avocado tempeh blt

Avocado + Tempeh Bacon = Love

I find it hard to dislike anything about this sandwich, I find it hard to dislike anything when avocado is involved. Homemade tempeh bacon is paired with avocado then sandwiched between two slices of toasted bread with spicy arugula & greenhouse tomatoes. This is a super easy sandwich to make on the fly, it is the sandwich that Justin and I rely on when we are procrastinating about dinner - super easy and always a crowd pleaser, our go to sandwich.

Truly this is also the perfect soup sandwich, it also makes a pretty awesome triple decker - but I must admit i haven't had one of those in forever. My Mom use to make us BLT's on busy weeknights - crispy bacon, iceberg lettuce, tons of miracle whip (even though she can't  the stuff) and white bread. I like to think of this as a more grown up version of a childhood favorite.

Since my success with tempeh sliders I have been cooking with tempeh quite often - over the weekend I tried my hand at homemade tempeh bacon. Super easy and delish! 

This sandwich is something Justin totally gets behind, however if I would have served this to him a year ago he would have immediately asked where the mayo was and why did I put leafy green things on his sandwich. It has been so awesome to see his taste buds and view of food transform over the past year.

We served our BLT's with Cheezy Potato and Broccoli Soup (Monday's post!) which made for an cozy lunch after a day of snowshoeing. 

Do you cook with tempeh - what are your favorite ways to prepare it? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Avocado Tempeh BLT

makes 2 TBALT's + leftover tempeh bacon

you will need:

for the tempeh bacon

1/4 cup tamari

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

3/4 cup water

1 pkg tempeh cut in half  then cut into strips

1 Avocado, mashed with S & P + Cumin to taste - lime optional

4 slices of bread, toasted

handful of arugula, or green of choice

4 slices of tomato

assembly: 

in a shallow dish, mix together the tamari through water. Place strips of tempeh in the dish ensuring all strips are submerge in the marinade. Allow to sit for a minimum of 30 minutes - overnight if possible.

In a large frying pan, over medium/high heat place 10 strips of bacon in the pan with 2 tbsp of the marinade. Pan fry until golden brown, flip strips and pour an additional 2 tbsp marinade over the strips and pan fry until golden brown. Store remaining tempeh and marinade in an airtight container in the fridge and use throughout the week as needed. Marinated Tempeh will keep up to 1 1/2 weeks.

Mash the avocado and season with salt, pepper and cumin (lime too if you have it on hand)

Toast bread, layer the bottom half with arugula, tomato & 5 strips of tempeh bacon. Spread half of the avocado on the remaining slice of bread and set on top of the tempeh bacon. 

Repeat steps to make the other sandwich.

Enjoy!