I Heart Tempeh, finally...

I have this love/hate relationship with tempeh to be honest - but I think I am leaning towards the love side of the equation. Why the shift? Steaming - I steamed the tempeh and then chilled it taking away its unique somewhat undesirable taste. And yes the pictures will come in due time - sorry again, still no camera...

I followed Vegan Dad's recipe for gyros and modified as it is seen below.

Gyro
1 8.5 oz block of tempeh
2 cloves garlic grated
1T fresh oregano
1 tsp fresh rosemary
2-3 tsp fresh mint
1T fresh parsley - optional
1/4cup diced red onion
1T soy sauce
1-2 tsp vegan Worcestershire
salt
pepper
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
Olive oil for the pan

Grate tempeh into a large bowl. Dice herbs and add in remaining ingredients. Add in gluten, combine and knead until the mixture comes together. Flatten out portions and brown in a skillet with some olive oil.

Serve with chopped tomato, sliced red onion, and tzatziki rolled up in a warmed pita

Tzatziki
1 pkg soft/medium tofu
juice from 1-2 lemons
zest of one lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1T olive oil
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
1/4 tsp paprika
1 cup grated or chopped cucumber
1/4 cup fresh dill chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint chopped

Blend tofu, lemon juice, garlic, oil and dry spices together in a blender/food processor or immersion blender. Add cucumber and fresh herbs - taste and season as desired.

Pitas
If you so feel inclined - which seriously you should... it's easy. First heat your oven to 450F.
3/4 cup flour - whatever you want - 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 all purpose or spelt instead of all purpose... it's up to you
1/2 cup water
pinch of salt
Combine into a soft dough (ie. not sticky) and set aside for 15-20 minutes - I normally do this before all the other things. This amount makes 4 small sized pitas. Roll thinly, and throw into the oven all at once - either on a pizza stone, cookie sheet or even straight onto the rack... and leave them. They'll puff on their own, flip and lightly toast - not too long - they'll end up crunchy if you're not careful.

Comfort Food

I've been in a bit of cooking lull - I blame a lot of it on the weather, it can't seem to make up its mind - it's neither winter, nor spring. Maybe that is why I've been craving comfortish food, I'm not sure, but regardless I can say it has not been particularly healthy as of late, though I am sure it could be worse - I've had a few of the faux egg mcmuffin things and found that the longer you press and then subsequently marinade for, the better. Last night as I walked past Safeway, on my way to the Skytrain - I had a moment, I wanted macaroni and cheese and broccoli - it was my subconscious reminding me of the Vegan YumYum cheese sauce and her insistence that it is really and truly legitimate. I picked up a box of whole wheat macaroni noodles and broccoli and headed home.

Baked Macaroni - Mom Style
This is what I grew up on, ours then sadly was composed of Cheese Whiz, bacon and onions and slathered with cheddar cheese - I like this one better funny enough.

Started with this recipe with ground raw cashews substituting for the tahini and added:
1/2 -1 box cooked al dente or just short of, macaroni noodles
1/2 onion diced
1 red pepper diced
1 package veggie bacon diced
canola oil
cheeze grated - optional or bread crumbs

Preheat oven - 450F
Saute onions and bacon until golden add peppers saute briefly - just to soften slightly. Add to cooked and drained noodles, pour in sauce. Pour noodle mix into a greased dish - size depends on the quantity you make - I used a 9x9 pan. Bake until golden and slightly crunchy, add topping, if desired bake until melted or golden.

Biscotti

I admit as I've said before I love my sweets and yes my curves attest to this - so when I can I try and opt for a "healthier" option to a chocolate chip cookie to dip into my tea. I started with this recipe and went from there.

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all purpose
1T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3T canola oil
zest of two lemons
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger

In a mixer combine the sugar through lemon juice - beat until the sugar dissolves. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. Combine and then add the ginger. Form into two logs on a parchment lined baking sheet - bake for 30 minutes at 325 or until firm enough to cut. Cut into wedges of desired thickness and turn onto the side. Bake at 300 for about 15 minutes and then turn baking until desired texture - the longer you cook the drier the biscotti.

Pizza!!

So I am one of those pizza people that has to have cheese on their pizza - but well since all the vegan versions melt funny thus far and I don't consume enough to rationalize ordering Teese I decided to take a different approach to the whole process. No, I didn't get rid of the cheese - I did make the cashew ricotta from Veganomicon - adding hot water as needed to get it to the texture I wanted - figured there was no point in adding more oil and or lemon juice - I also added the small amount of nutritional yeast specified for the plain tofu ricotta version.

I made 1/2 whole wheat version of Isa's pizza crust and then topped the pizza with:
Eden Organic's Pizza sauce
Baby spinach (1/2 a small carton - so 3 to 4 healthy handfuls)
Cashew ricotta - slathered over top more or less
Sundried tomatoes
Kalamata olives
Roasted peppers

The other I did with pepperoni and all that other regular pizza stuff and then wrecked it with the vegan mozzarella - boo, I shouldn't have let that craving for cheese taint my judgment. So, now we know in the meantime I am going for the Mediterranean version...

What no picture? Well yes of course because I don't have a camera - boo, it supposedly will be here in about 6 weeks (birthday!!!).

Did I Mention

That I hate eggs be them real or even fake - the smell, texture, the appearance - all of it - primarily due to what they use to do to me - make be nauseous and cause GI issues. So when I went vegan I can't say I had eaten an egg - be it scrambled, boiled or fried in over a year or longer - the last time I can remember eating an egg was 2004 when I had my wisdom teeth out and well I was desperate and sick anyways. The funny thing was I can say that for some reason, maybe nostalgia or something they put in their food - likely the later - I somewhat liked the Sausage and Egg McMuffin - eww, I know and never mind a caloric nightmare. Well we know I haven't had one of those in over a year for sure and honestly can't tell you the last time I had one, likely longer than 2004, maybe 2003 but for some reason I wanted one as of late, maybe because I walk past their S*bucks counterpart everyday when I order my soy green tea latte or that my landlord bought one this morning... so what am I getting at? My fellow city-lady SaraJane posted a recipe for the Anti-Fast food breakfast sandwich and I gave in. Despite my boycott of any other vegan egg product - like tofu scrambled and what not - I made them - um well I am willing to back off on the faux egg boycott for a while....

Check it out - I followed her recipe - adding only a little turmeric to get that yellowish color.

Product Review

So I tried Sol Cuisine's Falafel's and they were not wonderful but not awful. Their burgers were vastly better. I have to say I'm one of those vegans who are suprisingly purists if you can call it that when it comes to their faux meat burgers. I can't eat the lentils and all that - it isn't a burger, so don't call it that. I digress, I took a picture post BBQ, but you really can't see it under everything... sorry, next time. Overall 8/10.

Quinoa Salad

Leaha mentioned that she wanted the Quinoa Salad from the Foundation - and since I've made a Black Bean and Mango salad from last summer - I decided to combine the two together and create a filing spring salad dinner.

1 mango diced
1/2 red onion diced
1 small jalepeno diced
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 bell pepper diced
2 limes zested and juiced
1 can black beans - rinsed
1 can corn rinsed
1 cup of quinoa rinsed and prepared
1 tsp chili powder

Combine - and serve.