Vegan Sandwich
The Vegan BLT Sandwich

Tempeh bacon, lettuce and tomato, the BLT, is an all-American sandwich! Now you can make a healthy vegan BLT with either tempeh or soy-based products that are full of smokey flavor. If you are more adventurous, you can create your own smokey tempeh strips using the recipe listed at the bottom of this page.

Ingredients
Vegenaise Mayonnaise
Alvarado Street Bakery Sprouted Barley Bread, my favorite
lettuce: bibb, romaine
tomatoes, sliced
salt
black pepper
crushed red pepper flakes

optional: avocado slices

Alvarado Street Bakery Sprouted Barley
Ingredients: Sprouted Organic Whole Wheat Berries, Filtered Water, Organic Raisins, Wheat Gluten, Sprouted Organic Barley, Sea Salt, Fresh Yeast, Soy Based Lecithin, Cultured Wheat.
Calories: 70 calories, 1 slice

Lightlife Smart Bacon
Now it’s easy to add a healthy and delicious sizzle to breakfast, burgers, and BLTs with new Smart Bacon. The taste is as real as it gets with a flavor that is sure to satisfy even the heartiest of appetites! This product is LOW FAT and CHOLESTEROL.

Ingredients
Water, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten, soybean oil, textured soy protein concentrate, textured wheat gluten, less than 2% of: natural smoke flavor, natural flavor (from vegetable sources), grill flavor (from sunflower oil), carrageenan, evaporated cane juice, paprika oleoresin (for flavor & color), potassium chloride, sesame oil, spice extractives, fermented rice flour, tapioca dextrin, citric acid, salt.
Contains: Wheat, Soy, Sesame
Serving Size: 2 slices, 24g
Calories per Serving: 45


Lightlife Fakin' Bacon
The original tempeh "bacon", Lightlife Fakin’ Bacon puts the "B" back into BLT’s. Try it crumbled on a salad or baked in other recipes that would normally call for bacon.

Ingredients
Made from organic soy tempeh (cultured organic soybeans, water, organic brown rice), water, organic soy sauce (water, organic soybeans, organic wheat, salt), organic vinegar, organic evaporated cane juice, spices, beet powder, organic onion powder, natural vegetable flavor, salt, natural hickory flavor, yeast extract.
CONTAINS: Soy, Wheat.
Serving Size: 3 slices (57g)
Calories: 100

Tools
cutting board
serrated knife
offset spatula, small
serving plates

Preparation

Pan Fry the Vegan Bacon Strips
Spray each strip of vegan bacon with a non-stick oil spray and cook in a hot heavy bottomed cast iron fry pan till warmed through.

DO NOT OVERCOOK... just HEAT!

The Bread
Spread two slices of organic whole grain bread, your choice, with Vegenaise.

Make sure the Vegenaise is spread to the edges of each slice so that each mouthful is moist.

Don't use too much if you are cutting calories.

Add three vegan bacon strips.

Tomatoes, Lettuce and Seasonings
Add your favorite tomato slices and fresh organic lettuce of your choice.

Salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes to taste.

Optional: A few slices of a ripe avocado can add another level of flavor to this Vegan BLT Sandwich.

Top the Vegan BLT Sandwich with the other slice of bread and cut with a serrated knife.

Presentation
The Traveling Vegan BLT Sandwich
Packing a Vegan BLT Sandwich in lunches or for picnics is easy. Just wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap and place in a cooler. The Vegan BLT Sandwich travels well and makes a great office lunch or serve at home for a light supper.

Spicy Smoked Tempeh Strips
This was my attempt to create my own "HOT Fakin' Bacon Strips". I like to keep packages of tempeh in my freezer to have on hand for various recipes I might like to cook. Tempeh is versatile and takes on whatever seasonings you use in the recipe... a lot like tofu.

Ingredients
1-8 ounce package tempeh, cut into long thin angled strips

Spicy Marinade
1 tablespoon organic unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup tamari sauce
2 tablespoons organic maple syrup
1 canned chipotle pepper
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon smoke flavor

Preparation
Spicy Smokey Marinade
Combine all the marinade ingredients in the Blendtec Total Blender and blend till totally smooth.

Tempeh
Cut the tempeh into strips that would resemble bacon and line a shallow dish with them in one layer.

Cover the tempeh with the marinade and seal the dish contents with plastic wrap.

Marinade overnight.

Bake the Tempeh
Remove the plastic wrap and place the baking dish in a 350 degree F oven and bake the tempeh strips in the marinate for 20 minutes.

Remove the strips from the marinade and spray both sides of each tempeh strip with a non-stick oil spray.

Sauté in a heavy bottomed cast iron skillet on high heat till browned on each side.

Barbeque Hint: Spray the strips with a non-stick oil spray and cook them over a hot barbeque grill. This method would provide an even smokier flavor to each strip.

Create your Vegan BLT Sandwich.