Cookbook Review: American Vegan Kitchen by my friend Tamasin Noyes

Tamasin Noyes is a doll, always there to answer questions quickly and always supplying my tummy with yummy vegan food. Last week, I made it a point to cook from her book American Vegan Kitchen (AVK) because I have been lazy in general with my cookbook usage and quest to try to recipes. I enjoyed EVERY DISH I MADE... That is not typical for me AT ALL so obviously Tam's knows wassup.

I made both of her Seitan recipes, Savory Seitan (Beef-y) and Seitan Light (Chicken-y), and was pleasantly surprised with both! I enjoyed the new technique I hadn't tried: Baking the seitan in broth, it was very easy! Pictured above is the Savory Seitan. I made a stirfry with it by thinly slicing the seitan, shaking it in a bag with a little corn starch to coat it, fried it up, added a little TJ's Soyaki Sauce and some sliced bell peppers and onions. PERF AS USUAL :)

Above is the Seitan Light.. Looks like chicken breasts! Thankfully it is not!

The Seitan Light I made to incorporate into her Seitan Katsu with Tonkatsu Sauce (OMG DELISH!!!!) This is pictured above and I can't wait to use the other half of the Seitan Light batch to make this again! The seitan was coated with panko crumbs and fried up, then served along with some Asian style slaw and topped with homemade Tonkatsu Sauce. A must try in this book!

I also made her Breakfast Sausages to use in her Country Skillet recipe. They reminded me of pepperoni almost! These used the steaming method to cook seitan, which has been my favorite method for awhile now. 

The Breakfast Sausages went into Tam's Country Skillet recipe. I really liked her idea for cubing the tofu in the skillet, instead of all crushed up in a typical scramble. I actually prefer this way now and think I will be using cubed tofu in my tofu "scrambles" going forward :)

With a few of the Breakfast Sausage Links I "slopped" together a sausage and peppers type dish; just heated everything up in a little veggie broth until the ingredients were cooked to my liking and seasoned with a little s&p.

In conclusion this is an AWESOME cookbook. Please support my homegirl Tamasin and buy her books!!! Apparently she has a few cookbooks in the works that I can't wait to get my greedy little hands on... Here is her blog Vegan Appetite in case you are not paying attention to it already! She is extremely generous with the amount of recipes she shares for free on her blog!

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

Easy Meals Always Seem Asian Themed These Days...

I think I consume an Asian themed dinner the majority of the week... Stirfry's are so easy to "Slop" together whether they develop in the form of a rice, noodle, or tofu based dish... Seems that I always have the items on hand to throw together some bomb fried rice! Pictured above is fried rice: Room temp (or cold) cooked Calrose rice, ALWAYS seasoned with Bragg's, Sweet Chili Sauce, Rooster Sauce and fried up in some olive oil... The additions to the base recipe this time were some frozen mixed veggies, diced red onion, and diced homemade baked teriyaki tofu.

Above is some fried rice with the same base seasonings. I then added leftover Japanese eggplant that I had sauteed with garlic and sweet chili sauce some julienned carrots and sauteed diced yellow onions.

And next we move to the INFAMOUS RAMEN NOODLE... Maruchan Oriental Flavor BITCHES and they also have a Spicy Flavor (BE A VEGAN & READ DEM INGREDIENTS) that is vegan as well that can be purchased 5/$1 at your local 99 Cents Only Store... I am not saying this is vegan health food that will have you shitting rainbows and flying with unicorns but it tastes GOOD. I always cook the noodles first but not too much, strain and rinse them with cold water and set aside, use some noodle cooking liquid/ broth/ water to cook up the veggies (Here was some sliced red onion and a pre-chopped broccoli carrot mix), then drain extra liquid, add seasoning packets and noodles, mix and eat :) LET'S MOVE RIGHT ALONG...

