Roasted Cauliflower Sandwich with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips and Creamy Cilantro Avocado Sauce
Make this vegetarian roasted cauliflower sandwich with spicy sweet potato chips and creamy cilantro-lime avocado sauce!
Earlier this week I saw one of the saddest things I've ever seen in my entire life, this article with this headline:
WTF.
Let's just set aside the fact that if you reach your "ideal weight" at the age of 90, it's probably because you're actively dying and not because you've discovered some great new diet trick. The idea of reaching a goal weight being the thing we choose to celebrate about someone's life is just awful. So many thoughts going through my head...
I wonder what she missed out on by dieting most of her adult life?
What the heck kind of doctor thought it appropriate to encourage a 90 year old to lose weight??
What could she have accomplished if losing 102 pounds wasn't her mission? Clearly she has a strong sense of purpose, focus and willpower. I wonder how different her obituary would have been if she had just lived?
What kind of culture glorifies reaching a goal weight as a life mission with some greater lesson in persistence and never giving up?
She lost 77 pounds in the first year, but how much weight cycling did she do over the next 40 something years?
Did she tell herself she could only be happy when she got to her goal weight? I really, really hope not...
She looks like such a sweet lady in her picture. I wonder what other qualities they could have written about. Did she always give money to the homeless? Did she have a sassy sense of humor? Was she once on an episode of The Price is Right? I want to know who she is, not her weight.
Was it worth it in the end?
A goal weight might seem like a sensible pursuit when you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, even 60s. I don't actually think it is considering 95% of diets fail, but I get why people feel that way. When you're young, why not sacrifice and work hard and then you can reach this goal and you'll still have a whole life ahead of you to enjoy your new body (and new you that apparently comes with it?). But when does it stop? Do you really want to get to the end of your life and realize you've spend most of it counting calories, avoiding social situations where you're tempted to overeat and pounding away on the treadmill?
I want to live a long and heathy life and plan to take care of my body so I can do that. I don't want to spend my years battling chronic illness. But I also know that wasting away years chasing a number on the scale isn't the means to that end.
I want to be sensitive to the fact that I'm at a size a lot of people would consider to be their goal weight. I don't want to be remembered for my body, so I don't want you to be remembered for your body either.
Food should contribute to your quality of life, but it shouldn't be your life. I want to eat well so I can be well and so I can do, see, achieve and experience all the things I want people to remember me for, and that I'll feel happy remembering in my last days.
Anyway, no good transition here, but this cauliflower sandwich is the kind of food that I want to fuel my body with. It's super satisfying. It makes me feel good. It tastes good. If you're the kind of person who likes to put potato chips on your sandwich, you'll love this. The slightly spicy sweet potato chips add the perfect amount of crunch to a sandwich that's piled high with tender roasted cauliflower and creamy cilantro-lime avocado sauce. I hope you love it too!
Roasted Cauliflower Sandwich with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips and Avocado Sauce
Makes 4
Ingredients
2 medium sweet potatoes, sliced 1/8th inch thick
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon chlii powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 cauliflower
8 slices whole grain bread, lightly toasted
3 radishes, thinly sliced
Cilantro-Lime Avocado Sauce
1 avocado
1/2 lime, juiced
1/4 cup salsa verde
Leaves of 1 bunch of cilantro
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 small garlic clove, minced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Toss sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, cumin, chili and season with salt and black pepper. Bake in a single layer on a large baking sheet for 15 minutes. Flip and bake for 15 minutes more, being careful not to burn.
Trim outer leaves from cauliflower. Cut into steaks and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Place in the oven and bake 30 minutes, flipping halfway.
While vegetables are baking, make avocado sauce. Blend avocado, lime juice, salsa, cilantro, olive oil, and garlic, Season with salt to taste.
Spread four slices bread with avocado sauce. Top with radish slices, roasted cauliflower and sweet potato chips. Top with remaining slices of bread.
More sandwiches recipes from the archives:
Avocado Ricotta Tartine with Preserved Lemon
Pita with Yogurt Chickpeas and Muhammara
Tofu Banh Mi with Mushroom Pate and Pickled Vegetables
