Happily Inspired

I saw this General Tso Tempeh earlier this month. Then I saw it again. Then I made it, and I’m glad I did.

I doubled the recipe and added baby corn, mushrooms, broccoli, and water chestnuts and topped it with green onions and sesame seeds. Yum!

Garlicky Not-Fried Not-Chicken

I have a many, many more photos from my Texas trip I want to go through, but I’ve been unusually busy since I have been home. I agreed to travel to Louisville for work the day after I got back from Texas and had to leave at 6:30 a.m. (when I am usually still sleeping) and wear nice clothes (not usually a requirement). Complaints about getting up and the almost two-hour drive aside, the day went well.

I was outside all day yesterday, under a tent, in the parking lot behind an anonymous-looking corporateplex.

The weather cooperated, and a cold morning turned into a beautiful day, although the nice breeze insisted on blowing the papers from our tables. Lunch was provided, but I packed my own (again, not something I normally have to do as I am home for lunch):

I packed tempeh salad, mixed greens and Ezekiel bread. This was a perfect first opportunity to use my bamboo To-Go Ware. The night I got back from Texas, I whipped up a quick batch of tempeh not-chicken salad. This is only my second batch, but this is a favorite for me. I mixed in grapes, walnuts, dried cranberries, and celery.

Are you wondering what I was doing under the tent? This was a health and wellness fair. I sat next to a man from the American Heart Association who, although he didn’t ask why I was photographing my lunch, did express interest in my vegan lifestyle. He said he was trying to be more healthy, too.

One of the most popular things people were collecting, besides the free massages and glucose tests, was healthy recipes. The most popular recipe was the Garlic Oven-Fried Chicken. Everyone wanted to try it! So, I decided to try it myself, but veganize it. Plus, Alex has been asking for me to try out breading seitan.

Success! I served this in true American style, with skin-on mashed potatoes and oven roasted broccoli. This dish was really good. I made the seitan the day before, so that really sped things up. Alex was thrilled to have breaded seitan, and I found this to be especially delicious as well.

Garlicky Not-Fried Not-Chicken

Ingredients:

• One recipe seitan (I used the cutlets recipe from Veganomicon and had 6 pieces)
• 1 teaspoon Earth Balance
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 (or more) cup panko
• 1/4 cup vegan Parmesan (I used Alemsan from Veganomicon, I have a batch in my fridge)
• Italian Seasoning blend, or your favorite spices, to taste (I used a lot, probably 3 tablespoons. Actually, I just emptied the jar because it was getting old.)
• Salt and pepper, if desired

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400F, and prepare your baking dish or sheet. Use either a nonstick silicone sheet or spray your dish with cooking spray.

In a small skillet, melt the butter and oil and saute garlic until fragrant. (Note: The original healthy recipe called for 2 tablespoons of each; I found this excessive. I pulled the seitan from the broth so it was still slightly wet, and the garlic and breading stuck just find without six times as much oil.)

Mix the panko, parm, and seasonings in a shallow dish.

Press the seitan pieces into the garlic mixture, allowing it to pick up pieces of garlic. Then press the seitan into the breading mix, coating all sides. Place on your prepared baking sheet or dish.

Repeat with each seitan piece and then bake for 20-30 minutes or until browned, turning halfway.

Quick and Easy! Smokey Tempeh, Sweet Potatoes, and Kale

This supper came together in a matter of minutes, not including time to marinate the tempeh. But that’s not active cooking time, so it doesn’t count. I’ve just started using tempeh more, and I’m loving it.

This is Smokey Grilled Tempeh from Veganomicon, along with steamed sweet potatoes and kale with raisins and pine nuts.

This is the kind of supper I was hungry to have; it’s been busy here and quick meals don’t always feel this good. I mentioned slinging beers, and last night I served dinner at our local Ronald McDonald House like I do the first Monday of every month. I made a variation of my stuffed zucchini: whole wheat pasta with crushed tomatoes, cannellini beans, basil, and grilled zucchini. I even topped it with some Almesan. Those flavors are so good together, and this makes for a delicious pasta dish. But it’s still a rush to get there and have the food prepared immediately after a busy day at work.

We don’t always serve pasta – usually we’ll do soups, breakfast foods, Mexican, sandwiches, etc., but this happened to be “Italian” night. If you’ve ever offered to serve at RHM or in a similar situation, you understand that they discourage bringing pasta, well, because it’s cheap and easy and too many groups do this. Don’t worry, these folks ate up these cheesy, meaty casseroles with no complaints. And they dug into my dish, too. There was a line for half an hour!

I’m taking the rest of this week easy. It’s time to enjoy summer before it’s cold again.

If you haven’t already entered, check out this giveaway from vegan and so forth. Good luck!

