The epic struggle of Mr. Bacon vs. Monsieur Tofu, now available in action-figure form!

The epic struggle of Mr. Bacon vs. Monsieur Tofu, now available in action-figure form!

Somehow I’m not surprised, but when looking over my blog stats for the past day I noticed that my little ol’ Waffles-of-Love seem to have garnered more clicks than all my other posts to date!  Woot!  Trust me, dear readers, I feel the bacon love in the house. Those of you who know me know that I love bacon more than some people I’ve met.  For serious. It’s only one of the reasons I’ll never have the stomach to turn vegetarian. You know, I think it must be genetic: My parents, bless them, have contemplated going veggie (for their health), but admit they couldn’t resist the lure of bacon. “Can we be bacon vegetarians?” my mom asks. I believe in the power of bacon! Heck, a dear old friend of mine likes to refer to himself as a “bacon-loving Jew”, no lie.

However, I must admit, there are some awesome, rockin’ people in my life (especially you, JennyBakes!) who take their life at a decidedly more vegetarian pace than I. One such person asked me via facebook today if soy-bacon would possibly work in this recipe: “are there any circumstances under which veggie bacon could be considered an acceptable alternative? i am usually a happy-go-lucky vegetarian, but this recipe fills me with longing…”

Well, i thought long and hard about it, and decided that YES, though I wouldn’t personally use fake bacon (or “facon,” as I like to say), should that be what boats your float, then you should definitely go ahead and use it! You see, I realized that unlike other recipes where facon would be pretty noticible, the candying effect of the brown sugar and spices in this case could definitely do the trick of covering up that telltale this-is-not-bacon-you-fool! flavor.

My exact recommendation was as follows: “I would definitely suggest adding some oil or butter to the soy bacon first (I’m assuming it doesn’t have that natural fattiness of real bacon – lol!), to help with the “candying” effect. Also, i’d double the spice amounts in the brown sugar, to give it more flavor. Adding some salt to the sugar mix would also help. What you want is that sweetness combined with the salty-crispy-smokiness…”

She took my advice and hit her kitchen with a vengeance, striking a hit for vegetarians everywhere. “For the record,” she replied a short time later, “soy bacon candies oh-so-well. YUM!”

So there you have it, folks. Should you be of the vegetarian or vegan persuasion, or simply looking to cut back on your bacon consumption (gasp!), you too can experience Waffles-of-Love. ❤ ❤ XXOO!