Italian Flavored Tempeh

What in the world is tempeh?  That's the question that I am most often asked when I bring it up.  I have been a vegetarian for twenty years.  My first experience with tempeh was about 2 years ago.  I am not sure if this a recent invention for vegetarians...or if I've been missing out for years.  I first tried a tempeh reuben at a local restaurant.  It was phenomenal and I usually get it when I eat there.  Then about one year ago, I discovered how to make BBQ tempeh (recipe to come another post).  The BBQ tempeh was even better.  Now, I have a new recipe, thanks to an old roommate who has gone vegetarian.  It is simple.  What's even better, I had all the ingredients ready to go.  So, what is tempeh, you ask?  I never answered that question did I.  It's because I can't.  It's a soy product that takes on the taste and flavor of whatever you put with it.  This recipe marinates the tempeh in soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and olive oil with other spices.  I LOVED it and so did three of my colleagues.  Jon, on the other hand, wasn't overly impressed.  Too bad.  I ate it by itself and then ate it in my salad.  Other suggestions include serving it over rice or couscous.  Thanks go to Sam, for the delicious recipe (see below):

1¼ hours | 1 hour prep

SERVES 4

• 8 ounces tempeh

For the marinade

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed between fingers

1. Cut tempeh into 1/2 inch wide cubes.
2. Combine the marinade ingredients in a container with a lid, stir to combine.
3. Add tempeh, cover and shake well until all pieces are coated.
4. Place in refrigerator for one hour or overnight.
5. Shake container every now and again (when you think of it) to coat all pieces. The tempeh will begin to absorb all the marinade.
6. When ready to cook, heat a non stick skillet over medium low heat.
7. Add tempeh and any liquid and cook for about 10 minutes, turning pieces until they begin to caramelize.
8. Serve immediately or keep in a covered container in fridge.

Link: from Recipezaar

Mushroom and Artichoke Casserole

....and I'm back for a little while.  I will take the weekend off, though.  I'm blogging as much as I am cooking and these days I'm not cooking much.  With a wedding pending in 5 weeks, a move in 10 days along with my typical daily obligations - I'm finding myself eating out way too much for my good.

This recipe is simple.  I got it out of the The Vegetarian Gourmet's Easy International Recipes book.  It's basically just mushrooms and artichokes tossed around in butter, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and tossed into the oven for 30 minutes.  I used canned mushrooms because it's all we had.  It was okay, but I think freshly cut mushrooms would have made a world of difference.  Jon loved it either way.  I'm lucky because he's so easy to please!  Here it is, Mushroom and Artichoke Casserole:

Modified "Easy Chickpea Curry"

When I lived in Japan, I had a Scottish neighbor who would often invite me to dinner.  She would make her signature dish - a type of Thai curry made with coconut milk.  It offers a "sweet and spicy" taste.  Well, I thought I could find a recipe on the internet that would offer this same type of idea.  I kept finding chicken and fish dishes only.  It was hard to substitute it with anything I had in stock (ideally tofu).  Instead, I found this other recipe.  It seemed perfect because I had every ingredient.  After starting it out, I came to realize that my potatoes were 'soft'.  According to Jon, I could probably still eat them.  The internet sources I read advised against it.  In the end, I decided to substitute in peas and spinach in place of the potatoes.  It honestly had a really good taste to it.  I think I overdid the spinach.  I used a whole frozen 10 oz. bag.  I could have probably gotten away with 7 oz.  I also served it over brown rice since I had about 3 cups cooked and ready to use (I made too much when I made my Bombay rice and peas).  I think the taste of the spices and curry would have been better brought out through jasmine rice or white rice.  Overall, it was good and I would definitely like to try it again.  I am going to supply my recipe below and link back to the original one that includes potatoes instead of my peas and spinach.

 ngredients:

1 tablespoon butter 1 onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 3 teaspoons curry powder 2 teaspoons garam masala 1/2 teaspoon ground paprika 1/2 teaspoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained 4 oz frozen peas 7 oz frozen spinach 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk 1 tomato, chopped 1/3 cup milk 2 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons sour cream 2 cubes vegetable bouillon

Directions:

1.	Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Cook and stir the onion and garlic in the melted butter for about 5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Sprinkle in curry powder, garam masala, paprika, sugar, ginger, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Continue to cook and stir 3 to 4 more minutes, until spices are lightly toasted.
2.	Mix in the garbanzo beans, peas, spinach, coconut milk, tomato, milk, ketchup, sour cream, and bouillon cubes. Simmer the curry over medium-low heat for about 25 minutes.

