I’m not going to lie to you.  Tonight’s dinner was better in concept than in execution.  Tempeh, when prepared well, is savory, nutty, and delicious.  When prepared poorly, it’s nutty and BORING and kind of a chore to eat.  This recipe fell somewhere in between.  It was the sort of dinner that I would’ve been proud of had I made it up from scratch, but as it was a published recipe, I’m not sure what to think.

We had a smaller package of tempeh on hand than was required for the recipe, so I scaled everything back, resulting in not enough sauce for too much tempeh.  Oh, and the sauce?  Totally bland.  So I added more vinegar.  And tomato paste.  And ketchup.  And a whole lot of hot sauce.  And then it started to approach palatable.

Maybe the problem was that I didn’t make the coleslaw?  Entirely possible – but then the focus of the dish really shifts off the tempeh, and then what’s the point?  We piled our sloppy joes with more of the weekend’s pickled onions, which provided a nice tangy crunch, and had some steamed vegetables on the side.  Shane’s going to have the leftovers tomorrow, and then I think we’ll disavow all knowledge of this dish.

Recipe:
Tempeh Sloppy Joes from Cooking Light