Category: Main Dishes (Page 6 of 11)

Tempeh, Vegetables and Noodles

January 15, 2016 / Jenny / 8 Comments

Tempeh is marinated and baked in a tangy sauce made of soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger, then combined with stir-fried vegetables and noodles. This makes a delicious, comforting, and healthy meal.

In keeping with my desire to eat nutritious meals as part of the New Year and a fresh start, I am sharing a recipe for a delicious vegetarian meal using tempeh. Until recently, I have struggled with using tempeh, because without the right flavorings, it can taste really bland to me. Yet I know it is such a good source of protein, and from a great source–soy. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans, and the whole beans are retained and softened during the fermenting process, making tempeh easier for us to digest than other forms of soybeans.

Therefore, I was SO happy when I found this delicious marinade, which I adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com. I changed some things, like using honey instead of maple syrup, powdered ginger instead of fresh, and I used less tempeh but kept the same amount of sauce, because I wanted to be able to drizzle the sauce over the whole dish, making it warm and comforting with every bite. This sauce is so good, I will use it with other meals as well!

The past week, we got some snow. The birds at our birdfeeder have been eating their seed like crazy, leaving their tiny footprints all over the yard and front porch steps. In winter, when the outdoor landscape is bleak, certain things stand out to us more, like little birds or little bird footprints. The comfort of a warm bowl of tempeh, vegetables, and noodles in a tangy sauce tastes that much more comforting on a cold winter day. The contrasts are starker and more noticeable in winter, and we experience things more strongly. It makes me think of a quote by one of my favorite writers, Virginia Woolf: “Never are voices so beautiful as on a winter’s evening, when dusk almost hides the body, and they seem to issue from nothingness with a note of intimacy seldom heard by day.” That reminds me to turn off the lights and eat by candlelight tonight. I hope you all have a great weekend, and stay warm! I am going to make it to Fiesta Friday today, co-hosted this week by the wonderful Julie @ Hostess at Heart and Elaine @ Foodbod.

Tempeh with Vegetables and Noodles

Servings: 2-4
Time: 2 hours to marinade, and about 30 minutes to bake and prepare
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Ingredients:

For the marinade:

1/4 cup of soy sauce (I use reduced-sodium)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of honey
1/2 teaspoon of dried, ground ginger
1/4 cup of water

For the rest of the meal:

8 ounces of tempeh, sliced into thin slabs
2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus another 2 tablespoons for the vegetables
12 ounces of your choice of noodles
2 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cups of broccoli flowerets, chopped

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine the ingredients for the marinade sauce and stir vigorously until all combined. In a 9 inch by 9 inch baking dish (or something similar), pour 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Place the slices of tempeh on top of the oil in the baking dish, then pour the marinade over the tempeh. Cover with foil, refrigerate, and marinate for about 2 hours.

When the tempeh is done marinating, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the tempeh, covered with foil, in your oven for 20-30 minutes. Then raise the temperature to 375 degrees. Take the foil off of the tempeh and let it bake for another 10-15 minutes, till it becomes golden brown.

When you take the foil off of the tempeh, bring a large pot of water to boil, and cook your noodles according to package directions. Drain the noodles. While the tempeh is finishing baking and the noodles are cooking, heat a wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in two tablespoons of olive oil, and stir-fry the vegetables until just tender, about 5-10 minutes. Pull the tempeh out of the oven. Arrange the noodles and vegetables in bowls. Top with pieces of tempeh, and spoon the desired amount of sauce from the tempeh baking dish over the meal. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Flatbread Pizza

December 17, 2015 / Jenny / 18 Comments

With savory thyme, mellow butternut squash, and warm melted cheese, this flatbread pizza is perfect for lunch, or for dinner alongside a salad or a hearty bowl of soup. It only takes about a half hour to make, so it is a great option when you are short on time, but want something warm and satisfying.

I tend to go overboard in the late fall when buying squash. The different colors and varieties all look so inviting, and I have so many plans and ideas for them. Then when winter comes, I still have a couple of squash sitting elegantly on the counter in a pretty still-life, waiting to be used. This flatbread pizza is a perfect way to use that squash before it’s too late, and it tastes so good, even the non-squash-lovers in your family will be surprised. The health benefits of squash are well-known, and we can all use some extra potassium, fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and antioxidants.

