Vegetarian BLTs

You already know my love for tempeh because of the amazing penne with tempeh.  I even recall saying that the delicious tempeh would make a great sandwich.  So imagine my excitement when A Couple Cooks came up with the genius idea for a BLT using tempeh instead of bacon!  Yes!  Facon! :)  Just give it a try, okay?

This tempeh gets marinated in olive oil, soy sauce, sriracha, cumin, black pepper, maple syrup, and liquid smoke (I left out the latter, but if you want the traditional smoky flavor, then go for it).  It gets sliced into bacon-sized pieces and then cooked on a griddle just like real bacon.  In fact, to be fair to the carnivore I married, I made real bacon too for his sandwich.  I actually burned some of my hair while doing so (still not totally sure how that happened... thanks for the emergency haircut, Sam!)

facon on the left, bacon on the right!

Now, at this time of year, tomatoes that are actually red and juicy are finally coming back out.  But, this BLT recipe has a suggestion to help you avoid those winter tomatoes (there's nothing worse): canned fire-roasted tomatoes!  Top some bread with your tempeh bacon and some Bibb lettuce (no mayo ever for me and Mark, but go for it if that's your style) and you have one hell of a sandwich.  I loved this!  The tempeh bacon was amazing and definitely better than Mark's real bacon.  I was the sandwich winner that night.

Recipe:

vegetarian BLT
from A Couple Cooks
serves 4

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon cumin
3 grinds black pepper
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
1 8-ounce package tempeh
8 slices bread
15-ounce can fire-roasted tomatoes
8 leaves Bibb lettuce
mayonnaise (optional)

Instructions:

1) In a bowl, mix together olive oil, soy sauce, liquid smoke, sriracha, cumin, black pepper, and maple syrup.

2) Cut tempeh in half; stand each piece up on its edge and cut into thirds.  Lay the three pieces down on top of each other and cut into thirds again to make 18 slices that are 1/4 inch thick, 1 inch wide and 3 inches long.  Place the strips in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over the tempeh.  Let sit for 30 minutes or more, if time.  Reserve the marinade from the bottom of the dish.

3) Heat a griddle to medium heat.  Place tempeh strips on the griddle and cook 2 - 3 minutes per side until browned.  Turn off heat, then brush both sides of each piece with the reserved marinade.

4) Lightly toast 8 pieces of bread.  Drain the canned tomatoes, letting them sit in a colander for a few minutes to remove excess liquid.  Prepare 8 leaves of Bibb lettuce.

5) To serve, spread mayonnaise on each bread slice if you're using it
.  Top with lettuce, tomatoes, and slices of tempeh.  Top with a final bread slice and serve immediately.  Tip: the lettuce on the sandwich acts as a shield to the bread below from the juiciness of the tomatoes.  Make sure to place the lettuce below the tomatoes.  Try to make up the sandwich immediately before you serve it, since the bread can become soggy form the tomato liquid.

One Pan Mexican Quinoa

Any time something has the words "one pan" in the title, I'm intrigued.  Add the words "Mexican" and "quinoa," and I'm hooked.  Quick, easy, and no hours of pan-washing afterwards?  Yes please.

I ended up making this at my mom's house one night when they were all being carnivores and I wanted an alternative.  I packed up the ingredients that I didn't think they would have and brought it over.  Unfortunately I assumed they would have frozen corn.  Doesn't everyone always have frozen corn in their freezer!?  No such luck.  I had to make up for it with frozen peas.  Definitely not the same Mexican vibe, but better than nothing.

Besides corn (or peas), this quinoa has avocado, black beans, jalapeño, fire-roasted tomatoes, and garlic.  It's all flavored with lime juice, chili powder, cumin and fresh cilantro.  Doesn't that sound good!?!  For a one-pan dish?  Mexican fabulousness for dinner within 30 minutes.  Go.

One Pan Mexican Quinoa
from Damn Delicious
yield 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 cup corn kernels
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled and diced
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Instructions:

1) Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add garlic and japan and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, 1 minute.

2) Stir in quinoa, vegetable broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is cooked through, about 20 minutes.  Stir in avocado, lime juice and cilantro.  Serve immediately.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Welcome to my most popular Muffin Monday recipe: chocolate chip muffins.  But please don't make the mistake of thinking that these are just any chocolate chip muffins.  They are the best ones you could imagine.  First, can we talk about these muffin tops?  They are the tallest, puffiest, most perfect muffin tops on the entire planet.  And that's even without coarse sugar on top because I didn't have any.  They are just so pretty.

