Any ideas for sandwiches ?

[Sandy777]

My husband had a bad reaction to dairy on Saturday, major congestion then vomiting after eating pizza and brandy coffee in a restaurant. He just had mentioned in the restaurant that he'd "gone off" red meat and was starting to notice that the vegan food I give him made him feel healthier and seemed "cleaner", then the penny really dropped when he got ill outside. (he felt great once he stopped being sick). So he doesn't want to eat dairy anymore which is great, he's already used to soya milk in his tea etc. He's now eating everything I give him, I'm just stuck on what to give him for lunches at work. He likes sandwiches so I'm looking for ideas, he hates analogue meats etc also "cheeses", doesn't like peanut butter either. All I can think of is banana/jam butties and plain salad sandwiches. He's used to eating meat etc. every day (only at lunchtimes). I'm racking my brains here - can anyone recommend some nice things I can give him? thanks.

[harpy]

There's hummus, shop-bought or (nicer) home-made - it only takes in a couple of mins if you have a food processor and use tinned chick-peas. You can also make hummus variants with different types of beans etc.

Salad would be OK as you can keep varying the vegetables so it doesn't get monotonous, but I would try and include beans or nuts (if acceptable) otherwise it might be a bit low in protein.

[herbwormwood]

Marmite and tomato;
Marmite on its own;
Vegan Pate' with lettuce or cucumber;
shame about the cheese...have you tried redwood's cheezely? It goes well with chutney. Most omni's seem to like it.

[vava]

nutritional yeast flakes with something juicy like cucumber/ tomato/ beetroot

[paragonx]

I had a hummus sandwich the other day for the first time and it rocked!

He doesn't like Peanut butter, but did he ever try any other butters? Cashew butter, almond butter and so on?

-Ann

[paragonx]

Another thought - Portobello mushroom sandwich with lettuce, tomato and shredded carrots.

[xrodolfox]

I LOVE fresh tofu with fresh hummus sandwhiches... add a slice of tomato and some salt, and I'm set. They are surprisingly good, even with the mushy horrible tofu some people get.

[absentmindedfan]

More ideas for sanwiches here Sandy

[Frosty]

Yeah, I'm with xrodolfox here, that's a lovely sandwich. You can do something with the tofu to add taste to it also if you like, cook it in some sauce or spice it up or something if your husband would find tofu on it's own a little boring.

At the mo I'm all about the pickle, cucumber, tomato and lettuce sarnies. Rather filling, rather healthy and rather tasty!

[RedWellies]

He likes sandwiches so I'm looking for ideas, he hates analogue meats etc also "cheeses", .

What a sensible man. I am the Queen of Sandwiches and my favourite is homemade hummous, little gem lettuce, non-pickled beetroot, tomato and sprouted alfalfa. The sandwich is made all the nicer by using homemade (breadmaker) bread. You can put seeds (pumpkin/sesame,etc) in the mix for extra tasty bread.

[vava]

I like the sort of sandwiches where the juices run down your chin - but only when I am on my own!

mixed crunchy lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber on a warm pitta bread that has hummus on one side inside and vegan mayo on the other **drool**

[BlackCats]

I bought a wrap thing when I was out recently and it went everywhere, all over my jeans and on my face and hair, attractive!

It had avocado puree, houmus, salad, alfalfa, chick pea salad and some sort of spicy sauce - it was amazing though!

(I love cucumber, tomato, lettuce, mayo and natex, brilliant.)

[beanstew]

A nice baguette with hummus, grated carrot, onion, mushrooms and tomato is my favourite.

Or sliced beetroot, mushrooms, onions, tomato and something green and leafy like rocket or watercress.

[MarkAnthony]

You can buy some really tasty braised tofu in a tin stuff from most health food shops, I find that's great in sandwiches. Other than that try salad with hummus, dressing or vegan mayo. Not sure what analogue meat is but if that doesn't mean fake meat then Redwood's do a good range of sliced 'meats' that go well in sandwiches with salad etc.

[coney]

black bean wraps with mexican fillings

I second (third, fourth) hummus and salad stuff. It's not very filling though, not many calories in there.

(if you have a juicer) You can make fake tuna salad--by juicing a bunch of carrots, then use the pulp mixed with mayo, relish, onions, etc. on bread or crackers.

