Recipe: Smashed Chickpea & Avocado Salad Sandwich {A Week of Vegetarian Lunches}

When I came home last Sunday with our monster-sized haul of fruits and vegetables, I thought it would be fun to do a week’s worth of vegetarian lunches.  I started the week off with this favorite tried-and-true recipe for Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad, and a few roasted vegetable sandwiches, and when I saw this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod recently on Pinterest, the Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad Sandwich, it was the perfect finish.

Truth be told, avocado and I are closerthanthis.  On any given day, we have several on our kitchen counter, in smattering degrees of ripeness.  My 9-year-old son, Nick, and I will have one or two with dinner, or I’ll have one in various sandwich incarnations.  He likes an avocado drizzled with a little bit of olive oil, hot sauce, and kosher salt.  I do too.  It’s an awesome way to bring out the full, buttery, creamy rich flavor of the avocado.

This Smashed Chickpea and Avocado Salad Sandwich became my lunch on Thursday.  I almost skipped the “shell the chickpea” step.  I mean, really, I can honestly say I have never thought of shelling chickpeas when I’ve used them before, but to try the dish in its original form the first time, I shelled.all.the.chickpeas.  Each and every one.  Man, super tedious work.  A task I should have put one of my little helpers to, but luckily for them, they were outside enjoying a few moments of (rare) sunshine.

The recipe is super simple to make.  Just a few ingredients.  Mix ’em all together.  Slap between your favorite toasted bread.  Dig in.  I did drizzle a little bit of hot sauce on it before closing up the bread.  Ok, perhaps more than a little bit, because this newest bottle doesn’t have the small hole and apparently I couldn’t control the flow as well as I thought I could.  But the end result?  Pure deliciousness.

A great, simple sandwich that you can enjoy without the guilt.  While my 9-year-old loves hummus and avocado, he doesn’t like chick peas in their originating form.  S’alright.  More for me.  His sister, Madeline, will, unfortunately for now, touch neither chickpeas nor avocado.

Want to try your own taste of this sandwich?  Grab the recipe right here.

Looking for more tasty sandwich ideas?  You can check out my Pinterest sandwich page over here.

Hungry for more avocado recipes?
Try this grilled cheese on for size that we dished up last week.
Or this favorite roasted vegetable sandwich that is a repeat go-to.
This salad from Joy the Baker.
Use your avocados to top this Black Burger.
These little Tomato, Avocado, and Hummus Pita Pizzas.
This recipe for Sriracha Avocado Deviled Eggs from The Perfect Pantry.
Delicious avocado fries from Dine & Dish.
An easy weeknight meal from Sarah’s Cucina Bella by way of an Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime Rice Bowl.

We currently have five avocados on the counter – would love to hear about YOUR favorite avocado recipe!

The winner from Friday’s “guess how much” contest was Terri.  My total was $60.31.  Nice job!  Please e-mail me at cate AT sweetnicks DOT com so I can get your cookbook sent off to you!

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