Rabbit Food Sandwich a.k.a. Smashed Chickpea & Avocado Salad Sandwich Spread

Did you know that the USDA no longer uses the "Food Pyramid" as a guide and instead uses the "My Plate" reference? Until this post, I didn't. Here is the plate for dietary recommendations for adults:

Whenever I try to feed my husband fresh vegetables, he says, "That's not food; that's what food eats!" or "That's rabbit food!" I haven't given up, though, and when I saw this recipe (like egg salad, but without eggs or mayo), I thought it would be a great way to beef up a neglected portion of Mr.4444's diet.

Outside of hummus, I've not eaten chickpeas much, and Mr.4444 never even eats hummus when it's an appetizer, so I didn't let him see what the ingredients in this recipe were when I was preparing it. His verdict, "It's a really great sandwich, Hon!" (It also makes a great dip!)

For a simple, no-nonsense, printable version of this recipe, click here.

Ingredients:

1 large, ripe avocado

1 15-oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

Juice from one lime

1/4 cup freshly-chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

Bread (of course)

Sandwich toppings of your choice, such as lettuce/spinach, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, etc.

FYI, I ended up using a different bread than that in the photo, simply because I realized I had half a loaf of other bread to use first. I've never had the "Sprouted Grains," bread, and I'm hoping it's good!

First, drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. The recipe recommended removing the skins, which until that moment I hadn't realized existed! Who knew garbanzo beans had skins?! I did this in the colander, in the sink, gently rubbing them to reveal the skins. Full-disclosure: The original recipe says that it takes ten minutes to prep, but this part of the prep took me ten minutes!

Pretty interesting!

There's only a subtle difference between garbanzo beans with or without skin, but I agree that this recipe is better without that added texture.

(Skinned on the left, unskinned on the right)

I was so distracted by my new garbanzo-skin knowledge that I failed to read the directions that said to drain them, rinse them, and then lay them on a paper towel to dry them. I did this after my de-skinning in the colander process and learned that the gentle rubbing with a paper towel sloughs the skins off, too. (I had missed some!)

Place all of the ingredients in a flat-bottomed bowl 

and smash with a potato masher until you have the desired texture. (If you missed any skins, they'll appear during this process.)

Looks just like guacamole, doesn't it?!

Assemble your sandwich

 and enjoy!

I really liked the cilantro and lime juice flavors in this sandwich! It was a nice, 

guilt-free alternative to mayo, and the texture was nice.

 I'm not sure rabbits enjoy limes, but I actually did think that rabbits would love this sandwich, too.

Too bad there wasn't any extra (Makes 3-4 sandwiches).