Tempting Tempeh!

I am so excited to use this image! Our local market is pretty good on Saturdays, and it's the highlight of my week to go there after my morning run (wish me luck on the July 4th race!). This week, I didn't get as much as I wanted, because I didn't have much moola! I did get some fresh fruit (blueberries for breakfast cereal, plus a cantaloupe and some blackberries). The green beans and red leaf lettuce in the final picture, and the red pepper in the next one, were all from the market. So was the huge mound of kale! I just love kale....thanks, Dreena, for introducing it to me! Well, I think I may have first tried it with another cookbook's recipe (sauteing it with some pine nuts and raisins), but she certainly pushes the greens! Yum!
Anyhoo, on to my food pics... I hated to move the beautiful stuffed squash pictures down, but . . . Here is the Kale and Red Pepper Slaw from (you guessed it) my cookbook of the summer, The Candle Cafe Cookbook. This turned out pretty yummy and juicy. It satisfied me for several meals -their recipes usually make a lot!








Speaking of satisfying, if you like pineapple, here are two recipes for you! The sandwich is the Barbecued Tempeh-Chipotle Burger with Grilled Pineapple and Mango-Ketchup (from Candle Cafe), and the beans are Honolulu Skillet Beans (from a Moosewood cookbook, - can't remember which one!). The sandwich was a little sweet with the incredibly luscious grilled pineapple, so if you don't like things too sweet, you can leave that off your sandwich(but try it first!).

The Mango-Ketchup was not too sweet but had a nice hint of cilantro, and was the perfect accompaniment to the tempeh! As you might be able to tell, the beans have a little of the fresh pineapple mixed in, with some orange rind. I used some red beans along with the pinto, because red beans have the most iron! The green beans were just slightly boiled in water and seasoned with salt and pepper.

Overall rating - four stars for the sandwich!! It was sweet and tangy and drooly good. Only suggestion - we didn't have time to marinate the tempeh overnight, and that might have made it a little better. I also left out some of the heat, so it could have been spicier. Oh yeah - warning with this book - their recipes make a TON of sauce! I halved the marinade, trying to save some of my expensive agave nectar, and we still had loads of marinade left over.

As for the beans, they were a tad dry, but different and good. Maybe 2 1/2 to three stars. Oh! I forgot - the bread was from the market, too! No preservatives, vegan, and no high-fructose corn syrup!!! I laughed when we compared the ingredients of this bread (four or five) to the at least twenty of the store-bought crap. Wow. I love summer and the farmer's market. My goal for this coming weekend: Fat Free Vegan's Japanese eggplant!