recovering sandwich addict.

I love sandwiches. Always have, probably always will. My love of bread was one of the things keeping me from starting the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. It had a carby hold on me - especially after I met my husband, who went to baking school and makes a mean loaf of ciabatta. Why would I abandon a wonderful foodstuff that had never done anything but fill my belly and put a smile on my face?

Eventually, I got sick and tired enough that I decided to try to use the food I ate to help control my Crohn's disease, even if it meant giving up most dairy, and sugar, and starches... and bread.

Almost a year later, I'm feeling better than ever. I think the SCD is helping me a lot, and I feel wonderfully proactive every single day (the other treatment I use is a medication I get by IV every 8 weeks... pretty passive in comparison, wouldn't you say?).

However, I still miss sandwiches. Sometimes, things are just meant to be wedged between two slices of bread. Sadly, grain-free breads have disappointed me so far, what with expensive ingredients and lackluster results.

Here are a few of the ways I can console myself:

- Burgers with lettuce "buns" (usually boston lettuce, since it's strong). It's still pretty messy, though. I've also tried weaving bacon strips into "buns", but it ended in disaster. Lately, I just make a burger salad - my burger (sometimes topped with cheese, or with bacon on the side), my veggies, and my condiments all arranged prettily on the plate. Then I can vary my toppings from bite to bite! Yum.

(I haven't taken any photos of my salad, and all the hamburger salad images on these here internets are grotesque, so here! Have a hamburger dress instead. I think I've found next year's Hallowe'en costume!)

- A salad version of a BLT. I start off with bacon, lettuce, and tomato with a mayo-based dressing. Sometimes I add grilled chicken, or avocado, or cheddar cheese, or all three! Delightful. You can do this with pretty much any sandwich - get your favorite Subway sub as a salad (hold the dressing), serve your favorite chicken salad in lettuce cups, and so on.

- This recipe for grilled chicken burgers with peaches and honey mustard sauce (which I have yet to try) from My Big Fat Grain Free Life. Look at that deliciousness! Who needs a bun?!

- Or... I COULD give this extremely appealing grain-free bread recipe a try - no coconut flour, so it won't be dry, and it only calls for a bit of almond butter and almond flour. I find that baked goods with nut butters tend to come out better than nut flours, for some reason (dryness, maybe?), so the two combined should be tasty.

 AAAAAAA who am I kidding I'm so excited! This looks just like the real thing! I'm making this as soon as my clementine cake runs out!