Recipe Round-Up: Baconish

Another newcomer to the blog, with Baconish by Leinana Two Moons making its first appearance. This book is all about vegan bacon. It has recipes for making bacon with all sorts of things (tofu, tempeh, seitan, carrot, mushrooms, chickpeas...), as well as ways to use them. If you like smoky, salty deliciousness you will enjoy this book!

Bacon and Cheddar Scones: I had a little bit of soy creamer to use up, so these seemed to call my name. They use some TVP-based baconish bits, and I used Daiya cheddar for the cheese. The recipe says it makes eight, I made a half batch and made them into three scones so we could each enjoy one fresh out of the oven. I did have to add a little bit of extra flour to the mix, as I found it a bit too sticky and soft to knead and shape.
Rating: Scones :), Baconish Bits :)



Cobb Salad with Eggplant Bacon: I love a salad full of lots of different things! The eggplant bacon was easy to make and very tasty, but it didn't really go crispy at all in the oven. Maybe I was playing caution, as I have tried other eggplant bacon recipes where they have burned. The salad also has cos lettuce, avocado, cherry tomatoes, white beans, corn, and I used cucumber in place of watercress. It uses a vegan blue cheese dressing recipe from another salad the book, which was easy to make. I made a half recipe of the dressing, but left out the tofu crumbles in it because the tofu I had in my fridge was being saved for something else. This was an excellent combination, and highly delicious.
Rating: Salad :D, Eggplant Bacon :)



The Famous Coconut BLT: I love me a BLT. This one uses coconut bacon, which was quick and easy and yummy. Though to be honest, I prefer a more substantial bacon in my BLTs. I used baby spinach instead of lettuce, and as well as the mayo I also used some avocado. Because avocado belongs on a BLT in my book.
Rating: Sandwich :), Coconut Bacon :)



Apple, Bacon, and Cheddar Grilled Cheese: This is a lovely combination. Crisp slices of green apple, your choice of tempeh bacon or Sweet and Savoury Bacon Jam, and cheese. I grilled this in my panini press, so I didn't butter the outside of the bread. I used the bacon jam option, which I will talk about further down in this post. I made this twice, once with Daiya American Style cheese slices, and once with some fancier Miyoko's Smoked Farmhouse. Both were good! I also added some sauerkraut to the one with the Miyoko's cheese, because it just seemed like the thing to do.
Rating: :)





The More-To-Love Elvis Sandwich: Tempeh bacon, peanut butter, and banana. This was nice, but I just always find warm banana a bit odd unless it is in a pudding situation. I skipped the step of buttering the outsides of the bread again, because I used my non-stick panini press. And I drizzled a little bit of agave as suggested, but I put it in the sandwich rather than over it to minimise sticky fingers. Rating: :)



Bacon Fried Rice: This was in the Sides section, but I served it as a main. I couldn't get snow peas at the time, so I used some frozen baby peas instead, and it also has chopped carrot. The bacon is the tofu bacon from the book, which was really nice. I did have to bake the tofu bacon an extra 10-15 minutes though, and it didn't get crispy as they always say, but they firmed up a bit when they cooled. This is finished with some sesame oil, which I reduced from 2 TBS to a drizzle. Served over some baby spinach.
Rating: Fried Rice :), Tofu Bacon :)



Hawaiian Pizza: I love Hawaiian Pizza! This version has pizza sauce (I used Leggos brand), mozzarella (I used Follow Your Heart), chopped tofu bacon that has been marinated but not cooked yet (it cooks on the pizza so it doesn't dry out too much), fresh pineapple (I thaw frozen pineapple and use that), and a thinly sliced shallot (which I used instead of a red onion so I didn't have leftover onion stinking out the fridge). I also used a pre-made crust to save on energy. The recipe suggests topping with coriander, but mine had gone off so I skipped it. This is an excellent pizza! So excellent that when I went back after eating two slices, I found out that my Dad had gone and scarfed all the leftovers so I cannot report on how it was cold the next day!
Rating: :D



Sweet and Savoury Bacon Jam: I mentioned this in one of the sandwiches above. This is a pretty lovely recipe, with tempeh bacon, onion, and shallots all simmered with sweeteners, vinegar, mustard, garlic and ginger. I halved the recipe as that was how much tempeh bacon I had. As well as eating it on the sandwiches, I also enjoyed it as a fancy addition to a little snack plate I made that had green apple slices, cucumber, grape tomatoes, Miyoko's smoked farmhouse, and water crackers.
Rating: :)





Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Dim Sim giving me a suspicious look while I coo over how cute her paw is.