Creamy Ricotta & Vegetable Avocado Toast

January’s “Sandwich of the Month” is inspired by starting clean and healthy eating. Here you’ll find variations of open-faced toasts with veggies. One is a Ricotta, Avocado, Cherry Tomato, Shallot, Green Onion; the other is, Ricotta, Avocado, Asparagus, Arugula, Chives. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with a basic Avocado Toast – mashed avocado, a little salt and pepper, drizzle of olive oil or honey, and some red pepper flakes to heat it up. Yum! Let’s go ahead and step it up a notch though! In this recipe, we are adding a creamy ricotta base to our Gluten Free toast and topping it with avocado plus a mixture of fresh and crisp veggies. You could toy around with just about any different combinations of vegetables, cooked or raw, and even fruit to top your toasts but today I kept it super simple with a mixture of tomatoes and onions for one and an asparagus and arugula mix for the other.

Toast your bread until golden. Smear a thin layer of ricotta cheese, about 1Tbs, evenly over each slice of toast. Top with sliced/mashed avocado, tomatoes, and green onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze a lemon over top to add a bit of acidic flair.

Toast your bread until golden. Smear a thin layer of ricotta cheese, about 1Tbs, evenly over each slice of toast. Top with sliced/mashed avocado, arugula, asparagus, and chives.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze a lemon over top to add a bit of acidic flair.

* To blanch the asparagus: add your cut asparagus to a pot of boiling water, season with salt and let cook for about 2 minutes until cooked though but not soggy. Remove from boiling water into an ice bath to stop the cooking process and maintain a bright green color.