A Mightier Salad

To finish off the month of September, as promised, I bring you another tempeh recipe. This one was suggested to me by my good friend and fellow vegetarian Beth: Tempeh and Blue Cheese Salad. This being the first time I have ever made it, I stuck with the recipe's specifics. Next time (as there will be a next time because Matt and I thought this salad was fabulous and it was easy to make) I will make a few changes, and these changes have been noted in my post.

To start the recipe out, I cubed half of a tempeh log. An easy enough first step for sure!

This particular tempeh recipe called for steaming the tempeh for 20 minutes. I am not exactly sure what the point of this step was... The finished product didn't taste any different than my normally sauteed tempeh, and had a similar consistency. Next time I will skip the steaming step and just go straight to the skillet!

While the tempeh was steaming, I began to prepare the dressing. Naturally Light Ranch dressing (the absolute best - you don't even know it's light!), milk, garlic, and dried dill is all this takes. Honestly, I don't think it would change the flavor all that much to cut out all but the milk if you are short on time... The garlic and dill adds a nice touch, but aren't necessary!




When the dressing is done, I move onto the salad fixing's. Diced celery, red peppers, red onion, and a half a can of garbanzo beans get mixed in with the dressing. Next time I will cut down on the garbanzo beans. Though they are a great source of protein, the salad already has tempeh (also protein) and it left me rather full! I couldn't even finish it all! So, yeah - next time less garbanzo beans for me!

Once the tempeh is done steaming, I remove it, pat it dry with a paper towel, and then put it into a preheated skillet with a bit of olive oil. Turning the tempeh every-so-often, once it is browned, I remove it and let it cool for a bit before adding it to the salad.

As the tempeh cools, I mix roughly chopped romaine lettuce into the salad mixture. Next time I will use more of the leafy-green-stuff! Not only was I full by the end of the meal, I was left with a pile of salad filling on my plate...

Finally I mix in the tempeh and crumbled blue cheese. It is now ready to be enjoyed!

I like tempeh, I like salad, and I like blue cheese! All three things together make for a really tasty dinner! I hope everyone has enjoyed September's adventure with tempeh! Don't be afraid to try it! Honestly, the easiest way to try it is as a ground beef substitute for taco night! Simply crumble the tempeh, fry as you would ground beef, add your taco seasoning and water - and you are good to go!

I have no idea what is on the agenda for the next post. Unfortunately I don't have any new food photos, so it seems as though I must get on that mission! We'll see what we cook up this week at the Luckey-Meyer pad!

September = Tempeh Month! I'm callin' it!

Well, apparently September is Tempeh Month because my first September post was a tempeh sandwich, the current post involves a tempeh burrito, and I already know what the next post's main ingredient is - that's right - TEMPEH! I guess I go through spurts with the stuff. Sometimes making it multiple times a week, then going a month without using it at all. And so it goes...

This particular recipe is borrowed from Ken Haedrich's cook book "Feeding the Healthy Vegetarian Family". It's been a while since I have read the opening chapter of the book, but if my memory serves me correctly, Mr. Haedrich was originally a food critic and a cookbook writer, and over the years his family began using less and less meat in their daily meals. He then wrote this wonderfully written narrative cookbook and the rest is history! I will have to give this book 5 stars!! Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING I have ever made always comes out absolutely fantastic! Another reason why I enjoy this cookbook so much, it doesn't read like your average cookbook. Before each recipe, Mr. Haedrich gives a little insight about the recipe - how it came about, who in the family likes it the best, and/or what small changes you can make to please a picky eater. It's like you are looking into the window of another vegetarian family's kitchen. Kind of what my readers do here - and I think that's cool! If there was ever a vegetarian cookbook to have - this one is it! Read the reviews on Amazon yourself and you will see that I am not the only one who feels so positively about this book!

So... This particular evening, I made the BBQ Tempeh Burritos! To start out, I brown some chopped onion and minced garlic in a bit of olive oil. When the onion has browned a bit, I add in 1/2 cup of water and a bit of tamari sauce (soy sauce) and bring it to a boil.

I then add in my sliced tempeh. I turn the tempeh every few minutes and I let this simmer for several minutes.

After almost all the water has evaporated I poor in about 1/3 cup of BBQ sauce. I then let this simmer and cook, turning the tempeh every few minutes, for about 10-15 minutes. This is when it starts to smell really good in my kitchen!





While my BBQ tempeh is cooking, I start to prepare the burrito fillings. If you never knew how to cube an avocado, here is your chance to figure it out. You simply slice the avocado into two halves, remove the pit from whichever half, and then slice grid lines down and across the flesh. Make sure you take your knife all the way to the skin. After you have finished your grid, you take a spoon and simply scoop out the cubes.