Over here we've got Fantastic Foods grain burger mix. It's dried, you add water to it and cook it in a little oil until brown. Great with ketchup!

[Sandy777]

Loads of thanks to everyone who gave me ideas for delishus sandwiches! I've copied all of them to put in my recipe collection. I got loads of inspiration - some really nice ideas there. You won't believe this though - he doesn't like marmite, hummous, tofu, vegan mayo etc. He will eat plain salad though. It's all psychological with him, he assumes he won't like some things and won't try them and he's got a thing about certain textures. However, he's more willing to try some things when he's starving. I'm working on him, so it'll take time but we'll get there. I suggested he take "buttered bread" and a box of raw spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, beetroot etc. also fruit to work for the moment and that went down well - so it'll take time but we'll get there!
Being scottish he's grown up eating square sausage, tattie scones, black pudding, mince and tatties etc. ham hock soups, meat and plain veg etc. None of his friends or family back home (Glasgow) eat what I would call a healthy diet, and yet my sister and husband and all their friends in Fife eat excellant proper food all the time, - wierd isn't it? Thanks again Folks

[harpy]

Ha, I'm from Glasgow originally and I like tofu etc

As you say it's probably just a question of time. At least salad and fruit is healthy.

[Sandy777]

Harpy, I'm wondering really if low income and lack of information come into it,
Our extended family/friends in the city seem to all think in a similar way, you're a bit odd, eccentric maybe if you're a vegetarian never mind vegan, there's nothing wrong with eating meat - we've eaten it all our lives etc. etc. there's very cheap rubbishy food in Iceland and similar places which many buy, no-one seems to question anything, know what I mean?

[harpy]

That's very interesting. I certainly remember reading a theory that low incomes tend to encourage conservative food choices, the idea being that people don't want to waste money on something they might not like.

Your husband does sound quite open-minded though so I expect he'll try these other things when he feels like it. I suppose you could do something like putting a small pot of hummus in with his salad so that he can have it if he fancies it. No-one likes to feel under pressure to eat things they (think they) don't like, do they?

[Frosty]

One of my friends went to a pub for some food and they didn't have any vegan options on the menu, so the chef said he'd fix her up something. He came back with a sandwich - a potato sandwich! It was literally some potato between two slices of bread.

[harpy]

She didn't have to worry about lack of carbs then! Mind you it could be regarded as a variant on that traditional delicacy, the chip butty.

Pan bagnat, a squashed French sandwich made from cooked vegetables, sometimes involves potatoes too I think. Perhaps Sandy's husband would like something like that. There are a few recipes around, mostly unfortunately involving eggs but you could just leave those out

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9881

Edited to add the other thing that's wrong with that recipe IMO is that you're meant to put a weight on top of the pan bagnat between making it and eating it!

[Frosty]

Mind you it could be regarded as a variant on that traditional delicacy, the chip butty.

Yeah, didn't think of it like that. Just seemed a bit of a funny one

At a recent work away day I was given a piece of lettuce between two slices of bread. Mmmm... what a sandwich that was!!

[harpy]

Yeah Mind you I always think it's better if places throw together something, however peculiar, rather than claim they can't do anything vegan, which is pathetic.

Reminds me of one time, before I was vegan, when I tried to order a ham-and-cheese sandwich without the ham, and the waiter went to the kitchen and then came back and said, "the chef say 'ee can not do eet". Some chef eh?

[herbwormwood]

One of my friends went to a pub for some food and they didn't have any vegan options on the menu, so the chef said he'd fix her up something. He came back with a sandwich - a potato sandwich! It was literally some potato between two slices of bread.

When I was a young person I used to frequent the local chip shop and often I would get a chip butty- which was the most delicious bread bun filled with hot greasy and yummy chip shop chips...it was on the menu and probably still is in ye old traditional chip shops. This was late 1970's early '80s.
Potato sandwich does not sound so good though.

[Frosty]

Yeah, I do still make the occasional chip butty with Plamil mayo, yum yum! You can buy them from the chip shop where my mum lives, but I've never bought though. I'm starting to crave chip butties now

[BlackCats]

I love chip butties!! I have them all the time with brown sauce or ketchup or plamil but then I have bread with everything I eat.

[beanstew]

One of my favourite weekend lunches that is. I always eat a cold sandwich or salad at work during the week so it's a nice change to have something hot. Brown sauce is ace!