MoFo 26 Healthy Bavarian

Two more MoFo posts after this. Two more days after today. Maybe we should all just hold hands and sing that song, oh you know the one. No not Kumbaya. Um that song from the 90's musical written by the guy who had a tragic end. He won a Tony award posthumously.
That overture used to get stuck in my head. When I was stuck at miserable day jobs. I was an elf once and a dental assistant too for about two minutes. Forget what they tell you about Santa being all jovial and shit. Working for Fatty Claus was it's own little shop of horrors. The clock creeped along while I engraved cheap tin foil Christmas tree ornaments made in China. Santa's teeth are as bad as George Washington's. I know this because I was a dental assistant for about two minutes.

I 've been writing this post for about four hours already. I keep getting up to floss my teeth and check the time. It's still Monday and I still have a popcorn kernel from 2008 stuck in my back tooth. Did you guess that song yet?

The song is called 525600 minutes. Sorry. I am such a geek. Not really. But it's all I could think of tonight.

For my last Oktoberfest/German fest post I decided to combine two cuisines. A fusion that is not often heard of in the culinary world.
Macrobiotic Bavarian!

 

This was a healthy and flavorful dinner. The tastes melded beautifully.
It consisted of quinoa with tahini dressing, Bubbies sauerkraut, BBQ braised tempeh, (saute for about 7 minutes on each side), and kale flash fried and then roasted with nooch at 425 for ten minutes. Plate with avocado with a sprinkle of Himalayan sea salt.




Bavarian Macro Abstract

Tahini dressing
3/4 C tahini

juice of one lemon

1/2 C  water

2.5 T apple cider vinegar

2 T low sodium soy sauce

1 tsp of agave

 

Whisk.

 

Now it's 525599 minutesuntil MoFo is over. Hoping all of you back east are safe and sound tonight. Thinking of you.

Your Toast or You're Toast

Today I will attempt to explain some unkind things to you. I don't want to necessarily make your day suck or anything, that's all up to you and your lonesome. Remember, we can always change our days around by taking positive action, so your day never really has to suck that much. Even making tiny changes can be so empowering.

Anyway, this post is rated PG for PG, partially gruesome. I'll give you a recipe at the end of the post so if you want, you can just bypass the graphic stuff. Hey speaking of bypass, you do know that eating animal products can cause quadruple bypasses, right? Yep. Thump, thump, stop! So if you wanna keep that heart a pumpin' and a thumpin' it might be time to eat more of a plant based diet.

Today let's take a glance  at one of the animals you might still be putting on your plate. I applaud you if you've give up red meat. It's a start but don't think you are totally in the clear, buddy! This isn't just about your health any more. It's about compassion. Like I've said before, comapssion is good for your soul, hence your heart.

Let's take a look at chicken, shall we. Let's imagine what the chicken feels like when confined to a battery cage.
WARNING!!!! DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! Just imagine How it Feels! I repeat! Don't Do This At Home! I take no responsibility for burnt toast.

Imagine this scenario:
You take your favorite morning multi-grain bread out of the frig and place it in the toaster. You savor it, and say to yourself, (because you always talk a lot to yourself in the morning), this flax seed toast is going to taste so good especially if I put some softened Earth Balance on it! 
You, get some organic coffee brewing, plug in the toaster, place the flax seed spelt bread in the slot and press the highest, darkest toaster setting. You pour yourself a steaming cup of joe,  and consider getting baptized even though you are Jewish.
You shout Thank you baby Jesus for free trade caffeine!
You sip your morning java. Ah java.
The world is a beautiful place.This is better than the 70's. Peace. 
Yes this is a beautiful life, it's such a beautiful world I might be able to share the earth with Ann Coulter.

Uh oh is that toast burning? OMG! And just like that you are Snapped out of your disgusting Ann Coulter revery. Thank Goodness.