By the way, the secret to amazing muffin tops like these is to bake them at a really high temperature for the first 5 minutes, and then to lower it for the rest of the baking time.  It makes them rise up like crazy.  And a whopping 4 teaspoons of baking powder doesn't hurt either!

But these muffins are more than just a pretty muffin top!  They are the perfect consistency: soft and fluffy, and flavored with cinnamon and a little nutmeg.  You know me: I could live without the chocolate chips; in fact, I cut out 1/2 cup from the recipe so feel free to add them back in if you're a chocoholic (I think I may have to try these again ASAP with blueberries... yeah, Mom, you read that correctly), but everyone else went wild over them.  These muffins were the most popular of the Muffin Monday series.  No need to take my word for it: you could totally be eating these within an hour.

Recipe:

chocolate chip muffins
from Sally's Baking Addiction
makes 16 muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup buttermilk (milk will work too, but buttermilk is best for texture!)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Spray your muffin tin of choice with non-stick spray or line with muffin liners.  Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix until all dry ingredients are combined.  Set aside.

3) In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until combined.  Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla.  Mixture will be pale and yellow.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand with a wooden spoon.  Avoid over mixing.  Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain.  The batter will be very thick and somewhat lumpy.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

4) Divide batter among prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top.  Top with a sprinkle of coarse sugar if preferred.  Bake at 425 for 5 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake for 13 - 14 minutes until the tops are lightly golden and centers appear set.

5) Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before enjoying.  Muffins taste best fresh the same day.  Store muffins at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.  Muffins freeze well, up to 3 months.

Strawberry Quinoa Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

This salad has a little bit of everything, which is the only way I like salads.  There are strawberries, goat cheese and ginger, quinoa and pearl couscous, fresh basil and sliced almonds.  How's that for variety?  I added some baby spinach leaves just for fun.  Add to this mix an orange vinaigrette made with the juice and zest from fresh oranges, and you've got yourself a serious summertime meal.  Mark was a big fan of this and may or may not have polished off the huge leftover container after work one night.

This salad was all you need for a healthy, protein-rich meal when you want something cool to eat.  The next time you spend your day in a 90-degree classroom (true story), this might be what you crave. Yes, you'll have to cook the quinoa and couscous, but you could always do that on a cool rainy day (like today) and toss them into the salad later this week when it heats up :)

Recipe:

strawberry quinoa salad with orange vinaigrette 
from Cooking Quinoa
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup red quinoa (I used white and it was fine)
1/2 cup pearl couscous
5 -7 basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
4 ounces crumbled herbed goat cheese
1/4 cup sliced almonds
for dressing:
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions:

1) For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.

2) Cook quinoa and couscous according to the package.  Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow it to cool.

3) Add the strawberries and basil to the dressing.  Toss with vinaigrette until well coated.  Season to taste.  Place in the refrigerator for serval hours to let the flavors develop.  Don't worry if you're short on time - I skipped this step.

4) When ready to serve, add cheese and almonds
.

Avocado Egg Salad

I have never liked egg salad.  I think it's mostly the huge amounts of mayonnaise, which is right up there with meat as things I avoid.  But avocados?  That changes everything.  And no mayo?  And Greek yogurt instead!?!  Yes please.

Besides the obvious hard-boiled eggs and avocado, this salad is flavored with scallions, a little dijon mustard, and lemon juice.  So delicious, and yet so simple.

I was excited about this salad as soon as I saw it.  I whipped up a batch real fast for lunch one Saturday and had a wonderful sandwich on whole wheat bread.  And I may or may not have eaten the leftovers for breakfast the next day spread on a bagel.  And perhaps the next weekend I made it for my family.  And perhaps I now have avocados and obscene amounts of eggs in the fridge to make even more.  It's an addictive salad, just believe me.  You've been warned.

One note: the salad calls for 4 eggs, but you discard the yolks of 2 of some weird reason.  I left mine in the salad and I promise, as someone who often avoids egg yolk, that it was just fine that way!

Recipe:

avocado egg salad
from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients:
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 hard boiled egg whites, chopped
2 small avocados, pitted and peeled
1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1) In a medium bowl, combine the hard boiled eggs and egg whites, avocado, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, green onion, and mustard.  Mash with a fork.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2) To serve, spread between two slices of bread, eat with crackers, cut up veggies, spread on toast, or have it in a wrap.  This salad is best eaten the day it's made, but it will be okay the following day too.

