Say Cheese!

Two weeks ago I was on The Pioneer Woman's site and in the cooking section she had pulled a recipe out of the vault -- 2008! -- in honor of her trip to New York City: Veggie & Cheese Bagel Sandwich.

And as soon as I saw it -- photos from 2008 and all -- I knew I had to make it.

With some modifications, of course.

The original recipes calls for a scallion cream cheese, only I'm not really a fan of scallion cream cheese. I am, on the other hand, a huge fan of vegetable cream cheese. So the swap was a no-brainer. The original recipe calls for sprouts and raw red onion, neither of which I'm a fan. So I just omitted them completely. And finally, she included some lettuce on her sandwich, but I was out and since there were already cucumbers and tomatoes on the sandwich, I didn't think it would suffer if I omitted the lettuce. It didn't.

But I think the true testament to this sandwich is my husband's comment when he saw me put it together: "There's an $8 sandwich."

So go ahead and treat yourself to an $8 sandwich ... in the comfort of your own home.

Veggie & Cheese Bagel Sandwich
Recipe modified from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

• Vegetable Cream Cheese
• Tomato, thinly sliced
• Cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/4 Avocado, mashed with salt
• 1 whole Bagel (I like onion or sun-dried tomato)
• 2 slices Muenster Cheese
• 1 slice Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. Slice bagel in half, then slice each half open. Spread the cream cheese generously on both sides of the bagel.
2. Slice the tomatoes and cucumbers thinly.
3. On the bottom halves of the bagel, layer the cucumbers and tomatoes on top of the cream cheese. Next layer the cheese: muenster, cheddar, muenster. On the other half of the bagel spread the avocados right along the cream cheese.
4. Put the whole thing together and Presto! The perfect summertime sandwich awaits!
5. Warning: Do not eat in front of anyone you're trying to make a good first impression. While delicious, it's not the easiest sandwich to eat.

Tip: I mashed the remaining 1/4 avocado with some salt and used it as a spread on Garden Vegetable crackers from Archer Farms. Delicious!