blt with eggplant bacon

many times i hold back on posting recipes because of the poor photos. but i'm not here to win a photo contest - i'm here to show you how to make a delicious vegan blt!

did you know plant products contain little to no cholesterol? some say cholesterol is the animal's revenge. i don't know about that, but i do know that even when i was an avid meat eater, i couldn't stand to cook greasy bacon. turkey bacon was ok, but some brands i've tried were inedible.

enter eggplant bacon. after making it over a dozen times, i have finally found a recipe i love. (you can click here to see more of my posts with eggplant bacon.) the key to good eggplant bacon is slicing the eggplant thin and allowing enough time for marination. mine marinated over two days in the fridge and produced the best batch of crunchy bacon yet.

eggplant bacon marinade

3 T nama shoyu or soy sauce
2 T maple syrup
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chipotle powder (depending upon how much heat you like)

mix all ingredients. slice eggplant into thin circles (a mandolin slicer is ideal). for best results, allow eggplant to marinate at least six hours*. dehydrate on teflex sheets at 115 degrees until crispy on top, then flip onto mesh screens and dehydrate until dry.

alternatively, eggplant bacon can be baked in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

*at first i accidentally typed six years. in other words, the longer the better if you ask me!=)

to assemble the blt, layer bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado (makes a nice substitute for mayo). we like to use ezekiel sprouted grain bread but have also used wraps and homemade raw breads. (matthew kenney's cumin flatbread and lisa's raw on $10 a day onion bread are my favorites.)

eggplant boasts a host of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. the beautiful purple fruit (yes, it's a fruit!) contains potent antioxidants that protect cells from damage, particularly brain cells. studies have shown that eggplant can reduce cholesterol in the arteries, effectively increasing blood flow. when switching from pork bacon to eggplant, we're not only preventing the cholesterol from entering our system, but also helping to remove it. win-win!

it's eggplant season in our neck of the woods. our eggplant isn't growing well, but fortunately the csa has plenty. i'm still waiting for red bell peppers to make roasted eggplant and red pepper dip. eggplant caponato is another delicious way to eat eggplant, especially this raw version.

how do you like to prepare eggplant? could always use a new recipe to try!

puttin' up the produce

muth week 12: the usual plus a 25 pound box of heirloom tomatoes, free to a good home.

though i'm so new to it, i decided to document my efforts in preserving. since i'm so new to it and there are some things that could go wrong, i recommend everyone do their homework before following any method.

canning still intimidates me a bit so i decided to freeze tomato sauce and salsa in jars. one forum mentioned that you cannot freeze glass as it will crack upon thawing. others sources said it was fine, and ball has recipes for freezer jams, so i went with freezing.

about a quarter of the tomatoes were rotting, and heirloom tomatoes are so watery that i ended up with 6 half-pint jars each of sauce and salsa. both are really tasty, and half-pint servings are perfect for our family of two (humans=).

typically i search around and read various recipes until i get a feel of how much of what to put in, and i do taste-tests throughout. (with caution because these sauces get hot!)

the excess plum tomatoes were sprinkled with salt and dehydrated almost two days to make "sun-dried" tomatoes. they're stored in a jar in the fridge and will come in handy when i make raw cheez-its or the happy raw kitchen's yummy eggplant caponata.

keeping with the italian theme i apparently have going, i roasted sweet peppers and stored them in a jar of olive oil and dried rosemary. (without garlic because i read it could cause botulism toxins to develop.)

since i didn't plan on eating them right away, i stored the jar in the fridge. i imagine these roasted peppers would taste nice on some raw pizza or pita bread with hummus.

the original plan was to strip my 8 basil plants to make lots of pesto, but once i saw how much wildlife was living in and amongst them, i decided to just take off the larger leaves and leave the "basil bellagio" be.=)

even biggles (and a stray who left us a stinky gift) are drawn to those basil plants! 

*

 

squash chips are... well... interesting. to be honest, it took awhile for squash chips to grow on me, and i'm still not sure if i really like them. john loves them and i want to like them so i make them often.

slice zucchini, yellow or golden squash thin (a mandolin slicer works like a dream), then soak in cool water with a few tablespoons apple cider vinegar for about 2 hours.
 

after placing them on dehydrator sheets, sprinkle with a little himalayan salt and chipotle powder if you like spice, and dehydrate at 115° until crispy. 

badda bing badda boom, you've got yourself a healthy snack.=)

same procedure for eggplant bacon - slice thin, marinate, place on trays, dehydrate at 115° until crispy.

eggplant bacon marinade

2 T maple syrup
2 T olive oil
4 T nama shoyu
1/2 tsp. chipotle powder

eggplant bacon goes so nicely with veggie blt's and spicy black bean patties, accompanied by a homemade pickle... but i'll stop here and leave pickling for another post!

=)

this week i...

enjoyed cooler days with the trio in the "treehouse"...

the cat goes down the slide!

...took lots of wagon walks...

