Stuff I Ate

Hey friends! Happy Fourth of July! We have a lot of reasons to be proud to be an American right now — marriage equality, the Affordable Care Act being upheld, the South finally giving up its stupid, racist symbols. So I hope you have a blast whatever you're doing. I'm not even sure what I'm doing for the 4th. I'm sure there will be fireworks involved. Anyway, here's a rundown of some stuff I've been eating.

The old vegan standard — Avocado Toast — has been a regular at my breakfast table lately. My new fave way to eat it is with Earth Balance Avocado Oil Spread, mashed avocado, black salt, pepper, and Yellowbird Habanero Sauce (it's the new sriracha, if you haven't heard).

But also Cinnamon Toast — baked in the oven with Earth Balance Cinnamon Culinary Spread and cinnamon sugar. I'm loving all the varieties of EB spreads right now. I picked up several free product coupons for Earth Balance at Vida Vegan Con, and I'm stocking up.

Speaking of Vida Vegan Con, I picked up a new habit at the con back in Austin. You see, the coffee bar they set up for us had all manner of vegan creamers and sweeteners, and at the end of the table, there was a big ole bowl of Dandies vegan marshmallows. I wasn't aware that Dandies belong in coffee, but they do. Oh yes, they do.

I'm on the board of directors for a nonprofit that helps people with HIV/AIDS access wellness programming, housing, a food pantry, and other services. It's called Friends for Life, and we had our annual board retreat a couple weeks ago. Every year, they make sure the catered meal from Stone Soup includes a vegan dish for me. This year, I got a Greek Salad (minus the feta) with black olives, pickled peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and pickles. I love pickles in a salad! And they even included vegan Snickerdoodles from the local bakery, Guilt Free Pastries.

Mmmmm ... Meatball Sub from Imagine Vegan Cafe. Love this sandwich! Four vegan meatballs, marinara, Imagine's house-made white cheese, and lettuce, on a toasted hoagie bun.

I picked up some Mister Sister Smores Fudge at Rabbit Food Grocery in Austin. Because vegan fudge! I've been saying for years that somebody needed to sell vegan fudge. And it's happening. (By the way, I've had this Hello Kitty cup since I was a tiny 80s baby. There's almond-coconut milk in it.).

It's so good! Just like the way-too-sweet-so-you-can-only-eat-a-nibble-at-a-time fudge that I remember from my childhood. Those white chunks are vegan marshmallows, by the way.

Hey, look at this crazy carrot!

Last Sunday, I joined the Memphis Vegan Dine-outs and Potlucks Meetup group for brunch at Irie Vegan Kitchen inside The African Place. Local vegan chefs Nigel and Andrea do a weekly pop-up vegan brunch from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. And the food is soooo goood! This week, I got Blueberry Pancakes and Seitan Sausage and Peppers. 

I had a cooking demo at the Cordova Library last week. I made the Vegan Pimiento Cheese and the Tofu Eggless Salad from Cookin' Crunk. And I made a LOT! Three big ole batches of each recipe. So I had a little eggless salad leftover. I used some in this Eggless Salad Wrap with Carrots, Romaine, and Cherry Tomatoes. On the side, I had some Way Better brand chips and leftover guacamole from Sunday's Babalu dinner.

On Tuesday, we had Vegan Drinks! Our group gets together once a month for happy hour cocktails and vegan food. This month, the meetup was at Mellow Mushroom. I got the Vegan Thai Dye Pizza with curry tofu, Daiya, cucumbers, onions, and Thai chile sauce. I LOVE THIS PIZZA.

Finally, I'll leave you with this sweet treat. It's an Eli's Earth Bars Treasure Bar that I got in a Vegan Cuts box in December. Yes, December. Have I told y'all that I'm a snack hoarder? I don't mean to be. I just like to look at things for awhile before I eat them. Anyway, this was totally still good. And it was awesome. Vegan milk chocolate with crunchy peanut butter and caramel. Mmmmmmm. Definitely worth the wait.