Book Review - American Vegan Kitchen

American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes is all about comfort food. I don't know if it is really fair to call this a review as I have reviewed and praised this book several times before. The new relationship glow we had in the beginning has matured into a comfortable, familiar trusting relationship. I had the great pleasure to be a tester for this book, so I have tried MANY of the recipes. Tami's writing style makes you feel like she is your buddy and you're hanging out in the local greasy spoon.

She provides a lot of great basic information on vegan proteins. Her savory seitan recipe (the slow cooker version particularly) is one of my go-to seitan recipes. It turns out great every time. She offers brief tips and tidbits without being long winded. On thing I adore about this book is her section titled "Celebrate All Year 'Round with American Vegan Kitchen". It is a fun list of different food themed days for throughout the year. If you are lacking blogging inspiration or cooking inspiration, turn to this section and get yourself a theme going. 

A couple of weeks ago someone posted it was taco Tuesday. I hadn't been to the store and wanted to make some tacos. Luckily, I had everything I needed to make AVK's 21st Century Tacos (pg. 145). I don't think it is fair for an Arizona, chile lovin' girl to critique these tacos. I will tell you, that I like mine much more fired up. But this recipe is super easy and great for a quick weeknight meal. I think most gringos and gringas will very much enjoy these. The taco meat freezes really well, so make double and freeze some for a super quick dinner. 

One of my all time favorite sweet treats when I was very young was tapioca pudding. I don't remember the last time I had tapioca pudding! When I was testing, I really didn't look at the desserts much for some reason. I guess it was because I had just come off of testing for a baking book and I was bursting out of my pants. I was excited when I found the Mom's Tapioca Pudding (pg. 196). It was very parntry friendly. I didn't have instant tapioca, but it's in every store, so no biggie. I could hardly wait for it to cool off to eat it. I let it get completely cooled, because this is how I ate it as a kid. Oh man did this take me back!! The recipe says it serves four. Hah! I didn't want to share any of it...but I did.

It's time for another give away! American Vegan Kitchen can be yours!!

America is truly a melting pot. There are so many cultural influences in American dishes. For this contest, leave a comment about what you think represents All-American food or great American diner fare. Leave your comment by midnight MST tomorrow 10-18-12. US residents only.

Come back tomorrow when I will be posting a recipe from the book!!

Memory Lane - PIctures from Recipe Testing HAWT!

Today is my Friday. This translates in to 12 hour work days = no kitchen time. All that I really want to do is head to the kitchen for a good creative day. But alas, this will have to wait until the morrow. I haven't posted for a few days and I am dedicated to posting more often. So today, while I don't have any new material to post, I did find lots of testing pictures.

The three books featured here today all came out this past year. I was lucky enough to be selected by the authors to be a recipe tester for all three. It seems like the testing was ages ago! Now, you might think I am biased because I was a tester. Admittedly there are always a few recipes I'm not crazy about. But honestly, I really loved so many recipes from each book, that I think they are worthy of your consideration. I am including links to Amazon to make it easy for you to find the descriptions and reviews of the books. This pictorial should give you a good sampling of some really excellent cook books you should add to your collection!

I'm going to go Alphabetical by book title in the name of fairness.

American Vegan Kitchen by Tamasin Noyes

It is hard to pick a favorite from AVK. But this San Fran Seitan Wrap is right up there. The marinated seitan is TDF but add the cool Asian slaw and experience something really special.

This Chicago girl can tell you that this Chicago Style Pizza is aces. Make sure to cook it in an iron skillet for a nice texture on the crust.

Check out the All American Incrediburgers. They are eerily like the texture of the meat version. They are incredible on the grill.

Quick & Easy Bake Sale by Carla Kelly

While the Nut-Topped Almond and Hazelnut Bundt Cake might not be the most photogenic selection from this book, this cake is a star. The nut topping is sublime. I had a totally vegan-phobic co-worker not just eat it, but he also requested the recipe so that he could have his wife make it for him. 

Yes folks, this yeast bread challenged girl actually made these beautiful Hot Cross Buns. I still have a precarious relationship with yeast, but these turned out perfectly. This is a wonderful vegan version of an Easter classic.

