Tempeh |

As some of you may know I’ve been trying to get more protein in my diet recently for a variety of reasons, however I have really gone off meat. I usually only eat chicken or fish in small amounts anyway and have never been a massive meat fan but the past month I’ve not had a taste for it at all. This set me on a quest to try and find other sources of protein to add to my diet and I have to say I’m really enjoying eating mostly vegan.

I got some tempeh from the health food store and really like the nutty flavour and more crunchy texture than tofu, I thought it would be nice to see how it can be use cooled in a lunchtime dish in place of a sliced meat for example. I generally avoid all bread as it has never agreed with my digestion well, an alternative I’ve found I really enjoy are Ryvita crackers. I never used to like them until I saw a selection of different flavours they now have available, my personal favourites are the Black Pepper Crispbread, Sweet Onion Crispbread and the Original Crackerbread. I also recently saw the Fruit Crunch Crispbread which I’m keen to try with a sweet topping as a healthy alternative to satisfy my sweet tooth.

I love trying different toppings to give them a different twist, if you’re also a fan of Ryvita like me let me know which your favourite is and how you top them, I’d love to try some new ideas!

I loved this topping I made for lunch; it would also go really well on top of a salad. It took me under ten minutes to make so I’ll definitely be making this up the night before and packing it in my lunch along with a few crackers for the following day.

Recipe:

This made enough for my lunch, I didn’t weigh out the veg but I’ve taken a picture so you can see how much I used. This is just an idea so adapt it to your taste and how hungry you’re feeling!

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of celery
• 1 piece of cucumber
• 1 large tomato
• 2 Ryvita Cracked Black Pepper Crispbreads
• ½ a tsp. of guacamole
• 1 tsp. of hummus
• 1 tsp. of pickle
• Diced Tempeh

Method:

1. Dice the cucumber, celery and tomato and place in a bowl. Add the hummus, pickle, and guacamole and mix until the veg are covered. Add a sprinkle of pepper if desired.

2. Grease a pan and add the diced tempeh, fry for around 5 minutes until it is golden brown moving occasionally to make sure all sides are crispy.

Dice the tempeh in to the same size as your salad mix. Fry in a low cal spray until nice and crispy.

3. Mix in the tempeh to the salad mix. Spread a light covering of spread (I used Pure – dairy free soya spread) on to the Ryvita. Top the crackers and I used any mix I had left over to top a small side salad. Enjoy!