I spent a year abroad in Australia in college, and there was this little coastal town in Queensland called Yeppoon, which was the main outlet to Great Keppel Island, where I would go as often as I could. Â (Great snorkeling and scuba diving, by the way, if you ever get the chance…) Â A poor college student at the time, I couldn’t afford a hotel, so I would find a little spot in the sand, and pitch a little pup tent that I found for $20AU. Â On the way to Great Keppel, I would stop at this little sandwich shop. Â They had the most AMAZING sandwiches there. Â Like, amazing. Â And for years I tried to find the equivalent. Â I visited sandwich shop after sandwich shop. Â That was over 20 years ago. Â I can’t even remember what the sandwich was called. Â It had beets, pineapple, sprouts, no meat, and I can’t even remember what else. Â And it was 100% heaven and 50% why I left my host family’s house in Rockhampton to go to Great Keppel. Â This is my attempt at the recreation. Â It’s not spot on, but it’s a darn good sandwich nonetheless. Note, you need to make your own pickled beets for this sandwich. Â This is not an optional step, and it does take a day or more. Â (Believe me if I thought you could get by without it, I would tell you you could skip it. Â You can’t. Â Get over it.) Â Allow yourself time in your meal plan to pickle beets. Â It’s worth it for these healthy veggie sandwiches.
The bread in this recipe was adapted from thesugarfreediva.com and is also available as a separate recipe HERE. You can find the pickled beets recipe by itself HERE as well.
Ingredients
Pickled Beets
- 2 each beet large
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Bread
- 8 Tbsp almond flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp dried basil
- 1/4 cup asiago cheese grated, optional
- 4 each egg
- 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sandwiches
- 1 each pineapple small , sliced
- 1 cup sprouts
- 1 each avocado sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach
Veggie Cream Cheese
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 Tbsp carrot chopped
- 1 each green onion chopped
- 1 Tbsp red onion chopped
- 1 Tbsp red bell pepper chopped
Instructions
Pickled Beets
- Add 1 cup water to the insert of an Instant Pot. Add a trivet to the instant pot. Cut the roots and stems off of the beets. Rinse. Add beets to the trivet in the instant pot. Lock lid; set valve to sealing. Program for manual-high and 14 minutes.
- Allow for 10 minutes of natural pressure release (NPR) or allow for total natural pressure release. Remove beets with a slotted spoon. Using a paper towel, remove peels.
- Thinly slice cooked beets and place in a glass jar.
- Combine vinegar, 1/4 cup water, honey, salt, and pepper in a shaker cup or blender. Shake or process to combine. Pour into jar. Seal lid. Refrigerate at least 24 hours or up to 1 week. Use as desired.
Bread
- Combine almond meal, baking powder, and salt. Mix in basil and asiago. Whisk together the eggs and oil. Fold egg mixture into flour mixture. Spray 4 microwave safe mugs with cooking spray. Divide batter evenly among 4 mugs. Microwave 45 seconds. Rotate mugs. Micrwave 20 seconds. Check for doneness. If not done, microwave on 10 second intervals, checking each time, until done. Slice in half.
Veggie Cream Cheese
- Combine all ingredients.
Sandwiches
- Spread cream cheese on 4 slices of bread. Top each with 1 slice pineapple, 1 slice pickled beet, 1/4 cup sprouts, 1/4 avocado, and 1/2 cup baby spinach. Top with remaining bread slices.
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