb the water.

[alliebear]

I wasn't able to make it to the store for eggplant this weekend, so I'll have to try this next week instead. I'm really excited to try this and many of these other suggestions. Maybe cutting back on meat won't be so hard if I can keep things interesting.

[Gooseberry]

Grilled veg last a couple days in the fridge. If I were you, I'd fire up a grill on the weekend, do some mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant slices, and keep in the fridge. Make enough for a nice mixed salad on the day, and then use the leftovers in sandwiches in the week. A less flavourful but still worthy version is to use a grill pan on the stove. Certainly less clean-up.

[barryc]

in another thread, someone suggested cooking sliced eggplant with a waffle iron and a parmesian (sp?) cheese coating - crunchy on the outside. maybe you could try simulating a burger king $.99 spicy chicken sandwich with it?

[Gooseberry]

havarti, mango chutney, baby greens
egg salad - I always forget how good this is until I bite into it
feta, sliced peaches, red onions, spinach leaves, sliced tomatoes
grilled eggplant slices, feta, pickled cukes cut thinly, red onion, leaves
grilled portabella mushroom with all of the above
grilled zucchini with herbs (basil, mint, etc), good mozzarella and sliced nectarines
tomato, good mozzarella, red onions, pesto or tapenade, basil leaves
wrap with avocado, feta, tomato salsa, cold wild rice, cilantro or basil

now I want a sandwich...

[lrostron]

In the past, I've grilled or roasted eggplant slices, tomato slices, onion, slices (which you can do in bulk and set aside in the 'frig) and put those on a good crusty roll with a drizzle of pesto. Hot, cold, room temperature, it's good!

[MrsCris]

Avocado, cucumber, cream cheese and sprouts on wheatberry / whole wheat bread.
Cream cheese, chopped green olives, sundried tomatoes, shredded lettuce on tortilla and rolled up.
Olive pesto/tapenade, smoked gouda, tomato, with lots of crunchy lettuce on ciabatta.
I'd also suggest a container of hummus with veggies on the side for a change from sandwiches - celery, endive, carrots, cucumber rounds, etc. Bring along a chunk of feta, some rye-crisp crackers and a piece of fruit and that's a perfect lunch for me.

[fallingup]

Vegetarian sandwich fillings, combine in whatever way you can imagine!

hummus
cream cheese (try with jam for a sweet version, or with sliced raw veggies)
sliced tomatoes (tomato and mayo sandwiches are great in summer)
sliced onions
grilled onions
mushrooms
sprouts
sliced avocado
guacamole
lettuce
sliced cucumbers
grilled eggplant
grilled or roasted red peppers
peanut butter
honey
nutella
butter (plain on a baguette works fine for me! try adding sliced radish)
cheese
chutney
herbs
falafel
sundried tomatoes
sliced apples
sliced bananas

[Erinmck]

My little sister became vegetarian a year ago, and loves sautéing portobello mushrooms and onions, putting that on bread, and topping with mozzarella.

[laliz]

Egg salad
PB & J
Avocado, lettuce, tomato
Avocado, cheese
Tomato Cheese
Bean burrito

[rcburli]

My friend loves philly cheese (steak) sandwiches without the meat. Onions, peppers and melted cheese on a roll.
I like "caprese sandwiches"....tomato, basil, mozzarella, with a little pesto drizzled in there.