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Apr 1, 2014

blt salad with quick croutons

(Vegan) bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches are a staple in our home. In fact, it never fails: while making the weekly menu and calling out for requests, someone will unfailingly offer BLT as an option. Making vegan bacon at home is a snap (and the recipe in my upcoming cookbook, Everyday Vegan Eats, is a great one), but unlike the rest of my family, I like new and varied things to eat.

To satisfy the BLT-lovers at home and my need for variety, I came up with a BLT Salad. In this dish the “B” stands for Beans. Before I lose your interest, the beans are prepared in much the same way that vegan bacon is prepared, with smoke, salt and sass. Since I chose to use beans instead of vegan bacon, and while the smoke and salt was satisfying as far as flavor goes, replacing the crunch that a crispy vegan bacon offers, was in order.

And that crunch is contributed by croutons. Not only are croutons made from bread (replacing the sandwich component), but since they are sautéed, they are ready quickly and offer the much needed crunch.
The rest was easy: tomato, lettuce and a quick mayo-based dressing.

Let me end this post by saying that the perfect BLT bite of this salad contains lettuce, tomato, crouton and smoky beans. Just like a wonderful BLT.






I couldn't resist posting another picture from my upcoming cookbook Everyday Vegan Eats.

This is one of my all-time favorite meals: Pasta Primavera with Alfredo Sauce. Creamy sauce tossed with spring and summer veggies and pasta. I've loved this dish since the first time my brother made it for me when he was executive chef at a quaint restaurant in southern Florida. That wasn't vegan, but this one is, and still just as delectable.




I’ve decided to submit this dish to What I Ate Wednesday hosted by Peas and Crayons since, well, it will be Wednesday soon enough!

8 comments:

  1. Both look amazing! I ran out of the house without breakfast this morning, so reading this was torture! Fun torture, though. ;)

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  2. WOW! Look at that food! Excellent! Looks and sounds GREAT :) Wonderful photos as well!

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  3. Lovely looking salad. I prepared the beans using canned red beans (not kidney beans), and they started to break down before the sauce had completely evaporated. They were still very tasty, I've added the beans to wraps, mixed them in with brown rice and also had them with grits and greens. All were scrumptious. I am looking forward to making the beans again with black beans as well as making the whole salad.

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    1. Mmm.. I'm loving the creativity with which you've used the beans! They might be breaking down because our stove temperatures are different. If you raise the temp so that the liquid evaporates in less than a minute, your beans might have a better chance of staying together. Black beans are more firm, but the quick evaporation should help even softer kidneys remain intact. Thanks for the report, charj!

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  4. This salad was fantastic. Even though I'm full I can't stop thinking about it.

    I think the beans have been breaking down because I didn't rinse and drain them well enough. I'll be more thorough next time and see what happens.

    I used some of the bacony beans in the Country Hash from Everyday Vegan Eats and enjoyed the recipe as written as well as with the bacony beans.

    I need to make double or triple batches of the beans in the future.

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  5. I think you're onto something with rinsing the beans! Good call. Let me know if that helps.

    Thank you so much for letting me know how you are liking the recipes from the book!

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Thanks for your comment! I'll check if it's spam and post if it is not. I appreciate your time and effort for commenting! ~ Zsu