Recipe Round-Up: American Vegan Kitchen

American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes is a fun book full of delicious, diner food classics. Growing up in Australia, our version of diner food was very different to America's diner food. And to be honest, I think that America has us beat! One of my favourite places to eat when I was younger and still a pregan was an American-style diner at a shopping center near us. I was very sad when it closed. This book is even better, it has so many more delicious treats than anything I experienced. As well as the individual recipes, Tamasin also includes a list of 'Blue Plate Specials', where you combine a few recipes to create a fun and complete diner meal.

Blue Plate Special: Tuna-Free Noodle Casserole; Bistro Broccolini: Chickpeas take the place of tuna in this yummy casserole, that also has a lovely cashew-artichoke sauce. I used fettuccine for my noodles, left out the capsicum, and added in extra leek and mushrooms. The broccolini was simply done, with pine nuts, garlic and lemon.
Rating: Casserole :D, Broccolini :)



Blue Plate Special: Seitan Goulash with Kraut; Rosemary Carrots; Parsleyed Noodles: I had some sour cream that I needed to use up, and goulash was just the ticket. I did decrease the sauerkraut from 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups, as my dad isn't a fan of too much kraut. I also left out the capsicum. Other vegetables included celery, mushrooms and carrots. Yum! It also has beer in it, I used Coopers Pale Ale. For the noodles, I just made a half batch (using 250g instead of 1lb). They have vegan butter and parsley mixed through. The carrots are very quick and simple, with a tasty taste. I used fresh rosemary, but a whole teaspoon instead of just half because I like rosemary.
Rating: Goulash :), Noodles :), Carrots :)



Blue Plate Special: Spaghetti Pie with Arrabbiata Sauce; Roasted Broccoli and Carrots: The spaghetti pie recipe was super saucy, I ended up with sauce leftover... it wouldn't all fit in the baking pan! But that is OK, because it is a tasty sauce and you can freeze it for later. The pie was tasty, with a tomatoey TVP sauce and a yummy topping of blended tofu, sour cream, cream cheese, lemon, nooch and others. I also topped it with the optional grated vegan cheese. The vegetable side was meant to be broccoli and capsicum, but I roasted carrots instead of the devil vegetables.
Rating: Spaghetti Pie :), Roasted Broccoli and Carrots :)



Noodle Omelet: This was tasty, though I managed to burn my hand making it. Ouch! Tofu and chickpeas are blended up with seasonings and then poured over cooked angel hair pasta to make a thick omelet. I used a small saute pan to cook it in, and it took a little while given the thickness to cook through. It was still a bit mushy in the middle, but warm. I forgot to put the parsley in, so mine isn't as pretty as it could be. It also keeps really well, and then cuts up nicely into wedges.
Rating: :)



City Skillet: Roasted potatoes, mushrooms and tofu are the base for this tasty fry-up. I used extra mushrooms because I had them and mushrooms are great. I would suggest cooking the tofu first to get it nicely seared, then putting it aside until it is called for later in the recipe. The sauce is meant to be a blended capsicum sauce, but I just skipped that step and used good old ketchup.
Rating: :)



'Big Soup' Minestrone: I used the white bean option in place of tempeh here, as my dad prefers beans. I also couldn't find vegan lemon pepper (why do people put milk products in it?), so I used some lemon juice and black pepper. This is a hot and satisfying soup for cold weather, with vegetables and pasta and beans. Served with a side salad and some crusty bread.
Rating: :)



No-Tuna Melt Paninis: This uses soy curls, instead of the regular tuna stand ins, which gives it quite a tuna-like texture. I really enjoyed this tuna salad mix, both on the sandwich or on its own. The sandwiches are also spread with some delicious cheezy mayo, and are layered with a slice of tomato. I used the panini press to cook these, rather than buttering them and cooking in a skillet.
Rating: :)



Tempeh Stroganoff-Stuffed Potatoes: The tempeh is roasted before being added to the other stuffing ingredients, but I found that I needed to increase both the time and the temperature to get the tempeh to absorb all of its roasting broth. This was a very satisfying meal!
Rating :)



Italian Big Bowl: This pasta is full of garlic, sausage, tomatoes, capers and olives. I used some of the fancy Sanitarium/Vegie Delights sausages (these aren't the greatest sausages). I decreased the pasta from 1lb to 250g, which gave me 4 smallish serves.
Rating: :)



Italian-Style Seitan with Linguine: Instead of making seitan for this, I used a package of Fry's Chick'n-Style strips (the old variety). The pasta (I used 12oz instead of 1lb) is tossed with seitan, garlic, mushrooms, peas (standing in for capsicum), spinach and has a white wine and lemon sauce. I would have liked more lemon in the sauce!
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photos of the Post



It is well known that cats have toes like beans (thanks Pusheen), and here is Sahara demonstrating her little pink toe beans.