Tossed Tempeh Salad with "Creamy" Italian Dressing

Truth is, I could live on tempeh. That's not quite an exaggeration. I love the darn stuff, and I never would have tried it had I not given up meat. When I first started cooking tempeh I followed the advice of many food bloggers to steam or simmer it to remove its "bitterness." I still occasionally go through the steaming or simmering, but I've grown to love the way it tastes as is. My taste buds truly have changed.

I have also found that tempeh does help me lose weight. When I eat plain old tempeh a few times a week, the scale always stays the same or goes down. This is my experience, and I'm basing it on nothing other than my scale.

It’s also one of the least expensive protein sources out there, at my grocery store, anyway. Here’s why: no one where I live knows what to do with the stuff! It is most always on sale because it’s nearing the expiration date. I just check to see if they have stock ready to get pitched then buy all they have. I usually pick it up for $1.49 a package and throw them in the freezer. Depending on what I’m making, 1 package of tempeh is a minimum of 2 servings (usually it’s 4). That’s .37 cents a serving! (Or free- since I often find coupons on eBay for Lightlife tempeh, and when they're doubled my tempeh score is all free free free) Beat that, chicken wings!

Speaking of chicken brings me to my favorite way to prepare tempeh. When I fry it in oil like this, I swear it tastes like chicken to me. Often I fry up a batch and throw it in the refrigerator; I love it cold when it’s prepared this way.

Tempeh is an acquired taste, though. My husband will not eat it. He has eaten every one of my experiments, but draws the line at these soybean cakes. He says it’s not the taste of it, but rather the texture (tempeh is essentially a brick of compressed soybeans, and it falls apart when you chew it). No matter how I try to tempt him, no matter the marinade or the magic in the preparation, my husband will take a polite bite, grimace, and say “No, thank you. Sorry.” Oh- he is missing out. My gain (or loss- since I made the fantastical claim of effortless weight loss above).

Tonight felt like a salad night. Since I’ve started a 30-day vegan challenge, I was looking for a dressing that suited me. The ready-made dressings in my refrigerator door were all either cheese or dairy-based (even the Italian dressing had Romano cheese in it!). So, happily, I had another chance to eat the cashew cream I made the other day. With a few additions I had a creamy Italian dressing that made me happy happy happy!

Tossed Tempeh Salad with "Creamy" Italian Dressing

1 package tempeh
Salad fixings I used lettuce, artichoke hearts, olives, and tri-colored bell peppers
1 tablespoon cashew cream
½ teaspoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Unsweetened almond milk, for thinning your dressing
Olive oil for frying
Sea salt to taste



1. Cut tempeh cake in half, then take each piece and cut it in half again, so you have 4 thin pieces about the size of a deck of cards.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the tempeh on both sides until it is browned up and beginning to carmelize a bit. Season it with sea salt while it cooks.
3. Drain tempeh on paper towels while you prepare the dressing.
4. In a small bowl, combine the cashew cream with the yeast flakes, garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine. Slowly add almond milk, little bits at a time, and stir mixture until it's thinned to your liking.
5. Add dressing to your salad fixings and toss lightly. Cut the tempeh into bite-sized chunks and add to your salad.

Note: You can easily make this dressing taste like ranch by switching out the Italian seasoning and adding chives and parsley with a tiny bit of lime juice.

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Gardein Cutlets with Roasted Asparagus, Savory Amaranth and Cashew Cream

It is going to take longer to type this post than it took to cook this meal!

When I was originally stocking my pantry for my venture into vegetarianism, I dedicated an entire shelf to grains of all kinds. Most of my collection has been used multiple times in the past year (even teff, which I had never even heard of and now use often). I've had one package of amaranth sitting on that shelf, and had only used it once or twice for bread. Amaranth seems to be used quite often as a hot cereal. It cooks up a lot like Cream of Wheat, with a very similar texture.

Problem is, I'm not much of a "cereal for breakfast" kind of gal. So- there the amaranth sat, waiting patiently for it's turn in the bread-making rotation.

This recipe started out centered on the amaranth. I wanted to make something that was savory and creamy and warm in the belly. Start to finish was about 30 minutes, or the time it took for the amaranth to cook.

Cashew Cream
Typically, cashew cream is made after soaking the cashews in water overnight. I hadn't thought of making it, though, until I had already started dinner. I made it in less than 5 minutes, with no prior soaking, and it was still creamy and delicious. This keeps in the refrigerator for 3 days. You can also freeze it (but may need to re-blend when it thaws). It's a beautiful and easy way to "cream up" a dish, from soup to sweets, whether you use it plain or add flavor like nutmeg and vanilla.

