Oh, social media, I love you. I have professed my adoration for bloggers, tweeters and Facebook peeps in the past. Social media helped me go vegan.
Yesterday morning I planned my meals for the day. A smoothie for breakfast, a salad with quinoa and beans for lunch, and for dinner…um, I was stumped. I grabbed a package of Upton’s Naturals seitan bacon from the freezer to thaw and later tossed it in the fridge. Then I forgot about it. As dinner time rolled around I remembered the seitan but had no clue what t make. Naturally, I turned to Facebook and Twitter.
Wow, lots of people chimed in with suggestions! There were some super-fancy suggestions, like quiche and carbonara, and some easier suggestions, such as a BLT or a reuben sandwich. Aha! I had sauerkraut on hand so the reuben idea won.
Of course, once I started pulling it together I realized I really didn’t much about a reuben, other than sauerkraut. So I Googled it. Corned beef? Seitan bacon. Swiss cheese? Mexican shreds (Galaxy Nutritional Foods). Thousand Island dressing? I mixed Nayonaise (vegan mayo), catsup, sweet relish and a squirt of Sriracha – to bring out the spice of the Mexican cheese shreds. Rye bread? Wheat bread.
Assembly? No clue, so I made it like a grilled cheese sandwich. I (vegan) buttered my bread and layered up the sandwich in the skillet: bacon, sauerkraut, cheese shreds and a dollop of thousand island dressing.
I served the warm sandwich with a raw salad of baby arugla salad, broccoli sprouts and a bit of tahini dressing.
Perfect dinner!
Before you get too excited about the delicious vegan bacon, I have bad news. It was a limited edition product that was included in the “Seitan Worship” deal from Spencer’s Market. I ran into the fine folks behind Upton’s Naturals at the Connecticut VegFest and told them how much I loved the bacon; they shared that it’s actually really expensive to make (they need a big machine to slice it thinly in large quantities). So sad!
One other note: this was my first time using Galaxy cheese shreds and I am hooked! Great “cheesy” taste + perfect melting = score!
Thanks, Facebook and Twitter friends, for helping me with dinner last night!
14 thoughts on “Vegan Reuben-ish Sandwich”
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I LOVE LOVE LOVE Reuben sandwiches!!! My favorite restaurant made them with tempeh and they are divine! I tried it with my own homemade seitan corned beef. It’s all amazing!
Mmm, seitan corned beef sounds good!
I think this is one of my favorite sandwich combos and I haven’t had something like this for a long long time, especially now that I am living in a place that doesn’t carry vegan luxury items like seitan & vegan cheese, or gluten-free bread, boo hoo. Looks delish, my kinda meal!
Oh no! Can we send you anything?
A Whole Foods store, please?
I love vegan reubens – I think they are better than the meat versions, actually. Heather (Better With Veggies) ordered one at a restaurant when we were in Denver for Blend (you should come next year!!!), and had them sub hummus for the cheese. It was amazing!
Tell me more about Blend!!!
When I make Reuben’s I sub mashed avacado for the chz. I make a similar thousand island ketchup, vegan mayo, relish and splash of vinegar. I put the dressing on each slice. sauerkraut on one half and avacado on the other, put it together and grill it in my grill pan with a little earth balance. So good I could eat it every day!
YUM! Love this idea!
anyway you slice ’em, vegan reubens rock my world! i love, love, love them! mine have got to have a thick smear of mashed avocado & some briney kosher dills too 🙂
Holy yum, that sounds good!
My all-time favorite sandwich! I’ve been playing with the elements too, for–of all things–breakfast lately! Will be posting shortly. Those cheese shreds sound good. I rarely eat that type of thing but felt I FINALLY had to give Daiya a try. It was really yummy, too! 🙂
Um, a reuben sandwich for breakfast sounds fantastic! LOL