Pineapple Tempeh Stir Fry

Does anyone ever get in the mood for green beans?

Me neither.

I mean, they're fine and everything, but I'd rather have broccoli. Or zucchini. Or eggplant. They're just not my first choice. I don't grow them in the garden, but we always have an abundant supply from family every year. The in-laws, my parents, and my grandparents all grow them and we end up with just the right amount. 

I run out of ways to cook them, and I have to keep things interesting or we get sick of them. We've roasted, grilled, steamed, stir-fried and made soup out of our green beans, but we needed a fresh taste to them.

They were delicious! Paired with the chewy tempeh and the sweet pineapple glaze, we greatly enjoyed what will probably be our last batch of green beans for the season. 

First, I made the marinade. I got the idea from the Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh on 101cookbooks.com. I made a lot of changes, the biggest of which was using pineapple juice instead of orange juice. 

Tempeh is a very nutritious protein source. 20g of protein per serving! The ingredients are also all recognizable, which is something I look for on a package. It has a slightly nutty taste and a chewy texture that we really like. 

Slice the tempeh block in half to make the pieces thinner. I cut it into 16 triangles, just to be fancy!

Pour the sauce over it and let it marinade for about half an hour. We went to the grocery store during that time, so it was probably a little longer, but I'd recommend at least 30 minutes for full flavor.

Remove the tempeh from the sauce and cook it up.

These are the green beans in their ice bath. I briefly steamed them and then dumped them in cold water to stop the cooking. 

Once the tempeh is done, use the same pan to crisp up the green beans. I like to get little brown bubbles on the sides of them from being against the hot pan.

Pour on the sauce. Please ignore my weird duck hand in this pic.

Add the tempeh and bring the sauce to a boil. Mmmmm! It smelled so good!

Pineapple Tempeh Stir Fry

Inspired by 101Cookbooks.com

Serves 2

1 8 oz. pkg. tempeh (any variety, I used Flax)

1 c pineapple juice

1/2 T minced garlic

1 T minced ginger

1 T tamari (or soy sauce)

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2-1 lb. fresh green beans, cleaned

Whisk together pineapple juice, garlic, ginger, tamari, and crushed red pepper. Slice tempeh into 1/4" thick pieces of your desired size. Lay in a single layer in a shallow dish. Pour sauce over tempeh and let marinade for 30 minutes. In the meantime, clean green beans and steam lightly. Submerge immediately into an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Remove tempeh from sauce, reserving sauce for later. In a hot skillet, cook tempeh until it begins to crisp, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove tempeh from pan and set aside. Using the same skillet, cook green beans until they are heated through and the sides are slightly browned from the pan. Add tempeh and sauce and bring to a boil. Cook until sauce reduces by half, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, drizzling any sauce left in pan over beans and tempeh.

Kale Chip Tips

If you've never eaten kale before, my Dad will tell you that you're lucky. But deep down, he loves it.

If you've never eaten kale before, I will tell you that I'm very sorry for you. Go eat some.

Look at it! Crazy curly leaves, pretty blue-green color...what's not to love?

Our favorite thing to make with kale is kale chips. In the winter, when I'm buying kale, I try to ration it. One big bunch = 3 times of eating kale chips. That's sad. Right now, I cut as many big leaves as fit into my garden basket and squeeze them all onto a tray, or two trays if I get crazy with picking it.

There are a lot of recipes on the web for kale chips, so this is not an original idea. It's just a really great one. I'll post our method here, because we (and by that I mean the Bup) have figured out some tips and tricks. He's the master of kale chips. I almost always burn them because I'm busy doing other stuff.

See? Squeezed. Spilling over the edges. Delicious bites of green.

Look how much it cooks down! This is why it's okay to squeeze it on there. The more the better.

When they're done, they should look about like this. Not brown, but less blue than before. The biggest test is to just pick up a piece and see if it's crispy. If not, put them back in for 1 minute and check again.

Do not, under any circumstances, put them back in for longer than 1 minute when they're just about done. You'll be sorry.

Ignore the chipped nail polish & focus on the chipped kale. It's crispy but not burnt & has a little crystal of sea salt on the edge.

It didn't last long after I snapped the picture. 

Bonus for all of you protein lovers out there - kale has protein! Check out The Stone Soup for several other surprise sources of protein.

Kale Chips

Serves 2

Bup's tips are in blue.