Tempeh not-chicken salad

We’ve been eating a lot of sandwiches lately. Typically we’ll reheat some leftovers for lunch, but now that summer has arrived in full force, I don’t always want something warm in the middle of the day. I also think warm weather encourages lighter eating anyway.

Enter tempeh salad, in the style of chicken salad. There are recipes for this all over the web, but it’s also easy to just throw together whatever you like. What are your top toss-ins for a salad like this?

Start by crumbling or cutting the tempeh. I left mine large, but next time I’ll make it smaller for easier chomping in the sandwiches. Although you can eat tempeh straight from the package, if you steam it will become a little more tender and lose some of the bitter bite. It’ll still be chewy and firm. You can either use a steamer basket for about 15-20 minutes, or do it right in a pan. I put mine in my trusty pan you’ll see in many stovetop photos, put in some water, covered it and let it boil and steam for 5 minutes, then removed the lid and continued to boil until the water all evaporates.

Important step: let the tempeh cool! I made this on Sunday afternoon and had no problem just letting it sit while I did other things. I love cooking that has true downtime when you don’t have to worry about anything possibly burning.

Prepare your dressing and any goodies you want in your salad. Then toss it together and have it on hand to eat cold, whenever you’re ready. I used carrot, celery, green onions, walnuts, and dried cranberries. I made the dressing with prepared Vegenaise and added a kick of red wine vinegar and some cayenne pepper. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, I only used the carrot because I had one in the fridge that needed to get eaten.

It’s been so warm recently that my cat has taken to sleeping in the bathroom where the AC vent for the small room and the tile keep things cool. I hope summer is treating you well, wherever you are!

This is my kitty Little Fuzz, or Fuzziweena*, sniffing at the vent blowing cool air.

*spelling of the cat's name is yet to be determined

Patty Cake: Tempeh Cakes

After my middling success with tempeh bacon, I was ready to try a different method of cooking this stuff I’ve only had a few times. I turned to my trusty new cookbook, Vegan Brunch, and selected the recipe for Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes. I didn’t mention to Alex that they are inspired by crab cakes, as he vowed never to eat mock fish again after some pungent fake shrimp from a meat-out buffet at Loving Cafe. I can’t say I blame him, and I’ll make it clear now that these patties aren’t mock anything.

This is what the tempeh looked like after I crumbled and steamed it with some seasoning, including the soy sauce that gives it the brown color.

Once cooled, the tempeh is mixed with bell peppers, Vegenaise, mustard, vinegar, ginger, nori, and panko. You’re probably familiar with nori, even if you don’t know the name – it’s the black seaweed used in some sushi. This flavors the cakes without making them fishy. Panko is a kind of Japanese breadcrumb. The way the bread is ground leaves it more like flakes than powder or crumbs, so it makes a nice filler for the cake mix, and from what I read, panko absorbs flavor better than other breadcrumbs and absorbs less grease than breadcrumbs. Go figure.

The tempeh mixture is then formed into cakes (or patties, in keeping with my theme), dredged in more panko, and then pan fried.

To top, I made the recipe’s remoulade from Vegenaise, mustard, hot sauce, and capers. We ate these patties with fresh green beans and a salad.

I’ve mentioned over and over again that this cookbook is quickly becoming a favorite, and I’ve also mentioned over and over again one of my favorite bloggers, Vegan Crunk. Go over and check out her giveaway for American Vegan Kitchen cookbook – but hurry, the contest closes Thursday at 10:00 CST!

Tempeh Facon Bacon

This really isn’t fake meat: it’s seasoned and baked tempeh. Tempeh, like tofu and setian, has been around for centuries, and originated in Indonesia. Tempeh is a soy product made from whole soybeans and the varieties you’ll find in available now are usually also made with other grains as well. I used Soy Boy 5-grain tempeh for this recipe. The soybeans and other grains are hulled and cooked, then pressed together in a cake along with some sort of a starter to allow them to slightly ferment. Unlike tofu, tempeh has a chewy texture that makes it perfect for facon bacon.

The most difficult part for me was cutting the tempeh thinly enough without having it fall apart. The thinnest pieces tasted the best, but because it’s pressed grains, it fell to pieces when sliced too thinly. You can see that I have thick and thin pieces in my marinade tray here:

There are tempeh bacon recipes all over the web, so I decided to use one from a reliable source: The Vegetarian Times. The marinade was perfectly flavored, and like I mentioned, my only difficulty with the recipe was slicing the tempeh. Soak the slices overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, cider vinegar, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder, and liquid smoke. Then bake them after brushing on some canola oil and sprinkling on some paprika.

I’ve used tempeh a few times in the past and had it once at a restaurant, but I think this re-introduction has inspired me to give it another try in different recipes. Do you have a favorite way to enjoy tempeh?