Black Bean Tempeh Stir Fry

Last week, I discovered the charming No Meat Athlete blog and quickly set to perusing the recipes.  Exhausted from very busy days at work, I decided not to tackle anything too elaborate; the Black Bean Tempeh Stir Fry looked easy enough yet also something different from our usual dishes so I gave it a try.

Yum!  My husband and I both loved this dish.  (And it turned out to be rather photogenic, too--yay!)  I'm a huge fan of kale but haven't incorporated it into any dishes (I always eat it as a by-itself side) and I thought it went really well in this dish.  I found a tasty brand of tempeh that includes wild rice with the soybeans and that made a much more delicate flavor that soaked in the flavors of the black bean sauce nicely.  I did not attempt to make my own black bean sauce (though I might try it in the future since I really try not to buy store-bought anymore) and used the Lee Kum Kee brand which was quite tasty.  I did not use the red bell pepper, and instead of sugar snap peas I used regular sweet peas from the freezer and it still tasted delicious.  Also, I used regular vegetable oil since we didn't have peanut oil.  I'm sure using all the ingredients would make the dish even better but we loved our modified version.

This will definitely be one of my go-to recipes in the future and I'm delighted to include it for this week's edition of the Vegaloca Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge.

You can find the recipe here (toward the bottom of the post).

Appetite for Reduction's Roasted Vegetable Pasta

Mmmm!  For Mother's Day, my mom wanted a pasta dish with veggies so I decided to continue my obsession with Appetite for Reduction and try the Pasta with Roasted Vegetables.  I hadn't done a roast veggie dish before but this one turned out quite tasty. I especially loved the cherry tomatoes bursting open and the crispy-tender tips of the asparagus! ;-)  The herbs are pretty basic and I would probably play around with them next time, but the balsamic vinegar added at the end (after pasta and veggies are combined) is a really nice touch and ties the flavors together.  One variation: my mom is gluten-intolerant so we used some Lundberg brand penne rice pasta (I've found it's one of the better rice pastas) instead of the fusilli as the recipe suggests.  It provided a nice anchor for a happy Mother's Day dinner. 

 

(I snapped this super fast as the guests were arriving!)  Definitely a dish I'd recommend and one I'm happy to include for the Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge over at my friend Lee's blog, Vegaloca.

A BIG "Appetite" -- Pea Soup, OMG Onion Rings, Herb-Baked Cauliflower

I felt super-inspired by the new Appetite for Reduction cookbook and decided to try three dishes in one evening.  Not that they all really "go" together, but I had fun and they ended up tasting great.  All are worthy to share for this week's Weekly Vegan Cooking Challenge over at the fabulous Vegaloca blog.

For the main dish, I made the Pea Soup.  It's got a wonderful flavor with paprika (I didn't have any smoked paprika so used regular) and ended up much more red than the usual green color.  I really enjoyed it with the carrots (who needs ham!?) and my husband also liked it.  Will definitely make again.  Super easy and left-overs are delish'!

Next, the Herb-Baked Cauliflower and Breadcrumbs.  These are very tasty!  I loved the herb combination but wished that the herb-breadcrumb mixture stuck better.

Finally, just for me, the OMG Onion Rings.  And, OMG, they were so tasty I ate them all myself (good thing the recipe is from a low-fat cookbook; and good thing my husband doesn't like onion rings!!!)  Again, I wanted the breading to stick better.  I'm not sure if it was the type of breadcrumbs I used (the only kind I could find without offensive ingredients were panko-style; they still tasted great but perhaps another kind would do better with this recipe)?  In any case, yummy and I made another batch later in the week. 

With three winning dishes, I was loathe to return "Appetite for Reduction" to the library.  So, I splurged and bought my own copy (very reasonably priced at 41% off at Amazon right now.)  A very valuable addition to my cookbook shelf :-)