Monday Yumday: Grilled Tempeh Reubens
These are by far one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Not only was this meal super easy to prepare and relatively quick to make (about 40 minutes from prep to assembly), it’s also unbelievably satisfying.
Here’s what you need to make these delicious grilled tempeh reuben sandwiches (makes 4 sandwiches):
- 3 tablespoons sunflower oil, divided
- 8 ounces tempeh, sliced into 8 large, 1/8-inch thick sheets
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 3/4 teaspoon dried dill
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 cup water
- 8 slices light rye bread (I used 12 grain)
- 2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine
- Thousand Island Dressing (see recipe below)
- 1 cup sauerkraut, drained
- 2 avocados, mashed (I completely forgot to mash my avocados!)
1) In a large saute pan over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons sunflower oil and tempeh, browning tempeh on each side. Remove tempeh from the pan and set aside.
2) Add remaining oil and onion. Brown for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return tempeh to the pan and stir in garlic, bay leaves, paprika, caraway, dill, salt, vinegar, tamari, and black pepper. Add water and simmer for 30 minutes or until the water has evaporated and tempeh is infused with flavor and coated with a glaze. Remove bay leaves.
While the tempeh is sauteing you will have plenty of time to prepare the Thousand Island Dressing. It’s so easy! In a small bowl combine the following ingredients: 1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons ketchup, and 3 tablespoons dill pickles, chopped. That’s it!
3) Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Spread two slices of bread with margarine. Grill for 3 minutes, until browned on one side only. Repeat for the remaining slices of bread.
4) Between the ungrilled sides of two pieces of toast, layer Thousand Island Dressing, sauerkraut, 2 pieces of tempeh, onions, and avocado. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Serve with a crisp, fresh green salad with a light vinaigrette dressing and a Hefeweizen beer. (I didn’t make the salad or have the beer. But it was still delicious!)
We’ve Been Nominated for the Veggie Awards!
Super exciting news this week: the VegNews 2010 Veggie Awards are open for voting and we’ve been nominated in four categories! 
Click here to vote for your favorite vegan products, celebrities, restaurants and more. Find Allison’s Gourmet nominated under Favorite Vegan Bakery (Online), Favorite Vegan Cookie Company, and Favorite Vegan Chocolate, as well as Allison’s recipe column “Veganize It!” under Favorite VegNews Column. We’d love your votes! All submissions will be entered to win great vegan prizes, and voting closes August 31st.
NEW: Monday Yumday
We’d like to introduce a new weekly blog segment: Monday Yumday! Every weekend our guest blogger, Kris will make one of Allison’s scrumptious recipes which are featured on our website and in some cases, VegNews Magazine, and share them here on the AG blog.
This weekend Kris made Allison’s potato salad for a non-veg BBQ. It was such a hit with everyone that we decided to start there. As we move on with recipes, sharing pictures and tips, we hope that you participate as well. If you make one of Allison’s recipes we’d love for you to guest blog about it (right here!) or share your delectable photos with us on our Facebook page. Without further delay… potato salad:
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First, you must know that I am no cook. I mean, I love making food and I do all of the time, but I tend to strictly stick to recipes as written, and often am told how unorthodox my food preparation style is (messy!). So don’t be surprised if some of my comments seem unusual, that’s just because they are. *wink* Okay, now let’s get started.
My favorite thing about this recipe – other than the taste of course – is how simple it is to prepare. What took the longest was waiting for the potatoes to finish cooking. Here’s what you need (serves 6):
- 8 cups yellow potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I used 4 large potatoes)
- 3 large celery ribs (I cut them length-wise and then across)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons red onion, minced (they always make me cry!)
- 1 cup vegan mayonnaise (at first it looks like a lot but trust me, you’ll need all of that entire cup)
- 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped (I used an entire one of those little packets in the fresh herb section of the store)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
- In a stock pot fitted with a large steamer basket, place 2 cups of water and add potatoes. Bring to a boil and steam for 15 minutes, until potatoes begin to yield to an inserted fork. Transfer potatoes to a large bowl and allow to cool for at least 20 to 30 minutes. ** NOTE: I didn’t have the proper steamer equipment so I boiled my cut potatoes for about 8-10 minutes so they were still relatively firm, not too squishy.
