Tempeh is Amazing

I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, (Obviously- ask me about the two chickens I smoked this weekend- haha) but I really enjoy making meatless dishes and typically eat a meatless dinner a couple of times a week. My breakfasts and lunches are generally meatless, which is easy since I'm not a big fan of bacon or sandwiches.

I'm a huge fan of eggs and beans as protein sources, and I love tofu when I have it in restaurants- but I've never done a good job of preparing it at home. I've basically given up trying to cook it myself.

I've known about Tempeh for a couple of years now, but I've never been called to try it or to try to cook it (because I'm so bad at tofu- I assumed I'd ruin tempeh too) until my friend Chelsea told me that she loves to make sauteed Brussels sprouts and tempeh and drizzle it with sesame oil. I love browning Brussels sprouts in a skillet and I love sesame oil, so I thought I'd give her technique a try! Of course, I put my own spin on it so I thought I'd write out the recipe. This dinner was honestly a million times more delicious than I thought it would be (and a million times more delicious than it looks in the lousy picture I've posted), and incredibly easy. So next time you're looking for some meatless Monday inspiration, give this a try!

Marinate the Tempeh:

Tempeh, cut into 1/4" thick slices
1/2 C soy sauce
1/2 C rice wine vinegar
1 t Sesame oil

Combine Soy Sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil. Marinate the sliced tempeh from 20 minutes to several hours


Cook the sprouts:

1 dozen Brussels Sprouts, halved
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Cook the Brussels sprouts in a skillet in olive oil until they are easily pierced with a fork and the flat sides are a little browned. 101 Cookbooks has a great explanation of how to do this- just don't add any cheese to this particular batch.

Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Cook the Tempeh:

1 shallot sliced (or half an onion)
Tempeh in Marinade
olive oil

Fry the shallot in olive oil until it is soft and a little brown. Add to the sprouts, reserving the oil. Fry the tempeh for about 3 minutes a side, until the marinade is reduced and the tempeh is golden brown and heated through. Add to the bowl with the sprouts and onions. Drizzle with additional sesame oil and squeeze a quarter of a lime over everything. Stir to combine and serve with mashed butternut squash (recipe below).

Mashed butternut squash:

1 butternut squash (peeled and cut into large chunks- I bought mine this way because I am lazy)

1 T coconut oil (or butter, if don't care that it's not vegan- I wanted to stick with the theme)

salt and pepper to taste

Microwave the squash in a covered bowl with a splash of water for 10 minutes. Mash the squash and add the oil, salt and pepper.

Winter is Coming

September has arrived and some cooler weather has rolled right in with it! I'm loving it- and loving the fact that my friends visiting from the south this past weekend got to enjoy some refreshingly cool temperatures!

Of course, my enjoyment of the weather is tempered by the knowledge that it's going to get a lot colder before I know it! My issue tends not to be with the weather outside, but with the brisk 62 degrees inside the house. I maintain my office at a higher temperature (since it has a separate electric heater that is much cheaper than our ancient oil heating system) and the house warms up once I use the oven to make dinner- but the couple of hours before I start making dinner (we like to eat around 8pm) tend to be dark and cold. So, a reminder to myself: The gym is always warmer than my house!

Kitties Love Couscous

I made an excellent chicken and apricot tagine last night (basically Moroccan spiced braised chicken served over couscous) and both cats begged shamelessly for bites of chicken at dinner. I reheated some again today and they were once again swarming me. It's pretty normal for them to be pests at dinner, but they usually leave me alone at lunch! My conclusion is that kitties love couscous. I also think that would be a great blog name. Feel free to take it! :)
I'm somewhat dissapointed to find out that my flat iron needs a special type of cord that I can't get. It has a circuit board built into it for extra safety but I can't order a new one from the company and I can't pay them to fix an out of warranty iron. My vacuum repairman and I have agreed that we've reached a dead end and I need an new iron. I only have good things to say about the guys at All Brand Vacuum though because they were wonderful sports about trying to fix it in the first place, and they aren't charging me a work fee since they can't repair it. I'll definitely be taking my ancient and lousy vacuum to them again if it needs work in the future!
Does anyone have a suggestion for a good flat iron? It's been 6 years since I've purchased one so I'm not sure if I should get another Chi or if there's something better!

Edited to ad that I ended up stumbling onto an amazing sale at Ulta and got a new Chi for $50. There are still some available for $87. The catch is that they are all in pretty garish colors and patterns. But since I was expecting to spent abut $30 fixing the flat iron, I'm pretty thrilled to get on for $50. Now if only I didn't use that as an excuse to stop at H&M on the way home....

Mr. Fix-it

In the past few years, I've started investing the time and money it takes to fix things rather than just to discard and get new stuff. I've always mended my clothes, but a couple of years ago I moved on to having my shoes and purses repaired by a cobbler. (I suggest this cobbler in New Orleans and this one in Portland.) About a year ago, I went to a vacuum repair shop for what turned out to be a new plug for my vacuum. It cost $8- way less than a vacuum! Lesson learned: I try to repair *everything* now. The latest broken item in my house is my beloved flat iron. It's served me well for 6 years of heavy use, but now the part of the cord that swivels at the end isn't staying attached inside the iron, which means that it only turns on and stays hot when I hold it at a very specific angle. I've tried to find a small appliance repair shop in Portland, but there don't seem to be any. I'm unwilling to shell out big bucks for another iron since there are apparently a lot of counterfeits floating around on Amazon and I just didn't want to deal with it. I'm also reluctant to try to fix it myself since I'm not incredibly handy. (Worst. Engineer. Ever.) Finally it occurred to me to call my vacuum repair shop to see if they could try to fix it since a cord is pretty much a cord. They told me that they try to stick to vacuum's but will help out on other small appliances when they can. They went on to say that they've fixed my exact problem on a flat iron before and would only charge $20 (way less than the cost of a new iron) to fix mine. SCORE! I'm going to bring the iron in on Friday and I'll update if things don't go as planned, but I think this will prove to be a smart move. The moral of the story- it never hurts to ask!

