Seaside Garden Sandwich

We used to take our kids for one last summer camping trip to the Pacific Ocean during the weekend before school started each fall. One of our favorite towns was Seaside, Oregon. And in Seaside, there was (and maybe still is...I don't know as I haven't been back there in over 10 years) a great little family-owned deli that served the most scrumptous sandwiches and soups. My favorite sandwich was their Garden Sandwich. YUM YUM YUM! I grabbed a take-out menu during one of our trips so that I could make the sandwich at home---no reason to wait another year to enjoy such a great sandwich!

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 8  slices  sourdough bread
• 1⁄3 cup low-fat mayonnaise (more or less, as desired)
• 1⁄4 cup Dijon mustard (more or less, as desired)
• 4  romaine lettuce leaves
• 4  slices provolone cheese
• 1  large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 1  red onion, thinly sliced (optional)
• 1  cucumber, peeled and cut in half and thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 -2  avocado, peeled and sliced
• 1 (4 ounce) package bean sprouts (I actually prefer alfalfa sprouts (but use either, they're both excellent)

Directions

1. Spread mayonnaise and Dijon mustard on one side of all 8 slices of bread.
2. Place a lettuce leaf on four slices of bread, then top with a slice of cheese. Then, on top of the cheese, add (in this order) one tomato slice, onion slices, cucumber slices, and avocado slices. Top with desired amount of sprouts.
3. Add the second slice of bread to each sandwich (the mayo-mustard spread side down of course), and slice the sandwiches in half diagonally.
4. TIP - If the raw onions have too much of a "bite", tame them by rinsing the slices under cold running water or soaking them in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes. Pat them dry before putting them on your sandwich.