dinner thyme

I don't know how not to say this in a way that doesn't sound nerdy, but tempeh and I are friends now. The first few times I tried to cook with it were complete misses. I would keep buying more so I could try again but I would get discouraged and conveniently forget about the bricks of protein in the refrigerator (until it was time to toss them out). I always feel horrible when I waste food and money so I stopped buying it since I knew I was not going to cook it.

Then Vegan Brunch along and saved the day. The "Basic Scrambled Tempeh" looked so wonderful in the photo I had to give it another chance. The ingredients were so simple, it would be tough even for me to mess it up. The first time I made it I admit I wasn't sold on the "earthiness" of the tempeh. It was good but I thought it needed something. I made it again and it turned out, all it "needed" was a bit more salt. I also added another bell pepper. Now I eat scrambled tempeh at least once a week, usually on Thursdays for some reason. I made a few ingredient swaps: sweet onion instead of red, spinach instead of chard and yellow instead of red. I think I'll be out of thyme in a few more weeks. I've never blown through it so fast.

Now that tempeh and I are friends there is only one problem, my sister wants to be friends with her too.

you go grill!

i still don't know what i am making for thanksgiving, other than the obligatory starches (stuffing and mashed potatoes) and dessert (susan v's double layer pumpkin tofu cheesecake and another dessert tba). i need vegetables and a protein, i might try a few things from the GOOP email i got today (brussel sprouts!). i was going to test the faux turkey breasts from the real food daily cookbook today, i remembered wrong and i do not have all the ingredients. i only had one 8 oz package of tempeh, which i imagined was 16 oz, enough for the recipe. i didn't realize it was half that amount until i used it yesterday to make maple grilled tempeh from 101 cookbooks. i have not done a proper market run nearly all month, so i am more spacey about these things i guess.

at any rate, the 16, 8, now 0 oz tempeh would have been "best if used" by today, so i am glad i used it yesterday. i just wish i would finally get over my number one cooking mistake, which is not letting things cook (i know, right?). i'm a frequent flipper. even though i boiled the tempeh for ten minutes, marinated for half an hour and brushed marinade on while grilling, this could have turned out so much better if i left well enough alone.

mistakes aside i am proud of myself for grilling start to finish. other than a few burgers at company picnics, i am never the grilling gal. in the omni days my dad did all of the "outside" cooking and as we went veg, my sister took it up while i made the "inside" dishes to go with it. maybe i will have better luck with a grill pan.

i have new foods to play with, kale, acorn squash and yukon gold potatoes. they're not really new since i've at them all on different occasions but i've never prepared them myself. i have tons of cookbooks and food zines and blogs for homework to put together an excellent menu and make master list for trip to mother's tomorrow. yum!