As you can see here, you are left with perfect little avocado cubes. This really is the best way to prepare avocado. You could even slice the flesh long ways and then scoop it out to have strips of avocado - perfect for a pretty salad! I am not a prep-cook and I have never been, but I am pretty sure this is exactly how they do it at restaurants.

Along with the cubed avocado, I also chopped up a tomato...

A red onion, shredded some carrots, and also got out the low fat sour cream. These burritos were gonna be YUMMY!

By now the tempeh is ready and all my fillings have been prepared. So on a lightly sprayed, warmed pan, I add a flour tortilla and a bit of monterrey jack cheese. I let it sit for a few minutes, just enough to get the cheese melting.

I take the cheesy tortilla out of the skillet and place it on a foil-lined plate. I top the tortilla with some of the BBQed tempeh, red onions, and the shredded carrot.

That then gets topped with the sour cream, tomatoes, avocado, and a shake or two of dried cilantro.

And finally, where the foil comes in - I wrap my burrito in the foil and as I am eating it, I rip the foil down. Somehow, I always over-stuff my burritos. Wrapping it in foil allows me to eat my overstuffed burrito gracefully without all the good-stuff falling out everywhere!

This burrito is TO-DIE-FOR! As I said, everything I have made from Mr. Haedrich's cookbook has been better then the best! I love it!

This weekend I am having my entire immediate family over for dinner (both sides - minus Jake). We are making pizzas!!! Hopefully I'll have time to snap some pictures and share them with you all! Till next time!!!

A German Veggie

Along with pizza, Mexican food, and breakfast, another food I LOVE to make are sandwiches. They are versatile and are great for both lunch and dinner! The following dinner consists of a veggie-take on a classic sandwich, the Reuben! Instead of using corn beef, I use tempeh and the results are delicious! My corn beef-loving-fiance still devours this swap-out! Sometimes, depending on how high you stack your sandwich, a fork and knife is necessary to eat this mean-guy! But as Matt always says, the messier the sandwich, the better! I paired the sandwich with some rosemary red potatoes. These are a simple and delicious side that can compliment almost any meal!

I start by scrubbing and quartering the red potatoes. No need to peel the skin for these! I then mix the potatoes with some olive oil.

Next comes the flavor - a simple mixture of a quartered onion, minced garlic, dried rosemary and a bit of salt and pepper. See - I told you it was simple!




I then spread the potato mixture out in a 9x13 pan that has been lined with foil. It makes clean-up so much easier! The potatoes are then placed in the oven for about 40 minutes. *Tip - the smaller you cut your potatoes, the shorter the cooking time will be!*

As the potatoes are cooking in the oven, I begin my work on the Reubens. I took a picture of the tempeh package in case some of you were unaware as to what tempeh is / looks like. Tempeh is a fermented soy bean loaf that has a bit of a nutty taste. You can fry it, bake it, grill it, crumble it, slice it, marinate it - anything your heart desires! It is usually found in the produce section of the grocery store, close to the organics and other "fake meat" products.

As you can see, the tempeh comes in a long block. All I simply do is slice it for this particular recipe. Other times I will crumble it - like when making tacos or a chili.

After everything is sliced, I transfer the tempeh to a Ziploc bag that I fill with about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Similar to tofu, tempeh will take up whatever flavor you are cooking with and marinating it is especially rewarding. I use soy sauce for this particular sandwich because corn beef has a salty flavor. This makes for an excellent substitute! I let this marinate for about 15 minutes, flipping the bag over every few minutes to evenly distribute the soy sauce.

It is not suggested that you eat raw tempeh, so my next step is to fry it up a bit. It doesn't take long, just a few minutes on each side till it starts to brown.




On my griddle, I start to assemble the sandwiches. I butter one side of some rye bread and place it on the hot griddle (buttered-side down). I then spread some 1000-island dressing onto the bread.

Next up, the marinated and cooked tempeh.




The tempeh then gets topped with a slice of swiss cheese.

And to finish the sandwich off, sauerkraut and a bit more 1000-island dressing. I use canned sauerkraut, it's easy and it all kind of tastes the same to me...




And of course I top the sandwich with another slice of buttered rye bread. I flip the sandwich several times until the bread is browned and everything inside is nice a gooey!

I pull the rosemary red potatoes out, plate them, and slice the sandwiches and dinner is served! As I usually will do, I HIGHLY recommend you try out this normally meaty swap! I think you will be quite surprised by the great flavors! Unfortunately, Ronnie won't eat this sandwich; maybe it's the sauerkraut? I don't know. But otherwise, this sandwich is a regular enjoyment of Matt and myself!

Cool kids BBQ post has been postponed (obviously). As soon as I get everyone's pictures uploaded to my computer - I'll get crackin' on that! Last night I made another tempeh dish that includes BBQ and burritos! I am super-excited to share it as it turned out DELICIOUS! Coming soon! I promise!!!