Sunday 9 October 2016

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: Tuna-Free Noodle Casserole; Bistro 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 :)

Seitan Goulash with Kraut; Rosemary Carrots; Parsleyed Noodles


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 :)

Blue Plate Special: Spaghetti Pie with Arrabbiata Sauce; 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: :)

Noodle Omelet


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: :)

City Skillet


'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: :)

'Big Soup' Minestrone


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: :)

No-Tuna Melt Paninis


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 :)

Tempeh Stroganoff-Stuffed Potatoes


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 Big Bowl


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: :)

Italian-Style Seitan with Linguine


Cute Kitty Photos of the Post

Sahara Toes


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

19 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It was one of the best I've had, I really liked the soy curls in it.

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  2. Everything looks so delicious! I just saw a recipe for a non vegan noodle omelette, and I was wondering how it could me made vegan.
    I've never made no tuna with soy curls, but that sounds good.
    Sahara's cute toes! I always have to get my kitties tootsies when they're sleeping!

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    Replies
    1. I love their little toes! They are so cute.

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  3. Toe beans! :D
    The tempeh stroganoff potatoes look great!

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    1. They were really tasty, it was a comforting combination.

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  4. Wow, love the sound of this week. It had not been on my radar. Looks like there's some lovely inventive vegan cooking in there.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know how much it is in print anymore? It isn't available on the book depository when I looked up a link to add in this post. But it is a good book!

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  5. Replies
    1. There are some black beans coming up in my next post. :D

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  6. I love your cookbook reviews, I don't think I can possibly buy any more cookbooks though, I have too many and I just don't look at them enough.
    The city skillet sounds good - it's similar to the tofu scramble I make.
    Oooh and the tempeh stroganoff stuffed potatoes.

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    Replies
    1. You can always have more cookbooks... or at least I can. ;)

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  7. Thank you for that review. I haven't cooked all that much from American Vegan Kitchen, but I want to try pretty much everything. I also made the spaghetti pie and the pasta dish with sauerkraut. I might try the Italian big bowl, since I have lots of sausages in the fridge and freezer right now.

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