Tofu Stirfry's... Vegan staple here kids... If you have a Tofu Press (I have the Xpress) your life is that much easier... Or you can be a damn granola-hippie and do the old heavy-pot-on-top-of-tofu-wrapped-in-paper-towels-method (TREE KILLER!!! CALL THE VEGAN POLICE!! TREES FEEL PAIN TOO OMG)... Anyways, take the drained and pressed firm tofu, cut it into cubes and pan fry that bean patty until it's golden on all sides (The best you can), then pair with some special sauce.. The night I made this, Veggie Broth, Bragg's, Agave, Garlic, and Chili Flakes tickled my fancy... Threw in some broccoli florets at the same time and paired my stirfry with some freshly cooked Calrose (aka "sticky") rice.

Pictured above is another tofu stirfry with sauteed Japanese Eggplant, Bamboo Shoots, String Beans, Onions and Boy Choy for the veggies... A spin off from a Thai Green Curry recipe from a cookbook my friend facebook messaged me... The sauce was sugar, coconut milk, green curry paste, Bragg's and veggie broth, thickened with a cornstarch slurry.

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

The Post-A-Thon... 2011 Week 43 and 44

I have been eating and I have been taking pictures amongst all the drama and craziness in my life... Time to get back to normalcy and lay low... Let's get real

Let's start off with polishing off some leftovers... Spicy Eggplant with Tofu and some fried rice... I have really started to dig Japanese eggplant if you can't tell by now.

My last VWAV Stuffed Bell Pepper topped with vegan sour cream and paired with Homemade Refried Beans garnished with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and green cabbage.

Viva Vegan's Potato and Kale Soup... Never bother with making the vegan chorizo anymore cause it's like an extra hour or so of effort and I like the soup as is.

I love me some brussels and these are the rest of the Maple Brussels I made... I ate them for breakfast cause I'm weird like that... Dipped in barbecue sauce... Don't judge

I love that vegan food doesn't go bad fast! Seriously, leftovers can sit in my fridge for practically 2 weeks for the most part without getting gross... That's awesome!

I made a batch of Crock Pot Seitan a few weekends ago and finally did something with it!

I sliced half the batch of seitan into strips, shook the strips in a ziplock with some cornstarch, fried the coated strips in oil, once they were nice and golden I turned off the heat and added some barbecue sauce and stirred to evenly coat... Served these puppies up with some Japanese eggplant that I fried in oil and coated with sweet chili sauce and some kale salad.

Here is the Kale Salad (Before I slopped some of the end of it onto the dish above) in all it's glory. Recipe HERE (Scroll down halfway to Tess Challis)... Lemme get that Kale Salad!

I found a tube of Soy Chorizo AT THE 99 CENTS STORE! I fried it up with some chopped green bells, onion, and garlic and made my skinny ass some tacos. Here they are topped with Homemade Refried Beans, vegan sour cream, green cabbage, and cilantro.

Here they are again with sliced shrooms, vegan sour cream, green cabbage, and cilantro.

I also made some brown mexican inspired fried rice colored with Viva Vegan's Annatto Infused Oil, cumin, oregano, S&P, onions, garlic, and cilantro... Topped with some chunky homemade guac.

I made VWAV's Hummus again... Legit, though my tahini was kinda whack and I could tell this was much lower in fat and creaminess because of it... I don't mind though since it was for my next creation...

VegWeb's Fresh Folds with Balsamic Reduced Caramelized Onions... Oh my! Delicious <3

Folded in all it's sloppy glory <3

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

The Post-A-Thon... 2011 Week 42 and Korean Potatos Recipe

Hey peeps! As you all know, I batch cook and eat leftovers. It makes being vegan easy on me as I prefer to eat homemade food whenever possible since I know what I am putting in it! I had lots of leftovers to eat all week for lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually a big salad for me everyday or soup and dinner is the meal I like to eat something spectacular. Here are some of the things I consumed this week.

Last weekend I made some bomb nachos using almond pulp from making almond milk and subbing it (I used double the amount) for the cashews in the Melty Cheese recipe (So if you made the whole recipe it would be 1/2 cup alomond pulp). I also added a little white miso to give the nooch sauce a sharp chedddary taste. Very good!

