Southern Girl Goes Vegan

I used to be a fan of the BLT.  Guess what?  I still can be!  While shopping with Andrea in Whole Foods, we discovered LightLife Tempeh Fakin’ Bacon strips.  The package tells you that it would make a great BLT, but you know how advertising can be.  They may say it, but would it really be great?  Well, lemme tell you, it was!  I have had it for dinner 2 nights in a row.  I don’t know if you’ve ever had a BLT, but it goes like this:  bacon, lettuce, tomato on bread with mayo.  Of course, there are different versions as with anything, but I am a fan of the original.  I did try and make it a little healthier.  I used Men’s Bread- a vegan sprouted bread, Nasoya Nayonaise, tomato, and mixed greens.  It was delicious.  Tonight, I subbed kale instead of mixed greens…still superb. You could use avocado if you didn’t want the “mayo” spread.  I hadn’t had tempeh, a fermented soybean product, but I had heard of it’s health benefits and wanted to try it.  It was surprising how close the flavor of this product is to actual bacon.  I also enjoyed the texture, which was thick and a little crunchy.  I fried mine up in Earth Balance spread.  It was very enjoyable.  I am so excited about this version of an old classic!

"mayo"

Fakin’ Bacon

I said earlier that the thing I missed the most since trying to incoporate a vegan diet was fish!  Well, I sure had a challenge this evening.  It was a surprise 50th birthday party for my aunt where heavy hors d’oevres were served.  Among them were lots of meats (of course), fruits, few veggies, and smoked salmon with all the trimmings.  I love smoked salmon, but did not consume.  It was tough, but I realize this will be challenging every day.  I decided to avoid it and filled up on what was available for me to eat.  This left me reallly wanting some comfort food.  When Chase and I left the party, we swung by Publix.  I thought I would just make some homemade salsa and call it a night until I saw the potatoes.  I love potatoes in any form, but especially baked with lots of butter and sour cream.  I thought this would just be another item I would be giving up.  Instead, I thought I would veganize it!  Oh my, did it totally work!!  I remembered I had purchased some Tofutti  Better than sour cream at Whole Foods one day, but hadn’t tried it.  Well, tonight it had its turn at bat and hit a homerun!

Tofutti Better than Sour Cream

Vegan loaded baked potato

My loaded baked potato:

1 large russet potato

any vegan margarine spread (I used Earth Balance original)

Tofutti!  Better than sour cream!

sea salt

fresh ground pepper

fresh cut chives

I bake my potatoes Alton Brown style usually (1 hour @ 350′), but tonight was in a hurry and didn’t want to wait an hour, so I cheated a little.  Take the potato and rinse well to remove dirt.  Poke several holes in the potato—I use a knife and stab the little sucker several times.  Microwave for 5 minutes.  Remove with an oven mitt for it will be hot.  AB calls for canola oil, but I was out, so cover the potato with the butter spread about a tablespoon.  Sprinkle sea salt on potato.  Place in preheated oven at 425′ for 10 min.  Turn potato over.  Reduce heat to 325′ and bake for another 10-15 min.  Remove potato with oven mitt and plate.  Slice and add 1T vegan butter, 2T “sour cream”, fresh chives, and salt and pepper to taste.  The result will be crunchy outer skin with fluffy middle—perfection.  I devoured the whole  thing and feel so good right now!  🙂

Mmmmm, mmmm!!!