Hold the Meat – Exploring Tempeh
In this column, I’ve tried to break certain stereotypes about vegetarians: that we all support PETA, or that vegetarians and vegans are the same thing. Now I’m going to drop another knowledge bomb on you: vegetarians can be just as unhealthy as the rest of you. For example, last night, I took a wonderful vegetarian protein source, tempeh, which is also full of iron and calcium, and made a recipe that involved flour, breadcrumbs, sugar, and butter. Oh, copious amounts of wonderful, artery-clogging butter.
Yes, out of all of the recipes for broiled tempeh, or stir-fried tempeh, I managed to find a recipe for tempeh buffalo wings– and man, were they delightful.
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies – a little cakey, but did I mention the pumpkin?
As part of my Great Pumpkin Massacre of ‘09, I have been going through the bags of frozen pumpkin puree that I have stored in my freezer and making delicious treats. This weekend, I decided to bust out a recipe I had made once before: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Fall to me = pumpkin, so I will put it in just about anything if you let me. It just makes everything instantly better. So chocolate chip cookies? Pretty damn good. Add pumpkin to that? Amazing.
Hold the Meat – this butternut squash risotto will save your Thanksgiving
Ugh. Thanksgiving. I’ve never been much of a fan of this holiday. After all, when you’re not eating turkey, what’s the point? I know, I know, being thankful, family, blah, blah, blah. The thing is, I can do that without fighting traffic and spending all day in the kitchen. Fact: one of my favorite Thanksgivings was when my friend Elizabeth and I stayed in New York instead of going home and had grilled cheese at a diner and watched Harry Potter on IMAX. That’s how it should be done.
However, this year I am doing more of a traditional Thanksgiving, so I’m trying to figure out things to cook. Luckily, Elizabeth sent me this AMAZING recipe for butternut squash risotto. I made it last week, and it was a huge hit. The recipe yields something like 10 servings, and it was gone in like a day and a half. Of course, the whole “10 servings” thing is really if you’re using it as a side dish, but it’s rich and filling enough that it can easily be a main dish befitting a certain November holiday.
Roasted pumpkin seeds: a perfect halloween snack
It’s almost Halloween! I love this holiday so much that I’ve actually visited two pumpkin patches so far, and bought more pumpkins than I honestly know what to do with. Maybe it’s because this is the first fall in several years that I haven’t spent in New York City, but I am obsessed with everything fall right now. Because guys, I’m in Virginia right now, and it is pretty.
Anyway, I recently massacred a pumpkin in a very Dexter-like fashion, so I’ve been (literally, at times) up to my elbows in the Halloween mascot. When Elizabeth and I were committing said pumpkin murder, one of the things we did was save the seeds, so we would have something to snack on during the next 80 hours we were spending pureeing the monster pumpkin I bought.
So while the food processor was working overtime, we made some addictive, delicious roasted pumpkin seeds, and it couldn’t have been easier.
Hold the Meat – My pumpkin massacre
Okay, I feel as though I’ve been pretty honest when it comes to my lack of food knowledge. In fact, the main reason I started writing for this site was so I would have a reason to get into the kitchen more. So here’s my confession for the week: other than from a store or a can, I didn’t really know where pumpkin pie came from.
I know that sounds insane, and of course I knew that pumpkin pie, or pumpkin bread, or any pumpkin dish came from pumpkins, but I didn’t really understand the logistics of the situation. I’m not kidding when I say that I honestly believed that the guts of the pumpkin is what got cooked. Sigh. I know.
So my friend Elizabeth came over and explained very slowly and clearly that it’s the pumpkin itself that gets roasted, while the guts just get thrown away. My mind = blown.
Hold the Meat – A very veggie wedding
I’m not going to sit here and disparage all veggie lasagna; I have had a few in my life that have been nice, but I have never really had a good experience with generic banquet hall veggie lasagna, AKA, the ONLY VEGETARIAN OPTION ON EARTH. Now, it used to be that if you went to a work-related banquet, or a wedding, there weren’t any vegetarian options at all, so the fact that the rubbery, bland veggie lasagna is even an option is sadly, a step up.
Lately though, I have had some really good veggie dishes at weddings and other events. None of them, however, were quite as amazing as the reception I went to last weekend, for my friends Laura and Dave. They had a very unique wedding that lasted over two days. Friday night was a small ceremony followed by a catered dinner for the guests. Laura is a vegetarian, so the veggie option was ohmygodamazing. Saturday though, was a large, casual potluck reception, and it was vegetarian heaven.
Gnocchi with spinach, mushrooms and butternut squash – Reverse Menuneering
I attended a wedding a few weeks ago for two of my friends. The bride is a vegetarian, so I knew that whatever the vegetarian option was at the reception, it was going to be good. After all, she’s not going to just feed herself crap, right? I was correct in my assumption, but I was not prepared for exactly how good it was going to be.
Pasta is always an easy choice for vegetarians, so it didn’t surprise me that we had a gnocchi dish. However, this is not your ordinary gnocchi dish– this is out of this world. Sauteed spinach, mixed mushrooms, cubes of butternut squash all covered with a healthy topping of feta cheese and a splash of red wine. It was sweet, savory, and I did not want it to end. Alas, however, it did. So I decided to continue its legacy in my own house.
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