My inlaws left some tempeh in the fridge...

[Luckylily]

I've never been a fan, not even when i was a vegetarian. But hubs said "if you think you can make that taste good, i'll eat it."

Challenge accepted.

So, lay it on me: your very best, most awesome tempeh recipes. My only requirements are that it only use fresh ingredients, no prepackaged sauces (exception hot sauce)or anything like that. I am willing to make sauce, if a particular variety is required (curry pastes, etc).

[diablita]

I've never actually cooked tempeh. And I have this image of your IL's not being healthy eaters?

[seattlegirl]

I don't know how he did it, but my BF made buffalo tempeh and served with blue cheese dressing, and it was great!  I suspect he just marinated in Frank's Red Hot Sauce and butter and baked it.

[merigayle]

i have a tempeh meatloaf recipe i can dig up if you want. It is grated (tempeh) in a cheese grater and then mixed with stuff like ketchup, mustard, oats, etc.

[Ice Cream]

It's the only vegetarian protein product that I like.  I steam it for 20 min., ten cut it in cubes and add it to a pasta dish with marinara sauce.  Quick, simple, and balanced. 

[merigayle]

steaming it gets rid of the bitter taste. I like it just stirfried. Or you can make tempeh bacon.

[Run Amok]

You have all kinds of great suggestions here. This is one of those foods I just can't bring myself to try. I'm sure it's delicious, it just grosses me out.

[Luckylily]

I've never actually cooked tempeh. And I have this image of your IL's not being healthy eaters?

They aren't really. I don't know why they bought it? They eat a lot of prepackaged (but organic!) foods, and are weirded out by the lack of boxes and cans in my pantry. They don't really understand scratch cooking (not why, not how, etc) and think i'm some kind of health freak because i insist on it. I don't think i am a health freak, i just like cooking and prepackaged foods have so much salt and sugar they don't taste like food to me anymore!

[merigayle]

Cheaper to cook from scratch too

[Luckylily]

Cheaper to cook from scratch too

Waaaaay cheaper.

[nadra24]

Waaaaay cheaper.

So I'm thinking about the cost of making sauces and stuff.  Is it really cheaper to make your own, say, enchilada sauce?  Because it doesn't seem like it is.  I do it anyway because I always have tomato sauce on hand, but never enchilada sauce.  Also it tastes better and I can control the heat, but I think if I found a good canned brand I liked I'd use it happily.  What other kinds of sauces do you make?

Luckylily, just curious what canned goods you do use, if any.  I don't have a ton of canned stuff in my pantry, but I do have canned tomatoes/tomato sauce, beans, and a few random other things.  I suppose now that I have a bigger freezer I could make pig batches of beans and freeze them, but I find that if I'm eating them in salad I like the texture of canned beans better than pressure cooked beans.  Perhaps I need to experiment some more.

I agree that most foods made from scratch are definitely cheaper and usually healthier and tastier as well.

[Luckylily]

So I'm thinking about the cost of making sauces and stuff.  Is it really cheaper to make your own, say, enchilada sauce?  Because it doesn't seem like it is.  I do it anyway because I always have tomato sauce on hand, but never enchilada sauce.  Also it tastes better and I can control the heat, but I think if I found a good canned brand I liked I'd use it happily.  What other kinds of sauces do you make?

Luckylily, just curious what canned goods you do use, if any.  I don't have a ton of canned stuff in my pantry, but I do have canned tomatoes/tomato sauce, beans, and a few random other things.  I suppose now that I have a bigger freezer I could make pig batches of beans and freeze them, but I find that if I'm eating them in salad I like the texture of canned beans better than pressure cooked beans.  Perhaps I need to experiment some more.

I agree that most foods made from scratch are definitely cheaper and usually healthier and tastier as well.

I use canned beans, because they are faster (exception, lentils), and canned tomatoes in the winter when we run out of the home canned garden tomatoes. Just about everything else i buy fresh. I do read the produce section of the sales flyer carefully while menu planning.

I make spaghetti sauces, pizza sauce, cheese sauces, curry pastes, gravies, bbq sauces, hot sauces, stocks, etc. chicken is cheaper to buy on the bone, so i always save the bones and make stock. Thai Curry pastes are cheap to make your own because they make a huge amount and you can freeze in ice cube trays like you would baby food. We have a huge quantity of homemade hot sauce, because we grow peppers, amd what else do you do with thousands of hot peppers?