This cowlick must be tamed

Way to Go, Bill Murray!

Just an update on Bill Murray because I'm amazed at his progress. He hasn't given me any more tomatoes but the second little green one is slowly turning red and he has several flowers now. Most of his progress has been in the form of sheer growth! I'm so impressed!

He's a behemoth!

The Triumphant Saga of Bill Murray

I might have mentioned before that there are three big planter pots on my porch. If I did mention it, it was probably in same (figurative) breath as the fact that I am am incredibly skilled at killing plants, especially rosemary. Last summer, my planter pots contained strawberries, lavender, and rosemary (because I love it and always want to grow it). I was pleasantly surprised to find that my lavender and strawberries survived the winter, and completely unsurprised when my rosemary failed entirely to thrive past October. That particular pot sat empty save for the corpse of my rosemary plant all winter and Benjy developed the unsavory habit of dumping the ashes from his grill and smoker into the pot. This summer, I decided to plant a patio tomato in the empty pot. I named him Bill Murray because I thought I'd be more interested in keeping him alive if he had a name. I carefully dug out all of Benjy's grill ashes and charcoal and planted Bill Murray in the remaining dirt.

He looked pretty happy for a few days but it soon became clear that something was terribly wrong. His leaves started looking withered and scorched and it was clear that poor Bill Murray was close to going the way of the rosemary. Benjy was either feeling guilty about the charcoal or just irritated by the sick tomato plant ruining the beauty of the porch because he kept bugging me to do something about Bill Murray. I thought the poor guy was beyond help but I gave in and went to Walmart to get a bag of dirt. The first thing I learned is that dirt is only sold in giant bags that are entirely too heavy for me to carry up three flights of stairs. The second bit of knowledge I was gifted with is that it's a good idea to ask your husband to carry said bag of dirt upstairs before he sprays himself with dark tanning oil (not even joking) and sits out on his sunny porch. Not only was the bag too heavy for me to carry upstairs, it was nearly too heavy and slippery for me to upend into my pot. Nonetheless I cut a hole in the top corner of the bag and valiantly struggled with it until I managed to maneuver it in place. It was at this point that I discovered the hole I cut in the top of the bag was too small to let the dirt pour out. I finally managed to get the dirt into the pot via a technique I like to call "madly stabbing the bag of dirt with a pair of scissors."

As you can see, dirt ended up everywhere. It was actually fine because I had too much dirt in the pot after everything was said and done and had to carefully carry the extra dirt over to top off my other pots. You can infer from this that I ended up with as much dirt on myself and the porch as I did anywhere else. I also have to add that before I could put new dirt in the pot, I had to get rid of the old dirt. The end of this process found me covertly hauling trash bags full of old charcoal filled dirt down three flights of stairs and into the back yard and dumping it into a corner. I'm pretty sure I looked deranged at best and like I was disposing of a body at worst. All of this work resulted in a sick Bill Murray perched inside a pot filled with shiny new dirt.

He still looked bad the next day so I cut off all of his branches that looked sick so that he could better direct his resources to keeping the rest of himself alive. I didn't take a picture because he looked so pathetic and for a week or two I was still pretty sure that poor Bill Murray wasn't going to make it. I definitely used this as a reason to make Groundhog's Day jokes at parties because I am a scintillating conversationalist (i.e. deluded enough to think that anyone else gives a damn about my patio tomato plant). But finally, he grew fuzzy new leaves and started to perk up. And now, his first tomato is turning red! I'm so proud!

And yes, of course I've named my strawberry plant Steve Martin and my lavender Dan Akroyd. Why do you ask?

Silence!

I'm just back from a nice vacation to D.C. and the Shenandoah Valley, and, of course, my cupboards are bare!   An additional meal planning challenge is that Benjy is working nights this week. The nice thing is that he doesn't go to work until after dinner, but he has to sleep all day in the bedroom that is just off of the kitchen. I need to minimize my time in the kitchen and cook as quietly as possible. This means I need recipes that don't require a lot of chopping or stirring or standing at the stove.
There are other considerations that go hand in hand with the night shift as well. He often takes some of the food from dinner with him to work- so grab and go type foods are key. It's also convenient to make foods that don't have to be reheated, since that saves time. And since he's going straight to work, garlicky foods are out! (I made roasted squid dressed with chimichurri sauce last week and he couldn't eat it because it would have given him dragon breath on the night shift. It was sad!)
The plus side is that aiming to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible (something that is generally anathema to me!) gives me a chance to play with some easy recipes!
My plan for the week is to make a ton of baked chicken  (just to shake things up from my typical whole roast  chicken routine) and serve it over the rest of the week with a variety of salads. I'm thinking Caprese or maybe a Burrata and tomato salad, roasted beets and goat cheese with spinach and walnut, and salad greens with avocado and hearts of palm.
When out of chicken I'm going to make an Italian tuna salad with tuna canned in olive oil, capers, basil, red onion, white wine vinegar, and white beans to serve over salad greens.
I'm also planning to make this truffled asparagus and boiled egg salad for myself for lunches because I think it looks insanely good.
Everything will be served with slices of crusty bread, although I may buy it instead of making it myself this week.

This sort of food would also work well for anyone having a busy week. I hope you can see how one night spent roasting chicken and beets (or any veggies you like!), and boiling asparagus and eggs can easy lend itself to a full week of healthy meals when you combine them with salad ingredients and a few pantry staples.

How do you cook around a crazy schedule?