BBQ Tempeh Salad with Made-from-Scratch Cilantro Lime Dressing

Hello, and welcome to the Blue Barn Farm and Sanctuary. This week we’re sharing a light, and simply delicious recipe for BBQ tempeh. We decided to serve it up on a bed of greens with some red pepper and a little onion tossed in the mix. We topped it off with a lovely drizzle of cilantro lime dressing. I can honestly say the combination was divine!

True to her word, Nora who writes the vegan recipe blog Noracooks professed that the BBQ tempeh would only take 10 minutes to prepare, and she was spot-on. I think the woman is amazing, and I have never even met her. It’s basically a three-step process:

• Steam the tempeh in about a half inch of water.

• Fry the steamed tempeh in your oil of choice (we always use coconut oil since it’s a bit more stable at high temperatures).

• Pour your BBQ sauce in and stir to coat all the pieces of fried tempeh.

Before you get into all of that, prep your veggies and greens so that as soon as the tempeh is finished you can just add it to your plate. Done!

And speaking of prepping, I would also suggest making the cilantro lime dressing ahead of time for the same reason. I also want to mention that this particular recipe calls for Greek yogurt, but clearly that has dairy in it. So we opted to use Forager’s plain unsweetened cashew yogurt. You get all the creamy goodness with none of the cruelty. Did I mention it’s organic? I love that!

It seems that we often empathize with the animals in light of choosing a plant-based diet, but then disregard what’s happening to the Earth as a result of eating “conventional” products. We tell ourselves that deciding to eat organic is a financial burden. Yet, the stress being placed on our physiological systems from ingesting the chemicals used in cultivating foods grown conventionally are, in the long run, more detrimental than the minimal extra expense of buying organic. Not to mention the long-term impact all of those chemicals have on our ground water supply, the health of the soil, and the quality of the air we breath. The Earth is a closed system. There is no “away”… Our choices affect humans, animals, and plants.

Each one of us deserves to live the best life possible. Being kind and compassionate with our choices can help support manifesting that life for so many beings. We have no idea how far our reach is, and who we are touching when we choose love. I think I will leave it at that for today. From everyone at the Blue Barn Farm and Sanctuary, happy cooking! Tell us how your BBQ tempeh turns out.