January 27, 2014 January 27, 2014/ Morgan 
This is an old recipe of mine that I had to revamp. My tastes of changed, my foods have changed and my kitchen has changed. It’s tastier than ever and a perfect appetizer – LOVE EM!! (Heck, truthfully, I had them for breakfast. So there. You can eat em whenever!)
I can’t think of anything better to plop down in front of the TV with than these. They are MADE for watching TV, especially games. I mean, they are basically bar food, right? I made them EVEN MORE amazing by topping them with a creamy beer cheese sauce and some bacon crumbles. Can you believe this is vegan?
Now I’m not going to say that you could fool someone with these. To me, they are vegan and perfectly so. I don’t even LIKE trying to “fool” people. I like to show people that yeah, it is vegan food, but yeah guess what? It’s super tasty too.
You’ll have some cheese sauce leftover and some of those bacon crumbles leftover. I’m sure you can think of things to do with them but here are some hints: beer cheese on french fries, on tacos, bacon crumbles on anything with potatoes.. You shouldn’t be too upset about extras, right?
- 4-6 baking potatoes
- Vegan Beer Cheese Sauce (recipe below!)
- Easy Tofu Bacon (recipe here!!), chopped/crumbled
- extra toppings – green onions, sliced olives, guacamole, vegan sour cream, jalapenos, hot sauce and/or minced cilantro
(or you can cook them in the crockpot!)
4-6 Baking Potatoes
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. After scrubbing the potatoes poke them all over with a fork. Place them directly on the oven rack and bake for 45-60 minutes.
Let cool slightly and then cut into quarters. With a spoon gently remove the soft inside of the baked potato from the skin, leaving about 1/4 inch of flesh attached. (That sounds horrible but I can’t think of another way to say it.) You want them to have structure so don’t leave them super thin. In fact remove LESS than you think at first and you can go back to remove more if necessary.
Vegan Beer Cheese Sauce
- 1 & 1/2 c. beer (amber or hefeweizen recommended, not IPA)
- 1/4 c. roasted red pepper
- 1/2 c. nutritional yeast
- 1/4 c. flour (rice flour works well)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 Tablespoon miso paste (white/yellow)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder, optional
Combine all of the ingredients and blend until very smooth (I like to put them in the pan I’m going to use and blend up with my immersion blender. LESS TO CLEAN!) Pour into a pan over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer. Whisk the sauce continuously and cook until nice and thickened (3-5 minutes.)
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the scooped out skins on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat. Spoon a bit of beer cheese sauce on each one and then top with some tofu bacon.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is starting to lightly brown.
Top with any other fun toppings.
AND EAT!!! With a beer!!!
January 27, 2014/ Morgan/ 
