My mom and dad have told me that when I was a kid, a very small kid, maybe even still an infant, I was a slight shade of orange. My mom homemade our baby food. And apparently we ate LOTS of carrots. We ate so many that we literally started to turn orange. But to this day neither my brother or myself wear glasses (okay fine, I should wear them at night, I just refuse to).

I have always loved carrots. Even in my super duper picky childhood/teens years I could gobble down tons of them. Most days while I am sitting at my desk at work I eat an entire bag of baby carrots. And I am not talking about the little snack bag that you send your kids to school with in hopes they will get some veggies into their system. I’m talking about the bag that most people buy to last them the entire week.

When I saw this recipe my jaw almost dropped. WHAT. A Carrot Sandwich. Get out! Oh, with goat cheese none the less. I was speechless. A stinken sandwich left me speechless. Obviously this meant I had to make it immediately. But as I approached the recipe I became lazy, very very lazy. So I ended up making the marinated carrots, but 86′d the olive tapenade. Instead I mixed some avocado in the goat cheese. Wow, delicious. The spices and flavor of the marinade is just intense (like nothing I have ever tried, and I now have a new love of Moroccan flavors). And the creamy nuttiness of the goat cheese avocado mix is the perfect balance of the sweet, tangy, spicy (flavorful, not hot) carrots. I am stoked I made it the way I did because it was so delicious.

Makes 6 sandwiches
For carrots
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cayenne
1 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lb medium carrots (8)

For sandwiches
12 slices bread (I used some 100 calorie sandwich rounds I had on hand)
4 oz soft mild goat cheese (1/2 cup) at room temperature
1 avocado

Directions
Prepare carrots:
Whisk together sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and oil in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved.

Using a food processor, or grater, thinly slice the carrots. Toss with dressing. Marinate, covered and chilled in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
*I marinated them overnight.

Assemble sandwiches:
Mash the avocado and mix it with the goat cheese.

Spread goat cheese mix on 6 slices of bread top with carrots and the remaining slice of bread.
*If you spread the goat cheese thinly enough, add it to each piece of bread. YUM!

I served this sandwich (open face) at a girl’s brunch along side a bunch of other delicious treats. It was fabulous! The girl’s brunch post will be coming soon…