Fakinator

 I want to start this off by assuring you that I'm a pretty healthy lady. I eat a lot of vegetables, multiple times a day. I swear. But one thing that I really LOVE to do is make foods that people would never believe are vegan. Things that people think they'll miss if they were to go vegan. Like Baconators.

If you are like me, and have never had a Baconator, please allow me to explain.

According to Wikipedia: "The Baconator sandwich is a hamburger sold be the international fast-food restaurant chain Wendy's." Thanks, Wikipedia. What a helpful explanation. Okay, so according to my partner, whose coworker eats these every day: A Baconator is bun, cheese, burger, cheese, bacon, burger, bacon, cheese, special sauce, bun. Basically a bacon cheeseburger, with triple the burgers, bacon, and cheese. (Fun fact that Wikipedia DOES give, even though they don't have a description of a Baconator: The Baconator is the official burger of the Canadian Football League!)

So even though that is completely NOT up my alley (I don't even like burgers), I like to impress. So we made them.

Our ingredients: The new Beast Burger by Beyond Meat, our two old favorites Field Roast's Creamy Original Chao Slices and All Vegetarian Inc.'s Vegan Imitation Bacon Slices, sauce (which is apparently just ketchup and mayo mixed together... for the mayo we use Hampton Creek's Just Mayo because it is the BEST vegan mayo) and some organic buns. Also some pickles because I like crunchy. And caramelized onions because I am a living, breathing human who knows what's good.

Aaaand, it was AWESOME. Even as a burger hater, this was something I'd recommend. Cheesy, salty, saucy goodness. And the Beast Burgers themselves are great! Definitely one of the better store-bought vegan burgers available these days.

Better proof of melty cheesiness:

How does one fit that in their mouth, you might be wondering? You smush it. Smush it real good. (One party member said, "If you want to recreate the real fast-food experience you should step on it." And while I might be inclined to agree, I'm a nice blogger lady so I didn't say it myself. Hear that Wendy's? I'm open-minded! Now make all of your food vegan, and I'll write about it!)

Smushed and half eaten:

Smushing is key, both for authenticity and 'cause these things are HUGE. Here's what it looks like, unsmushed, near an average human sized-head:

Huge, right?! Yeah, so as you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And then promptly lapsed into a night-long food coma. I'd recommend it. Try it yourselves, and let me know how it goes!