Thursday, May 15, 2008

Heat Wave!

After a couple weeks of sunny, but chilly, weather... now we've got a heat wave on our hands! It's awesome! So, it's a good time to share some of the summery fare that I've cooked up recently.

I made up a big batch of the Cook's Illustrated "Ultimate Veggie Burgers" from an old 2005 issue. I found the hardbound copy of all the 2005 issues on sale for only $3, so I picked it up. I've gotta say, these burgers were really yummy. A bit of work, but nothing too painful. I really liked the variety of ingredients: lentils, veggies, panko, bulgur, cashews... In the end, it's a mild, but nicely flavorful patty. And the recipe made about 18 patties, which left me with plenty to pop in the freezer even after a little family dinner gathering. I used vegan mayo instead of the mayo, but I was thinking after the fact that pureed silken tofu might be a nice binder to try next time.

Mmmm! Isn't that a beautiful dinner? A slice of Real Food Daily's "Tempeh Meatloaf" (with a squirt of catsup), some lightly steamed asparagus, a spring salad, and a toasted slice of homemade sourdough rye bread. That Tempeh Meatloaf is a great recipe. Delicious, very flavorful, and quite hearty. It's costly to buy 1.5 lbs of tempeh, but one whole "meatloaf" really does serve a lot of people. A 1-inch slice is plenty filling along with a veggie and some salad, so the whole recipe is about 8 servings. Happy belly!

And, tonight, I broke out the Barbecue! Musty refilled our propane tank, so we were ready to go! These are the delicious Tempeh Kabobs with BBQ sauce from the "Vegan World Fusion Cuisine" cookbook. I made these once before we loved them. What a delicious summery dinner! I don't really like mushrooms, so I subbed in zukes instead of portabellas. Also pictured: tempeh cubes, red bell pepper, red onion, and cherry tomatoes. After the photo was taken, we poured on more BBQ sauce. Yum!

Any favorite hot weather food ideas?

13 comments:

  1. I'm gonna be totally unoriginal and say: mixed salads and more mixed salads, for when it's really hot. the tempeh meatloaf with asparagus is indeed a thing of beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh, yummy! I busted out the BBQ for some corn on the cob tonight; too hot for the oven. We also heated up some chili & poured it over a few dollops of cream cheese, then dipped chips in it.
    I've been trying to come up with warm weather options & I think I'm going to make some slaws & salads!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The lentil-bulgar-cashew combination sounds really good; I never thought of Cooks Illustrated as a place to look for veg recipes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, the kabobs and those veggie burgers look FANTASTIC!! Yum!! Great BBQ fare.

    Hot-weather calls for big bowls of fresh, seasonal fruit for me :0)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your BBQ photos are making me so eager to get out there and grill too! I have propane, but I need a new grill burner. Thanks for reminding me to do that this weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, everything looks delicious, especially your Tempeh Kabobs w/ BBQ sauce. I like vegan potato salad and BBQ "pulled pork" for summer!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The tempeh looks so tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would give anything to have a heat wave here! (we have our heater on and it's supposed to dip into the 30s tonight... yikes!) I know what I'm going to do as soon as hot weather comes around a trio of salsas: watermelon, mango, and pineapple, and then eat them by the truck-full!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mmmm, it all looks delicious! I thought the tempeh kabobs were tater tots....

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:41 AM

    I have a recipe for tempeh patties with shredded beets in it. Does your tempeh meatloaf have have beets in it?

    ReplyDelete
  11. wow, the grilled food looks amazing

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like to eat lots of salads during summer, as well, and simple pasta dishes. Your food in this post looks very colourful, I love that!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments, they really make my day! Thanks for reading my blog! I'm sorry I had to turn on word verification and comment moderation - I was getting so many spam comments!