Original recipe here (from allrecipes.com)

Pesto Sauce

I never realized how easy pesto sauce is.  As a vegetarian my whole life, one dish I have grown to dislike is spaghetti.  Often times, a vegetarian is brought to a restaurant where the one and only dish you can have is...spaghetti.  Or a vegetarian goes to someone's house for dinner, that has never met a vegetarian before.  They have no idea what to serve you...so you get....you guessed it!  spaghetti.  Not to mention that my first few years in college was very vegetarian unfriendly and usually, my only option for years was spaghetti.

I avoid spaghetti like the plague.

But, pesto sauce makes it all better.  Pesto makes pasta seem exotic.  It gives a whole new meaning to a box of spaghetti noodles that cost only .88 cents.  Pesto + Pasta = perfection!  To my health and weight conscious followers - it's a little fattening.  It's "healthy fat" ingredients - olive oil and nuts.  But, fattening nonethless.

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Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup lightly toasted pine nuts
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1.   Combine all ingredients except olive oil in blender or food processor
   
2.  Process until finely chopped
3. While still slowly chopping, slowly add the olive oil.  Continue processing until it's smooth

Serve over pasta!

Rhubarb Bread

My boss has dozens and dozens of rhubarb growing out of her garden.  She didn't plant them, but rather they came with her house when she bought it.  To be honest, I have NEVER tried rhubarb in my entire life.  Isn't that slightly weird?  Her seven (eight?) year old son asked me if I liked it.  I told him that I never tried it.  We ran over to the family garden and he taught me how to choose a ripe rhubarb and how to pull it out.  He took a little nibble out of the one we pulled out.  I tried it, too.  He likes it, me...not so much.  However, my boss told me that it's great in recipes.  I took all of their ripe rhubarb and brought it home.  I got a recipe off of allrecipes.com.  It was meant to make two loaves.  I wanted to make one loaf for my sister who was having surgery and one loaf for Jon and I to try.  It's rather scary, but Jon and I both fell asleep with our second loaf in the oven.  I woke up at 2am gasping for breath and realizing that our second loaf was still in the oven.  Thank whatever god there is that our apartment did not burn down with us in it.  We never got to try a loaf before sending it to my sister and her husband.  However, the consensus between the two of them is that it's delicious.  The good news is Jon is babysitting my boss's three sons over the summer.  So, I'm sure there's plenty more rhubarb where the initial batch came from!

The recipe is here:

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a small bowl, stir together milk, lemon juice and vanilla; let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, oil and egg. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda, stir into sugar mixture alternately with the milk mixture just until combined. Fold in rhubarb and nuts. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Sprinkle this mixture over the unbaked loaves.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

Recipe online here 

Bombay Rice and Peas

This recipe caught my eye immediately when I saw it in my cookbook.  It offers three of my favorite food ingredients: plenty of spices, rice and peas.  One new spice I cooked with was ground cloves.  It definitely added a unique taste to the dish.  I was worried that there weren't enough spice quantities for the dish to taste amazing.  However, somehow, with less than entire tablespoon of mixed spices, it tasted very spicy.  If this dish looks interesting to you, you can find it in the Vegetarian Gourmet's Easy International Recipes book.  It's topped with fresh cilantro to give it an extra boost of flavor!

Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce for Pasta

My sister shared with me her recipe that she said was the best one she has made yet.  I was ecstatic when I heard of a new recipe I could try!  The recipe is actually meant to be meat included.  I made it minus the meat.  I also plan to provide you the recipe my style, but to link to the group that has the full recipe, meat included.

My sister claims this is the best meal she's ever had.  In my opinion, it was good, definitely better than normal spaghetti sauce you get out of the can.  I am a spice fanatic.  If the recipe calls for more than 4 spices, I'll probably be sure to love it.  

In my opinion, it was good - but it wasn't anything that I would brag about.  It wasn't nearly as spicy as I anticipated.  However, it wasn't a complete flop!

Recipe 

Ingredients 

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes, liquid included
• 1 teaspoon finely minced canned chipotle en adobo and sauce, or more to taste
• 2 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• Salt
• 1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

plus pasta noodles (We used one lb. which was way too much)

Directions

Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil for pasta.  When boiled, put in one pound of noodles.

Make Sauce:

1.  In a 4-quart saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. 

2.  Saute the onions until translucent, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.

3.  Add tomato paste, tomatoes, chipotles, oregano, rosemary, and salt. 

4.  Bring all the ingredients to a low boil, reduce heat and cook for approximately 15 minutes, until liquid has evaporated slightly. 

5.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

6.  Combine with pasta noodles when complete

Yield: 6 servings 

Recipe is courtesy of the food network.  To see it on their site with meatball instructions, please go here