I've honestly never thought to buy enchilada sauce because my enchilada recipe has me making the sauce while cooking the chicken... I'm sort of programmed this way now, i don't think in those terms. When i do taste canned/jarred sauces, they taste salty or oversweet to me because i am not used to them.

[Luckylily]

Oh, and buying my spices at the farmers market saves me a small fortune!

[teetime]

Oh, and buying my spices at the farmers market saves me a small fortune!

This is great.  Buying ANYTHING at my Farmer's market costs me a large fortune, which makes me really sad.  Far worse in DC than in NYC for some reason.

[Luckylily]

This is great.  Buying ANYTHING at my Farmer's market costs me a large fortune, which makes me really sad.  Far worse in DC than in NYC for some reason.

I only go once every couple months, but its worthwhile. The dekalb farmers market has a wall of spices sold in bulk. A big tub of cumin seeds (probably about a cup), for example, is about $2.

[nadra24]

I use canned beans, because they are faster (exception, lentils), and canned tomatoes in the winter when we run out of the home canned garden tomatoes. Just about everything else i buy fresh. I do read the produce section of the sales flyer carefully while menu planning.

I make spaghetti sauces, pizza sauce, cheese sauces, curry pastes, gravies, bbq sauces, hot sauces, stocks, etc. chicken is cheaper to buy on the bone, so i always save the bones and make stock. Thai Curry pastes are cheap to make your own because they make a huge amount and you can freeze in ice cube trays like you would baby food. We have a huge quantity of homemade hot sauce, because we grow peppers, amd what else do you do with thousands of hot peppers?

I've honestly never thought to buy enchilada sauce because my enchilada recipe has me making the sauce while cooking the chicken... I'm sort of programmed this way now, i don't think in those terms. When i do taste canned/jarred sauces, they taste salty or oversweet to me because i am not used to them.

That all makes sense.  I do buy spaghetti sauce, because there is a brand of Ragu that has a ton of veggies in it that I really like.  It will frequently go on sale for $1 per jar, and since I don't grow my own tomatoes I can't make it for cheaper than that.  I should do pizza sauce.  I haven't had a ton of luck with freezing stuff for future use, but that probably has a lot to do with a) only cooking for one person, and b) only having the crappy freezer that's attached to my fridge.  I find that since I'm in and out of that thing so often, it doesn't stay cold enough and everything forms ice crystals or gets freezer burned.  Now that I have a better freezer and there's two of us, I should try freezing stuff more often. 

[Luckylily]

That all makes sense.  I do buy spaghetti sauce, because there is a brand of Ragu that has a ton of veggies in it that I really like.  It will frequently go on sale for $1 per jar, and since I don't grow my own tomatoes I can't make it for cheaper than that.  I should do pizza sauce.  I haven't had a ton of luck with freezing stuff for future use, but that probably has a lot to do with a) only cooking for one person, and b) only having the crappy freezer that's attached to my fridge.  I find that since I'm in and out of that thing so often, it doesn't stay cold enough and everything forms ice crystals or gets freezer burned.  Now that I have a better freezer and there's two of us, I should try freezing stuff more often.

Pizza sauce is another one that is good to put in icecube trays since you only use a little bit on a single pizza!

Stock freezes really well too.

Like you, i can't quite get used to the texture of pressure cooked beans, but don't mind them in chilis and soups and stuff like that.

[caito]

Soak it in booze? 

[merigayle]

We finally eliminated all canned goods. We make beans from bags of dried beans, about two cans worth for about 90c. We buy boxes of crushed/diced tomatoes and make our sauces from there, or jarred pureed tomatoes. We make pizza dough from scratch, costs probably 25c to make a batch. The enchilada sauce, is spices, tomato paste and tomato sauce and broth, so probably breaking even on that one, though i think it is tastier made from scratch and you can adjust seasonings. Our local natural food store sells spices in the bulk food section, and that is pretty cheap. Or i used coupons and buy the bottles at the market.

[ecodork]

LL - what did you end up doing with the tempeh?