apple sunflower sandwich roll

I love road trips. It doesn’t matter if I’m the driver or a passenger. It doesn’t matter if I’m traveling 100 miles or 1,000. Let’s just go. Grab your sunglasses, mix some CDs and let’s do this. Need a break? Great, let’s stop dozens of times. I don’t care. What’s the rush?

My dad has spent most of his life driving a truck cross country. Back and forth, here to there, over the river and through the woods and repeat again and again. He loves to just go. Just move. I’m the same way. My mom also loves to travel. She’ll go anywhere. And my super cool grandparents seem to be gone more than they are at home. They’re always hopping in their van and hitting the road. Every time I plan a visit back home to Kentucky I have to first find out if they’re even going to be in town. I hope I’m always traveling when I’m their age. I hope I’m half as awesome as they are in 40 years. I guess the urge to go go go is in my blood.

My husband and I drove to Philadelphia this past weekend to watch the Flyers play. It’s a trip that we’ve made several times since we met. A couple hours in the car each way, same old scenery and traffic each time, and still I get excited for it like I’m traveling to a new, far-off land. Just being in the car is so relaxing for me.

I only have one real problem when it comes to road trips. The food. It’s no secret that it’s hard to find vegan choices while on the road. I used to get so frustrated over it until I decided to treat every trip as an opportunity to hone my food-making skills instead of the voyage of misery that it had become.

Last weekend I had a craving for something in particular. I wanted it to be super filling and also sweet. It needed to be portable and delicious when kept at room temperature. I wanted it to feel like a treat. And boy, did it ever.

Apple Sunflower Sandwich Roll
Makes 2 regular servings or 1 very large sandwich
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons apple juice
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• sprinkle of nutmeg
• 1 piece of lavash bread
• 4 tablespoons sunflower butter
• 3 tablespoons apple butter

Step 1 – Fry that apple! Slice your apple into 1/4″ slices

Melt Earth Balance in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the apple slices, brown sugar, apple juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir until apples are coated in the mixture.

Cook until the apples are soft, 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the apples are done, remove from heat, transfer to a plate and allow to cool to room temperature.

Stir together the sunflower butter and apple butter in a bowl.

Spread the butters on the bread, stopping 1/2″ from the edges.

Place the fried apple slices on top of the butter

and roll the sandwich

Ta-da!

Pack it up and hop in the car! Or go to the park. Or jump on a plane. Or take a few steps, plop yourself down on the couch and eat immediately while you watch back-to-back episodes of Cats 101. Sebastian loves that show.