Balsamic Roasted Veggies with Tempeh

As I have said before, I really enjoy autumn cooking.  Soups and roasted vegetables are two of my favorite dishes.  I expect that Vegan MoFo will bring many of those types of dishes to my posts.  Since I have already dropped some soups on the reading masses, I figured it was time to get into the oven, so to speak.

I enjoy shopping.  It is so much fun, I will shop for a variety of things and find it relaxing and amusing.  The only part of shopping that I am disgusted by is the register.  My solution?  I avoid it.  I simply do not buy anything.  It is something that has gotten me the label of frugal but it has also helped me buy a home and take as many vacations as I can find the time for.  Last night, I was on the phone with Jamie while doing some shopping and she accused me of being quick to spend money on food!

Bah!

For her information, today I was wondering the aisles of the grocery store looking for ideas for today's MoFo post and it took me almost 40 minutes to buy three items.  Several hours later, I was eating an early dinner.

Balsamic Roasted Vegetables and Tempeh

2/3 of an eggplant (peeled and sliced)
3 portobello caps (cubed)
5 cloves of garlic (chopped)

15 oz of tempeh (cubed)
1/2 cup of oil
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons of onion (chopped)
1 tablespoon of fresh basil (chopped)
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
1 teaspoon of jalapeno pepper (chopped)
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper


Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a glass oven pan, add 1/4 cup of oil, garlic, jalapeno pepper, and onion.  Roast in the oven for 3-5 minutes.  This will release some of the flavor of the garlic and onions.

In a bowl add the remaining oil, balsamic vinegar, oregeno, salt, pepper, eggplant, mushrooms, tempeh and toss until covered.  Add the mixture to the already roasting garlic and onion mixture.  Roast for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven, add the paprika and stir well.  Return to the oven and roast for an additional 15 minutes.


Sadly, the picture does not to the flavor justice.  Mushrooms, tempeh, and eggplant all have a similar color after they have roasted, something I did not think about.  I added some chopped scallions and additional smoked paprika to the top to make the picture pop a little more.  The paprika was great but do not bother with the scallions.  This dish was a last minute thought, I actually did not decided what I was going to do until I was half way done.  It surprised me, it is extremely good, especially for this nice wet autumn day in Atlanta.

Make this.