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!