Blackened tempeh

This borrows from a recipe that goes way back to 1996, the early days of my vegetarianism. Sometimes there is a component of a recipe that would do well in another setting. Here, the blackened tempeh makes an awesome meal with raw kale salad and mashed potatoes & gravy. It would also be amazing on a sandwich. Maybe that’s how I’ll eat it next.

Stewed Tofu and Potatoes in Miso Gravy

Okay, this isn’t summery AT ALL. It is kind of a comfort food though. Especially if you make drop biscuits and dump the stew on top. This recipe reaches back into Vegan With a Vengeance. Because I am too lazy to make a separate side, I usually just toss some frozen peas into the mix towards the end of the cooking time. Now, I’m weird about mushrooms, and this week I finally got tired of tasting mushrooms after eating this 3 or 4 times. But that’s just my own personal problem.

And those biscuits are awesome if you need a quick bread option to go with a meal.

Artichoke-Potato Gratin

Oh, hey, look at that … I have a blog. Sorry about that buddy. I don’t hate you but it’s been hard to find time and motivation to blog lately. If you want to hate on someone, I suggest you start with reddit.

Kevin has been sick lately so I was trying to think of something a bit comforting when making up my grocery list. I tend to set aside a ton of recipes that I want to try in Google Reader and MacGourmet so I was going through those looking for something interesting. I found Artichoke Potato Gratin. Creamy, a little cheezy, sounds perfect!

And this was awesome! The sauce had a nice tang to it from the artichoke juice and a warmth from the cayenne. I sprinkled the top with a little Daiya and some panko. While we would have both been happy eating giant bowls of this and nothing else, I marinated some tempeh and cooked it in a grill pan to go with it along with some french green beans. Trader Joe’s frozen french green beans are a great quickie vegetable to add to a meal.

If this doesn’t appeal to you, cruise around vegalicious.org. They have a huge bank of recipes that look tasty. And don’t be put off by the metric units. You can easily convert with google by typing in “220 degrees celcius in fahrenheit” and BAM it’s done!

Artichoke Potato Gratin

Tempeh, green beans and Artichoke Potato Gratin

Tofu “fish” sticks

Back in the day, before I was veg*n, when I was poor and living in my first apartment alone, I used to rely heavily on those giant bags of frozen fish sticks, instant potatoes and frozen peas n corn. Oh yeah, that was also before I really knew how to cook too.

Anyway, every once in a while I think some trashy fish sticks would be good. You know, without the actual fish part. I’ve been eyeballing this recipe in Vegan Lunch Box for years but this is the first time I’ve made it. Of course I whipped up a little tartar sauce to go with it out of veganaise, sweet relish, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Oh wow were these good! Not the bland little fried bits I remember. Heck, not fried at all! On the side, roasted russet potato slices tossed with olive oil, smoked paprika, salt & pepper and Trader Joe’s frozen green beans.

tofu fish sticks

Peanut Butter Baked Tofu

I’ve never been to Rosetta’s Kitchen in Asheville, NC but everyone raves about it and especially the Peanut Butter Baked Tofu. [oh man, sorry folks, that link went bad.] The recipe is crazy simple. My only complaint is that it came out pretty salty, even for me, and I like salt. It’s probably because I used tamari instead of regular soy sauce. Next time I’ll try soy sauce and if it’s still too salty cut the soy sauce with stock for the third try. Bonus, the leftovers made a nummy sammich.