Recipe Round-Up: But I Could Never Go Vegan

While I've posted about specific recipes in other blog posts before, this is my first full round-up from But I Could Never Go Vegan, the first cookbook from Kristy Turner. This is a fun book, with the chapters broken up into excuses that people give for why they couldn't be vegan. From lack of protein, to lack of ice cream, to family events, this book has you covered. Let's see what I've made!

BBQ Baked Tofu, Honey Mustard Kale Slaw, and Chickpea Fries: This was a fun combination that I made when a friend was coming over for lunch. The slaw uses lacinato kale (cavolo nero), rather than curly. My tummy can get a bit funny with raw kale, so I massaged it for a minute and then chilled the salad for about six hours, and it became quite soft. The dressing is agave (or you can make the Happy Bee Honey recipe from the book), lemon and mustard. I made a half batch of the chickpea fries, which I chilled overnight before baking. I needed to bake for an extra 10 minutes to get them crispy, though even then they were still a bit soft. The mix on the stove was a bit hard to whisk smooth, but it worked OK. The tofu was lovely, I feel it is hard to go wrong with BBQ tofu. I did end up baking it for quite a bit longer to get it to my preferred consistency (40 minutes on the first side and then 20 on the second, instead of 30 and 5 minutes called for in the recipe). I used the BBQ sauce recipe from the book, which is AMAZING. So delicious!
Rating: Slaw :), Tofu :), BBQ sauce :D, Chickpea fries :)



Tofu Bravas: I was a bit underwhelmed by this in general. The sauce just didn't quite meld together for me, perhaps it would be better having some time to sit for the flavours to mingle more. If I did this again I would also heat the sauce prior to serving, as it was just kind of lukewarm and then cold on top of the hot tofu, which then also lost some of the heat.
Rating: :|



Chickpea Omelets: These came together quickly, and I appreciated that they have a lot of veggies in them as well (mushrooms, greens, tomatoes, green onion). I did find them maybe a tiny bit bitter? But topped with some diced tomato and cucumber and a drizzle of tahini, all was good.
Rating: :)



Savoury Overnight Oatmeal: I love overnight oats, and I love savoury breakfasts. This certainly lived up to its name, and was a delightful savoury start to the day. Plus very filling! It is a mix of quinoa, oats, chickpeas, nooch, sun dried tomatoes and olives. And you can top it with whatever you like. Avocado is a must, obviously.
Rating: :)



Roasted Broccoli & Apple Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing: This salad was such a delightful mix of flavours. The broccoli is roasted in tamari, maple and nutritional yeast! The salad itself has greens (the recipe calls for baby spinach, but this was right after the recent rains and flooding so all I could get was a bag of mixed greens), apples, celery, almonds and dried cherries (I used a blend of cherries and cranberries). I left out the raw onion. The tempeh bacon is listed as optional, but it adds such a lovely savoury, salty, smoky hit that I just don't think you could leave it off.
Rating: :)



Mexican Bowl with Quinoa, Farro, and Amaranth Trio: This recipe says it serves 2-4, so I made a double batch and got about 4.5 serves. As well as the three-grain base (which ended up a little mushy), there was also seasoned black beans, a chopped vegetable salad, greens, queso, and avocado. The salad is meant to be tomato, corn and zucchini, but I do not like raw zucchini much, so I used cucumber and I also left out the raw green onion. I added some extra nooch to the cashew queso because I like things cheesy. Overall, a very nice combination.
Rating: :)



Roasted Garlic Hummus and Broccoli Bowl: This simple and healthy bowl is great if you have recently been overindulging. The roasted garlic hummus is made from scratch, using a head of roasted garlic, but to be honest I would probably double the garlic as I couldn't taste much of it. I would also suggest cooking the quinoa in broth to bring a little more flavour to the overall dish.
Rating: :)



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



All the time I am missing my Sahara, I am also missing my Gizmo.