Vegan Mofo: Day 5



My mom and the cousin! Aren't they cute!



So my Italian cousin came to visit Washington this summer, and that resulted in a ton of family time and multiple barbeques.  They weren't intended to be potlucks but I take every opportunity to stuff my food down people's throats.  What started with the homemade barbeque sauce from Veganomicon,  turned into a two month obsession with barbeque sauce, pineapple, and tempeh.  It was actually kind of sick....and it's still going on.  But seriously, the Backyard BBQ Sauce is really good, and it actually got better after I froze it and later dethawed it, and let it sit for a minute! 

The first thing I used it on was some ribz from Yeah, That "Vegan" Shit.  I know she got the recipe from a couple difference sources, but I ended up just following the recipe that was reposted on her website, and I used almond butter for the nut butter, because I have a jar that will just not go away!!!  Those turned out beautifully and the bbq sauce got all dark and  sexaay.

Along with ribz I made the Zippity Do Da Coleslaw from The Gluten Free Vegan Cookbook, and yes it's got a goofy name, but it also had pineapple in it, and I'm a very easy sell.  It turned out good!  It's been a long time since I've had coleslaw to be honest, and I used to hate it before I went vegan...maybe because mayonaise is disgusting, but yeah, I liked it.  I think I like coleslaw now....

After my two week hiatus while my cousin was visiting, I had to go back to work....Yes, insert deep depression here.  I did have BBQ sauce left tho, so I brought it with me and went Iron Chef! 

BBQ Tempeh

1 package tempeh, cubed, and boil for 15 min

1/2 cup Backyard BBQ Sauce from the Veganomicon

1 clove chopped garlic

1/4 cup chopped shallots

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup cubed pineapple

2 green onions, chopped, for garnish

red pepper flakes to taste

*My measurements, like usual, are probably a bit off, b/c I work at a restaurant so everything was prechopped and waiting for me to throw into a pan....it's so convenient! 

Anyway, I sauteed the shallots and garlic in the olive oil, let cook down a little, and added tempeh, browned that up, and added the pineapple and the bbq sauce, let it cook down a little, and garnished with the green onion.  It was super delicious.  My prep cook liked it, my cocktailer liked it, and it was the brainchild for the bbq, tempeh pizza I made the next week! 

I definitely do not have a recipe for that badboy, but I pretty much did the BBQ Tempeh recipe, threw it on top of a pizza crust I made using the You Won't Believe It's Vegan! recipe and then did a kinda improv cheezy topping using Follow Your Heart mozzarella, nooch, spices, and Earth Balance.  My carniwhore friend that I cooked dinner for LOVED it!

So that's basically my month of August.  Tempeh, BBQ, pineapple, repeat....nom nom noms.  This was actually the kickoff to my homemade pizza addiction, fueled by Daiya.  And now I know, BBQ sauce is a gateway drug, dammit all!!