Lunch for Chumps.

Curried Tempeh-Mango Salad Sammiches with Fresh Mango Slices

     Let's face it lunch is one of the worst meals of the day. Generally, I'm away from my kitchen which means that I have limited options. You can only eat some many Tofurky and PB&Js  sandwiches before you go crazy. So I turned to the trusty Vegan with a Vengeance. The recipe came together really easy. The dressing part is made with Vegannaise so I knew it would be good. I also choose to marinate the tempeh overnight, which helped to infuse the flavors. The first time I had it, I wasn't impressed. The flavors seemed subdued out of the fridge. So the second time, I decided to heat it up. Now that's the result I was looking for. The flavors seemed to really pop. Oh, and as the picture reveals, I used the sprouted barley whole wheat bread from Alvarado Street Bakery. The recipe calls for pitas, which I would follow next time since stuff was falling out of the sides. Not sure this satisfied my disaffection with lunch since I need to heat it up. Regardless, it's still another alternative to the standard sandwich.

Garden Salad with Homemade Ranch Dressing and Homemade Basil Garlic Polenta Croutons

     I've already professed my love for Veggie Works. Not only was the entree (as long as I didn't deviate from the famed Singing Cowboy) always great. The restaurant also had an unlimited salad bar. Without fail, we would always clean out the vegan ranch dressing. I'm sure they had other dressings, I just never noticed. Anyways, thanks to a friend I have the Veggie Works Vegan Cookbook. I've been making the dressing ever since. So when I saw another ranch dressing recipe in The 30-Minute Vegan, I had to see how it would hold up. Well, the base is vegannaise. That should tell you how great the dressing is. It's amazing and might cause some dust to gather on Veggie Works cookbook, at least the ranch section. It also reminds me of the ranch from Vertical Diner. The recipe even gives suggestions if you want to make this more as a dip than a dressing. Something that would work perfect with breaded and fried vegan chicken tenders ala Vertical Diner's Tender Tigers.

Garlic Basil Polenta Croutons

     I've been eating a lot of salads lately, but it's been missing something. Croutons! I'm pretty addicted to the Whole Foods Seasoned Croutons. If you catch me at the right moment, you would see me snacking on them. I guess they're too good. So I decided to fix what wasn't broken. I've always wanted to make croutons but never got around to it. This recipe is from Dreeana Burton's Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. To be honest, I've never even eaten polenta, but the results were disappointing. The croutons were soft and squishy, not exactly what I was looking for. To be fair, she suggests a pizza stone and mentions that larger squares require longer cooking so maybe I muffed up. I also ignored her advice to peel the polenta. I'm not a fan of waste. Oh and I also used a flavored polenta instead of plain hoping to match up to the other croutons. Just make sure to use an organic variety to avoid genetically modified corn.

"like" us on facebook

follow us on twitter

A Feast Fit for A Joe

Chiptole Chile-Rubbed Southwest Tempeh with Fiery Sweet Potatoes, Wilted Red Miso Kale with Cherries and Slivered Almonds

     I got a chance to go back East for Thanksgiving, but more importantly to see my first (and second) Frames show. I stayed at my friend's house, who is an amazing and creative chef. From Coconut Bacon to Beer Battered Avocado Tacos to his seitan recipe that launched me into the cooking world, Kevin can hold his own in the kitchen. His cooking experiments are documented at Veganbrew.com, along with another awesome friend and chef.  Kevin also has a pretty good selection of cookbooks. While he was cooking up our Thanksgiving feast, I sat there and made a list of recipes that I wanted to steal. Here are the results:

Tahini-Mustard Dressing

     Bottled salad dressings are not only expensive, they're not that exciting. I think I've made the Vegan ranch from one of my favorite restaurants, NJ's Veggie Works (RIP) for years. Lately, I've been making the Russian Dressing from the Tempeh Reuben in Vegan with a Vengeance.  The two recipes are awesome so I don't stray far from them, but decided to give the Tahini-Mustard dressing from The 30-Minute Vegan. It's simple with ingredients already in your pantry and the results were great; a thick dressing with a nice robust flavor. I will definitely add this to my dressing list. Pictured with a simple garden salad with organic romaine lettuce, carrots and a few sprigs of cilantro.

Wilted Red Miso Kale with Cherries and Silvered Almonds

     While in Philly, we visited Mi Lah. It's an all vegan restaurant that was started from a chef at Horizon's (hands down the best vegan restaurant in the country). It has a stellar brunch (think beer battered seitan over Belgian waffles). Unfortunately, the owners fired the staff and chef and the food wasn't as great. The one highlight was miso kale. At Whole Foods, I saw this recipe and had to give it a whirl. It was a lighter version of the Mi Lah's but still pretty good. I left the ribs on because I like the texture that it brings to the dish. I would definitely make this again but I would leave out the onion or half the onion since it didn't really add to the dish. I would also use dried or fresh fruit. I used frozen cherries and they just fell apart. Oh and red miso was substituted for the white miso because that's what I had one hand.

Fiery Sweet Potatoes

     I know what to do with potatoes but when it comes to sweet potatoes I'm at a lost. I've tried several times to make baked sweet potatoes fries, but each time they either burn or come out limp and flaccid. This was an excellent recipe and the broiling at the end makes for an interesting crust. I would make this again but would double the curry paste, eliminate the Earth Balance and replace with an equal amount of coconut milk, and try maybe using less sugar. It was a tad sweet, not that I cared. 

Chiptole Chili-Rubbed Southwest Tempeh

     I've made the Macadamia Crusted Tofu (looks like the recipe was taken down) and Szechuan Tempeh and Veggies from the 30 Minute Vegan/ Vegan Fusion people several times and was impressed every time. So it was an easy choice to buy their cookbooks, The 30-Minute Vegan and  The 30-Minute Vegan's Taste of the East. The first entree I tried was the Chiptole Chili-Rubbed Southwest Tempeh. I'm not sure if I missed poured or used a smaller pan but the marinade nearly covered the tempeh, which caused difficulty in putting in the rub. I ended up saving half of the rub and after removing the tempeh from the dish, I rubbed it into the tempeh and cooked it for 10 minutes along with the sweet potatoes. Overall, a decent recipe, but when I make it again I would eliminate the tomatoes and onion on top (they didn't seem to add anything to the dish), blend the chiptole peppers into the marinade.

   After removing the tempeh from the marinade and adding more rub. I kinda wish there was a little marinade left over that I could drizzle over the tempeh.

Coming up next: Homemade Pumpkin Spiced Ice Cream with Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce.

"like" us on facebook

follow us on twitter