2 cups raw cashews, whole
Purified water (enough to just cover the cashews when they're in the food processor or blender)



1. Put cashews into a food processor or a really good blender (Vita-Mix seems to be the brand of choice on the foodie blogs I visit)
2. Do a quick pulse to break up the nuts a little bit prior to adding water. Most recipes I've read have you add the water and whole nuts together then blend them both. I tried that and the water sprayed out of my food processor and doused my t-shirt. (Sounds sexy, but it wasn't!)
3. Add only enough water to just cover the nuts. Thicker cream calls for less water.
4. Blend until smooth and creamy, adding little bits of water as necessary. If you're patient, it will get nice and smooth. I was mostly patient, so I had some teeny-tiny texture going in mine; it worked really well for this particular recipe, though.
5. Chill cream in the fridge until ready to serve.


Simply Savory Amaranth

1 cup Amaranth Grain
3 cups Imagine No-Chicken Broth
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 dollop Earth's Balance
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste



1. Add amaranth, broth, and seasonings to pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the grain has thickened.
2. Stir in dollop of Earth's Balance prior to serving up if desired.

Roasted Asparagus
This is a no-frills, easy-peasy way to cook asparagus.

1 bunch of fresh aparagus, cleaned and trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste



1. Preheat oven to 425° (I make this in my toaster oven at the same temperature)
2. Pour the oil and spices on the baking sheet and, using your hands, roll the asparagus around in the mixture until they're coated with yumminess.
3. Spread the asparagus out evenly, and roast in pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes.
4. When done, trim stalks into 1" segments.

Gardein Cutlets

1. Cook frozen Gardein cutlets in skillet on medium-high in some olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Cook cutlets until they are heated through and begin to turn brown on each side.
3. Let cutlets rest about a minute prior to cutting them and serving.

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Looking for a 12-Step Program for Cheese Addiction

According to the book Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings by Neal D. Barnard and Joanne Stepaniak, researchers discovered that cow’s milk has traces of morphine. Cow’s milk also has a protein called casein. Casein breaks apart during digestion and releases a whole goody bag of opiates. Casein is in milk, and it is especially concentrated in cheese (51). So, essentially, I guess that makes me a cheese-tweaker.

Now, the first Step in “The 12 Steps” states that I must admit I am powerless over my addiction – and that my life has become unmanageable. Hmmmm. So, sometimes I do feel powerless in front of the cheese case at the Flint Farmer’s Market, but I can’t exactly say my love of Havarti has made my life fall apart. I can quit any time I want to. Seriously. I’m just a social fondue-dipper.

When I became vegetarian I found that there are many levels. Flexitarians eat meat in moderation. Pescatarians eat fish. Lacto-ovo vegetarians, like me, don’t eat any animal flesh but eat eggs and dairy. Vegans take it further still, and don’t eat any animal products, including things like honey, gelatin, and (damnit!) cheese.

Early into this process I gave up drinking cow’s milk or using it in my cooking. I developed a taste almost immediately for unsweetened almond milk (which has fewer calories than skim milk and more calcium than whole milk). I still occasionally eat eggs, but mostly out of laziness- I really don’t enjoy cooking breakfast and a quick egg sandwich is a nifty shot of protein. Even so, if I was told tomorrow that I couldn’t have another egg ever, I’d be fine with that. But cheese? Cheese, glorious cheese? I don’t know about that. After about five minutes of searching vegan/vegetarian blogs you’ll find that the one thing standing in the way of thousands of vegetarians becoming straight-up vegans is that crazy morphine-infused monkey, cheese.

There are cheeses which are vegetarian-friendly, in that the rennet used to create them is not animal-derived (see this list for vegetarian cheeses). Most rennet is derived from the stomach tissue of a slaughtered calf, but there is vegetable rennet as well, and the cheeses on the list use that (or no rennet at all). But these vegetarian-friendly cheeses use cow or goat milk, so for vegans, they are still off-limits.

There are whole industries built around producing the perfect non-dairy vegan cheese. If you scroll down the message boards of any vegan blog you’ll see a lot of posts very much like this one:

“Hi there. I’m a new vegetarian who would like to become vegan but I don’t think I can give up cheese. Are there any vegan cheeses that actually taste like real cheese?”

And following it, you’ll invariably see a response which simply reads:

“No.”

Some brands, like Daiya, are pretty close, but Daiya is no more like Swiss Gruyere than aspirin is like morphine. Even so, I have been trying to develop a taste for vegan “cheeses” and hope to one day kick my habit. I have kids, people. I don’t want to be a full-blown casein junkie.

