Making Ann Gentry Proud

 RFD Meatloaf and garlic kale

So this is post is going to seem a little "Julie & Julia" but I'm going to go for it away. As part of her Christmas loot, Jackie got the Real Food Daily cookbook and to my delight, she's been going through some of the recipes. Vegan cooking is a whole new beast in itself.  We've already been exposed to a few new staple ingredients like nutritional yeast (so yummy and nutty) and yellow miso. The actual cooking/assembling of the meals isn't actually difficult, it's the prep-work that takes a while. Two people only fit in our kitchen at a time and these meals were definitely two-people jobs.

loads of tempeh and kale

Packed with protein, the vegan meatloaf is primarily tempeh.  After you prep the tempeh, you mix it with stir-fried/chopped mixed veggies and seasoning and then bake. I might still side with the traditional turkey-meatloaf, but this is a tasty, healthy alternative.

 Jackie's rendition of the RFD Burger

Surprisingly similar to the meatloaf, the second recipe that we tried was the RFD Burger.  How "meaty" does this look?!  The burgers get it's texture from the ground tempeh and then we seasoned the tempeh with mixed veggies (including beets, hence the pink color). We replaced the buns for lettuce cups on the first round and then Jackie had the genius idea to use baked eggplant to sandwich the left-over patties. Delicious!

I appreciate the intention that goes into being vegan.  My sister has vegan days every week and she keeps talking about how you have to be conscious of everything you consume in a day.  I'm guilty of mindlessly snacking on whatever is around, maybe we can all learn a little something from the vegans!

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Credits:
Jackie and her new fancy schmancy knife. Without these two, this blog would have not happened.