Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Tempeh Tuesday #1

I'm back from vacation. As promised, I'll post about my trip but I'll need an extra day or two to ready the photos and write it up.

In the meantime, I'm going to post my lazy cooking habits since coming back home. LOL. Sometimes it's difficult enough coming back from a trip and getting back into the groove of the reality we call everyday life, without having to worry about cooking elaborate meals. So, my theme this week is EASY. I'm trying to use ingredients I already have in the cupboard and just keep things simple.

I had three packages of tempeh in my fridge because I'm trying to motivate myself to cook this soy-based food more often. I decided to make the tempeh sausage crumbles from Vegan with a Vengeance. I love this recipe soooooo much. The crumbles are so good. Much much tastier than any similar product that can be purchased pre-made in a store, and they're really not that difficult to make. So, I prepared the tempeh as directed in Isa's book. I also made pasta: Meijer Organics whole-wheat cappenilli, which I coated with a bit of olive oil when it was done. I opened a can of diced tomatoes that was pre-mixed with olive oil and garlic and, with a slotted spoon, scooped out some tomatoes (leaving most of the juice) as a topping to the tempeh and cappenilli. Simple yet tasty. :)

I did save the remaining tomatoes and all the leftover juice... I have plans for those later this week. ;)

I titled this post "Tempeh Tuesday" because I'd like to make Tuesday dinners my tempeh night, in an effort to try more tempeh recipes and learn to cook it better. (Did I ever mention I once tried to steam tempeh in the microwave and it came out as a hard, black block of yuck?) If you have a really great tempeh recipe, I'm all ears. I'd love some ideas from my blog visitors if you have any recipes to share. Please send them to: veggiecookster [at] gmail [dot] com. If I cook up your recipe, I'll give you credit and link back to your blog, so be sure to include the URL in your e-mail. :)

4 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Ooh the tempeh looks great; I love tempeh!

Luna bars are good... but Z bars are even better hehe :o), especially the chocolate brownie and chocolate chip flavors.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Tempeh is so versatile and delicious - when there isn't a lot of time to make your own, I HIGHLY recommend the Lightlife® tempeh fakin' "bacon" - it's incredible.

And speaking of incredible, your tempeh pasta dish looks and sounds like the most elegant "lazy eating habits" meal I'VE ever seen - yum!!

Tofu Mom (AKA Tofu-n-Sprouts) said...

Good recipe here - but it's not my blog, so give them credit... http://eatair.blogspot.com/2006/09/barbecued-tempeh.html

Also, I like the recipes in Vegan with a Vengeance, there's several and all the ones I've tried turn out good!

Vegan_Noodle said...

If you like pasta and tempeh, check out this recipe:
http://dgmgv.blogspot.com/2007/10/best-dinners-are-ones-i-make-up.html
I also blogged about my version here:
http://walkingtheveganline.blogspot.com/2007/10/carb-cravings.html

Tempeh Tuesdays, what a great idea!