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!!!

Wednesday Night - Matt's Black Bean Burritos and Jiffy Corn Muffins

First things first - THE KITCHEN! Where all the magic happens! Doesn't look like much does it? And that is exactly my point! You don't need an awesomely-huge gourmet kitchen to whip up some awesomely-good food! Though, I will say, don't get too used to this kitchen. I will soon be a homeowner and I am upgrading a bit. It's not that much bigger or greater - but I am excited!

One of the first meals my fiance Matt ever made for me were these black bean burritos and ever since then they have become a staple with my family. Because of this fact, I figured they were an excellent choice for my premier food-blog entry of 2009! The sheer easiness and frugal-factor of these burritos make them a great pick for a weeknight dinner. Flavors can be easily added and omitted to make your own personalized burrito. Though not the healthiest (just a tad high in fat for one serving), they come out pretty cheesy at the end, so cutting down on some of the neufchatel cheese will help cut down on the fat content, making these much more health-conscious. Below is a picture of my beloved cookbook. It is a collection of vegetarian recipes I have collected / created over the course of 4 years! If something were to happen to it, I would be lost!

Okay, first things first, I gather all my main ingredients. As you can see, this isn't a hard recipe, basically all you need is 5 things, minus the tortillas which were already in the 350 degree oven getting warm. You have a red bell pepper, a jalapeno, a medium whole onion, two cans of black beans, and 8 oz. of neufchatel cheese.

I have to say, canned beans are the way to go! When you are short on time, using canned is the only thing that will do. When making a dish that uses canned beans, the first thing I do is rinse them good! Real good! Then I like them sit and drain till I am ready to use them.

While the beans are draining I chop the whole (cleaned!) red pepper. You could substitute a green one if you like, but I LOVE the red ones and usually just splurge on them every time!

Next up - the onion. When chopping an onion I first make cuts across the entire onion laterally, and then I go back over the onion with long cuts across as shown in the picture below. Every time I come up with perfectly chopped onions and it is soooo easy. It's a little trick I learned from the Food Network years ago! It's been so long that I don't even remember whose show it was!

My final chopping partner, the jalapeno. Make sure you don't rub your face while chopping this sucker! And I always wash my hands immediately after the entire pepper is chopped!

After all is chopped I heat some olive oil in a skillet. Once the oil is good and hot I add the garlic. LOTS of garlic. I never measure garlic, I always just scoop a spoonful in (and yeah - I use the jarred, pre-minced stuff. I love it!)

Once the olive oil in nice and garlicky (maybe a minute or two) I add all the vegi's (the pepper, onion, and jalapeno).

Once the vegetables are good and tender (about 5 minutes), I add in the washed and drained black beans. I also added some cilantro and a little bit of salt.

This was about the time I pulled the Jiffy corn muffins out of the oven. LOVE that little blue and white box of goodness! They are always under $1, (usually about 68 cents) and all you have to add is an egg and 1/3 cup of milk. Tip - a co-worker told me today that he adds creamed corn instead of milk for a better muffin... I may try that next time!

Once the beans have heated through (5-10 minutes) I add the cubed cheese. Mmmm.... cubed cheese. And seriously - if you haven't made the switch from regular cream cheese to neufchatel cheese : GET ON THAT BAND WAGON STAT! You really can't tell a taste difference, it cooks the same and it will save you some calories and fat grams!

Mix the vegetables, beans, and cheese constantly so the cheese doesn't burn. Once everything has been mixed and the cheese has melted, you are ready to turn off the burner and stuff the tortillas that have been heated in the oven.

If you are like my family, eating Chipotle is something you like to do. Next time you are there, pay attention to how they roll the burrito. That is exactly how you want to do it, especially if you are about to devour an over-stuffed burrito. As you see, this make 6 medium stuffed burritos. Not too much, not too little.

Finally as I wrap each burrito I place them in a baking dish to put in the oven for a few minutes. Maybe it's just in my head, but I always liked to place the burritos in the oven for like 10 minutes to get the filling and tortillas hot again from sitting out.

Once they are pulled out of the oven, the only thing left to do is enjoy! Pairing with a salsa is what I usually like to do, but I didn't have any around at the time.

Any suggestions or thoughts I would love to hear in the comments area. And as with all my recipes, if you are interested in trying them out yourself, shoot me an email and I will get them to you!

Looks like tonight I am gonna make a bread pudding. My first ever in fact so it should be interesting. I figure I like quiche enough, so it should be good. See ya soon!