Sandwich inspiration (and my view on lunch meat)

To be honest, I am not a huge lunch meat person so it was very easy for me to stop buying it on a regular basis. The main reason is because (especially after watching Food, Inc.) we made a decision to focus on eating locally raised meats. And have you ever seen someone slicing off pieces of deli meat at your local farmers’ market?

One benefit of this decision is reducing our overall meat consumption, which is better for our health and environment anyway. So this is the reason I now only buy sandwich meat on a rare occasion – once every month or two – and it’s organic when we I do!

With that being said, this change opened up a whole new window of opportunity when it came to sandwiches. But with anything, I can sometimes get in a rut.

So I recently asked my wonderful facebook community to share their most favorite sandwich combinations, which helped inspire this fresh list of sandwich ideas below. Please also feel free to leave your ideas in the comments at the bottom!

Cold Sandwiches / Wraps

• Hummus with cheese, avocado and veggies (like carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers or tomatoes)
• Egg salad (variations include: curry or chopped green olives)
• Egg salad BLT (bacon, lettuce, and tomato)

(Who doesn’t love) PB&J

Peanut butter and banana

Cream cheese and jelly

Sprouts, provolone, honey mustard and avocado

BLT with or without crabmeat

BLT with avocado and spicy mayonnaise on focaccia bread

Open faced with black bean hummus, roasted red bell peppers, and avocado

Brie cheese, thin slice of green apple, and homemade chicken salad with grapes and walnuts

Chicken, black bean dip, tomato and avocado with a little squeeze of lime

Open faced with tuna salad, melted provolone and a slice of tomato

Herbed cream cheese and cucumber

Pecan-raisin bread with granny smith apple, goat cheese and honey

Pimento cheese

Cheddar, tomato, cucumber, a little mayo, salt and pepper

Grilled chicken, baked apples and brie, fig jam and lettuce

Sliced cucumber, tomato, hard-boiled egg, mayo

Cream cheese on whole-wheat cinnamon raisin bread or banana bread

Hot / Grilled Sandwiches

• Caprese (pictured above – great on bread or a pita)
• Pimento cheese (yes…it is amazing served hot!)
• Roasted veggies, pesto, and cheese
• Grilled cheese with or without tomatoes (trick: sprinkle a tad bit of grated Parmesan just before the bread gets fully browned!)
• Grilled swiss cheese and avocado
• Grilled egg, cheese and tomato
• Melted brie with thin sliced apple
• Grilled veggie sandwich with garlic mayonnaise and feta
• Mushroom, roasted bell pepper, goat cheese, and pesto panini

[Entered into Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday]