Recipe Round-Up: But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan

But My Family Would Never Eat Vegan is the follow-up to Kristy Turner's first book, But I Could Never Go Vegan. Once again, it is split into chapters based around an excuse people might give, and covers a wider variety of food for all occasions! I have really enjoyed making things from this cookbook, and I would recommend it. You can see previous posts I've made from this book here... and I just realised that those posts were from four years ago! Where does the time go? Why do I have so many cookbooks? Rounding them up here is going to be a never ending task. At least I'll have something to do for years? Anyway, back to the round-up! This is part one of three.

Smoked Gouda Melty Cheese Sauce: The book has a selection of pantry staples, including a very versatile cashew cheese sauce that has a lot of variations. This is the melty smoked gouda variety, which is thickened with cornstarch and flavoured with smoked paprika, garlic, and dill. It has a great flavour, and is wonderful to make a grilled cheese with. This is after it has been melted for another recipe, which you will here about in the next post.
Rating: :)



Everyone's Favourite Oatmeal is from the breakfast chapter, and is a good basic recipe with a bunch of variations. The original recipe is a little bland, but very filling. Although already sweetened with a little bit of maple syrup, I added a good spoonful of some vegan honey I had to use up on top. As well as an extra generous sprinkling of cinnamon. I increased the mild:water ratio for cooking the oats, I just prefer my oats creamier.
Rating: :| a just a little bland



Simple Fruit and Nut Oatmeal: As I mentioned, there are a bunch of variations. I'll just share one in this post, and spread the others out in the future round up posts so you don't just get overwhelmed by oatmeal. This one is the basic recipe just topped with fruit and nuts and drizzled with extra maple syrup. These additions definitely fix the blandness! I used strawberries and sliced almonds on mine.
Rating: :)



Mushroom-Kale Skillet Hash: A savoury breakfast option, this is very quick to make. It is a hash of red onion, red potatoes, mushrooms, and greens. I had ordered kale to be delivered, but they sent basil by mistake, so I used baby spinach leaves as the greens in this. It is seasoned with Old Bay seasoning, so it was good to use up some of the packet that I bought ages ago. I got two dinner sized serves out of this, and would recommend topping with some ketchup as well!
Rating: :)



Cheese-Stuffed Meatballs: Thisrecipe is a bit fiddly, but well worth it. It is from the 'vegan food for your meat and potatoes family members'. The 'meat' of the meatballs is made from mushrooms, kidney beans, and panko, and they are stuffed with some of the melty smoked gouda cheese sauce I posted about above. Although a bit soft, the meatballs worked perfectly. Once the cheese cools after you make it, it is very easy to scoop for stuffing into the meatballs. Served on spaghetti and topped with a Sun-Dried Tomato Marinara Sauce (more on that in another post as it is from another recipe in the book).
Rating: :)



Beer-Marinated Portobello Tacos with Avocado-Corn Salsa: Sometimes I use beer for a recipe and then I have some leftover because I don't drink it, so I scour my books for another recipe. Thus, these tacos, also from the meat and potatoes chapter. I made a half recipe of these with three field mushrooms (portobellos were not available). The marinade needed a but more flavour to it other than just the beer, which ended up being the overwhelming taste. It is served with an avocado-corn salsa, which was nice. I used celery rather than raw onion, and left out the jalapeno. I served these with a side of roasted zucchini and potatoes.
Rating: :| (though would be fine if you liked beer taste more than me I imagine)



No-Bake Zucchini Manicotti: From the 'health nut' chapter, but guess what. I totally roasted my zucchini slices first. Take that! I just don't like raw zucchini, nor does my body. Once roasted, it was great. They are rolled with some lovely herbed macadamia ricotta and topped with some more of that sun-dried tomato marinara (still not the main recipe to talk about that, it is just a sauce used in quite a few things). I served it with some roasted sliced potato. This is a nice flavour, but is absolutely not a filling meal. Be prepared to have some other stuff to eat with it.
Rating: :)



Shiitake Stroganoff: From the 'homestyle vegan food' chapter, this creamy sauce gets its base from silken tofu. Despite the addition of some seasonings and a lot of delicious shiitake mushrooms, it is just a bit meh. It manages to be too lemony and also a bit bland all at once. I served it with half the amount of pasta called for, and a tin of white beans mixed through for protein.
Rating: :| A bit bland, nooch fixes all though



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



Abby would like you to know that she is being held against her will! As part of make Abby and Boo get along plan 3.0, she is now confined to my study so Boo can have the run of the house. She is being very dramatic about it, and is a master of the tiny little sad squeak. Even though I've been sitting in here with her for the last two hours on my laptop, she takes that as an invitation to show me just how pitiful she is. Be brave Abby!