Cinnamon Sugar Mini Donut Muffins

Get ready for one of the most popular Muffin Monday recipes I've made!  They're little, sweet, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and more addictive than you can imagine.  In fact, these innocent little muffins led to an argument in the transition classroom.

I'll explain - maybe you've noticed that most of my Muffin Monday recipes have been healthy.  They have been; I knew that most of the staff in the class had been dieting and participating in our school's Biggest Loser competition.  But hey, that's over, and it was time to give them a real treat.  I didn't announce this change, I just sent the muffins in, which led to Nick fighting with everyone else over the healthiness of the little muffins!  He insisted I only bake healthy muffins, while the rest of the staff figured it out right away :)  I appreciate Nick's belief in my healthy recipes, but even a healthy baker can stray sometimes.

No, these aren't diet muffins.  But you know what?  Sometimes you don't need a diet muffin.  Sometimes you need a soft little donut muffin, lightly flavored with cloves, that is dunked in melted butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar.  In fact, you need them more than sometimes.  You need them all the time.  They melt in your mouth and everyone knows that that means you don't absorb any calories from them.

Recipe:

cinnamon sugar mini donut muffins
from Crunchy Creamy Sweet 
yield about 18 mini muffins

Ingredients:
for the muffins:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
for the sugar coating:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the cavities and top of a mini muffin tin.  Set aside.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.  Set aside.

3) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugar.  Add spices and vanilla and whisk well.  Add milk and whisk again.

4) Add dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

5) Pour batter into muffin cups.  Bake 15 - 17 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of each muffin come out clean.

6)  Prepare the coating: melt butter in a small bowl.  In another small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon. When muffins are completely cool, dunk each one in melted butter and then roll in cinnamon sugar.  Return onto wire
rack and let cool for a few minutes.

Salisbury Steak Meatballs

I obviously don't like salisbury steak.... but I like Salisbury because it's next to our beach house.  Does that count?  And I know my family are big fans of all things meat, including but not limited to salisbury steak and meatballs.  This meal combines both, so I decided to try it out for them.

This meal makes a lot of food.  It says it serves 12 and that's no joke.  2 pounds of ground beef get the salisbury steak treatment by getting mixed with brown mustard, ketchup, beef case, Worcestershire sauce, bread crumbs, and salt and pepper.  One note - there's no egg, and that makes them kinda crumbly so I would add a couple next time to help them stick together.  Then they get cooked in a sauce with many of the same flavors, like beef broth, Worcestershire, and Kitchen Bouquet, with the addition of some caramelized onions.  You serve the whole saucey, meaty mess over egg noodles and sprinkle it with pasta.  Voila: dinner.

As expected, my family all loved this meal.  It was hearty, filling and fit for a family of carnivores.  If that sounds like you, then go for it!

Recipe:

salisbury steak meatballs
from The Pioneer Woman
serves 12

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
3/4 cups seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup brown mustard
1/4 cup +1 tablespoon ketchup, divided
1 teaspoon powdered beef base or crumbled beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 half stick (1/4 cup) salted butter
1 whole large onion, halved and sliced
2 1/2 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with a little beef broth to make a thin paste
1 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
1 pound egg noodles, cooked to al dente and drained
minced fresh parsley

Instructions:

1) To make the meatballs, combine the first 8 ingredients in a mixing bowl (not including the 1 tablespoon ketchup or 1 tablespoon Worcestershire) and knead until completely combined.  Form into medium-sized meatballs and place on a plate.

2) Heat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat, and then add 2 tablespoons of butter.  When melted, add half the meatballs and gently move around the pan to brown.  When brown, remove them to a clean plate and repeat with the rest of the meatballs.

3) In the same skillet, add the onions and book for 3 - 4 minutes until golden brown and starting to soften.  In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup beef broth with the cornstarch.

4) Next add to the skillet 2 cups of beef broth, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon ketchup, and mustard.  Stir to scrape the bits off the bottom the pan.  Bring to a gentle boil and add the cornstarch mixture.  Return the metals to the pan, reduce the heat to low, and allow them to simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes or until meatballs are done and sauce is thick.  Splash in more beef broth if needed for thinning.  Add a little Kitchen Bouquet to give the sauce a deeper color.   Sauce should be thick and glossy.

5) Serve meatballs over a platter of egg noodles, tossed in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.  Sprinkle with minced parsley.