It’s funny–those brief moments of cooking genius never occur when you think they will; and they’re never associated with a complicated multi-course meal. It’s always when you’re hungry and improvising.

In southeast Michigan, you can get tempeh everywhere. So it’s no surprise that a few different restaurants have tempeh wraps–the TLT at Seva, the lemon tempeh hummus wrap at Aut Bar, tempeh burgers at just about every bar…. Having made a giant batch of hummus for VeganYumYum’s Avocado Wasabi Salad, I was itching to make something with hummus. About two weeks ago, I made a salad with smokey tempeh, so I got the notion to combine to the two.  This recipe is super simple–make a batch of hummus (or buy it, if you want to kick it really easy), saute a little tempeh, chop some lettuce and/or spinach, and you’re set.

Smokey Tempeh Hummus Wrap

• 1 pkg tempeh. cut into strips
• 1/4 purple onion
• 1/2 bag spinach (1/4 lb?)
• 3 large leaves or 6 small-medium leaves of lettuce, cut into strips
• 3 large whole wheat wraps
• 1/4 batch of hummus
  
• ~ 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 capful Liquid Smoke ™
• ~ 2 tbsp peanut oil
• salt & pepper, to taste

For brevity’s sake, I’ll assume you’ve made/bought the hummus already. This may be foolish. But.

Saute the tempeh strips in peanut oil, soy sauce, and Liquid Smoke ™ in a large-ish frying pan over medium heat. Don’t use all of the liquids right away; start with a little peanut oil, then douse the tempeh with about half the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke ™. Once the tempeh is nicely browned on one side, flip and pour in a little more peanut oil and the rest of the soy sauce and Liquid Smoke ™. Salt and pepper to taste.

When the tempeh is browned on several sides, remove from heat.

Slather hummus on one half of a wrap. Place a row of spinach down the center, then a row of lettuce on top of that. Run a row of tempeh down the the center, then garnish with onions and salt/pepper.

Roll the dry half tightly into the hummus-slathered half. Cut the wrap in half on a diagonal.

Wrap extra wraps in plastic wrap for lunches!

After making an Olive Garden-style minestrone, it seemed only natural to make the zuppa toscana as well. Since we had leftover breadsticks, it was another awesome replica. This soup is very much like the Spicy Potato & Kale Soup, but less spicy and much richer. I used a modified version of our tempeh soyrizo, and the leftover fakin crumblins from Tofu MarkMuffins. You’re always stuck with those crumblins, too thrifty to throw them out, but at a loss as to what to do with them. This soup is the answer!

Zuppa Toscana

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 package (1/2 lb) tempeh
• 4 tbsp fakin bits
• 3 medium-large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 large stalks (half a bunch) of curly kale
• 6 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 4 cups water
• 1.5 cups soy creamer
• salt & pepper, to taste

Soysage

Tear the tempeh into pieces, leaving some larger chunks. In a small-medium-sized bowl, mix the soy sauce, oregano, cumin, 2 cloves of garlic, and crushed red pepper. Put the tempeh into a large bowl, then stir in the mixture, coating all of the tempeh evenly. Let this sit for for 15 minutes or more before using–it lets everything soak in.

In a large pot, saute fakin bits in oil, over medium heat. When they’ve browned and are starting to get crips, add in the onion, tempeh, and garlic. When the onions are soft, add in the potatoes, veggie stock, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. When the potatoes are soft, add in the soy creamer and kale, salting and peppering to taste.

Serve with breadsticks!

Amy had a craving for a simple pasta last night, and we found this awesome recipe on vegweb. We subbed tempeh for the seitan/sausage (because that’s what we happened to have on hand) and uses spinach and kale for the greens. It feels really light, but with tempeh, spinach, and kale, it’s actually pretty substantial. It actually reminds me of–dare I say it–a healthier/tastier version of hamburger helper.

File under: Itch, Scratched

So you’ve probably noticed by now–recipes/menus often come in waves here at IV. This is largely because we rarely deign to countenance leftovers twice, except as lunch. Instead, we try to rethink stuff we’ve already made and pair it with something else we’ve already made and/or with something fresh.