Tofu is such an easy thing to throw together into an easy meal. Two of my current favorite dishes are VW's General Tao's Tofu and SP's Spicy Eggplant with Tofu. I make them almost weekly.

General Tao's Tofu with brown rice fried up with sesame oil, garlic, Braggs, S&P, and kale.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu topped with Sriracha and paired with brown rice fried up with frozen peas and corn, Braggs, and Sriracha.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu paired with Maple Glazed Brussles and brown and white rice fried up with frozen peas, Braggs, Sriracha, and kale.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers were a centerpiece of many meals this week with fried rice of some sort or Homemade Refried Beans for pairing.

 VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers paired with white rice fried up with peas, kale, Braggs, avocado, salsa and cilantro. This fried rice remix was my favorite of the entire week. Most days I would take leftover fried rice or just plain rice and rejazz or just jazz it up. Rice is so versatile and easy to make into an awesome side dish in minutes. I just cook it in the morning while I am getting ready for work in my rice cooker and then let it cool down during the day and it's ready to fry up when I get home from work... Simple planning peoples!

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with some chipotle mayo type drizzle, Roasted Rosemary+Sage+MapleSyrup+S&P Carrots, and Homemade Refired Beans.

VWAV's Stuffed Bell Peppers topped with vegan sour cream, Homemade Refried Beans topped with cabbage, cilantro, and hot sauce

Korean Potatoes

Korean Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients:

2.5 pounds baby potatoes (Red, White, or PURPLE), halved

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

1/2 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

1 T cornstarch mixed with 2 T water

Sauce:

1 T sesame oil

10 cracks black pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup garlic, minced

1/2 cup Braggs or Soy Sauce

1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place potatoes in a large pot and spread evenly

Whisk sauce ingredients and add to the potatoes.

Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling turn the heat to a simmer. 

Cook the potatoes for 15 minutes and mix then top with sliced yellow onions, cover and cook for another   15 minutes and mix again. The potatoes should be done by now, if not cook them covered for a bit longer. 

Add the cornstarch + water slurry and the green onions and mix until the sauce thickens.  

Korean Potatoes with brown rice fried with Braggs, Sriracha, frozen peas and corn, and plain cashews.

Peace, Love, Vegan <3

Garbanzo Salad Sandwiches, Veggie Pizza, and Teriyaki Tofu Stirfry

Today I made Garbanzo Bean Salad Sandwiches, veggies incorporated into the salad this time were green onions and bell peppers... I toasted some bread, slathered one side with AVK's Cheezy Mayo, slathered the other side with vegan mayo, topped with the Garbanzo Bean Salad, seaweed seasoning, romaine, and tomato.

Next up was some leftover pizza from this weekend served up with some Vegan Ranch. The pizza toppings included Tofurkey Italian Sausages, red onion, spinach, mushrooms, bell peppers, and a few slices of tomato. I used TJ's refrigerated pizza sauce and TJ's refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough... Shit's bomb!

Lastly, I cooked up a Cornstarch Coated Teriyaki Tofu and Broccoli Stirfry for a coworkers lunch tomorrow ($5) and some leftovers for me to indulge in.

Today's Quick Meals: Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice and Taco Soup

Tonight I made a pretty much weekly batch of Taco Soup to provide myself with a few meals and to sell the rest to coworkers. This is a foul proof recipe, I've never had any complaints... I served it with the usual dollop of Tofutti Sour Cream and added some green onions (Cilantro would have been better).

I also had some random veggies leftover from making sushi as well as a bunch of Baked Teriyaki Tofu and a batch of scold stick rice from my rice cooker so I decided on another tried and true recipe: Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice. The rice included about a cup of frozen mixed veggies, grated carrots, pickled daikon, spicy daikon, green onions, and Baked Teriyaki Tofu... I served it up with some roasted, seasoned seaweed slices.

Sunday Cooking and VWAV Reviews

I cooked a shit ton of food today and probably spent half the day on the kitchen, which me being the odd ball that I am, and not having a car at the moment, actually enjoyed it.

