Category Archives: Vegan Bacon

Gluten Free and Vegan Elvis Panini Sandwich!

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Bread, Childhood Favorites, Comfort foods, Cooking, Dinner, Fruit, Gluten Free, Healthy, Kid Friendly, Local, Peanut Butter, Recipes, Rhode Island, Sandwiches, Vegan Bacon, Vegan Health, Vegan Junk Food and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have been trying to eat more healthfully lately. In fact, ever since I went gluten free I have found it hard to make up the ridiculously delicious recipes I was used to creating in the past. But today I dreamed up an idea for an amazing unhealthy sandwich that at first I was skeptical of being able to pull off to meet my needs. As I continued to think about it, I devised the methods that could make it healthier, and is the perfect combination of delicious, ridiculous, healthfulness, and satiety level!

This sandwich is a peanut butter and nanner sandwich, with baked vegan rice paper bacun, made with light tapioca gluten free bread, grilled in a panini maker. This definitely is not a very original idea, I’ve seen many a vegan version of this sandwich on blogs and in cookbooks, but this is my version!

It came out so well, that my panini maker has been given a new life outside of sitting in my basement!

Let me walk you through the steps, in picture form. It’s easy!

Bake the rice paper bacun. I did this recipe’s marinade, minus the ground coconut, soaked the rice paper strips in cold water, then in the marinade, and put them on a cookie sheet sprayed with coconut oil. Then I baked them in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes, checking and flipping every 5 minutes (some got done sooner than others, when that happened I took the ones that were done out and put it on a plate while the rest continued to cook)IMG_9197

Set aside.

Take two pieces of Ener-g gluten free light tapioca loaf bread and spray coconut oil on one side of both slices of bread. Put the coconut oil side down on a plate.

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Take out the peanut butter. This is a locally made, all natural, salt and sugar free peanut butter. It’s so good!

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Place one tablespoon of peanut butter on each slice of bread.

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Cut half a banana into slices. Place on one slice.

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Layer the rice paper bacun you made earlier on top of the bananas. Put the peanut butter slice down on top of the bacon to make the sandwich.

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Place the sandwich into a pre-heated panini grill on medium high for about 5 minutes, more or less depending on your device (check on it).

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Ready to go!

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Enjoy!

Gluten Free Shiitake “bacon” vegan quiche recipe

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Chloe's Vegan Italian Kitchen, Cooking, eggless, Gluten Free, Original Recipes, Pie, Recipes, Tofu, Vegan Bacon and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gluten free Shiitake “Bacon” Vegan Quiche

Well, I am finally back with a new recipe. My previous few recipes received a lot of attention, and I felt a little frozen to try and top them! This may not top the rainbow cookies, but I am excited that I made it. This recipe is adapted from my jalapeño popper quiche I made awhile ago here.

This recipe is quite nutritious. 1/6 serving has about 15g of protein, 325g potassium. It also contains 19% zinc (which I have a hard time getting in my diet), 14% iron, 122% b-12, 20% calcium (depending on the vegan milk you use), and is also a good source of folate, B-6, Riboflavin and Thiamin because of the nutritional yeast.

The Shiitake bacon:

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I am now quite smitten! In fact, I think it is the closest us vegans have come to replicating the texture of actual bacon. I have adapted my recipe from Chloe Coscarelli…her recipe requires a pound of shiitake (which would cost me at least $10, probably more) and I can only seem to find 3.5 oz containers of sliced shiitake near me. It is so good though. And it is not even fried! I like it by itself, in her Carbonara recipe (http://chefchloe.com/entrees/pasta-carbonara-with-shiitake-bacon.html), and now in this quiche, which is the perfect place for it!

Ingredients:

  • 3.5-4 oz sliced shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • 1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Place mushrooms in a ziplock bag. Add in the oil and salt and pepper.
  3. Seal bag and shake until mushrooms are coated.
  4. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
  5. Flip over.
  6. Bake for another 10 minutes.
  7. Voila! They should be simultaneously crispy and chewy (the smaller, thinner pieces will be more crispy, and the thicker bigger pieces chewier)
  8. Use for whatever reason or in the quiche recipe below.