I know I've posted these before, but they are so good, they deserve a double post. The Car Tire Cookies are a bit labor intensive. The results are more than worth the effort. These were by far my favorite recipe from the book.

Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson

There is a little backstory to this next pie, the Banana Pudding Pie. First off, I always LOVED banana cream pie. I thought I'd never again be able to indulge in the luscious creamy delight in a vegan version. I am so glad I was wrong. Fred and I had decided to visit Oregon. We met a bunch of the PDX PPK gang at the Bye and Bye. Here is where I was introduced to and solidified a food crush on the lovely Julie Hasson. She showed up with this pie and made my dreams come true. Besides being an awesome creator of crazy good recipe, she is as sweet as this here pie. After chatting for a while, she invited me to test for Vegan Diner. Oh happy day!

We need to get some savory in to the mix. Here is a Southwestern version of the Quinoa Burgers. Get your napkins ready and eat up!

No diner menu would be worth it's weight without a great onion ring recipe. Enter the Beer Battered All-American Onion Rings. The coating on these is crispy and perfect, leaving you with a creamy sweet onion on the inside. Pass the catsup and salt!

MOFO - Day 17 - Chase the Chill Chili from AVK

I'm going to keep going with my American Vegan Kitchen love today. I have made this chili (and variations of this chili) a few times now. Fred and I love things a little hotter, so I used hot chile powder in this. I love the combo of both seitan and beans in this version. It is a stick to your ribs chili. It really will chase the chill. I made a whole batch of Tami's savor seitan and froze the leftovers for another tasty meal.

We ate this straight up this time, but it is excellent with jalapeno corn bread. It makes a good amount, but our whole batch is almost gone. Fred ate lots and we gave some to our good friend today. He is a hard-core meat eater, so I am excited to hear what he thinks.

I'm starting a sub-theme today: Red, White and Green Chilies. Today's chili is the red portion of the sub-theme. Check tomorrow for White!!

Just look at those beautiful chunks of veggies, seitan and the hearty beans. Oh yes, don't forget your organic beer!

MOFO - Day 16 - Chipotles American Vegan Kitchen Style - GIVEAWAY!!!

I'm very excited to announce that I am going to be giving away a copy of American Vegan Kitchen!!! **

I always am so happy when I make things from American Vegan Kitchen. Tami knows her way around the kitchen there is no doubt. She also does spicy extremely well.

She has generously offered to send one of my lucky readers a free copy of American Vegan Kitchen!!!!! If you don't have this book yet, you should make sure you add it to your collection. Who knows, you might be the lucky winner and get it for FREE! Just make sure to leave a comment on this post about how you use chiles your favorite American dishes and you could be the lucky winner. If you have a favorite from AVK tell me about that too! 


Winner will be drawn at random for all comments posted by Friday at midnight. So make sure you comment before then!

Every time I open AVK I have a really hard time deciding what I am going to make. This time I was able to narrow it down because of my MoFo theme. I love smoky chipotles. So I found the perfect recipe for today's post. Smokin' BBQ Portobello Sandwiches. Tami's Smokin' Chipotle BBQ Sauce is really easy to make. It is smoky, sweet with a little bit of heat. It would be great for any type of BBQ recipe really. But I wanted to stay true to the book, so we had these as mini po'boy of sorts. I sauteed up the mushrooms, slathered them with the sticky, yummy sauce and served them on little slices of baguette with a touch of Vegannaise. They were the perfect quick easy chile filled snack for our mid-afternoon house cleaning break.

I am going to be featuring another dish from AVK tomorrow, so make sure to check back. Don't forget to leave your comments on this post for your chance to win. The winner will be drawn on Friday!

**Sorry to my international readers, this can only be shipped within the US.

Here they are in all their yumminess 

Smokin' BBQ Portobello Sandwiches

Tofu Dog Wars - Who's is Best?

Last week I had a bunch of teen agers coming over for a party. I was trying to find an easy way to feed this army of boys. Of course hot dogs came to mind. They can be cooked on the grill quickly (an important feature in 100+ AZ weather). The trick for me was that all the neighborhood kids know that I do not eat meat, which makes their noses crinkle quite often. So I wanted to make the veggie dog experience fun. In the spirit of adventure I devised a blind taste test of three brand of tofu dogs to see which one meat eaters preferred.

