Quick Vegan Meal Idea: Avocado & Vegan Coleslaw Bagel Sandwich

This summer, we get to enjoy outdoor family movies playing at the downtown park every Tuesday. Our Little Boy LOVES it! He loves being able to head out, help me “stake out” a good spot to lay our blanket out on, and just hang out until it gets dark enough for the movies. It definitely makes for a fun summer evening activity!

So the other night, I took the boys out to the park to see Happy Feet 2 (which I have to say is a great movie with a very real "the-planet-is-in-danger" message!). The Little Boy was so excited to see it and insisted that we NEEDED to have a pretty good spot close to the screen. Now to get a good spot though, we had to head out there very early so we decided to just make a quick sandwich to bring out to the park for a little picnic dinner before the movie.

So, dinner had to be quick, portable and light (to make room for the free popcorn, of course! ;p) and after a quick fridge check for what we had, we decided to make vegan coleslaw & avocado sandwiches!

Inspiration came from a sandwich that I absolutely LOVE having at our neighbourhood café. We live just down the street from Gilbert’s, an almost-legendary deli in Old Bellevue that serves awesome sandwiches; so back when I was still having dairy, I used to order their Avocado & Pepper Jack Cheese bagel sandwich almost every other day for lunch. I would be so cranky if I didn’t have that for lunch (it was the pregnant hormones' craving, too)! So now that I can’t have dairy and now that I actually have more time to make our own food again, I decided to make our own version and “veganize” it!

my inspiration: avocado & coleslaw on poppy seed bagel at Gilbert's

Vegan Coleslaw & Avocado Bagel Sandwich

2 whole wheat bagels
2-4 tbsp Tofutti cream cheese
1 avocado
1 tomato
Vegan coleslaw:
          ½ cup shredded & chopped carrots
          ½ cup shredded & chopped cabbage
          1 tbsp Vegenaise or any brand of vegan mayo
          1 tsp white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
          1 tbsp maple syrup or agave syrup
          1 tbsp garlic salt
          Salt & pepper to taste

Start with the coleslaw by chopping & shredding the carrots and cabbage. (Now, I do have to tell you, this was made on a very, very lazy afternoon and I have zero knife skills so instead of “chopping and shredding”, I basically just hacked and murdered the cabbage and carrots we had on hand! And it turned out okay. I will have to say though, that when the Mister --who is a chef, btw! -- makes the perfect coleslaw shreds, it does end up tasting much better! I guess because the veggies are bathed in the dressing better when they’re chopped well? I’m not sure, but all I’m saying is that, if you have great knife skills, good for you! If you don’t, don’t sweat it! The coleslaw will still taste great! Just try your best to shred it as best you can! ;))

Put cabbage and carrots in a bowl and add the vinegar in and toss. In a separate bowl, whisk Vegenaise, maple syrup and garlic salt together. Pour into bowl with the veggies and toss again. Add salt & pepper to taste. (What I love doing to make it easier though... I’m telling you, this was a very lazy-friendly recipe! ;p ...is that I just put everything in a container with a lid so that I can shake everything up and that gets all the veggies covered in the dressing that way!) Put in the fridge for atleast 20 minutes.

In the meantime, cut bagels in half and toast them. Spread “cream cheese” onto each bagel. Layer avocado slices on top of two of the bagel halves. Sprinkle a little salt & pepper onto the avocado slices. Add the tomato slices over the tomato then add some of the coleslaw on top. Top with the other bagel half.  

Ta-da! Quick, portable vegan dinner! Enjoy! ;)

our homemade "veganized" version: avocado & vegan coleslaw on whole wheat bagel