This quest led me to today’s recipe. One alternative I found was to make cheese out of nuts. It is a little time-consuming, but once you get the method figured out it’s easy to make soft cheeses that fill the void in your heart left by sharp Cheddar. It isn’t the same, but nut cheese is delicious and really appeals to my creative side. Switching around the nuts used and the added ingredients produces all sorts of interesting flavors and textures. Have I given up cheese completely? Not quite. But if I get better at making my own vegan versions, I just might.

Garlic Ravioli with Cashew Cheese


First things first: make the cheese about two days before.

Cashew Cheese

(Stolen from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen, page 121. I made a few minor adaptations)




The acidophilus capsules I used

2 cups whole raw cashews (no cashew pieces because they are too dry and not creamy enough. They have to be RAW, otherwise they'll get rancid and you'll get sick and die. Or they'll just taste awful. Why risk either of those things?)

8 capsules Solgar Advanced 40+ Acidolphilus (you just want the powder from the capsules). Tal Ronnen uses New Chapter All-Flora Probiotic (powder from 6 capsules), but I couldn't find it. Whatever you get, check to make sure the brand is vegetarian. Generally gelatin capsules are NOT.

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ tablespoon onion powder (or more to taste. He uses a full tablespoon but I found that a little over-powering)
½ teaspoon white pepper
Dash of nutmeg, grated
4 tablespoons fresh herbs (I used fresh garlic scapes- the green tops) Tal uses tarragon and chives

1. Cover the cashews with cold, purified water in a non-reactive bowl and let it sit overnight (at least 12 hours).
2. The next day, mix together the probiotic powder in 2 tablespoons of the soaking water.
3. Drain the cashew nuts and put them in a blender or food processor with the probiotic powder mixture. Blend until smooth and creamy (it takes some patience. Keep scraping the sides with a rubber spatula).
4. Cover the bottom of a fine mesh colander with three layers of rinsed (and wrung dry) cheesecloth. Put the cashew nut mixture into the cheesecloth. Fold the layers of cheesecloth to cover the top of the vegan cheese and twist to tightly close the top.
5. Place the colander over a bowl. Put something heavy on top of the wrapped cheese to help press it as it ferments. Let the cashew cheese stand in a warm area for about 14 hours. Liquid whey will collect in the bottom of the bowl. Don't throw it out; you can use it when you make the pasta!
6. After 14 to 16 hours your cheese will smell yeasty and have a soft dairy cheese-like quality to it. Remove the cloth and put cheese into a food processor. Mix in all the other ingredients except the herbs.
7. Shape the cheese on a piece of parchment paper and put it in the fridge until firm (a few hours, or best is overnight)
8. When firmed up a bit, roll cheese in the herbs (or garlic scapes in my case).
9. Cut the cheese (couldn't resist)!

NOTE: If you are a sissy and are afraid to ferment the cheese (or too lazy to wait), just soak the nuts overnight then proceed right to the mix-in stage. You'll want to let it firm up in the fridge for a few hours and it will taste ok, I guess, but fermentation is what makes cheese, well, cheesy. Try it, you'll like it!

Ravioli (Look, Ma, no eggs!)
(I followed the recipe by Bob's Red Mill, which is a traditional semolina pasta recipe.)



1. I followed the pasta recipe, but I substituted the whey produced from my cheese-making for the water. If you don't have enough whey to adequately make the dough, just add more water.

2. I cheated, and dumped the dough ingredients in my bread maker to knead it. I rolled the dough out with my pasta maker. I started at the largest setting, then kept rolling it until it was at the thinnest setting. I also sprinkled minced garlic scapes into the dough before I built the raviolis.

3. I put a tablespoon of the cashew cheese into each ravioli, sealed it with water, then crimped the sides with a fork.

4. I cooked them in boiling, salted water for about 3 minutes, until they floated on top. When done, I gently tossed them in melted Earth's Balance (a vegan buttery-type spread that we actually prefer to butter) and sprinkled them with some grated nutmeg and more garlic scapes. Then I brushed my teeth because Mama had garlic breath something fierce. But it was totally worth it!

In closing: making nut cheese was so easy, I ended up making two more batches (one with walnuts, one with almonds). They were all delicioso and only lasted about three days. In a less gluttonous household, nut cheeses last at least a week or two in the refrigerator. Here are some serving suggestions:

1. Thin it with a little soy creamer (or almond milk if you made almond cheese) and use it as a sauce over pasta
2. Spread it in a sandwich or wrap
3. Cut in thick rounds and make bruscetta
4. Using a tablespoon, eat it straight out of the wrapping (you need to be in your underwear, standing in front of the refrigerator at 1 am to do this properly). Go nuts!

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