1 large bunch of organic kale

olive oil spray

~1/2 tsp sea salt crystals

Preheat oven to 400*. Lightly (VERY lightly) spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray (4 quick passes usually does it). Wash kale and shake dry. Rip leaves away from stem into large pieces. Reserve any small pieces for other use* & discard stems. Lay leaves on tray in a single layer, pushing together as closely as possible ( I usually fold them in half and set just the edges on the tray. You want as little of the piece of kale to be touching the tray as possible, but each leaf does need to touch the tray. Don't pile them up). Very lightly spray leaves (Too much spray will cause them to wilt. Use even less than you used on the pan.) & then sprinkle with sea salt. Go light on the salt - a little goes a long way. Bake for 5 minutes and then check leaves. If the leaves are laying flat on the tray or are brown in color, flip them with a spatula (This is caused when there is too much oil or they were laid flat on the oil). Otherwise just shake the tray to make sure they're not sticking. Return to oven for 1 minute and check again. If the leaves are still limp, it needs another minute. If the leaves are crisp, they are done. Remove from oven and eat. (Try not to be sad when they're all gone!)

*Green smoothies!!! Post coming soon.

Biergarten

For a combination Mother's & Father's Day celebration, we took my parents to the Biergarten. There were 13 breweries and we received a 12oz. glass to use for the tastings.

They were calling for rain, so we had a gray day, but the tulips were in bloom and everything was lush and green.

As you can see, we got off to a great start! The stands were spaced fairly close together, so we started off with a bang at the first two. The second stand had one of my favorites of the day, Strawberry Wheat from Lancaster Brewing Co.

After that, we stopped for soft pretzels at one of the food booths. The booths were all from local shops or restaurants. I favored the lighter beers but the rest of my family liked the dark varieties.

One of my favorites was actually rather dark, a Sam Adams. I had to try it since chocolate was in the name! It tasted like Dr. Pepper Cherry Vanilla with a dark beer twist. Once I said that, the Bup wouldn't even try it. He was never a fan.

Another big hit was the Appalachian Brewing Company's Trail Blaze Organic Brown Ale. It was a little too dark and bitter for me, but I love that a local brewery has an organic option!

Beer tastings definitely give you larger samples than wine tastings do! We were ready for a nap after this. If you ever get the chance, go to a beer tasting. I'm learning slowly about beer and it was a great experience to broaden my beer thirst!

Cute little chick

I don't want to get too serious here, but I had a conversation last night that got me thinking.

My grandparents live on a farm about an hour from me. Growing up, we would go down to visit and help out. I remember driving the Farmall tractor with Mommom and sitting on the piles of hay bales while Poppop and Dad  loaded them from the baler onto the wagon. We'd bring lemonade out to Poppop when it was super hot. I loved exploring the barn and searching out the newborn kittens when the mommy cats hid them away safely. We'd ride the bale elevator to the upper level to store the hay and straw for the winter. Poppop and I would go outside after dinner and let the sheep into the barn for the night. That's an amazing sight - all the sheep running like crazy for the open doors of the barn!

Mommom would take me into the chicken coop and show me how to gather the eggs. I'd go out to the steer pens and feed the babies out of my hand. One year, a friend and I named the two steers Peaches and Cream. Of course, being a farm, these steers were being raised for one reason - food. That was the first time I really remember truly knowing what beef was: Oh! I'm eating Peaches and Cream. Mom!!!!! How could you let them do that to them? 

(Disclaimer: The next paragraph might be a little gory.)

We went down on several occasions to harvest the chickens. Poppop got them in as baby chicks that he'd keep in the incubator and then he raised them for food. I was too young to be much help, but I vividly remember the process. Poppop would use an ax to swiftly cut off the heads and then the chickens would be left free to roam the yard. Headless. The chickens weren't in pain. They weren't scared before they died. They lived happy lives, pecking away the barnyard like chickens were born to do. But the truth was, they were being raised for slaughter. After they died, Mommom and Mom would hang them up to drain out the blood and then dip them in scalding water and pick out all the feathers. It was a full day's worth of work, but rewarding, too. Fresh, humanely raised, free range chicken! 

I think that was when I decided chicken is gross. Since then I've gone back and forth between eating and not eating chicken. Now I'm at the stage where I don't eat it. I disagree with the inhumane treatment of chickens in factory farms. I don't want those pesticides and antibiotics and whatever else in me. 

The conversation last night was with Mommom and Mom. Dad made chicken cacciatore for dinner and I asked whether they got the chicken from the Amish farm stand. They had, thankfully! Mommom remarked that no matter what brand she buys in the grocery store, there's always blood around the bones. She was upset because that means that they didn't properly drain the chicken before packaging it up. For a woman used to eating her own farm-raised chickens, this was the ultimate insult. I suggested that she try buying free range, organic chickens and see if it made a different. I'm anxious to see if it does!