 

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust

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I am back to eating gluten free after majorly slipping up during the holidays. I have been using this packaged pie crust dry blend for awhile, and I have adapted the rest of the ingredients and directions more to my liking. I do love this product and it makes gluten free pies much easier but the method for using it could use some improvement. In the past when I followed their directions, I often found myself working with a very crumbly crust that was almost impossible to roll out and use without it cracking or worse. I have been thinking of ways to make it better and more like an actual pastry pie crust, and this seems to have worked.

Ingredients:

  • A bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust Dry Mix
  • 12 tbsp Earth Balance Sticks (1.5 sticks total)
  • 8 tbsp coconut oil
  • 6 tbsp water

Directions:

  1. Pour the dry mix into a food processor.
  2. Cut up the Earth Balance into small pieces and place into the food processor. Do not process yet!
  3. Place the coconut oil into the processor by each tablespoon at a time.
  4. Process until a smooth somewhat cohesive mixture is formed.
  5. Take out and place in a large bowl.
  6. Sprinkle the water over it.
  7. Use your hands to combine everything together and make it moldable.
  8. Separate in half. If making the quiche, keep one half out and wrap the other in a disk shape in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer, defrosting before ready to use for another quiche or pie of some type later. If making a double crust pie instead, place the disk in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.

BEHOLD! THE QUICHE!!

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Ingredients:

  • ½ recipe Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust as prepared above
  • 1 lb firm tofu
  • 1 tbsp Ener-g Egg Replacer (do not add water to it!)
  • ½ cup nutritional yeast
  • ¼ cup plain almond milk or another favorite vegan milk substitute
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • ¼ tsp Indian Black Salt (optional, it makes it have an eggier flavor. When searching for this, please note it is actually a pink color and not black) If you can’t find it, place ¼ tsp of your favorite salt instead
  • ¼ tsp sea salt
  • ½ Daiya cheddar shreds
  • 1 3.5 oz batch of shiitake bacon as provided above

Directions:

  1. Spread half the prepared pie crust into a deep dish pie pan with your fingers. Try your best to make it even across the pan and up the sides.
  2. Let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  4. Place pie crust with several fork stabs to the bottom in the oven for 10 minutes.
  5. Prepare the filling by placing the tofu, egg replacer, nutritional yeast, and plain vegan milk in a food processor. Blend together until smooth.
  6. Add the onion powder, turmeric, and black salt, and process until combined, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula a few times to really incorporate everything.
  7. Scoop out into a large bowl and fold in the Daiya cheese and shiitake bacon until they are evenly dispersed throughout.
  8. Spread into the prepared pan with the pie crust in it.
  9. Bake for 30 minutes.
  10. Take out of the oven and allow to cool for a bit (10-15 minutes…although it is easier to cut when you wait longer) before digging in! Enjoy!

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Vegan Mofo 2014: Sandwich (and soup and salads) Saturday! California Club Sandwich with Bac’non Nori

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Original Recipes, Recipes, Sandwiches, Seaweed, Vegan Bacon, Vegan Mofo 2014 and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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Initially I had planned to unveil my ingenious new nori vegan bacon invention today, but I actually ended up sharing it as a preview to my Vegan MoFo plans, in addition to it being International Bacon Day. This recipe builds upon the nori bac’non recipe, but adds it into a vegan club sandwich, which is the perfect addition of flavors, in my mind.

When I was a little girl we visited California almost every Summer. My favorite thing to get there was a California style Club Sandwich. They just don’t make them the same (and are hard to find) in New England. Of course, they aren’t always typically vegan, so I needed to veganize it, as well.

California Club sandwich with Bac’non Nori

Ingredients (for one sandwich):

  • 1/3 Avocado
  • 2 tomato slices
  • 1 piece/leaf iceberg lettuce
  • 1 tbsp vegenaise
  • 1 tsp hot sauce
  • 5 slices hickory smoked tofurky
  • 4 slices Nori Bac’non-Recipe here
  • 2 slices toasted rye or sourdough

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Directions:

  1. Toast bread.
  2. Mix vegenaise and hot sauce and spread on one side of bread.
  3. Place avocados, tomato slices, and Nori Bac’non on the vegenaise side.
  4. On the other bread slice, place lettuce and tofurky cut in half.
  5. Place both sides together and place two toothpicks and cut the whole sandwich in half with a bread knife.
  6. Gobble it down.