My local Whole Foods had three different brands (pictured above). All the dogs were cooked on an outdoor grill. They were cut into bite sized pieces for all to try naked (the dogs, not the peeps). This may not have been the best option, because hot dogs really need the fixings to taste good in my opinion. But who am I to say? I never really liked hot dogs of the meaty variety all that much either. But that could be because I found out how they were made at a rather tender young age. 

I'm not sure if it was bias on my testers' part because they knew they were veggie dogs or if the results were truly accurate. No one really cared too much for any of the selections. I had a rather large plate of hot dogs left over, which with 10 hungry teen aged boys is not a good sign. There was a clear winner amonth the three. The Yves Jumbo dogs recieved the most votes by a great majority. They had the most realistic texture and the best flavor overall. Fred likes to have some quick protien available for busy days. I do buy him tofu dogs on occassion. After this test, he will be getting Yves from now on.

 The Tofurkey dogs were the loser with only one vote. Most of the crowd thought the flavor, color and texture of the Tofurkey dogs was odd and gross. No one really commented on the Litelife Smart Dogs.

So what have we learned from all of this? Don't let your neighbor kids know you don't eat meat before serving them hot dogs. Do not serve tofu pups naked. If you are going to enjoy a pre-packaged tube steak, try Yves Jumbo dogs. Don't forget the brat relish from American Vegan Kitchen. That stuff will make any dog taste like a million!

BBQ Time

Thanks to all of those who lost their lives to keep us free! Memorial Day seems to kick off summer BBQ season (at least in my head). This Memorial Day we were lucky enough to have Fred's sister visiting from Montana. The kids came by for a dip in the pool and some great summer BBQ eats.

American Vegan Kitchen provided some key recipes for our celebration. The Incrediburgers are incredible! They look eerily like the beefy version. The texture is nice an firm. They are delicious and perfect for grilling. We also made Brat Relish from AVK. Holy mama, this stuff is like a relish form of crack. It is spicy and mustardy and fantastic. You need nothing else but this relish on any brat to make it perfection.

We also indulged on a low fat number from the upcoming Appetite for Reduction, Trattoria Pasta Salad

Snacks were abounding. Fresh fruit platter, home made guac and salsa and chips. NOM.

For dessert (from Julie Hasson's upcoming Vegan Diner) Almond Cake was the star.

Fred and Barb chillin' pool side with tomatoes freshly picked from the garden.

The Return of Food Network Fridays - BBQ "Pork" Panini Sandwich

It has been a bit of a hiatus for Food Network Fridays. This is a little challenge started by the one and only Tami Noyes of American Vegan Kitchen (AVK) and Vegan Appetite fame. A few of us goofy food obsessed types go about converting a Food Network recipe to a much more kind vegan version. It is a lot of fun to see what all of the fantastic cooks whip up.

This week we converted this BBQ Pork Panini Sandwich from an episode of Down Home with the Neelys.

I started off yesterday with a test recipe from the upcoming Vegan Bakesale by Carla Kelly of The Year of the Vegan. Her recipe for what she calls plain bread was hailed by my number one taste tester, Fred, as the best bread he has ever had! It was darn good. Because I had my sights set on this conversion, I made the bread into French-style torpedo rolls. It had to bribe Fred not to eat all of the rolls so that we could eat them with this today.

This morning when I got home from another graveyard shift (yuck), I whipped up another tester from Julie Hasson's upcoming Vegan Diner: Smoky Sandwich Spread. This cheesy, creamy, tasty spread stood in for the cheddar in the original recipe.

For the "pork" I used Tami's Beefy Seitan recipe from AVK. If you don't have her book yet, there is something seriously wrong with you. Go buy it!