Since you made it through this super long post, I thought I'd share a funny picture of the Bup and Dad loading bags with sheep manure to bring home for our gardens. Aren't they cute? :-)

A Quick Visit

On Sunday we went to visit our aunt down near Baltimore. That's Shea, her kitty. As usual, this involved the Bup helping with some handy-man work around the house and us all going to Trader Joe's, my all-time favorite grocery store! This time around we tried a new grocery store, Roots Market. They sell whole, natural foods, mostly organic and local, and are socially and environmentally responsible. I loved the selection and variety.

For lunch, we went to their partner restaurant, Great Sage. They serve vegan food and bill themselves as "Organic Green Cuisine." I wanted to try EVERYTHING. I got the Roasted Vegetable Wrap. It had eggplant, sweet potato, hummus, and plenty of other delicious veggies inside. I wasn't excited about the chips, but the wrap was so filling I didn't need a side. Plus we shared an order of the Almost Raw Vietnamese Spring Rolls. They were so good that they were gone before I got a picture. And they came with peanut dipping sauce. I may or may not have licked the bowl clean... :-)

The Bup got the Great Sage Chili and Brown Rice with Fresh-Baked Cornbread. Talk about a HUGE bowl of food! He was happy.

Aunt Connie got the Thai 'Chicken' Salad. It had soba noodles mixed in with the veggies. It was her first experience with chicken-that-isn't-from-an-animal and she enjoyed it. We joked about Tofurky and whether this should be call Toficken. Bad joke, I know.

A lot of people shy away when they hear 'meat substitute.' The Bup and I have tried many varieties. The only product we've tried that is 99% identical to meat is the Smart Grounds Original Veggie Protein Crumbles. We've made soups, sloppy joes, and taco salad, all with great success. Our other standby is Tofurky for sandwiches. Deli meat has too many issues that I won't go into. But Tofuky is a great substitute.

I wish there were restaurants like this in our area!

Farm Show

See? We were still smiling even after paying $10 to park and then driving around looking for a spot for over 10 minutes. Here we are on the shuttle bus that took us down to the PA Farm Show! My first happy sighting was a big tractor trailer truck labeled "organic." Yes!

I knew it would be crowded because it was a weekend, the parking was awful, and it's always crowded anyway. There was a line for the broken escalator, which is just a testament to the laziness of Americans. You can see by looking at it that it's not moving. Just take the steps! And we did.

The best place to start is in the free samples section. We had about an hour and a half until Farm Show's "Got Talent," which we planned to check out. Still more crowds to fight! We found some nice selections of treats, from mustard to raw milk cheeses to mustard to buckwheat cakes (yum!) to mustard. Oh, did I mention the mustard? We ended up buying 2 kinds: Seltzer's Horseradish and Miller's Hot and Sweet. That was lunch.

The butter sculpture was amazing, as usual. What a crazy amount of butter!!!! We found some sample apple slices and the Turkey Hill samples nearby.

I was really excited to find the PA Maple Syrup on display. We used to make maple syrup up at our cabin (coincidentally in the Endless Mountains) so this was great!

We tried a variety of wines (sadly, not this one but I liked the name :-) ) and ended up buying 3 bottles from Blue Mountain. They had the nicest sales lady, which just goes to show that customer service really does matter! We're always on the alert as to how we're being treated since we both work in customer service. When someone impresses us, we react! I got Bri's Blush, which I'd had before, and Mountain Frost. Bup got a Merlot.

My one milkshake of the year is safely tucked away in my belly. I'm not a milkshake person for a lot of reasons, mainly that I'd rather eat than drink. Because the dairy industry has a lot of issues, I try not to consume a lot of excess dairy anymore. Ice cream and cheese are still on the list of loves, though! I just look for sustainably raised and hormone free dairy products and we drink Almond Breeze in place of milk. If you haven't tried it, it's delicious and it doesn't spoil if you don't use it within a week. Thank goodness for that!

We drank our shakes while watching Farm Show's "Got Talent." The one girl was in 3rd grade and she was excellent on the violin! Then we got a few more goodies to bring home at the food court and headed out. After all those snacks and no real food my stomach wasn't super happy with me but we looked around the food court and couldn't find anything else we wanted. I needed something fresh. On the way back to the car I realized I should've gotten an apple but it was too late.

We stopped to visit our friend's new puppy, Lexus, on the way home. Isn't she a cutie? I'm a cat person, but this little pup has a spot in my heart!