Tempeh Tacos

Ooohh, these were good. I've always liked the sound of tempeh tacos but never got around to making them--until now. Matt said, "these are the best tacos I've ever eaten--seriously!" And I believe him, because he had about 5. So first, what I did was made some quick guacomole by mashing up a ripe avocado (you will want to use at least two, because it's so good and goes so fast) adding a generous pinch of salt, some fresh lemon or lime juice and some minced red onion. Throw on top of that a couple strips of Garlic-Chili Marinated Tempeh, some salsa and shredded lettuce inside an organic crunchy taco shell, and voila! you have the most easy, tasty dinner there is.

To make the Garlic-Chili Marinated Tempeh:

* 1 teaspoon good chili powder

* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

* pinch of cayenne (depending how spicy your chili powder is)

* 1/2 teaspoon paprika

* ground black pepper

* 2 cloves garlic, crushed or sliced

* juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime

* 1/4 cup liquid aminos or light soy sauce

* 1/2 cups water

* 1 package tempeh, cut into 1/3 inch thick strips

Combine everything in an air-tight container and refrigerate overnight, or up to 24 hours ahead of time. Lightly oil a non-stick baking sheet and lay the marinated tempeh strips in a single layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, turn, then bake another 10 minutes or so.

I also made this little salad to go alongside. The original plan was to use jicama. I bought a beautiful jicama bulb last week (usually there is at least a little mold and a few bruises on the jicama, but this one was perfect) and assuming it was still good, was saving it for taco night. Well, I cut into it and it was all brown and discolored. Oh well, so I made the salad sans jicama. Orange segments, red bell pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkling of cilantro.