The key is to cut the pieces of the squash small enough so they roast to tenderness while they are on the flatbread, thereby saving yourself that extra step of pre-roasting the squash before baking the pizza. The sliced onion and the thyme really add a beautiful flavor, and blend so well with the mildness of the squash. I like to use naan flatbread for these pizzas, which you can easily find at the grocery store. That makes them quick to make, because sometimes time is scarce.

Because our winter has been unusually mild so far, I was able to go out and find some thyme in our garden for this pizza. I am always pleasantly amazed at how good fresh herbs smell, and how each one has such a distinct flavor. I did a little research on thyme, since I like to add meaning to my food. According to many sources, thyme historically symbolizes courage. Greek soldiers used to bathe in water infused with thyme before battles, and medieval maidens embroidered thyme leaves on their knights’ cloaks for courage. Thyme was also placed under pillows at night to keep nightmares away.

Another prevalent theme regarding thyme is that according to northern European folklore, fairies were often found sleeping in beds of wild thyme. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon, king of the fairies, tells where to find the queen of the fairies: “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,/ Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,/Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,/With sweet musk-roses and elegantine.” When my kids were younger, we used to go around the yard looking for fairy houses. Little did we know, there might have been one in our herb garden. 🙂

I hope you all have a great weekend, and happy holidays! And if you need a little extra courage one day, tuck a sprig of thyme in your pocket.I am taking this recipe over to Angie’ Fiesta Friday today, co-hosted this week by Caroline @ Caroline’s Cooking and Linda @ La Petite Paniere.

Butternut Squash Flatbread Pizza

Servings: 4-6
Time: about 35 minutes
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Ingredients:

4 flatbreads (I like to use naan)
2 cups of butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 of an onion, sliced thinly (yellow sweet or red onion)
1-2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves
1 and 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I use mozzarella and Parmesan, but sharp cheddar would work too)
olive oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Peel and chop the butternut squash and slice the onion. Lightly spread olive oil onto the pieces of flatbread. Arrange the pieces of squash and slices of onion on the flatbreads. Sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Then sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Place the pizzas on a baking sheet, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the squash is tender and the cheese is melted. Serve alone as a light meal, or as a side dish with soup or salad. Enjoy!

Sunshine Flatbread Pizzas

September 25, 2015 / Jenny / 13 Comments

Is there anything easier and more versatile than flatbread pizzas? Well, there probably is, but I’m not sure what that would be. Anyway, these flatbread pizzas are so easy, they are hardly a recipe–just a nudge in a certain direction if you are unsure about what to make for a quick dinner, or an idea if you are searching for ways to use your summer squash and zucchini. And they taste really, really good too. I make these when we need a quick dinner before going back out the door to our various evening activities. They are healthy and quite light, so if you are headed out to exercise after dinner, this meal won’t weigh you down too much.

I call them sunshine flatbread pizzas because I typically make them in September and early October, when we have summer squash and zucchini in abundance, and the sun is warm and golden. Serve them with a salad or a bowl of soup if you like. It only takes a few minutes to prepare and bake them, and when they’re done, you have something warm and tasty, full of seasonal vegetables.

It is now officially autumn, and the following quote by writer Gladys Taber reflects how I feel about this gorgeous time of year. “We are in for a spell of perfect weather now, every day luminous, every night brimmed with stars. Picnics at noon, supper by the applewood fire at night, a walk in the cool moonlight before bed.” I hope to make the time to savor early autumn in the spirit of this quote, and I hope you all have a beautiful weekend! I’ll also be taking a plate of these over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday to share with the lovely bloggers there.

Sunshine Flatbread Pizzas

Servings: 2-4
Time: 20 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1 small summer squash, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
2 flatbreads (I like to use naan)
extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, minced
shredded mozzarella cheese
shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wash and slice the zucchini, summer squash, and onion into thin pieces. In a large skillet, heat one to two tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Sautee the sliced vegetables until tender, about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour some olive oil into a shallow bowl. Mince the garlic and add it to the bowl with the olive oil. Lay your flatbreads out on a cutting board or the counter. With a basting brush or pastry brush, spread a layer of olive oil/garlic mixture over the top of the flatbreads. Then arrange the sautéed vegetables evenly over the flatbreads. Sprinkle with a good amount of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese (to your personal tastes). Place the flatbreads on a baking sheet.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese is melted. Remove, let cool a couple of minutes, and slice into pieces. Enjoy!