We made taco salad a few nights ago and had leftover refried beans and taco tempeh. For leftovers numero uno, we made quesadillas with the taco tempeh, Follow Your Heart ™ cheddar, and diced jalapenos. We served it with the refried beans and sliced avocados.

Okay. So the taco leftovers were successfully eliminated. But wait. Now we had leftover cheese. This stuff goes bad within a month, so you have to use it up once you’ve opened it.

So leftovers numero dos was quesadillas again, this time made with just tortilla and cheese. We served it in typical conflated culture fashion with Spanish rice w/beans and guacamole.

Making a quesadilla is simple: lighlty oil a frying pan, and place it on a burner at medium heat. Toss in a flour tortilla. Sprinkle on a generous layer of your favorite faux-cheese; top with taco tempeh, soyrizo, mexican-style chik’n strips; sprinkle in some onions and/or bell/jalapeno peppers; sprinkle on another layer of faux cheese; top with another tortilla. When the cheese is mostly melted, flip quesadilla and cook until browned and crispy.

Alternatively, you can make this with just faux cheese and two tortillas.

Cut in half to serve. Delicious!

Last year for Amy’s birthday, we went out to a local bar that we’d been meaning to eat at–and they served the most amazing taco salad we’d ever eaten, made vegan just for us. They never seemed to have served it again, though, much to our dismay. So we’ve had this year-long hankerin’ for taco salad which, I’m happy to say, we laid to rest on Sunday.

The secret, friends, is making your own refried beans. We’d been using canned refried beans for years and no combination of spices, veggies, shortening, unicorn tears, etc. ever made them even half as delicious as the kind you get in a good Mexican restaurant. So, having just gotten a pressure cooker, what better time than now to try to make these suckers from scratch–and holy hell does it make a difference! I don’t know if we can ever go back to canned refried beans again. Maybe in a pinch, I’d use canned pinto beans to make refried beans.

We also experimented for the first time in making our own taco bowls. This was really easy; we just soaked two soft taco shells in a very shallow layer of oil, placed them in oven safe bowls (to shape them), and cooked them for 10 – 15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. We did we never think of this before?

The rest of the taco salad is pretty easy–in the baked shell, layer the beans, taco tempeh (follow the recipe for the tempeh), chopped lettuce/onions/tomatoes, guacamole, and salsa.

Here’s how to make the beans:

Refried Beans

• 2 cups dried pinto beans pressure cooked in 10 cups of water for 30 – 35 minutes
• OR ~ 3 – 4 cups cooked pinto beans (using your preferred method)
• 3 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
• 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup shortening (we used Earth Balance)
• 2 – 3 tbsps chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• 1 cup (2 small cans) mild green chilis (optional)

In a large (ideally big enough to hold the beans and stock) frying pan, sautee the onions and garlic in shortening over medium heat, until tender. Add in the beans and 2 cups of the stock and cook for about 20 minutes. Mash the beans to the consistency you like (some people like some whole beans left, some don’t). Add the final cup of veggie stock, stir well, and add in spices. Cook for about another 20 minutes, until the excess liquid has boiled off. Adjust spices to taste. This will put any canned refried beans to shame. I’m for serious.

Our neighbor sent us an omni version of this recipe (thanks Adrienne!) for a fall-time powerhouse of a soup. We veganized by subbing in soyrizo for chorizo and veggie stock for chicken stock. Just looking at the ingredients, I think Amy and I were expecting something more like a Zuppa Toscana–a brothy soup with potato chunks and a smidgen of kale. The resulting soup was…unexpected, but delicious–smooth and spicy, with a strange, subtle sweetness from the massive amount of kale. This soup would be a perfect balm for a winter cold or flu.

