In preparing for this week’s challenge, we got a heads up that this recipe was the most incomplete. While we love the concept & approach of Spoon University’s recipes, there’s a lot being missed or confused. Nevertheless, we didn’t shy away from their Protein-Packed Kale Salad with Tempeh & Lemon Dressing. Instead, we made it work for us.
We were excited to have tempeh on our shopping list. However, we were taken aback when we saw a photo of the salad and the tempeh looked like it right out of the package. All we could say was “NOOOO” and some in our challenge group had declared they were going to cook their tempeh. Sadly, the recipe had a HUGE miss because the tempeh wasn’t even in the ingredient list. There were no instructions on how to cook it.
We love tempeh and buy Trader Joe’s Organic 3 Grain weekly (it’s our favorite tempeh). Until we learn to make our own, that’s just how it is. With that said, we don’t recommend eating it right out of the package. It’s too bitter. So, unless bitter is your thing, don’t do it. (Next week, we’ll have a post all about tempeh with some recipes - Check back!)
Now, onto how we made this salad. First of all, we steamed, sliced and sauteed the tempeh with salsa (Salsa wasn’t on the ingredient list. We added it). Of course, cooking the tempeh upped the recipe time by 20 minutes. We also modified the lemon dressing recipe by scaling back the oil to 1.5 tsp, upping the lemon to a full one and using a 1 tsp of agave. Rather than pouring the dressing on top of the salad, Carm massaged it into the kale. We included 1/2 can of chickpeas, added 1/2 of an avocado and left out the apple (which we figured would be an entire apple, chopped or cubed).
The salad was delicious! We really liked the idea of it, especially when we didn’t want to be bothered to make anything elaborate. However, we were really frustrated by the recipe, because it really was just kale and ingredients to make the recipe, which we found was enough for 2 servings, not just 1. Also, the optional ingredients weren’t on the shopping list and more were in the directions. Hence, we went with our own twist on the recipe.
Some of our friends doing the challenge decided to use soy sauce and pan-fry their tempeh. That certainly is a good option. We went the salsa route and cut back the olive oil to stay closer to our 21 Day Fix eating plan. Really, you can do whatever you want with the tempeh to make it to your liking. In fact, we may try this again with a lime-cilantro dressing. How bad could that be?
What do you do when a recipe is not quite right? Tell us in the comments!