I’m a  chip fanatic from way back. The idea of a perfect lunch for me as a kid was a chip sandwich, made with crinkle cut chicken chips. Forget fancy Kettle or Red Rock chips, we didn’t have those growing up. Nor do I remember Thins, which I’ve never really gone for (they’re just too… thin?). Crinkle Cut Chicken chips were my weapons of choice. And because my mother rationed me on chips, pouring a small amount out of a large bag I’d eat them crinkle by crinkle slowly until every last piece was gone. And you can bet that as a kid I ran my finger along the bottom of the bowl to catch any stray flavour flakes.

I still love crinkle cut chips but more recently I like the thickness or Kettle or Red Rock deli chips. They’re said to be just like home made so when I was munching a packet of salt and vinegar chips (not my favourite flavour but I was hungry) I wondered why hadn’t someone made Salt and Pepper flavoured chips? There’s Salt and Pepper Squid and Salt and Pepper Tofu and they’re both delicious. How about some Salt and Pepper potato chips?

I took out my V slicer and sliced them on the second setting – I don’t like my chips too thin as they aren’t as earth shatteringly crunchy, and drizzled a couple of tablespoons of oil on top and then baked them. After baking them, I sprinkled the salt and pepper mixture on top and tasted them. They were wonderful indeed and very Kettle Chip/Red Rock like too. And somehow I felt more virtuous that these were baked rather than deep fried. And yes I did put these in a sandwich-white bread with butter which is the only way really to eat these in a sandwich.

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My friend Kathy has awesome search powers. She flies through the internet scouring out things like a googling superhero and often brings me interesting things to cook/try. One of the things that she showed me was Shiitake Mushroom Bacon, where you transform the humble and healthy to taste like the delicious but let’s face it unhealthy bacon. I’ve spoken often of my love for bacon. It is what stands between me and vegetarianism and other religions, not that I’m particularly interested in joining any other groups. Another friend Carbon Debit has spoken of the Bacon made out of beef that she has tried in Jordan where the Muslim religion forbids the eating of pork products. I defy anyone to resist the smell of cooking bacon. But of course for vegetarians they must.

I was curious to try it because it sounded like such a crazy idea that it might just work. I sliced the mushrooms and soaked them for 10 minutes while the oven was preheating. I left the smaller stalks on as I thought that this would be fine as they were less than a centimetre long and popped the drained mushrooms in the oven for 8 minutes.  When I took them out, ignoring the fact that they were hot I eagerly tried one. The firs thing that hit me was the smokey flavour followed by the saltiness.

Too thick with stalk on the left, better thickness and crisped up on the right

Was it bacon? Perhaps not exactly but it wasn’t too bad. It’s like the Jessica Seinfeld Spinach and Carrot brownies, it’s pretty good but if you’re a diehard fan expecting the real thing you may be a tad disappointed. The thinner cut pieces got crispier and therefore more bacon like than the rest, certainly the ones with the small stalk end didn’t crisp up enough and just tasted like shiitake mushrooms with soy so I would suggest removing the stalk and cutting each piece about 3-4mms thick so that all of the pieces crisp up nicely. Also I found that after a while they lost their crispness and once they did, they transformed to salty Shiitakes again. I’d also suggest marinating them for a shorter amount of time as the saltiness is quite strong and the mushrooms act like sponges. As for a name? Perhaps I Can’t Believe It’s Not Bacon -of course advertised by Fabio.

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One of the results of Christmas and New Year indulgences, is the inevitable tightening of the clothes. I used to seriously dream of having a drawer compartment in my stomach so I could keep on eating, and then when full, slide out the drawer and empty it and keep eating again. Since I am positive that won’t be happening in my lifetime, the next best thing and the rest of many a NY resolution is to eat more healthily. I debated about whether to put this salad up, after all it was just one of my every day lunches and didn’t seem fancy enough or blog worthy enough but the taste was so good, a sentiment repeated by my husband who also had some that I thought that I should.

I love anything that pops in my mouth: from the fattest caviar pearls to the humble corn kernel and Pomegranate seeds satisfy this pop lust of mine. One of the best things is that this salad is packed with antioxidants and good fats (from nuts and grapeseed oil) but it also looks  beautiful with the rubied pomegranate seeds scattered throughout. You could of course use avocado and I toyed with the idea of adding some gorgeous Persian Feta but I thought that might tip it into the less healthy category (the feta, not the avocado although some may argue about that).

I’ll end off with an embarrassing story about myself. Just this morning, I put on some underwear, a novelty pair that I hadn’t worn in a while but I felt were appropriate for today. I found myself struggling to get them on. My heart was racing and I panicked – had I gained so much weight over Christmas and the New Year that even my underwear was refusing to go past my hips? After much groaning and struggling and hopping on the spot, I finally got them on but they were tight and didn’t fit so well. I pottered around the house for a good hour before realising that I had foolishly tried to squeeze my hips through one of the leg holes.

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