A Delectable Vegetarian Sandwich

Let's face it, the sandwich world is dominated by meat. Everything from hamburgers to ham and cheese fill the space reserved for ideal sandwich standards. This doesn't necessarily need to be. Here is the recipe for an out-of-this-world vegetarian sandwich that's quick and easy to make.

Creamy Garden Sandwich

• Artisan bread
• Cream cheese
• Sour Cream
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Red bell pepper
• Onion
• Lettuce
• Salt and Pepper
• Dill

This one's an easy, refreshing update on the classic cucumber sandwich. Start with two slices of your favorite fresh, rustic bread, such as batard. The soft, grainy inside and crusty outside will add a lot of flavor and texture to your sandwich that pre-sliced, mass-produced breads just won't.

Now, let's get to building our spread. The traditional spread for cucumbers sandwiches is cream cheese with a liberal dash of dill. The problem with this is that cream cheese on its own is just too heavy, even when it's whipped. By adding a bit of sour cream to the mix, you can smooth out and lighten your spread without compromising the overall creaminess. Add your salt, pepper, dill and finely chopped onion to taste. Make sure you have enough spread to apply a strong layer to both slices of bread. This isn't only about flavor and texture, your spread will also act as an important adhesive to a series of otherwise slippery ingredients.

With your bread prepped with the creamy onion dill spread, apply a single layer of half-inch thick cucumber medallions. Leave some space between the slices of cucumber for your red bell pepper. You won't need much of the bell pepper. A single segment coarsely chopped should do the trick. Fit those pieces into the gaps between and around the cucumber. It doesn't need to look like a work of art, but it's important to utilize all the available real estate. This will not only ensure that there's a medley of vegetables in every bite, but that the sandwich doesn't fall apart while you're eating it.

Depending on the size of your tomatoes and your bread, you'll only need one or two slices of tomato. Remember to judge carefully when determining the ideal thickness for your tomatoes. This can turn out to be an unmanageably tall sandwich if you're not careful.

Before we get into tomato placement, let's contemplate lettuce for a moment. Remember, we applied spread to both sides of our sandwich to make sure everything stays in place. But tomatoes are notorious for their tendency toward slippage. While our sandwich just wouldn't feel complete without lettuce, if we attempted to apply it to any of the layers as whole leaves it would invariably result in half the sandwich falling out the back. This is why seasoned sandwich makers have been chopping their lettuce for ages. With a little extra time and effort, you can have your lettuce without compromising the structural integrity of your meal.

All that's left is to position your tomato slices so the spread from the top slice of bread holds them in place, apply a little bit of pressure to make sure everything is nice and cozy, and give your sandwich a good cut down the middle. Serve with your favorite crunchy thing and a cool beverage. The combination of flavorful crust, coarse bread, creamy spread and crisp veggies will make this sandwich a fast favorite, guaranteed.