Thursday, December 07, 2006

PPK testing, tempeh, pizza and stuffed peppers

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PPK test kitchen Black Bean Burger with all the fixings I like - mashed avocado, sliced tomato, hot sauce, lettuce and a bit of Vegenaise. Served with chilled clementine segments and PPK test kitchen blue flannel hash. The chickpea cutlets have some serious competition. These are SO easy to make.

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Blue Flannel Hash (blue and purple potatoes and tempeh and more)

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On Sunday I made some another pot of the Test Kitchen Roasted Garlic, Tomato and White Bean soup, and accidetally doubled the rice - I was pretty bummed about eating mushy leftovers after our first two bowls, but then Thomas gave me the idea to stuff peppers with them, so I did. I also added sauteed Italian style tempeh (soy sauce, garlic, Italian herbs, lemon juice, olive oil).

These organic green peppers are stuffed with the tomato soup mixture and topped with whole wheat breadcrumbs and nutritional yeast. On the side is a slice of organic french baguette from New Seasons with Chipotle Yumm spread (Thomas's LOVE), and a small salad with fresh lemon juice. Not the prettiest meal, but it used leftovers in a new way, and worked.

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Extreme stuffed pepper filling close up!

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I finally made myself buy a block of frozen multigrain tempeh from People's Coop. Quite a deal for under 10 bucks. Much nicer than buying a pack for about 2 dollars and using it all at once.
Knowing I have tempeh in the freezer whenever I want is very comforting. We're currently in a tempeh-loving phase anyway. Plus, I can finally remember to make this from LA Kitchen.
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I love making my own pizza dough. This pizza is from last week, and is half whole wheat with garlic and herbs, and on top is a homemade red wine marinara with spinach, tofutti mozzerella, mushrooms and purple broccoli. I picked up the tofutti on a whim when it was on sale, recalling liking it much more than I do, but it did the trick.

Next up - Scratch my mention of minestrone. We had lunch at the No Fish Go Fish cart (mm chickpea spinach and squash soup) and Thomas had a bowl of it, and we're not doing double duty. Maybe beans and greens.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everything looks so delicious! Great buy on the tempeh. I hope to be getting my tempeh from my bulk buying club this monday. I'm so excited. I've actually been going through withdrawls!

Sara said...

That black bean burger looks really good, I'm looking forward to that book coming out.

erica said...

Hey, that's how I buy my tempeh (except fresh) from Proper Eats. They used to have it for $10, now it's $12, but I figure it's still cheaper than buying the small packages.

I had work lunch today at the Paradox Cafe - they let me pick the place and I'm glad I went there because there was one person who had to have their hamburger :P Anyhow, I had the tempeh gyro and it was pretty good, I never thought of using tempeh for gyros. The tzatziki was very authentic tasting so it made me suspicious, but the menu said the item was vegan, and I decided I'd rather not know in the end if I just ate a bunch of cow yogurt.

bazu said...

Holy tempeh, batman! I can't get enough of that stuff.

Oh, and what are those beautiful, round, red things on your sandwich in the top picture?? Just kidding, but sadly, I probably won't see a fresh tomato for a few months... =(

urban vegan said...

Your photos--and your cooking--is so gorgeous. And wow--what a find with that hunk-o-tempeh!

aTxVegn said...

Are those whole black beans I see in the burger? It looks really, really good! I'm the only one in my family who likes stuffed peppers. Your pictures make me miss having them!

I think I'm doing a minestrone soup this weekend. Got a favorite recipe I could try?

Celine said...

it looks soooooooooo good! all of it!
you know, I haven't been able to find [or try] tempeh anywhere thus far. I need to work on that!

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Aye yi yi, blogger just ate my responses again!

Basically, ATX - Vegancore posted a minestrone a few months back that I'd recommend. I was going to try a new one from Vegan Italiano, myself, but I'm holding off for a while. Making Creamy Tomato Potato soup this weekend instead..

Sara & Chris- I am so excited to see the new book in print! We're not even halfway through recipe testing yet, though.

Erica - All that tempeh, fresh?? That's amazing. What do you do with it all? I'd love ideas.
My work lunches are no where as cool as at Paradox! But we've never had one just for me, and the most vegan-friendly we get is PF Chang's, and at worst SouthPark (again and again).
I bet the tzatziki was vegan, did you feel alright later? Gah, I miss Paradaox pancakes, I haven't been since I moved from the area this past summer.

Bazu - It's time for me to make the switch to not-so-tasty organic tomatoes to jarred roasted red peppers, for sure.

Celine - No tempeh?????

Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan! said...

oooh yum!

and i made that tempeh dish from LA kitchen long ago. it's really yummy. the mustard sauce was a bit tart for my taste, but i think that all rests in what kind of mustard you're using, ya know?

i loved the way the tempeh came out, tho.

everything looks so good here!

Celine said...

you asked about how I made the ice cream white chocolatey, I used these chocolate chips, that I melted in very vanilla silk soymilk:
http://www.allergygrocery.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=1149&Category_Code=on_sale&Product_Count=0

Celine said...

yikes! it cut off my comment. let's try this again.
these are the chips I used, melted in very vanilla silk soymilk.

laura k said...

Wow, that is a beautiful shot of the black bean burger. And that is a great deal on tempeh--I wonder if I can find it in bulk like that somewhere here???

JENNA said...

the black bean burger looks so good! i love the mashed avocado on it.
nice deal on the block of tempeh. i'm trying to decide if i'm going to order one for myself the next time i make the "tofu" order for my job.

JENNA

Anonymous said...

you know that this looks awesome right ? :) yum. i never had tempeh, i need to search here if we can find it!

Brooke said...

Mmmmmm...fresh pizza dough. Yum!

erica said...

I cut it into six blocks, leave out two, and I freeze the rest. We go through that much tempeh in about two weeks, unless I'm in a salad roll phase, then I go through it in about a week. (I cut it into strips and spray liberally with Bragg and cook in up in a pan until it's nice and crispy, then they go in the salad rolls with cuke, cilantro, carrot, some type o' greens and served with the vietnamese peanut sauce from Molly Katzen's "Vegetable Heaven", which I like better than the kind they have at the thai restaurants. Damn, I'm verbose today!).

I think it was vegan tzatziki, because I felt fine. Good thing too, I was worried.

Kati said...

Awww your kitty likes tempeh, too!

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Erica - tempeh in salad rolls is such a neat idea! Thank you. I actually have rice paper and noodles to do this with as well, but we'll see when it actually happens, knowing myself.