Friday, April 11, 2008

Tempeh "marmalade" knockoff

I know!!! I've been a very bad blogger... not blogging in what seems like FOREVER. I only did one post in March, how sad. :( And I apologize, because I'm not entirely sure just how much blogging I'll do this year, with my wedding only 6 months away now. The wedding plans are coming along fine, it's the other daunting tasks (like going through all my crap to get rid of stuff so I can move from my LARGE house into my fiance's SMALL house) that are making my head spin. O_o Thankfully, it's warming up in my neck of the woods and the spring weather has cheered me up a bit.

Anyhoo, you don't come here to read me vent, so I'll get on with the food that I'm actually really excited to post, discuss and recommend! As you may have noticed, this week VeganYumYum posted this mouth-watering recipe for "Marmalade Tofu with Kale and Lemon Pearl Couscous." It sounded divine and looked gorgeous! I forwarded the link to my fiance, with a note saying "This looks awesome, we'll have to try it soon." Today, I found myself needing to cook some tempeh before it expired. I love tempeh, but I'm still learning how to cook with it in recipes. Too lazy to hop on the Net and spend time searching for a tempeh recipe to try, my brain called up the marmalade dish, wondering what it would taste like with tempeh instead of tofu. I went to VeganYumYum and ogled the ingredients again... I didn't have marmalade, pearl couscous or almonds, but I had peach preserves, plain whole wheat couscous and extra mushrooms I needed to use. So I whipped up the marinade as listed on VeganYumYum sans the chili flakes, using peach preserves instead of marmalade... and I just stir-fried some kale with a little oil and green onion until it softened, then added in some mushrooms and garlic to the stir-fry. I took some short cuts and made changes, but they worked in a pinch and my dinner tonight was delicious! Definitely a thumbs up! The marmalade glaze was awesome.

I still want to make the correct "Marmalade Tofu with Kale and Lemon Pearl Couscous" recipe soon, but it's nice to know that the basics of his recipe are versatile enough to accommodate substitutions according to what you may have in your cupboard. So, thanks VeganYumYum! :)