The first WFPB recipe book I ever bought for myself was The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook by the Esselstyns. My doctor recommends it to all of her patients who are interested in switching to a WFPB-diet, and I think it’s a great starter cookbook. There are lots of easy recipes and quite a wide variety of them. I made my first hummus recipe from this book (used in the recipe below) and discovered that I really liked open-faced sandwiches and lemon pepper! 

If you want to pack these for lunch just turn them into regular sandwiches, since open-faced sandwiches aren’t easy to pack. The hummus in this recipe is actually enough for 6 or so of these sandwiches; I always make extra so I can have leftover hummus for more sandwiches or with a snack. 

Ingredients:

Servings: 2 open-faced sandwiches

• 2 slices whole-grain oil-free bread, toasted (I use Ezekiel’s low sodium bread)
• 2-3 tbs. hummus (the listed ingredients below makes enough hummus for about 6 sandwiches)
  • 1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (oil-free, no added salt)
  • 2 large cloves garlic (or 1 heaping tsp. of minced fresh garlic from a jar)
  • 2 tbs. lemon juice
  • 1½ tbs. spicy brown mustard, to taste
  • ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 green onion, chopped
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 medium kale leaves (removed from tough stems) or a handful of spinach, chopped to bite-size pieces
• ½ small cucumber, sliced, then cut into halves or quartered
• Mustard of choice, but I think yellow mustard is best
• Lemon pepper (Mrs. Dash and Frontier brands have no added salt)

Directions:

First make the hummus. Mix all of the ingredients in the hummus list above (chickpeas through pepper) in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape it out into a smaller container to keep leftovers in the fridge (good for several days).

Spread the toasted bread slices generously with the hummus. Sprinkle the green onion, cilantro, and kale (or spinach) evenly over the hummus. I usually press them into the hummus so they don’t escape while I eat the sandwich.

Squirt mustard all over the top of the greens. Press cucumber pieces all over the top. Then generously cover the cucumber in lemon pepper.