Tempeh Tuesday's

I've decided to have a theme for certain days, Tuesday being about Tempeh dishes. If you don't already know what tempeh is I will tell you a little about it.

Tempeh is slightly fermented soybeans cooked and constructed to form a patty. It is high in protein, calcium, iron, is cholesterol free and low in fat. It has a grainy almost nutty texture and a very slight nutty flavor. It can be baked, boiled, fried or barbecued which makes it a great alternative to meat. It is higher in protein than tofu. If you do not like tofu, tempeh might be a good choice for you.


I absolutely love tempeh and think it's a shame I wasn't introduced to it much sooner. I use tempeh in alot of different dishes that I make because it is so simple and easy to prepare. There are countless ways of using tempeh and I specifically like to use it as a substitution for any dishes that might contain meat. I try not to eat too much tempeh because it is soy and I like to limit the amount of soy I intake as a whole. I still am not 100% on the tofu bandwagon (but I am slowly getting there) so tempeh is the best alternative for me. I use it in tacos, as burgers, you name it.

For this TempTuesday I will share a really quick and easy lunch idea that I made for myself.

I wanted some type of sandwich or burger even but rather than make a veggie patty I decided to make some barbecue tempeh.
Super simple all you will need is: Bread, Tempeh (can be half a package or less depending on how much you want), Greens (I used lettuce and tomatoes but whatever greens you want is up to you), Vegan Mayo (I used Vegenaise), 1 tsp Nutritional Yeast, BBQ sauce (either homemade or a vegan friendly brand. Optional: Paprika (I seriously add it on almost everything), garlic, salt and pepper.

I opted out of toasting my bread because I wanted it soft. I smeared some vegenaise on one side then sprinkled the nutritional yeast on it because it would adhere rather than fly everywhere when I tried to eat it later. Then I placed the lettuce and tomatoes on top of the mayo and yeast and sprinkled a little salt and pepper.

In a pan I pan seared the tempeh that I cut in half with garlic, paprika, salt, pepper and barbecue mix. I let it cook until it was golden on both sides and then placed it on the other side of the bread.

It was so simple and took 5 minutes top! Definitely filling and worth the effort to make.

I say go out and get some tempeh so you can try it out for yourself, the most I've paid for a package of tempeh is 2.99. They even come mixed with other grains if you like. So its a definite affordable substitution.

Enjoy!

Cheesy Scones

I wanted to get back into baking and saw a relatively easy and quick recipe for Cheesy scones. I've never made scones so this was a first time thing for me, I did add and change a little bit of the recipe.

The ingredients are:
2 cups All purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup vegan butter or shortening
1/2 cup Daiya Cheddar style shreds
1 cup Soy Milk or other non-dairy substitute
*I added 1 tbsp of Flax and 1 tbsp of Nutritional yeast

For cooking instructions simply click on the link above which will take you to the page.

The one thing I swapped out was the Daiya Cheddar and I used the Daiya Mozarella instead. I had a package of mozzarella opened and figured I would use that up instead of opening the cheddar. As a whole it was really easy to make and came out good. My only complaint would be that it didn't rise as much as I would have liked (but that could be due to the thickness of when I rolled it out to cut) and it wasn't very  cheesy (but that's because I used the mozzarella instead of cheddar).

I'm definitely going to give this a try again and make my own adaptations.

Update of Sorts

So I've found myself in a bit of a rut, food wise. At the beginning of my vegan journey I was so enthused about cooking new different dishes, and now I'm not. I keep blaming it on the season, saying because it is hot outside I don't want to cook anything too complicated. Honestly its a little bit of that mixed with allowing myself to get comfortable with minimal effort.

I find that my meals now (maybe 90%) center around rice and beans. Not that I don't like rice but it gets so boring eating it so much during the week that I've become uninterested in really cooking. It's become more of a need to eat to sustain myself rather than cook and eat because I like it. Nothing I've eaten has actually satisfied me in months, if I'm being honest the last time I had a satisfying meal was around Christmas.
I'm tired of not enjoying anything I eat, I should derive another emotion other than apathy.

So because of this I am going to make a huge effort into cooking again, I'm going to try out some recipes and see if I get that spark back. I have also been considering going Gluten-free and at least 50% Raw but rather than do them both I think I will have to try one at a time. I want to try Gluten-free first but something tells me that it will be harder for me to do than becoming 50% raw. Anyway everything in baby steps, right?