- In a small bowl, combine celery, onion, mayonnaise, dill, salt, mustard, and pepper. Add to potatoes and fold to combine.
And now for the good part – the pictures! I promise to take more pictures next time for better step-by-step look sees. But for this one I only have a few of the more finished variety. Enjoy! Oh and if you make it let us know how it turns out!
Club Orders Shipping Today!
I hope that everyone had a fabulous, fun and safe long weekend! For all our wonderful monthly club members, your brownie, fudge, and cookie of the month club orders are being shipped today for delivery later in the week. 
We have some very special flavors for you this month including our first ever wheat-free cookie flavor, (Wheat-Free) Peanut Butter, our uniquely delicious white Apple Pie Fudge and everyone’s favorite Pecan Brownies. If you’d like to try some of these flavors (who wouldn’t?), but you’re not a monthly club member, you can still order our brownie, fudge and cookie of the month flavors on our website this month, while supplies last.
(Wheat-Free) Chocolate Chip Pecan: Our Next Cookie Flavor
We’re super excited about our new (Wheat-Free) Peanut Butter Cookies! They’ll be the cookie of the month flavor coming up in July, and they’re fantastically wheat-free! In fact, we think they’re so great that we’ve already started perfecting our next flavor of wheat-free gourmet cookies: 
Chocolate Chip Pecan. These nutty cookies are one of our most popular gourmet cookie flavors, and we’re excited to have them re-created wheat-free. Even though they’re not the flavor of the month until October, Chocolate Chip Pecan is one of those flavors that’s so delicious we like to keep them available all year round. Keep your eyes out for a new “Wheat-Free Cookies” page coming to our website soon!
As our selection of Wheat-Free cookie and brownie options grows, we may start offering a Wheat-Free Sampler like the Baker’s Choice Samplers we offer now. Would you be interested in a Sampler containing all Wheat-Free cookies and brownies?
Now Offering Free Local Pick-Up
As we continue to improve and expand our website, we’re striving to make it more and more user friendly. Our latest improvement is to offer free local pick-up for anyone living in our area who would rather pick up their vegan baked goods or confections in person than have them shipped across town. 
This service is meant for people living in the Nevada City/Grass Valley area, however, we’re leaving it up to you to decide whether you’d rather drive to meet us or have your package shipped.
To use this new service, simply place your order on our website, choose the “Local Pick-up” shipping option, and then meet us on the next Thursday at 4pm outside the Nevada City Post Office (200 Coyote Street, Nevada City, CA). To make it as simple as possible, local pick-ups will only be available at 4pm every Thursday at the above location. Orders placed on Thursdays will be available for pick-up the following Thursday. Cheers!
Our New Look
If you’ve received orders from us recently, you may have noticed that our look is changing. The new website was the first step, and now we’re upgrading our packaging as well. We’re already 
phasing in our luscious new lavender embossed purple chocolate boxes, and soon we’ll be introducing gorgeous new gift boxes, post cards and gift cards, too. A few other things have also changed. Our hot cocoa is now called drinking chocolate, many of our gift baskets, gift sets and samplers have new looks as well as new names, and coming soon, all of our products will have lovely new labels. So, keep an eye out for your next order, our new look is coming to life, one piece at a time.
Welcome to Our Fabulous Future!
The launch of our delish new website is just the beginning of an amazing new year we’ve got planned at Allison’s Gourmet. Visit us regularly to keep up with all the new treats we’ll be introducing, our tempting, tasty giveaways, and veg buzz to keep you in the know. And don’t forget to check in on Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait to see you there!
Luscious New Website for Allison’s Gourmet!
We are incredibly thrilled to announce that our brand-new, absolutely gorgeous website is now live! It’s been a long-time coming and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
