Our family has been vegan for nearly 2 1/2 years now.  What made the switch from a standard American diet to a plant-based diet easier, was eating what we like to call transitional meals.  That means replacing meat, dairy and eggs with something that tastes and kind of looks like meat, dairy and eggs.

One meal we fell in love with right from the start, is vegan pulled pork sandwiches or maybe better said, BBQ  tempeh sandwiches.  The replacement ingredient for the pork being the tempeh.

When we first went vegan, I knew about tofu, but I had never heard of tempeh.  Well, I do now.  It’s cooked and slightly fermented soy beans.  It has the texture of a veggie burger and basically takes on the taste of whatever you’re cooking.  In this case, it takes on the taste of whatever BBQ sauce you use.  Tempeh is high in calcium, iron and fiber and can help lower your cholesterol.

There are also plenty of vegetables.  Talk about healthy!  The peppers are a good source of vitamin C and E.  The onions have cardiovascular benefits and lowers cholesterol and triglycerides.

This recipe is great for lunch in the Summer.  They seriously taste and look like pulled pork sandwiches and our kids just eat them up.  Give BBQ tempeh sandwiches a try and enjoy that vegan thing.

Tempeh

It is looking and feeling like Summer.  It’s a good thing, the first day is June 21st.

INDREDIENTS

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (just check ingredients to make sure it’s vegan)

1 (8 ounce) package of tempeh (crumbled)

1 tbs vegetable oil

1/2 green bell pepper (chopped)

½ red bell pepper (chopped)

1 medium onion (chopped)

1 package of Kaiser rolls or hamburger buns toasted with vegan butter (we use Earth Balance)

DIRECTIONS

Crumble tempeh into a large bowl.  Pour the barbecue sauce on top.  Stir a few times and let it marinate for around 10 minutes.  Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the green and red peppers and onion.  Stir frequently and cook until vegetables are tender.  Stir in the tempeh and barbecue sauce and heat through.  Spoon the mixture onto rolls after broiling them and serve.