I bring you my version of

BBQ Porque Panini Sandwich

Makes 4 Sandwiches

3 tablespoons Earth Balance, softened
2 large cloves garlic, minced
12 oz Beefy Seitan roast
Rub - Recipe below
1 cup BBQ Sauce - Recipe Below
4 French-style sandwich rolls
Smoky Cheezy Sandwich Spread (or your favorite vegan cheddar)
4 large dill pickles, sliced length wise

In a small bowl, blend the Earth Balance and garlic. Set aside for later use.

Coat seitan roast with rub. Save remaining rub in airtight container for later use. Let rub soak into seitan for at least and hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In covered casserole, bake roast for about 20 minutes. Roast will be warm, but not hot. Slice as thinly as you can and return to the pan with 1 cup of the BBQ sauce. Bake for 10-15 more minutes until heated through and sauce becomes a little sticky. Remove from oven and set aside while you prepare the sandwich.

Preheat Panini press or griddle depending on what you are using. I used the griddle on my stove and a big old cast iron pan for the press.

Butter the outsides of the bread with the Earth Balance mixture. Spread a thick layer of cheezy spread on top piece of bread. Working quickly set the bottom piece of the bread on the press/griddle. Top with pickle slices and seitan (divided into four equal portions). Grill on each side for about 2 - 3 minutes until bread is golden and crunchy. Slice at a diagonal and serve with a little extra BBQ sauce for dippin' if that is your style.

Fred likes more pickles and less meat on his. This is a very flexible recipe, so add and subtract the ingredients to fit your taste.

Happy FNF!

Dry Rub

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Can store in airtight container for future use.

Smoky BBQ Sauce

Makes approx 4 cups

2 teaspoons canola oil
3/4 cup finely chopped onion (about 1 medium)
3 cloves garlic minced
1 - 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (leave seeds intact)
1/2 cup cider vinegar
6 oz can tomato paste**
2 teaspoons vegan worcestershire sauce
5 Tablespoons chili powder (hot if you like a very spicy sauce)
3 teaspoons celery salt
1 Tablespoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons toasted yellow mustard seeds*

In medium saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. While they are sauteeing puree diced tomatoes and chipotle together making sure chipotle is chopped fine. Pour mixture and remaining ingredients into saucepan. Bring to simmer and turn heat to low. Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes.

This sauce is even better if you can let it chill overnight in the fridge to intensify the flavors.

* Some people like thinner smoother sauce. For a thinner smoother sauce, add 1/2 cup of water and puree all ingredients except for the mustard seeds. Add seeds and then simmer.

** I have to indulge myself in a little rant here. I get so miffed when recipes call for 2 Tablespoons or less than a whole can of tomato paste. I know this has to happen sometimes, but it irks me to no end to have this small amount of tomato paste sittin' in the fridge. I purposely developed this recipe so that you, my dear reader, will not encounter this common cooking irritation. Boooooya!

Testing Complete - American Vegan Kitchen

It is with mixed feelings that testing for this yummy book is complete. This was such a fun testing experience I am sad it is over. But I am super excited that the book will be out soon. It can be pre-ordered through Amazon, but if you can wait, please order if from vegan.com once it is released. There are some classics and delicious twists on American classics. If you feel you'd miss some of your favorite foods by eating compassionately, this book will change your mind. Here are some more teaser pictures from the upcoming book.

Chickn and Dumplings

Fried Zuccini

San Fran Wrap/One of my personal favs from testing

Burgers!

Pizza and Lasagne

Testing for American Vegan Kitchen - Salads

So yesterday Tami was finally able to give the OK to blog about testing for her upcoming book "American Vegan Kitchen". This cookbook will truly dispell the myth that food must be laiden with animal products to be American comfort food.

She puts up test recipes at such a fast pace that I can't even keep up! This is a great thing. It gives a tester lots of choices, not to mention great variety in the kitchen. Variety is the spice of life...no. Testing has been going on for quite some time, but I was just invited recently. I'm so thrilled to be in on this. Tami is a creative marvel. I can't list much about the recipes, but I can show you pictures with faux titles (kind of like faux meat) for your viewing pleasure. This is yet another one you need to get your hands on when it comes out in 2010. There is nothing wrong with being a cookbook addict. I highly recommend it.

For your first peek, there will be some great salads. I'll keep posting more from different categories each post, so stay tuned.