 

my childhood friend's chickies, bubby and evolet

and their gymnast cat, oscar

...finally let the munchkins explore my "white car"...

 oscar included

...ate lots of tasty salads with raw eggplant bacon...

 green leaf lettuce, tomato, cucumber, green onion and eggplant bacon with leftover nacho cheeze made with white bell pepper and cashews

 

 green leaf lettuce, heirloom cherry tomatoes, cooked quinoa, and raw eggplant bacon with extra-virgin olive oil, himalayan salt and pepper

...was rustled out of dreamworld each morning by this lil' piggy...

new nickname, claws

...started the last book of the lovable anne of green gables series...

  my mom gifted me with the collection=)

...henna'd my gray hairs

and received my new specs in the mail.

plastic aunt jemima head-wrap

...made rawlmond joys and peanut butter cups

yummy

and took photos only with my cell, just because. 

complete the sentence, if you'd like...

this week i __________.

yumminess

john came home thursday with a tomato sicilian pie from his brother-in-law franco's pizzeria. mmm mmm mmmm was it GOOD! i topped my slice with some fresh basil, dried oregano and sauteed chard from the garden.

i had an eggplant ready to be picked so i decided to give eggplant "bacon" a try. i used a potato slicer to shave thin slices and marinated them overnight in a mixture of olive oil, shoyu, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, salt, and cayenne pepper. i baked them at 350 degrees in a casserole dish for about 10 minutes. i would have liked them a bit more crispy (yet another reason i want a dehydrator) but the taste was surprisingly close to bacon. the eb-l-t (eggplant bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich) was phenomenal. with a bit of vegenaise and sliced avocado...*drool*

when i got a nice little round watermelon in my organic co-op box this week i got the idea to make watermelon soup in melon bowls. i didn't feel like following a recipe - just read through a few to get an idea. i added strawberries, diced cucumber, ginger, mint, and rice milk to the chopped watermelon in a blender. quick, easy, and yummy.

garden b-l-t

...with eggplant bacon!

last time baked, this time dehydrated (i recommend using less oil).

john and i both liked it better baked, which really surprised me - i thought it would have gotten crispier in the d. i probably could have left it in longer but i was a bit impatient. when i have an idea for something to eat, i want it ASAP! =)

whole wheat wrap with mesclun mix, sliced avocado, vegenaise, and garden tomatoes. the eggplant was from the garden as well.

..speaking of, our garden's still kicking! i can't believe we are still picking ripe tomatoes. i'm also pinching off a bit of basil here and there and small eggplant and bell peppers are still waiting to be plucked.

i replanted my woodland strawberry from a pot to the garden a few weeks ago and it's been giving us sweet little berries.

my niece alaina really likes them (and green tomatoes - she apparently finds a small cactus in my house tasty, too, as well as styrofoam (bubblegum she called it). i bet it's a real treat for this little cutie pie to be able to pick something off the ground and eat it without hearing "no!"  =)

garden visitor and csa goodies

a stunning butterfly stopped by this weekend to dine on our heirloom arikara sunflowers. a handful of flowers bloomed the first full day i was home from toronto. wasn't it sweet of them to wait for me?=)

i'm interested to see what else these beauties will attract! hummingbirds, perhaps?

despite the heatwaves and humidity, summer is my season. there are aspects of each season that i love (the coziness of winter, the crispness of fall, the smell of spring) but the abundance of summer wins my heart. this season feeds my belly and nourishes my soul like no other.=)

behold the bounty i brought home week four of muth family farm's organic csa:

blueberries from another local organic farm, parsley, red onions, basil, kale, collard, red chard, carrots, 12 ears of corn, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, purslane, zucchini, heirloom tomato, green tomatoes, cucumbers, and 2 types of eggplant

raw eggplant bacon was created with the smaller round one...

and edgar the eggplant with the knobby one.

edgar

i couldn't resist... summer unleashes my inner child!=)

what is your favorite season? (catch me outside on a really hot day and i may say spring!=)

recent eats

happy autumn! september has been a busy month in the kitchen as i try to keep up with the csa and garden goodies. i'm making raw sauerkraut, freezing a lot of zucchini and bell peppers and drying some things to make our own vegetable broth powder. i've also got ginger kombucha tea brewing to give our immune systems a boost during the colder months and soon i'll be harvesting echinacea root for medicinal tea!

our meals have been simple but satisfying...lots of veggie bowls cooked in the trusty crock-pot. the first one pictured is rosemary french lentils with summer squash topped with nutritional yeast, hemp seeds and alfalfa sprouts. the second one was supposed to be red beans and rice but i stirred too much and it became risotto! still yummy though.

to be sure we're getting raw nutrition in too we're doing our smoothies a few days a week with spirulina and chlorella. some veg-loving friends and family came over and i made roasted beets, petite brussels sprouts and carrots with thyme (mmm!), a delicious loaded kale salad, and we ordered tomato pie from a local italian bakery.

dessert one night was a raw apple cobbler from sweetly raw. it was really good but we liked it warmed up a little. and that tomato sandwich was probably the best thing i've had on bread in a long time! for the spreads i used some leftover hummus and roasted eggplant and red pepper dip, then piled on raw kraut, avocado, raw eggplant bacon, and the juiciest heirloom tomato.

last but not least you see a hearty azuki bean, beet and barley stew with an assortment of baby sweet potatoes i found at natural health. the beans and barley were on sale and when i did some recipe research i learned that both are staples for a macrobiotic diet! (christina pirello healed her cancer with macrobiotics.) gotta love healing foods.

i hope you're enjoying your first official weekend of fall! the weather has been beautiful over here! today will be another busy one in the kitchen and garden, but i wouldn't have it any other way.=)

xoxoxo