Pages

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Fakey Bacon

            There’s only one thing I never feed my children.  I mean, for the most part we avoid GMOs and artificial this and artificial that.  But the one thing I tell them never to touch is pork.  No ham, no bologna, no sausage, no bacon.  (So who’s thinking “horrible parent” right about now?)

            The only time we eat pig products is when we have marshmallows (gelatin) for s’mores on vacation once a year, when we take vitamins with gelatin (but we try to buy those without gelatin), and when we forget to not eat pie that we didn’t make (many pre-made pie crusts have lard) or bean dips at parties (most people buy the regular refried beans which contains lard). 

            But other than that … no pork!

            Thankfully, I never did like pork anyway.  (I always thought it smelled like garbage when I cooked it – literal garbage!)  But still, every once a while I miss bacon.  And we don’t care for most store-bought turkey bacon because of all the additives.  So that left us baconless!

            But I found two perfectly acceptable substitutes for bacon, especially if you are adding it to recipes.

           

            1.  Slice up and pan-fry or bake beef hot dogs.  If you get them to brown a little bit, it gives it that bacon-y taste. 

 

          2.  Pan-fry thick slices of high-quality, smoked turkey lunchmeat in a little bit of butter or olive oil.  It will stick to the pan a lot, but keep flipping it and pressing it down until it gets browned on both sides.  (My husband discovered this one.  And it’s a great way to use up lunchmeat that’s going to waste in your fridge when no one wants sandwiches.)

(I would have browned it more but the kids were anxiously waiting for it.)
 
There – “bacon” that’s a whole lot better for you!