TLT Sandwich For a Cool, Rainy Day Lunch

TLT stands for Tofu, Lettuce and Tomato. This sandwich is extra special because of two factors: 1. it is made with mostly local ingredients; 2. its extra small on baguette bread to make it fun to eat for everyone. I buy locally made tofu at my farmer's market thanks to Cara and Corn at Wintergreens - a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). No, this is not raw, but it is vegetarian/vegan (no animal products used). If you don't eat bread, you can sandwich this between two pieces of romaine lettuce for a nice fresh taste. The hardest part of this sandwich is baking the tofu which I usually do once per week and keep it for the week. Here's my marinade and how to bake the tofu:

Marinade

1/4 c shoyu soy sauce or wheat free tamari (for all you gluten-free folks)
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup or agave nectar
3 or 4 dashes of toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup water
Mix all together and pour onto 1/2 inch thick slabs of tofu in a baking dish with tofu laid out in one layer. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes (or up to an hour for a deeper flavor). Drain off the excess marinade and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 20 minutes. Then turn tofu over, coat the tops with more marinade (don't allow extra marinade to lay on the bottom of the dish or it will burn giving the tofu a burnt flavor), and place back in the oven for 20 minutes. Done!

For the TLT:

Thinly slice a baguette and gently toast the slices. While the bread is toasting, slice a tomato and set out the lettuce and avocado. When toast is ready (usually in about 4 minutes), spread avocado on both pieces of toast like mayonnaise. Then layer on the baked tofu, tomato and lettuce. Top it off with the other piece of avocado-laiden toast and enjoy. Even little hands enjoy this sandwich.

(Tip: instead of lettuce, you can use sprouts in the sandwich, especially sunflower sprouts for some extra nutrients and sproutier flavor. Kids really like sunflower sprouts!)

(Tip 2: if avocado is not a favorite, try hummus! It'll give it a different taste, but still delicious with extra protein.)

We served this with raw, fresh shelled english peas grown by Hepworth Farms (a local Hudson Valley organic veg farm by cult hero Amy Hepworth). Little hands love to shell their own peas.

Now to come up with a raw version of this to keep us humming...hmmmmmm

Keep your day bright and beautiful