What’s In This Fully Loaded Vegan Grilled Cheese?!?
Did someone say grilled cheese? OMG YES PLEASE! Grilled cheese is an all-time American favorite. I grew up on grilled cheese sandwiches, always with the request for “extra cheese please!” I was so excited to hear Dani Rukin would be showing us her adult version of the fully-loaded grilled cheese sandwich in this episode of #LunchBreakLIVE. Vegan of course!
This grilled cheese sandwich with homemade smoked tempeh bacon, grilled tomatoes, and topped with avocado is DELICIOUS! It is the adult version of my favorite childhood meal. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. This recipe is proof that it is so easy to be vegan these days, and turn our old non-vegan favorites into vegan perfection. The plant-based cheeses available today are incredible~you can’t even tell the difference between cow’s milk cheese and vegan cheese, they are that good. As you can see, I am super excited about this episode of #LunchBreakLIVE. So let’s see how Dani brought this drippy, cheesy, avocado-ey, sandwich to life.
Dani Rukin (aka The Daring Vegan) is a #JaneUnchained citizen journalist and fearless, outspoken warrior for animals. She tirelessly travels the globe spreading the message of compassion, truth, equality and justice for all. Dani is an incredible activist for the animals and the planet. She is also a pretty damn good cook and has many vegan recipes up her sleeve. In fact, she has been on #LunchBreakLIVE several times, either cooking up amazing meals or traveling the globe showing us all the vegan options that exist around the world. One of my favorites is a great episode where she shows us how to make a delicious vegan breakfast. Check out that episode HERE and find out what plant-based egg product she loves.
Dani is also one of the contributing writers in Brittany Michelson’s newly-released book, “Voices for Animal Liberation: Inspirational Accounts by Animal Rights Activists”. Her piece, “How I Made the Connection: Gay Rights, Feminism, and Animal Liberation”, speaks truth to power and calls readers forth to make the connection between the exploitation of animals and all other forms of injustice.
Below are some photos of Dani’s cooking magic, along with her recipe for this heavenly cheesy goodness. We hope you will try this one at home and let us know how you liked it. Enjoy!
Fully Loaded Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- Two slices multi-grain bread
- One package of raw tempeh
- Two slices Chao cheese or Vio Life cheddar, or Follow Your Heart vegan cheese
- One tomato
- One small avocado or 1/2 large avo
- 1/4 c Soy sauce
- Liquid smoke a few dashes
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Trader Joe's Everyday seasoning - a few grinds optional
- 1 tsp Vegenaise
- 1 tsp Miyoko's butter
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Mix together tempeh marinade on a plate: soy sauce, liquid smoke, Trader Joe's everyday seasoning and garlic powder. Slice tempeh into thin slices and place into the marinade, turning the pieces around so they are fully covered. Let soak for a few minutes. Saute tempeh slices in olive oil over medium-high heat until crispy on each side. Remove from pan. Grill two slices of bread in a light amount of Miyoko's butter on one side of each slice, turn over and add vegan cheese slices and cover to let melt.
- Meanwhile, off to the side in the pan, flash grill thick slices of organic tomato. Turn grilled cheese over to get a crisp golden brown and put on a plate to compile sandwich. Spread Vegenaise on (chipotle if you like spicy, or pesto, or plain), add the grilled tomatoes, add sliced avocado, compress and enter sandwich heaven. Enjoy with a salad or chips!