Crap. Just when you were going to catch up on all your Vegetarian Times reading too and live in placid co-existence with Tea Party folk, the revery ends. Oh no! The smoke alarm in your tiny digs is crazy loud. Your moron next door neighbor the one with the "don't save the dolphins unless they have beer" trucker hat is pounding on the wall of his trailer. Your freakin' toast is stuck and won't pop up. You grab the nearest knife, the one that was going to spread your softened Earth Balance on your whole grain toast. You stick the butter knife in the slot. What?! Don't tell me. You didn't unplug the toaster! Expletive. Expletive.

Zap! Jolt! Hey bub, you still with me? Oops. Sorry about that.

Hey! Now you know that this is how a chicken confined to a battery cage feels everyday of his existence. These poor chickens never even get to experience their morning coffee. Yep, these poor creatures are debeaked too, so they never ever get to wake up and smell the coffee. Yep, these poor chickens are toast!

Please think about what you eat before you eat!

Hey! Let's have a real life breakfast!!! You deserve it.

I heart the new marinated tempehs from Turtle Island Foods Inc. At least the ones I've tried, like Smokey Maple Bacon and Coconut Curry.

The Smoky Tempeh Bacon is perfect in a tofu scramble with tomatoes and peppers and onions. They are already pre-sliced. Of course the tempeh is perfect in a BLT as well. I know I promised breakfast, but really who wants it after the toaster ordeal. Let's do lunch instead.

BLT Taco Salad with Broken "Tortilla Flats"
with a nod to John Steinbeck

Half-Assed Recipe Because I'm Toast Today (serves 4 "Big Baby" salads or 4 baby salads)
For the Salad

About 16 ounces of butter lettuce
8 cherry tomatoes
package of the tempeh featured up there cooked according to package directions
2 T canola or olive oil
About a C of your choice of your favorite shredded Daiya
Crispy corn tortillas as many as you can handle

For the Fake Blue Cheez Dressing
1/2 a block "tofu life" lemon garlic smoked tofu crumbled
1 C vegenaise
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt




Directions: Plate it so everything looks pretty. Decorate with broken tortillas while you nosh on some.

Dressing Directions: Whisk all ingredients together except the crumbled tofu. Fold that in last.
Serve over your pretty salad.


Enjoy tomorrow's breakfast.

Tempeh For the Taurus

Well crazy Taurus boy had yet another birthday. But I swear the dude is like Dorian Gray. I'd hate to see what his attic picture looks like. We celebrated with the movie, "Bill Cunningham New York" . The photos and fashion are a must see and Bill is a lovable eccentric. We enjoyed takeout from Nature's Express in Berkeley and combined their delicious frozen dessert with some lemon custard cupcake and lemon frosting to make a delectable party parfait. Woohoo.

The Einstein, a scrambled tofu, tempeh bacon, Daiya cheese tomato avocado and black bean burrito is pretty good.

The real genius is the Grilled Tempeh Reuben. The homemade kraut paired with the tangy house thousand island and melted Daiya hits the spot and is calling to my taste buds as I write.

I'm a huge fan of Nature's Express frozen dessert, even though I get freeze head. They carry a different flavor everyday. The vanilla almond was a terrific compliment to the lemon flavors swirling through the parfait. It was a very hot day, and we had to carry the parfaits home without lids, hence the leaning tower.

Now excuse me while I go eat in the attic. Bahahahaha.

(photo credits-crazy Taurus boy)

MoFo 20 Tempeh Me With Tempeh

Whaddya mean you didn't take my MoFo Excuse Survey. I posted it yesterday. There's no excuse for that. Really. I mean what else were you doing on a Saturday night anyway. Gallivanting I suppose. Ah, well. You are probably one of those young vegans who can still afford to gallivant. Still. It's a good survey, and it makes me sad that nobody took it. I was going to share my din-din with you too. Now I'm not so sure. You know what? Tonight we had a very beee-utiful Asian noodle salad with marinated tempeh, roasted broccoli and sesame seeds, avocado and a sesame dressing.
Okay, well I guess I'll show you some pictures, because tempeh makes me joyous, kind of.

By the way that is steam arising not a dirty pot

Broccoli Heads

Plated

Dessert tomorrow. Sweet dreams.