Spicy Potato & Kale Soup

• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 – 6 cloves of garlic
• 8 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 lb (~ one bag) of kale
• 1/2 lb soyrizo, (it’s really easy to make your own)
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (optional–this will cool the spiciness a bit and add a little tang)
• 9 cups veggie stock
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, sautee the onions and garlic over medium heat until they begin to brown/become translucent. Add in the veggie stock, crushed red pepper, and 5 or 6 of the potatoes (you’re going to blend this later, so you want to save out as many potatoes as you’d like to chew with your teeth later), bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered. Let the taters cook down for about 30 minutes, then blend–either by pouring everything in the blender in batches (boring) or using your handy-dandy immersion blender (less boring). Add in the soyrizo, raise heat to medium, and cook for another 15 minutes. Lower the heat again, add in the kale and remaining potatoes, and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until the kale and potatoes are soft, but not drained of all life. Add in the parsley, cilantro (if you’re using it), and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with crusty bread. I’m serious–the original recipe mandated that this must be eaten with crusty bread. I take these types of orders very seriously.

Just to be thorough, we served ours with crusty bread and croutons made out of crusty bread.

I adapted this recipe for TVP & Tofu soyrizo to use tempeh. I don’t really like working with TVP and it’s awesome with tempeh. So.

• 1 package of tempeh, minced into minuscule crumblins
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar (or mix of cooking sherry & red wine)
• 1/8 cup soy sauce/tamari/shoyu/Bragg’s(tm)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

In a small-medium-sized bowl, mix all of the ingredients except the tempeh. Pour the tempeh in to a large bowl, then stir in the mixture, coating all of the tempeh evenly. Let this sit for for about 15 minutes before using–it lets everything soak in and allows the vinegar to mellow a little bit.

Due to recent advances in brunch frequency technology, this summer’s been a veritable brunchfest. For the triple-T brunch, we made a Southwest Scrapple. Yes. Scrapple. Not “scramble”. I decided this was a scrapple because it features not only tofu, but tempeh as well. But also because it felt like a scrapple. I didn’t even really know what scrapple is.

Well, it turns out scrapple is like a breakfast meatloaf made of congealed pig scraps and various flours. Sounds like just the kind of thing worth emulating. I’d sooner eat my words than crapple, so “scramble” it is.

Southwest Scramble

• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 small can of diced mild green chilis
• 1 cup cooked or 1/2 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 lb tofu, drained
• 1 package tempeh, cut irregularly
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 4 tbsp nu yeast
• salt and pepper to taste

Like most scrambles and probably most crapples, this is pretty simple. In a large-ish pot, sautee the onion, green bell pepper, and chilis in oil, over medium heat. When the onions and bell pepper begin to soften, add in the tempeh and cook for 5 – 10 minutes, until the tempeh starts to brown a little bit. Crumble in the tofu, mashing up the remaining large bits with a spatula. Do it with gusto. But without alacrity. Once everything is mixed well, add the spices and nu yeast, in order. Finish off with some fresh ground salt and pepper.

Garnish with sliced avocado and salsa.

It will look like this in a pot, if you make this correctly and your pot looks exactly like ours:

Tempeh Tostadas

Fixins

• 1 package tempeh, diced into very small bits
• ~ 1/2 cup water
• cooking oil
• several large lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 flour tortillas or whole wheat pitas
• 1 cup (1/2 can) pinto/black beans OR 1 cup refried black/pinto beans
• vegan cheese (Follow Your Heart ™ or Scrumpdilly’s recipe)

Seasoning

• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1.5 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1 dash cayenne
• 1 dash crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3/4 tsp salt
• pepper, to taste

In a medium frying pan, sautee the tempeh and half of the onion in oil over medium heat. Meanwhile, mix up the seasoning. Once the tempeh is browned stir in the seasoning and add water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer.

Once the water has boiled off, start preparing the tortillas/pitas. Spread beans on them (mash up with a fork if using whole beans). Garnish with chives, if handy.

Add the taco-fied tempeh and spread it around.

Add a layer of cheese.

Now bake/toast them for about 5 minutes. If you’re using shredded cheese, turn the broiler on for a couple minutes.

Top with lettuce

then salsa.  Alternatively, you could top with diced onions and tomatoes and guacamole.

Muy Bien!