Sweet Tater Hash

Quick post tonight — another recap of a cookbook recipe. I've been eating my savory Sweet Potato Hash for breakfast every day this week:

This will be the fourth or fifth time I've tested this recipe, and it seems like real winner. It's sort of like corned beef hash, but I've subbed sweet potatoes and veggie burger for the white taters and corned beef. What the hell is corned beef anyway? It sounds like some creepy meat from a can.

Anyway, the hash is tastiest served with toast. In this photo, my whole grain toast is schmeared with Sarah Grace Pumpkin Butter, a package swap gift from Sarah at See Sarah Eat. We did a swap last year, but at the time, I had several jars of jams and fruit butters open. I just recently opened the Sarah Grace brand, and it is fantastic.

And yes, I know my breakfast plate here looks way more autumn than early summer. But who's counting?

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Bangkok Alley

Sorry I didn't post last night. It was the boyfriend and my six-year anniversary, and we were watching that new Karate Kid movie with Will Smith's son (who is adorable, by the way) until like 12:30 a.m. That's past my bedtime, so I crashed as soon as we got home.


Before the movie, we went out to eat. The boyfriend is not vegan, not even vegetarian. But when it comes to dining out, we can always agree on anything Asian. We chose a Thai place that neither of us had been to — Bangkok Alley's downtown location. This family-owned Thai joint has three locations in Memphis, but the other two are way out East (that's Memphis talk for "not in Midtown or downtown" where the cool kids are). Though many Thai places use fish sauce, Bangkok Alley has a few vegetarian selections clearly marked as "Vegetarian (No Meat)" ... in case you forgot what vegetarian meant. They also have a sushi menu with a few veg-friendly rolls.

I chose the Vegetables in Garlic-Chili Sauce with Tofu and Brown Rice (the rice is not pictured):

The sauce didn't taste like chili at all, but it was still delicious. Sort of a sweet and savory garlicky broth. I added some chili sauce to up the heat as the dish was pretty mild. I don't know why, but I expected the tofu to be fried. I was a little sad that it wasn't, but it was still yummy. I like tofu all ways, even plain straight out the package. I also ordered a crispy veggie spring roll with a fruity sweet 'n' sour sauce that hinted of fresh pineapple juice.

The food was tasty, and I loved that Bangkok Alley offered brown rice. But the best part of the meal was the wine — organic Lolonis Ladybug White:

Lolonis Winery in Mendicino deploys over five million ladybugs into their vineyards to deal with the pests. Cool huh? Who needs chemicals when you can have ladybugs? It's vegan-ness seems questionable as I've seen different responses in different places, but I choose to trust this one from Barnivore.com that says it's vegan. I'm not super picky about sticking with vegan wines, but I try.

Bangkok Alley is located at 121 Union Ave. Call 901-522-2007 or check out their website here.

Mega-Veggie Meal

I'm not sure which question I get asked more often: "Where do you get your protein?" or "Did that hurt?" (in reference to my lip piercing ... people always ask without mentioning the piercing, as if I'm always thinking about the fact that I have jewelry on my face). Both questions are equally annoying, but I can understand people's curiosity so I'm always polite when I answer.

Answers: I eat plenty of protein in the form of tofu, tempeh, seitan, and beans. And no, it didn't hurt very much, but it was sore for weeks when it was healing.

But back to the protein question — I've actually counted my daily protein intake for several days, and I eat way more than the recommended amount for a female. I generally have some sort of protein-based entree at every meal. Except for tonight. Veggies played the star and supporting roles in my Sunday night dinner with this Roasted Veggie Po' Boy with Curried Sweet Potato Fries:

And you know, I didn't even miss the protein. Of course, I had lentils for lunch, so it wasn't like I'd been without protein all day. Sometimes veggies demand to take the lead.

The sandwich is another cookbook tester (have you noticed that I'm really stepping up to finish soon?), but I'll tell ya that it's piled high with local zucchini and squash from the Memphis Farmers Market, portabello mushrooms, onions, and red bell pepper. That cheese peeking out is Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella. Daiya is delicious, but I still use FYH when I needing a slicing cheese.

On the side are my Curried Sweet Potato Fries, which I dipped in a liberal amount of Chef Allen's Mango Ketchup.

By the way, I'm so honored to have been bestowed the Sunshine Award by two of my favorite bloggers — Nora of Pride and Vegudice and Kiersten of Vegan Awakening (formerly Full of Beans). Thanks so much guys! I'm supposed to pass this award on to 12 other bloggers, but I'm sleepy and I know all that linking would take longer than I have before bedtime (I know, that's a lame excuse). Not to get all cheesy on you guys, but there are loads of awesome vegan food bloggers out there that serve as a daily inspiration to me. We all make such a great support group, and after a few years of following other people's blogs, I feel like I have a little bloggy family. Thanks guys!!

Let's Talk About Beer

Forget the food. Let's talk about brew. I'm a bit of a beer snob these days. No Bud Light or Coors for me. No way. I want a delicious craft brew (but I can get down with a PBR every now and again).

But let's back up a bit. Back in April, my BFF Greg and I went to the Memphis Brewfest at AutoZone Park. We tried tons of beers, but one really stood out for me. When I got my cup at the German beer table, the lady behind the table warned me that the beer I was about to drink tasted like meat. Meat? Yep, meat. Seeing that it was beer and not meat, I said why not?

