Bacon

Will I be successful and become vegan? Will I have the "big one" and die before I make it? Will I become vegan but get run over by a car? Will I find recipes or make up new recipes that wow me and my readers? Will I find ways to eat out and stay vegan? Stay tuned!


Before I started my journey to avoid a heart attack or bypass surgery I would have to say that one of my favorite food flavors was (is) bacon. As a matter of fact I found this recipe online when I was looking for something new and original with bacon involved that I was actually going to try sometime! Check it out... http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/ I mean really, what could be better than sausage rolled around cooked bacon then covered with weaved bacon slices and bar-be-qued? Of course now I cannot allow myself to think about this because I'm pretty sure that even a tiny slice of this concoction would complete the clogging of my arteries - I would probably die with a smile but I'm not really ready for that yet!

So why the heck would I write about bacon when this is my blog about becoming vegan? I'm trying to be honest about the struggle AND I just used a vegan product that brings bacon flavor back!! It's kind like that Justin Timberlake song, "I'm bringing bacon back, them m#@her*#@kers don't know how to act...take it to the chorus!" :-) Bacon flavor that's vegan? I was surprised too - so here's the story.

My partner - the guy with whom I reside and with whom I am forbidden to marry (sorry - wrong blog see "I Am A Dangerous Man" at this link if you want that story... http://gardnerlive2learn.blogspot.com Okay, where was I - oh yeah my partner who I affectionately and with no irony refer to as BPOE (Best Partner on Earth) and I decided to try a recipe out of The Engine 2 Diet by Rip Esselstyn (it's sometimes referred to as "The Austin Fireman's Diet"). It's a diet based on his father's earlier book that I talked about in my "Why I'm Blogging" entry - like father, like son, it's vegan. So we thought we would check out his recipe for Migas Especiales for brunch today.

In the book he suggests serving the dish with a side of rice and vegetarian low-fat refried beans. I don't like full-fat refried beans so I decided to try some vegetarian/vegan black beans I bought yesterday at Sprouts. As I was cooking I tasted the beans and they were BLAND! I thought about adding onions or salsa or something but I looked in my spice cabinet and discovered something I bought more than a year ago but had not used. It was Bacon Salt and it's vegan! http://www.baconsalt.com/ I added the bacon salt to the beans and they were tasty. As a matter of fact the black beans flavored with Bacon Salt would have been my favorite part of the breakfast but BPOE made some fantastic Mimosas so...but the beans were certainly my favorite FOOD. The migas were okay - not great but okay. I'll probably try the recipe again but even if I don't I will certainly continue to spice up beans and other veggies with Bacon Salt - I grew up in Mississippi - vegetables are supposed to taste like bacon!