Watercourse Foods Tempeh Burger

This isn't the first time I've linked to Watercourse Foods in Denver, CO. I have only been there once, but I am now making it my personal mission to visit every time I visit Denver!

I did not try the veggie burger when I went, but I have heard raves about it. Their recipe has now been published, and since my wonderful husband loves veggie burgers, I thought I'd test it out. I took some liberties with the recipe*, and the burgers came out a little dry. Other than that, they were super tasty, and these sweet potato fries were the perfect accompaniment! There was a lot of prep work, but my food chopper gets the job done (or if you have a nice sous chef, that works also).

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Sausage and Gravy Filled Biscuits

I've become obsessed with Morningstar sausage egg and cheese breakfast pockets, and I eat them way more than I should. They're so good! I decided to try to recreate them myself, but make them vegan and maybe slightly more healthy (I don't think there is ever such a thing as a healthy biscuit, but at least I know I used good, fresh ingredients!)

Anyway, these came out fabulous. Seriously amazing. They were a little time consuming, so next time I make these I probably will just have the biscuits and gravy the old-fashioned way (unstuffed). The reason I stuffed these was because I wanted to freeze them. My husband and I are moving out of state, and I'm trying to cut down on the amount of cooking I do. I'll update this when I find out how they are after being frozen.

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Tempeh-Polenta casserole

And the blog is back! Sorry to have taken such a long hiatus, but you know, getting married and all takes time! Now that I'm back to my normal life, I can start blogging again.

I got the idea for this recipe from my friend (and awesome running buddy) April. Its very easy and super healthy, a perfect meal for those weeknights that you really don't feel like cooking, but have a hungry husband to feed.

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Ingredients:
I package tempeh, cut into cubes
about 1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tube polenta (i got the tomato-basil one, but you could do whatever)
about 1 cup tomato sauce
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2-1 cup cheese (optional) (I used mozzarella, which was great, but next time I would try a combo of mozz and feta)

1. Cook the tempeh. Saute the garlic in a little oil for about a minute, then add oregano, tempeh cubes and veg broth. Cover and steam, occaisionally moving the tempeh around so that all pieces are evenly steamed. Crush some pieced with the back of a wooden spoon. If the broth gets low and the tempeh isn't done yet (it takes 4-7 minutes), add a little more. You can tell the tempeh is done when it is nice and tender. Set aside.

2. Preheat the broiler.

3. Prepare a 13x9" casserole dish by coating the bottom lightly with oil.

4. Take the tube of polenta and slice it into thin rounds (about 1/4-1/2" thick). Line the polenta over the bottom of the casserole dish. You'll have to overlap a little.

5. Bake the polenta for 2-4 minutes in the broiler. Keep an eye on it, you want the top to be nicely brown, but not burned.

6. When the polenta comes out of the oven, top it with the cubed tempeh. Top that with the spinach, tomato sauce, and then the cheese.

7. Put the dish back in the broiler for a couple of minutes, just until the cheese melts.

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Lettuce Wraps

I really enjoyed eating these. Because I am such a nice person, I brought these over to a friend's house to share. EJ was a little angry, I think he wanted to hoard them for ourselves!



Ingredients:
1 block tofu, drained and diced into small pieces
1 package tempeh
sesame oil
1-2 cups chow mein noodles (optional, but I love these things)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 can water chestnuts, cut into small pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red chili powder, or to taste
few tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup peanut sauce (I used a pre-packaged, fat free peanut sauce)
3-6 tbsp soy sauce (depending on how salty you want it or how salty your peanut sauce is)
2 tbsp rice vinegar

whole iceberg lettuce leaves


Tempeh marinade:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs lime juice


1. Saute the tofu over medium heat with some sesame oil. Its hard to get the tofu cooked evenly when the pieces are so small, so I just flip the pieces every few minutes until most seem brown.

2. Cut the tempeh into small pieces. Combine the tempeh with the tempeh sauce in a saucepan and stir well. Cover and bring to med-low heat. Heat until the tempeh has absorbed most of the sauce.

3. Combine all ingredients (including tempeh and tofu) in a large skillet. Mix thoroughly. You should taste the mixture too see what it needs - i did this in a hurry and didn't measure everything. I hope my above measurements are accurate!

Spoon into lettuce leaves and eat like tacos. Be careful - they can get drippy! The cool crunch of the lettuce is a great contrast to the heat of the tempeh/tofu mixture. I love this stuff!

Note: I used more tofu than tempeh - I think in the future I will add more tempeh. I like the texture of the tempeh a lot, and I think more of it will make this dish much better.

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