Danish "Meatballs," Dumpling Stir-fry, & More

Lately, I've been a little obsessed with hygge, the Danish concept of coziness. I'm reading The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking, which is all about ways to make your life cozier. And of course, one of those ways is through food. The book includes a few recipes, most of which are not vegan. Apparently, Danish food is pretty meaty. But I can veganize anything, and I love that challenge. So first up, I veganized the Boller I Karry (or Danish Meatballs in Curry).

For this, I used Impossible burger in place of ground pork (I wish there was a good vegan ground pork, but oh well), The Vegg yolk for the egg in the meatballs, and vegan margarine in place of butter. The first night I made this dish, Paul declared it his new favorite meal. And so I made it again last Friday and doubled the recipe so he would have lunches for the week. Paul isn't vegan, and any time I can get him to eat vegan food, I'm all for it!

In my day job, I'm the newsletter editor at The Daily Memphian, and that means I spend a fair amount of time studying other newspapers' newsletters. My very favorite is this Plant-Powered pop-up newsletter from The Washington Post. It's a 12-week series, and each email has a few vegan recipes. And they all look SO GOOD. Last week, I tried the Dumpling Stir-fry from one of the newsletters. It's made with Trader Joe's Thai veggie gyoza, bok choy, carrots, chili crisp, and other yummy stuff. I highly recommend signing up. It's free! No need for a WaPo subscription.

Speaking of The Daily Memphian, I recently recorded a DM Sound Bites podcast with our digital director Holly Whitfield on vegan options in Memphis. Check it out.

And in other Trader Joe's news, I finally tried the Vegan Tikki Masala I've heard so many good things about. It did not disappoint!! Lots of seitan and tasty Indian flavors.

I recently made the Bliss Burgers from Plant You. These were black bean and brown rice-based burgers. A very nice veggie patty that was a departure from my usual Beyond burger or Impossible. Love those, but sometimes, I want whole foods.

And finally, check out this beautiful SriMu Vegan Cheese Board! SriMu (Julie Piatt's plant-based cheese company) has relocated from L.A. to Memphis, and their space is in my neighborhood in Crosstown Concourse. The retail shop and cafe aren't open yet, but they are already making cheese and shipping it out from Memphis. Every Sunday, they host a FREE SriMu yoga class at Concourse, and some days, yoga is followed by a cheese tasting. I cannot wait for the cafe and shop to open!