Butters (minus the butter)
My life changed last week.
Why, you ask? Because this product entered my life.
I know the label says “Maple Cream” but for the sake of this post title I’m referring to this product by its alternate name, maple butter.
So what is maple butter? Gooood question, friends, and after asking at least 3 people I came up with… nothing, nada, no one knew. This is when Wikipedia comes in handy. Actually Wikipedia comes in handy at numerous times during my day and yes, I consider it a legitimate source.
Well, it appears no real butter is actually involved in maple butter. What is involved, however, is magic. Pure, sugary, maple magic.
I’d also like to point out that this is legitimate stuff, straight from New Hampshire.
Oh how I love when people pawn their maple products off on me.
Did I mention I’ve been awaiting some cold weather so I could have some melty maple goodness on hot oatmeal? I know I’ve been complaining about the cold weather here, but I wouldn’t mind a cool morning just so I could have hot oatmeal without breaking a sweat. I’d like to pretend that happened this morning but after a morning run and a hot shower hot food wasn’t really what I wanted. However, the thought of maple butter forced me to eat hot oatmeal anyways. And I don’t regret it.
Note to self: this stuff is sweet. Like really really sweet. I licked some off the spoon and it was almost too much for me. Almost.
Now on to the other butters; nut butters, obviously. Although both of these batches were semi-disappointing. Not so disappointing that I won’t eat them, just enough so that I won’t be sharing any recipes.
Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter
And Dark Chocolate Almond Butter
I liked this one better. Probably because the dark chocolate masked the odd almond taste, but this is not for the inexperienced dark chocolate eater. It tastes like “Extreme Dark Chocolate,” not that I mind. I’ve never met a dark chocolate I didn’t like.
Made using this dark chocolate.
Is that a panther I see?? I love panthers for some reason.
Both of these nut butters had potential and I swear they are super creamy, they just don’t look that way because I had them in the fridge. I think the almonds I used had an odd taste. I also realized I usually use raw almonds to make butter and these were roasted. Hmmm. Too bad, but you win some, you lose some.
Make me feel better and tell me something good you made recently or if you really want to make me feel better you can tell me something bad you made recently. Then I’ll know I’m in good company 
Easter Sunday
Every Easter, without fail, I think back to a home video of my sister and I on Easter when we were just little ones. My sister got a stuffed animal lamb that said, “Baaa, Happy Easter, baaa”,” when you squeezed it. Now every.single.year. when I wish someone a Happy Easter I am tempted to “baaaa” afterwards. I was even tempted to name this post, “Baaa, Happy Easter,” but realized that probably sounded weird.
Not that I ever sound normal.
My mom still fills up Easter baskets for my sister and I , despite the fact that I keep telling her I’m 21 years old and she doesn’t have to anymore. I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. I got out of the deal with a jar of Justin’s classic peanut butter, almonds (which were already made into butter) and 88% dark chocolate, plus the usual stuff that’s awkward to open in front of your dad, like underwear…
I’m sure you’ll all see the goodies around later this week, and NO I am not talking about the underwear.
That is, if Huni hasn’t eaten it all by then.
This is the one time I can say, “Keep yo paws off!” and really mean paws.
Children and puppies like Joey a little too much.
Seriously, they just want to be near him. Even if that means trying to climb up his legs.
Look at those eyes. I don’t trust her.
Me, on the other hand, I’m just trying to stay near the food.
The key to eating 3 Easter meals is to eat in moderation.
And for me moderation means only 1 buckwheat pancake instead of 2 and not going back for seconds on the potato, egg and veggie casserole. Even though I wanted to!
It seriously makes my heart happy to see my nephew sporting a Tulowitzki shirt. He can attend a Rockies game with me any day.
I hope you all had a lovely holiday. As usual, I loved seeing all my families 
Off to bed!
Baaaaa.
Tempeh Cakes
Hello, friends. I hope you all had excellent Saturdays. I know Joey and I did. Mostly because I managed to avoid doing any of the homeworked I needed to do and went on a run then accompanied Joey to his cousin’s wedding instead. My life only feels complete when I’ve done the Cupid Shuffle at least once during the day.
I’m about to hit the hay. I have a busy Easter planned, complete with not one, not two, but three big meals. Buuuut, before I dance off into dreamland I wanted to share a fun recipe with you all. Take it as an Easter present from me to you. Just pretend it’s in a basket.
Did you know good crab cakes are hard to come by? It’s true. And it’s especially true in Colorado. I mean, we’re not exactly a fresh seafood hub, are we know? So when I came across a recipe for crab cakes that weren’t made of crab at all, but tempeh, I was intrigued, inspired and ixcited. Okay, excited doesn’t start with an i, but that alliteration would have been cooler if it did. Without further adieu…
Tempeh Cakes & Remoulade
Modified from Post Punk Kitchen
Tempeh Cakes
- 8 ounces tempeh
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 T soy sauce
- 1/2 T worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 T tahini
- 1 T dijon mustard
- 1 T hot sauce
- 1 T red cooking wine
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 3/4 t ground ginger
- 1/2 t dried oregano
- 1/2 t salt
- black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
Remoulade
- 2 T tahini
- 1 T dijon mustard
- 1 T hot sauce
- 2-3 T water
- 2 pickles, chopped (or 1 T capers)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Crumble tempeh into a small pan. Add water, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then let boil for 10 minutes or until liquid is cooked out.
- Remove bay leaf and pour tempeh into a bowl to cool.
- Once tempeh is fully cooled (I put mine in the fridge), dump it into a food processor with the remaining ingredients except the panko, and pulse ingredients together.
- Mix panko in and form into 10 patties, then place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- While tempeh cakes are baking, make the remoulade by mixing all the ingredients together.
- Serve over tempeh cakes.
We served our tempeh cakes with a kale salad, a la Mama Pea. Topped with carrots and mushrooms.
Oddly enough, these kiiiind of tasted like crab cakes. Flavor-wise at least. I was a big fan.
Although now I’m just sliiightly excited to have real crab cakes in New Orleans in about two weeks.
And then I forced Joey to eat the leftovers for lunch so I could photograph the meal in the daylight. He’s so lucky to have me boss him around.
Although I’m pretty sure he wasn’t going to argue anyways. He loved them too.
And now, my food loving friends, I’m off to bed.
Have a good Easter!
Lauren Loves Good Food 