Eating vegetarian food means you are trying new things. Experimenting. Cooking with things you’ve never used before.
Most of the time, it works. You end up with something delicious, nutritious, and meat-free.
Sometimes, it flops.
Do not (and I repeat: DO NOT) do the following:
1. Go to the hassle of going to a second grocery store to buy tempeh (fermented soybean curd). Cut into strips. Marinade in BBQ sauce in the fridge.
2. Cut peppers and onions into strips.
3. Put tempeh, peppers, and onions into aluminum foil pouch with some olive oil.
4. Put on the grill for any amount of time.
5. Put all of this into a hot dog bun with a dousing of BBQ sauce.
The result is an undercooked but still charred (and bland) mess. Not sure how I pulled that off. Maybe if you shook the foil pouch a few times? Marinaded the tempeh for longer? I’m not even going to try to figure it out. I’ll just make black bean burgers next time!
Luckily, no one else was eating it. Everyone else was way into their hotdogs & brats (I splurged and bought the organic ones. I couldn’t handle feeding my friends conventional hot dogs – way too many scary ingredients).
As for me, I’m really happy my friends make great food. I had watermelon salad (post on that coming later FOR SURE), bean dip, baked fruit, pasta salad, and homemade black bean salsa to nosh on.
Sometimes, the best part of being vegetarian is eating more than your fair share of side dishes. : )
What’s your biggest cooking flop? Share it in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter.
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3 Comments
Tempeh needs to be cooked first, either steamed or simmered before you utilize it in a meal. After the initial cooking, you could have smeared it with BBQ sauce then grilled it to give it some char. I’m interested in trying tempeh but need to be open minded about it too, try some different options with it.
I had no idea! I have fried it before and that kind of worked. It is so delicious whenever I have it in a restaurant. Thanks for your comment & advice!
Trader Joes has a really good Chickenless Pulled Chicken BBQ that manages to cure my BBQ cravings. Now to find a good wing substitute….