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.
Sour chicken casserole – Redneck Cooking
My Idea of something different for dinner is adding some onion or bacon to my burger instead of having them plain. My wife, on the other hand, thinks cheeseburgers once a week is too often. She likes to try different things and likes a variety in the weekly menu. This chicken casserole is a good change of pace.
Seafood pasta with tomato, baby spinach and capers
I’m aware that I put capers in almost everything lately. There’s definitely a caper energy permeating my household these days … and why not? They add a subtle saltiness and tang to any dish and I love the complexity that capers add to something that could be humdrum without them.
That doesn’t necessarily apply to this pasta recipe, because I don’t think there’s anything hum-drum about it. I have Emeril to loosely thank for my inspiration for this dish, with his fresh seafood pasta recipe, but beyond the seafood, tomatoes and white wine, they really don’t have a lot in common.
I was going for something distinctly tomato-y, but with some unexpected flavors, and I think I accomplished that, but without offending any traditionalists with a weird taste sensation. It’s traditional with a twist and it was a big hit tonight.
Italian quesadilla … delicious, if not oxymoronic
I bought brown rice tortillas this week, and that means quesadillas in our house. The little tortilla pies are not something we indulge in very often because they just don’t come out great with corn tortillas. Since Owen and I don’t eat wheat, and we find it hard to work with the texture of the sprouted grain tortillas, we weren’t really left with much choice until I stumbled upon these little beauties at Trader Joe’s.
Of course we couldn’t keep it simple — it’s like unleashing a newly released prisoner in Las Vegas, right on Brothel Street. It’s hard just to ease into it once you’ve been given permission to let loose. We made two different kinds of quesadillas tonight, and it was our melding of two cultures that created the masterpiece.
Yes, we put pesto in a quesadilla, along with homemade sausage from the local meat market, two kinds of cheese and some caramelized onions and mushrooms. A little drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar and a thing of culinary beauty was born.
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.
Sweet and sour chicken wings with no refined sugar or chemical sugar subsititutes
How much do you love sweet and sour chicken wings? That gooey glaze, licking your fingers when they are sticky and covered in that gooey glaze, the golden-brown, appetizing color of the wings, covered in that gooey glaze.
You guessed it: for me, it’s all about the gooey glaze.
But to get that gooey glaze, you need sugar, and lots of it, right? Well, not necessarily. I’ve been experimenting with agave syrup as a sugar replacement in baking with great success (like in berry muffins, banana coconut muffins and Halloween orange muffins) , and tonight I decided to use it to make sweet and sour chicken wings. C’mon, doesn’t that picture say it all? They were fabulous.
Sixteen healthy crock pot meals – Recipe Roundup
Each week, fabulous recipes grace Debbie’s in-box and pop up on her computer screen, and she’s sharing her favorites with you.
This isn’t the first time I’ve written about healthy crock pot recipes (five to be exact) and I’m sure it won’t be the last. More and more, I’m finding — thankfully! — crock pot recipes made with whole foods, not cream-of-yuck-with-a-side-of-sodium condensed soups as one of the main ingredients.
A cause for celebration? You bet, because the slow cooker is the life preserver of any busy mom or work-a-holic or just about anyone who wants a healthy, homecooked meal waiting for them when dinnertime rolls around. Let’s just say it: the crock pot saves lives.
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