One drink and I was in love. The heavy dark beer tasted like it had been spiked with Liquid Smoke. If you're not a dark beer fan, that might gross you out. But I like my beers dark, bitter, and somewhat reminiscent of black coffee. I didn't catch the name of my beloved German beer that night, but I'll never forget the flavor.

Enter O'Fallon Smoke Porter, my new favorite brew:

This is not my hand, by the way. My wrists are NOT that hairy!

This isn't quite as smoky as the mysterious German beer I sampled at Brewfest. But it's close. Imagine Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter spiked with Liquid Smoke. Oh yea. Either that sounds delicious to you or it doesn't. But I don't care. This is my new fave beer. O'Fallon is brewed in O'Falllon, Missouri, by the way. And for the record, it's vegan. I checked. For a full list of vegan beers, check out Barnivore's vegan beer and wine guide.

I found this stuff in Clarksville, a town about three and a half hours from Memphis, last weekend. They have this great beer shop called House of Brews. Though Clarksville is much smaller than Memphis, their beer shop is far, far superior to anything we have here. I'm pretty sure O'Fallon isn't available here. Sigh. Guess I'll have to wait until the next trip to Clarksville.

Old-Fashioned "Fish" Fry

... I mean, "fish" bake. In the South, folks love to fry catfish. People gather in backyards during the summer to stand around, drink cheap beer, and deep-fry cornmeal-battered catfish in a Fry Daddy. I'm guessing these sorts of parties might happen in other parts of the country too, but they were certainly a fixture in my Arkansas hometown when I was growing up.

My parents never ate seafood, and so I grew up without ever having tasted shrimp, crab, lobster, or any of that nastiness. But they do love catfish, and as a kid, I remember liking it too. But one bad experience with a rotten fish (seriously, this thing was disgusting) turned me off of all fish forever. Of course, it wasn't long after that bad fish experience that I went veg at age 14. Needless to say, I do not miss fish or seafood.

But I had to include a fish fry-style recipe in my cookbook. The book is meant to be an homage to veganized Southern cuisine, and fish fries are a big part of Southern culture. Thankfully, my Baked Tofu Fish doesn't taste too terribly fishy. And it's not fried (gasp!) so it's even healthy! I use dulse flakes for that fishy taste, but dulse is pretty mild compared with, say, nori.

Here's my Baked Tofu Fish with a Hush Puppy Corn Muffin and some Spicy Fried Hominy (the homemade tartar sauce isn't pictured):

The corn muffin and hominy recipes are also going in my cookbook. I figured that baking the fish meant that I should also bake the hush puppies. See, even a Southern girl can cook healthily every now and then!

And the hominy ... well, it's sauteed. But it's still fairly low in calories. I love me some hominy, especially doused with a good bit of black pepper.

Down on the Farm

Last Friday, I took a little three-hour road trip to Summertown, home of The Farm. You've probably heard of The Farm's Book Publishing Company, which puts out loads of classic and contemporary vegan cookbooks. Think Louise Hagler's Tofu Cookery, Joanne Stepaniak's The Uncheese Cookbook, and plenty of newer books that I've reviewed on this blog.

But the Book Publishing Company is only one aspect of The Farm, an intentional community of like-minded vegans and vegetarians living in rural middle Tennessee. Founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin, The Farm has become a beacon for those studying midwifery, alternative energy and green living, and of course vegetarianism. Close to two hundred awesome folks live there, many of whom caravaned to Summertown from San Francisco during the hippie days of the 1970s.

The Farm has a soy dairy that produces the world's best (in my humble opinion) soy yogurt and tofu. While I was there, I had to pick up a tub of their plain, unsweetened soy yogurt:

And a few pounds of the super-firm FarmSoy tofu:

They used to sell these products at the Nashville Whole Foods, but they've since scaled back only offering their soy goods at the quaint Farm Store, a on-site health food shop that peddles all sorts of veg snacks and food items. The Farm Store also offers a nice selection of TVP in all shapes and sizes. I picked up a bag of TVP in chicken cutlet shapes!

When I arrived back home on Saturday, I prepared this scrumptious bowl of FarmSoy yogurt, Groovy Foods granola (a local Memphis product made by my friend Uele), and dried strawberries:

On Monday morning, I used a pound of the tofu to make my Tofu Cottage Cheese:

The tofu cottage cheese recipe is going in the cookbook. It's pretty basic and really tasty served on whole wheat toast with a schmear of Marmite!

Happy Summer Solstice!

I had to forgo my usual summer solstice celebration tonight to meet my good friend Leslie for dinner at the India Palace restaurant. She was in town from Asheville, North Carolina, and I wasn't about to miss a chance to hang with her. However, I did have a pretty summery lunch today — a BBQ Tempeh & Carrot Sandwich with Poppyseed Coleslaw and extra Memphis-Style Barbecue Sauce:

I've posted about this recipe before. It's another crunk cookbook tester, but I made it again just to make sure it was okay. I'm happy to report that the sandwich, slaw, and homemade sauce were just as tasty the second time around.

I served my sandwich with some of the best summer corn I've ever tasted! My dad brought me a bag of corn picked up from a roadside produce stand, and it was so deliciously sweet and juicy. I covered the corn with Bryant Terry's Spicy Garlic-Miso Dressing from Vegan Soul Kitchen:

If you haven't tried Terry's corn dressing recipe yet, it's a must-try. This recipe is by far my favorite from VSK so far.

I held my corn on the cob with these cutesy little corn pics that my mom gave me:

If flip-flop corn holders don't say summer, I don't what does ...