vegan recipes

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Vegan Smokey Bacon (a whole pack of bacon made from 1 carrot for only 1p per slice)

I saw a video pop-up on Facebook today of a lady with a carrot. She made vegan bacon from it. YES REALLY!

I’m always curious when people do strange things with vegetables so immediately went to see if I had any of the ingredients to make my own. I didn’t really so not to be defeated I used ingredients from my pantry that I thought would work and they did so I had to share!

FIRST, if you want to use the exact spices I used (smokey bacon powder and hickory smoke powder), you can get them via my 1940s Experiment recommended list on Amazon. CLICK HERE.

The ‘carrot bacon’ is really easy to make and one large carrot makes a whole pack of vegan bacon! I cooked mine in the oven at around 170C for 20-30 minutes turning once about 15 minutes in. The ends crisped up in the oven and at that stage I removed them, placed them on some kitchen paper on top of a wire rack and left them to cool for about 15 minutes and they crisped up some more. I think I was lucky to get it right the first time so it might involve some trial and error to get it how you want it. Although I cooked it in a conventional oven an air fryer would work I’m sure!

These strips of vegan smokey bacon would be wonderful in a bun with a homemade vegan burger, vegan mayo, salad, pickles and onion! Alas I didn’t have a burger BUT I did have some avocado and salad and lot’s of Hellman’s Vegan Mayo and the carrot bacon topped it off perfectly!

Afterwards I, of course, nibbled on all the rest until they were gone. I WILL be making these again!

Assuming you already have the ingredients in your pantry, the vegan bacon, not including the cost of electric, is about 1p per slice.

Stay calm, stay safe, stay home,

C xxxxx

PS: I’ve had a very busy week in the garden trying to dig beds before the ground gets too hard. I am now back working on the ‘Pandemic Pantry’ FREE community cookbook and I hope to have this online and ready to download this weekend. THANK YOU for all the e-mails and submissions. They are much appreciated.

 

Ingredients

 

  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon hot water
  • 1 teaspoon smokey bacon powder
  • 1 teaspoon of hickory smoke powder (or smoked paprika or liquid smoke)
  • 1 teaspoon of onion powder (or onion granules or onion salt)
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar (any)
  • 1 teaspoon of maple syrup or golden syrup, any type of mild sweet syrup.
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • Sprinkle of garlic powder or garlic salt.

 

Method

 

  • Peel the carrot
  • Using the julienne peeler press down firmly and slowly along the shaft of the carrot from thick to thin end to create a long bacon shaped slice
  • Place slices in a dish
  • Next mix all the other ingredients above to make a marinade (mix all ingredients adding water in last)
  • Pour over the carrot slices in the dish and mix so all slices are coated.
  • Heat oven to 170 C, leave carrot slices to marinade while oven heats up.
  • When oven has reached the correct temperature place the carrot slices onto baking paper on a large baking sheet.
  • Place in middle of oven for 20-30 minutes (turning over half-way through) until browning and the ends look crispy
  • Remove and place on kitchen roll on a wire rack. The vegan bacon should crisp up further after about 15 minutes.

 

 

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Bread and Butter Pudding – Recipe No. 144

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In Marguerite Patten’s “Victory Cookbook” there is always one pudding recipe that is an absolute ‘go-to’ when one needs comforting and one has spare eggs.

All becomes good in the world when you take that first spoonful of sugary topped, eggy, bready, sultana sprinkled, nutmeggy deliciousness, especially if served with a little hot custard.

It’s so moreish that one simply finds it’s addictive charm and charisma extremely hard to fathom, due to it’s rather plain and dumpy exterior and the fact the main ingredient is stale bread. But as we all know, in real life, sometimes the less bling the more zing!

The cost to make this, about £1.50 (not including custard) which isn’t bad seeing it will feed 4-6!

Bread and Butter Pudding (from the Victory CookBook)

During VE Day country celebrations in 1945, the farmers wife may have decided to make a REAL Bread and Butter pudding using shell eggs which would have been a bit of an extravagance.

  • 4 large slices of bread
  • 2 oz butter
  • 3 oz sultanas
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 oz sugar
  • 1 pint milk

For the topping:
sprinkling of sugar
a little grated or ground nutmeg

(to veganize use a 1/4 cup of soft tofu, blended, per egg, use a nut or soy milk and dairy free margarine)

  1. Method
    Spread the top of the bread with the softened butter and then cut each slice of bread into 4 neat squares and place buttered side up into a 2 pint (1.2 litre) pie dish.
  2. Sprinkle the sultanas on top. Beat the eggs with the sugar. Warm the milk, pour over the beaten eggs and sugar and pour over the bread and butter. Leave to stand for 20-30 minutes until the bread is swollen.
  3. Preheat the oven to 150C (300F) Gas Mark 2. Sprinkle a dessertspoon of sugar over the top with the nutmeg and then bake for an hour until just firm. If you’d like a crisp top turn the heat up to 180C (350F) Gas Mark 4 for the last 10 minutes.

Serves 4-6

victorycookbook

Victory Cookbook: Nostalgic Food and Facts from 1940 – 1954

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Potato Fingers

These were really tasty..

I think I made mine too thick. Aim for a much thinner finger for best crispiness!

Method

  1. Mix 1 oz of flour with 1/2 lb of mashed potato and season with salt and pepper
  2. Shape into fingers, glaze with egg or milk (I used almond milk being vegan)
  3. Sprinkle with an extra pinch of salt and some mixed dried herbs
  4. Put into a hot oven 230 C for around 15 minutes until outside is crispy
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Eggless Pancakes

Being vegan and immersing myself in the 1940s Experiment (to live on wartime rations for 1 year, recreate 100 authentic recipes and lose 100 lbs) is not without it’s challenges. Tonight I will recreate a 1940s recipe with meat in for my youngest daughter (Em) but I won’t be able to taste it… instead I will smell it and closely observe my youngest Hobbits face as she takes the first mouthful. Hopefully there will be no wrinkled up noses or horrified expressions..

But the real challenge is finding or adapting recipes from the 1940s to suit my new vegan lifestyle. Luckily many of the authentic recipes I am finding were eggless or meatless..

For lunch today I made 4 very tasty eggless pancakes and both Em and I gobbled them down. I totally recommend you try these!

Eggless Pancakes

  • 4 tablespoons of flour (UK)- 5 tbls (US) – 60 ml (Europe)
  • pinch of sugar and salt
  • milk and water to bind (vegans use almond milk)
  • lard or dripping to fry (vegans use Earth Balance shortening)

Method

  1. Mix the flour with the salt and sugar and add the water/milk to make a nice thick batter
  2. Heat the lard/dripping until smoking hot in the pan then lower the heat a little
  3. Pour in 1/4 of the mixture to make a medium sized pancake
  4. Cook until browned and then turn over and repeat
  5. Eat with jam, golden syrup or lemon juice (if being authentic)

Makes 4 pancakes

 

PS If you have a Kindle you can now take out a subscription for the 1940s Experiment on Amazon. This means the latest postings including all the photos etc are delivered automatically, as soon as they are available, to your Kindle, ready for you to read. Click here..