I started off my cooking frenzy with VWAV's Carrot Raisin Muffins. These turned out pretty good and I got 2 extra muffins out of the recipe. I thought these could be a bit sweeter (never mind i just ate another one), my brother thought they were fantastic. I give this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.

Next up, was VWAV's Lemon Gem Cupcakes. These were an epic fail for me but I do admit, I really suck at making desserts and baking. First off, the cupcakes didn't rise much and ended up sinking once they got out of the oven. No big deal right?

I will just cover them with the frosting. I go to make the frosting, another epic fail. I used EB buttery sticks for the recipe and something went wrong and I had to maybe double the powdered sugar and it was still runny and now way too sweet. Next fail, the cupcakes stuck to the liners. I was pissed, I ate a few, and threw the rest away :(

I then made my weekly batch of jalapeno flavored refried beans and

4 Rainbow Salads for my work lunches

Next, I had some brussles that needed to be used up so I prepped them (discarding gross leaves, cutting off the stem, and slicing them in half), coated them with some cooking spray and seasoned them with S&P and roasted them at 350F for 30 minutes (bigger ones might take a bit longer)... Feakin delish!

I then proceeded to make VWAV's Curried Split Pea Soup and this was a winner! First time cooking with split peas and this turned out great, thank God.

I also made VWAV's BBQ Pomegranate Tofu and it turned out alright. I left off the pomegranate seed topping cause that just seemed like a pain in the ass to do. The texture of the baked tofu was awesome but again, another BBQ sauce recipe from this book that just didn't tickle my fancy, too tomato-ey and sweet, and way too much for this recipe! I say you could easily half the BBQ sauce meant to bake the tofu in, I didn't even put the full amount on the tofu and ended up scraping the sauce off. It was way too much! Not a complete fail, but I won't be making this again. Though I will use her tofu baking technique: 2 tablespoons oil + 1 tablespoon Braggs, cut the tofu into 8 pieces, place tofu in the oil and Braggs mixture until completely coated, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes, turn over after 15, and add sauce and bake an additional 15 minutes. Perfect texture!

 Lastly, I made a batch pf Viva Vegan's Yellow Garlic Rice, I always make this dish when I have some cilantro to use up, I also used half an onion too and sauteed it along with the garlic... Yum

VWAV and some other stuffsssss

I have a deep love for easy teriyaki peasy tofu stirfys... To coat or not to coat my tofu with cornstarch is always the question... Coat is usually, pretty much always the winner! I have been making my own teriyaki sauce lately, basically just a mixture of garlic, ginger, Bragg's (or soy sauce), brown sugar, pepper, and maybe some sesame oil. I have also been adding crushed red pepper flakes to give the dish some spice. And I found this jar of garlic ginger paste at the Persian market that makes things so much easier to throw together.

My first teriyaki tofu stirfry was coated tofu with some carrots, collard greens, broccoli, asparagus, and onions for the veggies... Fail proof as usual.

 The second teriyaki tofu stirfry was coated as well and as always, delicious! For the veggies I used the carrots, onions, edamame, and asparagus.

 I made my weekly batch of fat free refried beans, this was my little dipping setup served with tortilla chips :)

I made a super delicious cherry banana smoothie, made with 1 non frozen banana, 2 big handfuls of frozen cherries and a cup of vanilla soy milk... Fantastical!

I made a double batch of VWAV's Chickpea Cutlets cause of all the hype they come with, along with VWAV's Mushroom Gravy and some of my homemade mashed potatoes that I seasoned with garlic and dried parsley... The Cutlets were a total fail for me, I baked them and they seemed undercooked so I left them in the oven for longer, forgot about them and they turned out hard as a brick so I threw them away... This pick shows the underdone Cutlet. The Gravy was awesome though!

Lastly, I made VWAV's tried and true Stuffed Peppers which I have pretty much mastered. I always use 5 peppers instead of 4 and when I'm selling them to coworkers, I cut them in half for easier tupperware packing. I mix in the cilantro now and probably double the amount instead of using it as a garnish. Legit as always.

Peace, Love, and Veganess <3