Vegan MoFo Day 5! Friday! Pie day (and pizza day next Friday!) Broccoli, Cheese, and tempeh bacon pot pie!

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Comfort foods, Nutritional Yeast, Original Recipes, Pot pies, Recipes, Vegan Bacon, Vegan Mofo 2014, Vegetables

So I realize Friday’s theme might be a little confusing, but it’s pizza and pie day, but the pie recipes rotate along with pizza recipes. The pies are pot pies that you’d eat for a meal, not desserts.

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Here is the first one:

Broccoli, Tempeh Bacon, and Cheese (nutritional yeast based) Pot Pie:

I had originally made this for a pot pie day at Girls Rock RI’s volunteer lunch during the camp this Summer, and it was a big hit! I made it again to make sure I had it down pat (and because I hadn’t even tried it during the camp), and it’s really good! 

The broccoli and cheese is obviously a delicious combination, but the smoky tempeh bacon gives it extra protein and complements the flavors so well!

Ingredients:

For the pie crust:

  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 1 cup unbleached white flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp cold Earth Balance
  • 6 tbsp non-hydrogenated organic vegetable shortening
  • 1/4 cup cold water

 For the cheese sauce:

  • 1 tbsp vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance)
  • 1 cups unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/8 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or substitute gluten free flour)
  • 3/4 cups nutritional yeast
  • 1 slice Daiya cheddar cheese (what I used) or 1/4 cup Daiya cheddar shreds
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tbsp prepared yellow mustard

For the pie filling:

  • About 2 cups steamed broccoli
  • 8 strips prepared tempeh bacon cooked in 1 tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

Pie Crust:

  1. Place flours and salt in a food processor. Give it a quick whir to combine together.
  2. Add 2 tbsp of shortening, quickly pulse, and continue to add the shortening 2 tbsp at a time until you’ve put in 6 tbsp.
  3. Follow the same method with the Earth Balance as above.
  4. With the processor running, open the little opening thing on top and slowly pour in the water.
  5. Separate the dough into fairly equal halves.
  6. Smoosh into two round disk shapes, and wrap each in plastic wrap.
  7. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to 2 hours.

To make the pot pie:

  1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Roll out one of the dough disks into a thin circle on top of plastic wrap and with flour dusted onto the rolling pin.
  3. Carefully lift the dough while still on the plastic wrap onto a pie pan. Fold over the edges.
  4. Bake in the oven for five minutes. Take out and allow to cool while you prepare the rest.
  5. Steam broccoli in a steamer basket until bright green. Set aside in a bowl.
  6. Cook about 8 strips of tempeh bacon (I used Tofurky brand) with coconut oil in a frying pan until browned on both sides.
  7. Place on the bottom of the pie crust so that it covers the bottom of the crust.
  8. Make the cheese sauce: on medium heat, melt the earth balance in the almond milk. Turn to low heat. Add the flour and stir. Add the nutritional yeast and stir. Add the slice of daiya and allow to melt, while, you guessed it, stirring. Turn off the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.
  9. Mix this sauce in with the broccoli and scoop into the bottom pie crust.
  10. Roll out the other half of the dough as you did before, only this time placing the dough on top of the pie and closing the edges together.
  11. Cut slits or a design out of the middle.
  12. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
  13. Allow to cool 5 minutes, slice, and enjoy.

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Yay! 

 

Sneak peak at what’s to come for Vegan MoFo 2014 in September! Recipe for Nori Bac’non

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Original Recipes, Snacks, Vegan Bacon

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I am participating in Vegan Mofo 2014! I have a whole month’s worth of amazing recipes and other food related blog topics almost all set to go! I plan to also post a blog tomorrow, in which I will explain my theme and some deeper things I am hoping to address by participating in this, as well as a personal update on how my Summer went and what I’m looking forward to for the future.

But for now? I just found out today is International Bacon day, which isn’t very vegan, but I’m all about bacon type flavor without the cruelty! I am always in search for the best smokey savory flavor of it, as well as trying to replicate the texture. For a recipe that will be coming up in the days of September and Vegan Mofo 2014, I felt the need to create a new type of vegan bacon.

