Bacon, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

I wanted to round out the breakfast series today with my take on a diner breakfast sandwich. I thought this would be a good one to finish things off with partly because I do occasionally miss a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on the run and partly because I have a ton of leftovers from this series of breakfast posts cluttering up my fridge and I need to make room for the amazing amount of impulse purchases I just made at Costco. Don't shop hungry, kids.

If you're the sole vegan in the house, you are probably like me and have food for the week in your fridge after making one recipe. Earlier in the week I made tempeh bacon and tofu omelets, which both make about 4 servings apiece. Between trying to plan my son's 3rd birthday party, taking care of two preschoolers by myself while the hubby was on shift and some general insanity in the day-to-day life of me, by the time dinner rolled around I was completely spent. Basically, it was the perfect night for leftovers.

Cashews, how I love thee

The first thing I grabbed was some Spreadable Cashew Cheddar I made a few days ago. I like having this recipe on hand for smearing on veggie burgers and sandwiches, but it's really good on chips for nachos too. I also add a tsp or so of Earth Balance along with a couple tablespoons of this stuff to some noodles and make a quick mac and cheese. It really is a good staple. 

Spreadable Cashew Cheddar Cheese (Pub Cheese)

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

3/4 cup cashews (soaked 2-24 hours)

1/3 cup water

3 Tbsp tahini

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp yellow or dijon mustard

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Drain cashews and place in blender or food processor along with other ingredients. Blend until smooth. 

(Blendtec users: Use Twister Jar if you have it and use the dips and batters mode. If you don't have the twister jar, the other jars will work perfectly fine, you'll just have to scrape the sides a time or two.)

Moons Over My Hammy should be ashamed of its inferiority

I spread a layer of cashew cheese on the inside of a pita and then sprinkled a little bit of the bacon salt that I mentioned in my previous post over it. Then, I layered a leftover tofu omelet, some sliced roma tomatoes and some leftover tempeh bacon that I reheated in a pan with a drizzle of maple syrup (see this post for the technique on this. It's really easy).

In the words of Turk from Scrubs, Brinner is served

I washed the whole thing down with this lovely Califia Farms Salted Caramel Iced Coffee that I found at Sprouts. It was salty, caramely, cold brewed coffee-tacular and made with almond milk. I actually run for one of these instead of going for a Starbucks fix these days. Of course it was a bit of a tragic misstep that I drank this for breakfast at dinnertime because the little bugger packed quite the caffeine punch and I was up until one o'clock in the morning watching a McDougall seminar on youtube. I wish I could tell you I was making this up. I truly do.

This was my kind of comfort food. Is the nutritional content of this meal a stand out? No. You are not going to impress Michelle Obama with this meal, or Dr. McDougall for that matter. You will, however, satisfy that craving you've been having since the last time your brother-in-law insisted that you go to Wildflower Bread Co. for breakfast and you had a bagel with peanut butter, which was perfectly enjoyable don't get me wrong, but you watched as everyone else got ooey gooey breakfast sandwiches and you couldn't help but feel a little hosed even though you were glad that you went with the bagel instead. Remember that time? 

Breakfast Part Deux: Tofu Omelets

A true mainstay of the vegan breakfast catalog is the tofu scramble. Versatile, healthy, yummy and egg-like, it's a dish that can be dressed up to remind you of your favorite greasy spoon breakfast from days of yore or dressed down for days when you just want something simple. But, just as eggs don't only come in scrambled form, tofu doesn't have to either.

Enter the Tofu Omelet.

As I mentioned yesterday, my go-to book for all things vegan breakfast is Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Because I intend on doing a series of breakfast posts, there are going to be several recipes from this book but don't fear, I do intend on using recipes from a variety of places including the ones the voices in my head whisper to me on a semi-regular basis. 

(So soothing. So hungry.)

 

If there was one thing that I was worried about being able to give up when I transitioned to veganism, it was eggs. Usually I hear people lament their love of cheese as if they're in a co-dependent, mildly emotionally abusive relationship with it so I feel as though I may be in a small minority here but cheese wasn't the hard part.

It's amazing what you find if you google "evil cheese."

Which is why I was so excited to try this recipe once I got a blender that actually blended food as opposed to merely slapping it around for awhile before giving up.

She's so pretty. 

The recipe calls for silken tofu, garbanzo bean flour, nutritional yeast, garlic, olive oil, turmeric, arrowroot and the black salt that I mentioned yesterday. Measure them all out, dump them into your blender and mix until smooth. Seriously, that's it. I used the batter mode on my blender but any medium speed setting would work fine. 

It smells at this point. Don't be scared

Once the ingredients are blended, you're going to lift the lid off of the blender and the smell of fart is going to waft terrifyingly through your kitchen like the stink waves that emanate from Pig Pen in the Peanuts cartoons. Unless you're into that kind of thing, you may be frightened. I know I was. It's the black salt, which gives the mix an eggy, albeit sulfuric, sort of smell. This WILL mellow out substantially once the omelet is cooked, to the point that you should use a little sprinkle on the end product for maximum omelet taste. If you aren't as big of an egg fan as I am, you can use less of this stuff or you can omit it entirely but I highly recommend that you give it a chance. It really does add an extra layer of flavor that is missing from more traditional egg substitute recipes.

Starting to look omelet-y

Pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter onto a skillet, preheated cast iron or nonstick pan that you've sprayed with a light misting of cooking spray and spread it around until it's thin and round. The process is not unlike making pancakes at this point. Watch the top of the omelet as it will start to go from a light, shiny yellow to a darker, more matte yellow (you can see it around the edges in the picture). Once the top is the dry, matte finish it's time to flip it.

I'm gonna dress you up and put you inside me...wow, that escalated quickly

The finished product is a bit of a cross between an omelet, a pancake and a crepe. Perfect for folding over whatever delicious fillings your heart desires.

Can't you just smell it?

I sauteed some onions, bell pepper and mushrooms in the already hot pan. It was at this moment that I kinda wished I had a little vegan Canadian bacon around so I could go Denver omelet style. Guess I'll have to pick some up for tomorrow as this recipe makes 4 large omelets or 6 smaller ones so if you're the only vegan in your household, like me, you'll have some leftovers. Not to worry though, these reheat really nicely in a microwave for 30 seconds wrapped in a damp paper towel.

I took a bite before I took the picture. I'm selfish like that.

A little avocado accompanied my fillings while some fresh blueberries and my ever present coffee rounded everything out. These are so easy and yummy, I make them a couple of times per month. It's nice to have them in the fridge for busy mornings or for a portable lunch. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to finish what I've started with that first bite and put some serious harm on my fancy breakfast.