Bacon is revered by many as the ultimate food. I mean what other food is on boxer shorts, coffee mugs, air fresheners (gag!), you name it you could probably get a picture of bacon on it. If you subscribe to this club, you may want to stop reading. This may be sacrilegious to what I am about to say. Coconut bacon.

I am always the last to know, but I just stumbled across a recipe for coconut bacon.  Apparently it’s been a “thing” for awhile. Who knew?

I found quite a few recipes,  but decided upon this one.  There was no good reason except I liked the pictures of her dog. 🙂 

Coconut Bacon – www.cookieandkate.com
It really couldn’t have been easier to make. And near the end of its’ cooking time,  the smell wafting through the kitchen was unbelievably good.  Here it is fresh out of the oven, if only this was ‘scratch-n-sniff.’ 

I was only cooking for myself this night and decided to make it into a BLAT.  It would have been a little easier if I could have found long shreds of coconut flakes, and not these smaller pieces. But, it all tastes the same right?  It was so good and really had to fight the urge to make myself another sandwich. 

If you know me, you know how much I dislike wasting food.  Whether it’s eating leftovers as is, incorporating leftovers into new meals or using up the not so fresh vegetables, I will find a way to use them. Oh yes, I will find a way.

So, when I heard about aquafaba I was intrigued. Aquafaba is the liquid in beans (traditionally chickpeas) that you drain off. I never thought about saving it, who knew?

My first opportunity arose when I made hummus.  Got to save me some aquafaba. I looked up various recipes of what I could use it in. Turns out it can be a substitute for eggs in baking. If only I would have known this years ago when my son was allergic to eggs.  I finally decided upon this chocolate mousse recipe.  And with only three ingredients.  Win. 

Chocolate Mousse – www.mouthwateringvegan.com

I whipped the aquafaba into a meringue.  The recipe wasn’t specific on speed or time for whipping. So I whipped it. Whipped it good.  Honestly I wasn’t paying attention to the time, but it felt like awhile (read, forever).  And it really started to get stiff peaks when I had it on full speed. Still blows my mind that this is chickpea liquid.

I added in 2 teaspoons of sugar and  melted chocolate and I had an amazingly light and fluffy mousse that wasn’t too sweet!

Mind blown.  Can’t believe I was able to transform carrots into this deliciousness.  But, it really wasn’t me….. I can read and follow directions well 😉  So, thank you Olives for Dinner.

Carrot Lox Sushi – www.olivesfordinner. com

This was a two day process and honestly I was wondering if it’d be worth it, but now that I’ve eaten it, I’d say YES!

It started with roasting the carrots in salt. A lot of salt. 

After 1 1/2 hours the carrots were pretty much mummified in salt.  After chipping away the salt, I had to peel the carrots. This was the hardest part. They weren’t giving up their peels so easy and even with this, it was like unraveling a mummy.  When I finished, it resembled a carrot massacre.

At this point, I soaked the carrots in liquid smoke, olive oil and apple cider vinegar (the recipe called for coconut vinegar, but Google told me I could use apple cider vinegar with a pinch of sugar).  48 hours in the refrigerator and they’d be ready!

When wondering about rolling sushi by hand since I didn’t have any special tools,  my two favorite dogs brought me a present. Thank you Kona and Echo 🙂

Now it’s assembly time.  They were super easy to put together and the Sushezi really helped!  Basically you just pack in the rice, place your filling on top, close it up and push the plunger through and you have one giant sushi roll!  Such a beautiful thing. 

Them I wrapped the nori around it and sliced them up.

Figs and avocados are just some of my favorite  foods…. Great, and now I’m singing “My Favorite Things,” but changing all of the original words to food… Almond milk in coffee and chickpeas in burritos, sugar snap peas and vegi-filled sushidos….  But, I digress.  

I was given a lovely jar full of figs and wanted to do something interesting  and not just eat them all in one sitting, which I could have easily done.  I came across this recipe, lured in by the picture, and although I didn’t follow it per se, the idea for this sandwich combination came from it.  

Fig Avocado Sandwich – www.yummymummykitchen.com

I sliced up my figs, about 3 per sandwich and added 1/4 avocado and a small handful of spinach on sourdough bread that I slathered in ghee to toast.   

Getting to use the ghee that I previously made was an added bonus.  Ghee is clarified butter with all of the milk solids removed, thereby removing all of the casein and lactose, just leaving “liquid gold.”  I followed this recipe to make it in the oven. 

Ghee – www.paleospirit.com

Here it is right after I strained it, removing the milk solids.  It’s hot, so still in liquid form. 

And after it cools, it hardens into a solid state. 

This is seriously one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.  Can’t wait til figs are back in season!