Spicy Avocado Ranch Cucumber Sandwich

Cool as a cucumber sammich.

Sandwiches are a rare occurrence in my everyday diet.

I think it’s because of the bread?

I don’t buy fresh bread that often. Normally, I’ll just stock up on frozen Ezekiel bread which I do love, but let’s be real… Ezekiel bread tastes like cardboard. I know it’s sprouted and low sodium and made with good, whole ingredients but truly, it tastes like plain cardboard, and I still eat it!

So, when I come across soft, fresh bread made locally with love, it somehow ends up in my cart, and I’m not mad about it.

While I’m not gluten free, most of my recipes are naturally gluten free. I don’t eat the store-bought cookies or cakes that are loaded with processed white flours and white sugars, but I do love a bowl of pasta from time to time (especially with my vegan mac and cheese sauce!). So many people are scared of bread and gluten in general.

Where people tend to go wrong with bread is simple.

They aren’t buying the right kind or looking at the ingredients, but rather the attractive packaging or what they grew up eating (hello, Wonder Bread).

Then they wonder why their stomach hurts and why they feel groggy after eating bread, so they go gluten free, grain free and paleo and immediately feel better because they’ve removed the processed flours and sugars from their diets, when all they really had to do was buy the right kind of bread instead of the big name brand that removes important nutrients and doesn’t care about your delicate digestive system.

Now, there are entire aisles dedicated to processed, gluten free food that is ever-growing, and people are missing the point completely!

Unless that person is celiac, they don’t need to be living a gluten free life, they just need to change what they’ve been buying and eating, and remove the processed food that offers no nutritional value! They’re not educated enough on the various types of bread and baking/cooking techniques.

There’s the very processed, store-bought, big brand, shelf stable, lacking in nutrition loaf made in a factory with dough conditioners and chemical agents to prevent molding and then there’s the real bread made with care and technique that your stomach won’t hate you for; like Ezekiel bread or an amazing local brand I recently discovered called Organic Bread of Heaven. While grocery shopping in Mariano’s last week, I passed by the local, smaller brand bread and couldn’t resist the softness and ingredients from their loaf of rye.

And that’s how this Spicy Avocado Ranch Cucumber Sandwich came to be. From a fresh loaf of bread made with lots of love.

The ingredients matter as well as the process and bread making technique.

Look at those ingredients! This brand has my stamp of approval, fo sho.

Okay, bread rant over. If you want to learn more, watch the Michale Pollen Cooked series on Netflix, specifically the ‘Air’ episode on bread-making, or watch this video (fast forward to minute 4:15) starring Michael Pollen as he discusses bread, how it’s changed over the years and why people can’t tolerate it anymore! So interesting!

Now on to this crunchy, creamy sandwich with crisp cucumber and yellow heirloom tomato.

So fresh, so summery and so perfect for a hot day.

The Spicy Avo Ranch really brings it all together and while you don’t have to spread this sauce on a sandwich, it sure does make for a good lunch. Feel free to use it as a salad dressing or veggie dip, or smother it in a pita pocket with greens and veggies.

You really can’t go wrong! Anything goes 🙂

Hope you love this vegan ranch recipe and sammich as much as I do!

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I’m off to a fun workout event in the city with my babe Erika from BabeSkills for a booty/leg workout at Shred 415, plus a walk to Snap Kitchen after for a preview of their new day packs! Wish us luck 🙂

♥