Burgers with Smoky Tempeh Strips

I'm going to start out saying that I'm adjusting our daily food slightly by incorporating what's called the Feingold Diet. It basically removes petroleum-based preservatives, all artificial colorings and flavorings, and some natural flavorings, that are preservatives in disguise, from our food. It's a program I purchased after meeting a couple of women who have children struggling in certain ways that mine do. To protect my children's privacy, I'm not going to go into detail here of what we are working on, but I'm hoping that by removing some of the more harmful ingredients from our diet, it will help my beautiful blessings. The Feingold Diet by itself is not vegan, but I am only purchasing food that is vegan, so our food will actually be even more limited that the average person on this food plan. But, that's okay. What I won't do for my own health, I will cross over oceans and knock down mountains for the health of my children. Today was the first day that I began incorporating some of the food from their huge food list. It's a very slow process and reminds me of when I first became vegetarian and then vegan and how slowly shopping seemed to go in the beginning. I know that as I mark up my food list, shopping will go faster over time. So, over the next few weeks, you'll see things that we are using up that are not on the food plan, while I will be purchasing the new things on the plan. If this works and is helpful, this will be long-term, but the variety of food is great, and I should be still putting out tasty food. Hopefully, you'll stick around to see what I come up with.

Tonight's dish was originally going to be burgers with Smart Bacon, what we call facon in our home. It was going to be a kind of "facon burger," if you will. But, the "facon" isn't on the diet plan, so I came up with Smokey Tempeh Strips. I only told GR that I was subbing tempeh for facon because I knew everyone else would compare the two tastes, and I didn't want that. Everyone seemed to like them, except for SR, who wouldn't try them due to her past distaste of tempeh. Too bad. JK had seconds, and the whole dish was gone by the end of the meal. So, I guess it passed. The burgers we already had on hand and are not on the diet, so it's a half and half meal. Check it out.

Open-faced shot of Burgers with Smokey Tempeh StripsBurgers with Smokey Tempeh Strips

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. olive oil
1 - 8 oz. pkg. LightLife Organic Tempeh, Soy style
5 to 7 drops of Liquid Smoke
2 tsp. yellow mustard
2 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. canola oil
Your favorite veggie burgers (we used the extra large Boca Burgers from Costco)
Your favorite burger condiments
Your favorite burger buns

Directions:

Slice the tempeh into thin strips width-wise. In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat, and add the tempeh. In a small bowl, whisk together the Liquid Smoke, yellow mustard and soy sauce. With a glazing brush, brush some of the sauce over the tempeh strips. Cook for two to three minutes. Take tongs or a small spatula, and gently flip the tempeh strips over. Brush the remaining sauce over the strips. Cook for another two to three minutes. Flip one last time to sear in the top sauce and put in a serving dish. Meanwhile, in a griddle, heat the canola oil over medium heat and cook the burgers on both sides until done. Fix your burgers the way you like them with the tempeh strips on top. They actually came out pretty tasty, and I'll definitely be doing this recipe again. Serve with steamed veggies. Feeds five hungry vegans.