making vegan bacon

Welcome to Making Mondays, dear Readers! 

On Mondays I will be posting tutorials for making staples and this is the first in the series. Let's get started today, and replacing bacon is a great place to start!

This meatless, vegetarian, and vegan bacon is made from tofu but is elevated to sheer baconness with the air-frying. If you don't have an air fryer then bake them in the oven with a few tablespoons of oil until as crisp as you like. 

The steps are basic and easy; the recipe is ready in about 20 minutes, including the air-frying. 

You can use tofu that ranges from medium-firm to extra-firm. Probably won't work with silken or soft, but the other fresh tofus are up for the transformation.

I use full-sodium tamari, but reduced-sodium works, too, or even straight up soy sauce. 

Liquid smoke is found in any grocery store, but if you are avoiding liquid smoke, let me know; you can use black cardamom, but it would take a few extra steps. 

Add these to BLTs, eat them out of the pan (as I do) or mince and top salads - your choice!

Below is the step by step.

Enjoy!

Making Vegan Bacon

Makes 18 to 25 strips 

Preheat air-fryer or oven to 400F 

1. Tofu: Press the tofu. Cut into thin slices, about 20 to a pound, but more if you can hack it.

1 pound regular tofu (not soft or silken)

Oil spray

2. Cook the tofu in a lightly oiled pan over medium heat until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes. Repeat with the rest of tofu. 

3. Nutritional yeast: Add all the cooked tofu back into the pan. Add the nutritional yeast and toss for 1 minute.

3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

4. Sauce: Combine the tamari and the liquid smoke. Add the mixture to the pan. Toss while adding. Remove from heat when the sauce evaporates 

1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

5. Spray the air-fryer basket with oil (or add 2 tablespoons oil to a baking sheet if using the oven). Add the tofu strips and spray again with oil (flip the tofu in the oil if using the oven) Bake until crips, 5 minutes for air-fryer (about 8 minutes for oven - flip at 4 minutes for the oven)

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

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blta grilled cheese

Since we love grilled cheese in this house, we decided to add "grilled cheese" to the bi-weekly menu rotation. This also means that we will be coming up with unique grilled cheeses in the future since there is no way we could stand making grilled cheese every other week and be happy with the lack of variety.

As you may know, three of the five people in the family are back to college now (the fourth is heading to USC in the spring) and that means fast, easy and tasty meals are on the menu - and that also means everyone helps out with the cooking (at least one person, once a week - besides me).

This past week we had BLTA Grilled Cheese sandwiches. Bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado - all on a grilled cheese sandwich. Really, this can only be good.

I used my bacon recipe from Everyday Vegan Eats (AMAZON) because it is STILL my most favorite bacon recipe hands down and it freezes really well so I make a huge batch and pull out what I need when I need it. Toss it in the air-fryer and have crisp, crunchy, amazing vegan bacon.

Use commercial cheese or make your own, but if using commercial block cheeses, use a mix of different brands to get a melty, gooey vegan cheese that isn't over-powering in flavor.

Have at it - make grille cheese a regular addition to your menu and you can customize it and have lunch on the table in record time.

BLTA Grilled Cheese
Makes 4 sandwiches

8 slices bread
Vegan butter
Vegan mayonnaise or 1 small mashed avocado
4 slices vegan swiss cheese or other vegan cheese
12 slices vegan bacon
Lettuce
Tomato

1. Butter one side of each bread slice. Spread mayo or avocado on the top slice of each sandwich.
2. Heat a skillet over medium-low heat, add the slices of buttered bread, top with cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and add the top slice of mayo-ed (or avocado-ed) bread (butter side up). Cover with a lid and cook until the bottom slice of bread is golden, about 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Flip the sandwich and cook, uncovered, until golden brown. Reduce heat if the bread is cooking too fast.
4. If the cheese is not melted, add a tablespoon of water to the skillet, tip the skillet to avoid making the bread soggy, cover with a lid and cook until the cheese is melted. Serve.



© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.