This idea initially came to me in July when I was talking to a group of volunteers at Girls Rock! RI after a long day at the girls’ camp, and while we were discussing the days events, there happened to be some seaweed snacks around (I was responsible for making sure snacks were always out and available). Some of us were encouraging the organization’s intern to try it, and she was a bit hesitant. I was trying to describe the flavor to her, and all of a sudden, I said to another person next to me, “I’m surprised vegans haven’t found a way to make bacon out of it, they’ll make bacon out of anything!” Thus, I was now on a quest to create vegan bacon out of Nori seaweed.

So, here it is!

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Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce or gluten free alternative
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
  • 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  • pinch of black pepper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or better yet a silicon/silpat sheet.
  3. With clean scissors, cut the nori into long strips, about an inch wide. The nori I used had perforated guidelines (I’m guessing for if you make sushi) so I cut along those. It made it super easy…you can cut all three sheets at once.
  4. photo 1Pour the water into a shallow bowl. Mix in the maple syrup and use a small whisk to incorporate the maple syrup into the water.
  5. photo 2 (1)Mix in the rest of the ingredients and whisk.
  6. Dunk each strip of nori one at a time into the liquid and place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue until all have been dunked.
  7. photo 3 (1) Pour about 2-3 tbsp of the remaining liquid over each baking sheet, being sure to spread it out fairly evenly among the nori strips. Do not throw away the extra liquid!
  8. Let sit for about 5 minutes. I wasn’t patient enough to let it marinate longer, but I bet it would be even better if you let it marinate longer, for an hour or thereabouts. I wouldn’t recommend much longer because it would probably be too sticky and you don’t want to put them in the fridge either.
  9. Place in the oven for 7 minutes.
  10. Take out of the oven and pour about 3-4 tbsp of liquid over each baking sheet as you did earlier. You will not need the remaining liquid for this any longer, but you can save it if you like to make a smaller batch later if you want.
  11. Place back in the oven for 15 minutes. Rotate and check sheets after 10 minutes if your oven tends to patchily bake things like mine does. One sheet of mine was almost done and the other was still liquid-y at this point, so it helped to switch the pans around.
  12. Continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes or until the liquid is evaporated and the nori is crinkling slightly. If they are still not at this point after 15 minutes (mine were not), turn the oven up to 300 degrees and cook for about 3 more minutes until they are curly and crispy. Keep a careful eye on them at this point, as they could easily burn quickly.
  13. Take out of the oven when done.
  14. Allow to cool for a quick minute until you can handle them temperature wise and peel off the nori from the pan with the silpat liner. Place on wax paper or parchment paper, with the side that was facing the baking sheet up. Work quickly because they crisp up quite quickly as they cool.
  15. Eat them like they’re candy or save for a bacon-y recipe you plan to make, of course, there’ll be a recipe that uses them during my Vegan Mofo event!

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Vegan Bacon Flavored Kale Chip Recipe

Posted by Banana Curl Vegan Girl in Kid Friendly, Original Recipes, Vegan Bacon and tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I love anything faux bacon for some reason. I love the smoky and savory flavors with a hint of sweetness, I guess.

So last night I made my own recipe for another one of my favorite things; kale chips.

This recipe, though it works best in the dehydrator (I have never had success making kale chips in the oven, no matter how low I put the temperature, they always become burnt and have a strange overly cooked greens taste), is not truly a “raw” recipe, because it uses maple syrup, liquid smoke, and smoked paprika, and maybe a few other things that I’m not sure if they are raw or not. So if you care about being 100% raw, this recipe is probably not for you.

Otherwise, I definitely advise trying these if you are a fan of vegan bacon and kale chips!

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Vegan Bacon Flavored Kale Chip Recipe

Ingredients:

  • one bunch kale, or at least 6 cups chopped kale
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 cup raw cashews soaked in water (for at least two hours)
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp liquid smoke
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 cup water

Directions:

  1. Prepare the kale by washing it and breaking it into chunks if not already chopped. Make sure there are no large stems in any of the pieces. Place in a large bowl.
  2. Place the cashews (after being soaked, drained, and rinsed) into a food processor and add the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Pulse until thoroughly combined and into a thick sauce like consistency.
  4. Pour over kale and coat the kale thoroughly with your hands.
  5. Place on the sheets of your dehydrator, at about 115 degrees Fahrenheit, overnight (about 10-12 hours, maybe more if still moist).
  6. Enjoy!