allrecipes.com, Will You Marry Me?

So, I don't know what it is... I have been a bit of a slacker in the kitchen. Not so much the actual cooking part, but more like the taking pictures/creating my own food part. The family get-together (almost) two weeks ago was a SUCCESS! We ended up making a Buffalo "Chicken" Pizza, a Veggie Ranch Pizza, the Pizza-Without-The-Red-Sauce, and a meaty pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and onions. But alas... The busy day kept me from taking pictures. Then, just last weekend, we had friends from Columbus stay with us, I made lots of yummy food like a spicy hot Mexican spinach dip and artichoke/eggplant sandwiches, but once again, pictures were not taken.

Maybe it's all the coming and going, maybe it was my son being sick last week (he is MUCH better now - thanks!), but one thing I have been doing - cooking from allrecipes.com and OF COURSE taking pictures of the final product to upload on the site. If I have said it once, I have said it a MILLION times, allrecipes.com is my favorite food site! The recipe database is HUGE and I love the fact that you can upload pictures, rate and review recipes. The reviews are especially handy because you can see what other people have experienced during their attempts to make the recipe.

So, as to not leave my faithful and AWESOME readers waiting any longer, I decided to upload and blog about a few things I have made recently from allrecipes.com. The first recipe I am sharing is the Original Blue Cheese Cole Slaw. For all the meat eaters that read my blog, this recipe was originally paired with a buffalo chicken sandwich (and I thought that sounded really tasty - if it wasn't for the whole vegetarian thing, I would be on that bandwagon!) I served this slaw one Settlers night with jalapeno melts (veggie burgers on sourdough bread with sauteed onions, sliced jalapenos, and pepperjack cheese - a burger that is made quite often at the Luckey-Meyer home). I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out really good! There is only one thing I would caution people about - the next day the blue cheese had taken over the slaw! That is all I could taste at lunch the next day and it was overpowering for my own tastes (which - you know it was strong because I LOVE cheese!) So, my suggestion would be to eat it all the same day!!!

That same Settlers night I also made these Twice-Baked Mashed Potatoes. They are a take on twice-baked potatoes, only instead of putting the potato filling back into the skin, you put it in a baking dish and let it bake with some cheese on top! I did not follow this recipe exactly, as I thought some adjustments were needed to please my particular crowd. Instead of using the green pepper and onion mixture it called for, I used about 5 green onions. I sauteed some garlic with the onion, and of course used fake bacon instead of the real stuff. These turned out better then expected and I will DEFINITELY be making these again and again and again. A bit time consuming, but they do take a little less time than real twice-baked potatoes (because you don't have to stand there stuffing however many individual potatoes), so if I were you, I would give these a try!

Finally, earlier this week I made this Really Creamy Fettuccine Alfredo. I have never attempted a homemade alfredo before, and this one seemed easy enough. Because of my lack of experience with this sort of food, I followed the recipe exactly, only adding some steamed broccoli at the end. Next time (and there will be a next time because this was like one of the easiest dinners ever!) I will cut back on the cream cheese (and by cream cheese, I mean neufchatel of course). Maybe add some more parmesan or try to substitute some with sour cream. I would only do this because the cream cheese was the main flavor in this dish, and that's not really the alfredo flavor I was looking for. Also - another word of caution on leftovers - the next day the sauce had turned clumpy and the taste was almost null. I didn't even finish it to be honest because I felt like I was eating just plain, clumpy noodles.




Next post I will have a complete meal! PROMISE! Till then - Happy Cooking!!!



***Also - QUESTION for all my computer geek friends... So - I am having trouble figuring out how to evenly space my photos, paragraphs and the like on my blog. I am only using the generic posting tools for blogger, but it's funny, because I will evenly space everything on my template, but then when I publish it, everything is all uneven again (as I am sure you have noticed! I promise I am trying to keep a clean blog!!!) HELP!?!?! Anyone?

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!