RecipeMuncher

Do you feel it? Can you smell it? It’s in the air, growing ever crisper. It’s in the leaves, growing ever redder. And it in the cooking, which grows ever more warming. Autumn is upon us! I revel is all things autumnal; the changing leaves, the shortening days, wearing sweaters, the cool, crisp days, and the warm cooking and baking, especially. I love the flavors of autumn. Pumpkin, butternut squash, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, apples, oranges, pears, all of these flavors work in a way that, regardless of what goes on in your life and around the world, well…they make you feel happy.

One of my all-time favorite autumnal sweets (besides candy corn) is gingerbread. Not the cookies (though I love those, too), but the cake. However, I sometimes find it hard to find a suitable recipe. So many that I read extol the virtues of how there is “but a hint of spice,” or “a touch of ginger,” or “just a touch of molasses” to the flavor. Now, I don’t know about you, but w…

Some weeks ago, while wandering through Barnes & Noble and enjoying the smell of coffee and paper, I happened upon a jackpot of a find on a clearance table, Under the Sun: Caroline Conran’s French Country Cooking. For .50, how could I not!? The book is filled with information on the ingredients, foods, and people of southern France, “…from Bordeaux to Nice…” and beyond. The recipes are pretty simple, down-home French cooking, you could say. None of the snooty stuff which often maligns French cooking in pop culture. Recipes include Sautéed Green Bell Peppers and Tomato Salad (Salade de Tomates aux Piments Verts), Cep and Potato Soup (Soupe aux Cépes), Lamb Couscous with Seven Vegetables (Couscous aux Sept Legumes), and Sweet Aniseed Brioche (Brioche Anisée) and so many more…

Whether you call it TSP (textured soy protein) or TVP (textured vegetable protein), it doesn’t change the fact that the stuff is versatile, easy to use, and, when cooked right, down right tasty.

While at Good Earth Natural Foods a few weeks ago, I was walking through their bulk foods room (where, I might add, you can buy Irish oats, granolas, dried fruits, sweeteners, and flours of every variety at a fraction of the cost of boxed brands) when I spied bags of TSP chunks for a mere 96¢ per bag (about 2.5 cups, raw). Of course, being a flexitarian (90% vegetarian), I am on a constant search for cheap, flexible, and useful sources of protein. Tofu is great, as are beans, lentils, and the like, but more options is always better, thus I grabbed a bag. and went to making a pot of TSP and veggie stew.

TSP or TVP…either way, gotta say not bad. by Tom

Tags: Bad, Gotta, TSP, TVPeither