BBQ Ranch Tempeh Salad

Well, you’ve probably figured out by now Im not much of a meat eater and I definitely dont mess around with cooking it at home. Something about raw meat in my kitchen kinda freaks me out, but that may change someday who knows.

Last night I took a really fun and high energy Zumba class at a studio I found in Irvine. I shook my butt so hard that by the time I got home I was pretty much just really thirsty and tired. I decided to keep it healthy and simple by making a salad. But you know I had to zest it up, right?

 How about some BBQ Tempeh bacon to go on top? Okay! Tempeh is a great source of veggie protein. It’s a little high in calories but it’s worth it. This was my first time working with Tempeh so I didnt know what to expect but it acutally came out really tasty.

I sliced the tempeh (bought an organic version from Trader Joes) into thin bacon shaped pieces and threw it in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. While that was sizzling, I grabbed a few ingredients and mixed them together to make a nice sauce…

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce (this sauce is my fave and I use it in a lot of recipes)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 sprinkle onion powder

2 sprinkles Smoked Paprika

1 sprinkle cayenne pepper (or your favorite hot sauce)

1 sprinkle salt

note: if you have liquid smoke, add that to this and you’ll really get that smokey bacon flavor. I didnt have any, wah wah!)

I mixed all these up in a little bowl. Once the tempeh was nice and brown on both sides I drizzled the sauce right on top and mixed it around in the pan. It looks a little burned in the picture but thats just the sauce all caramelized on the tempeh. It was delicious. Sweet and Spicy!

Then I just chopped up some veggies and made a quick salad of my favorites; sweet lettuce, cucumber, matchstick carrots, broccoli, and an orange bell pepper. (and seperately some tomatoes for the Mr.)

I drizzled the entire thing with 2 tablespoons of ranch dressing and grabbed a fork!

It was light, rich, savory, sweet, creamy, crunchy, and delicious!

I paired it with a lovely green juice and had a cup of hot tea for dessert.

See, it’s not all about pasta and peanut butter… sometimes your body just wants a salad. 😉