Happy Belated 30th Birthday, Sheridan!

It's official. My best friend Sheridan is a real grown-up now. That's what happens when you hit 30 (and I'm only a couple months behind her ... scary!). Technically, Sheridan's been 30 for a week now, but she went out of town with her boyfriend on her actual birthday. So all her friends gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas this weekend for a fancy birthday dinner at Ciao Baci, a sophisticated Italian joint located in a converted old house. Here's Sheridan making her birthday wish on some Strawberry Daquari Cupcakes that I made (more on that in a second):

Ciao Baci served this amazing bread before our food arrived. It's thinly-sliced Italian bread doused in olive oil and black pepper. And I do mean doused. I had to lick the olive oil off my fingers when I was done. It was so, so delicious.

As for entrees, Ciao Baci didn't have any vegan options on the menu aside from a salad or two. But they were more than happy to make me this Vegan Pizza:

The crust was out of this world. It was cracker-thin and hand-tossed. It had an olive oil base with eggplant, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. Yum!

After dinner, I broke out the Strawberry Daquari Cupcakes, a recipe I tried from Claire Gosse's Are You Sure That's Vegan? — an lovely little vegan dessert cookbook:

Aren't they adorable? I shot these guys at my house before I left for Little Rock. I really wanted to capture the pinkness of the cake in good lighting. These little guys are made with real strawberry daquari mix and they're topped with coconut-buttercream. You can order Claire's book here.

As for presents, Sheridan got TWO awesome aprons. She actually asked our friend Brittany for an apron, and I also bought her one on a whim. I had no idea she'd asked for one from someone else. But a girl can't have too many aprons, right?

Brittany gave her this Kiss the Cook apron:

And I gave her this vintage number that I purchased at Muddy's Bake Shop in Memphis:

Muddy's — an adorable vegan-friendly bakery (I'll do a full post on this place soon!) — sells aprons that are handcrafted by local folks. A percent of the proceeds from this apron benefits birds in the Gulf.

Does this chick look 30? No way. I think we're aging pretty well. I love you, Sheridan! Happy birthday!

Don't Fear the Fried-ness

Check your diet at the door. Fried food is where its at when it comes to pleasing the soul. And a little bit a grease never hurt anybody. It's the lotta bit that'll pile on the pounds. I allow myself to eat deep fried foods a few days every month, though it's typically in a restaurant where I don't have to do the fryin' myself.

But tonight, I broke out the canola oil and a deep saucepan. I had to test my Fried Squash for the cookbook:

Now, as I've stated before, most of my recipes aren't fried, and the ones that are typically come with alternative baking instructions. But not this one. Fried squash cannot be faux-fried in the oven. Nope. That's just silly. You gotta batter it and drop it, slice by slice, into super-hot oil. The hotter the oil, the less likely your food will absorb too much fat.

I served my squash with a big side salad and some bean balls that I'm also testing for the book. More on those later. They still need work. But the highlight of the meal was definitely the squash. Now I've had my fill of fried foods for at least a week.

Eggplant > Meat

Don't you love the ">" and "<" symbols? You can say so many words without having to write everything out, and it feels a little like my elementary school math education wasn't a complete waste of time (okay, so maybe that's taking things a little far ... math sucks!). Anyway, we all know that eggplant totally trumps meat. Duh. But it triple-trumps meat in my Creole "Sausage" and Eggplant Jambalaya:

Most traditional jambalaya recipes are chock full of shrimp, sausage, and chicken. But I use chopped sauteed eggplant and sliced homemade spicy gluten-based sausages instead. The Creole Sausage is a separate recipe in my cookbook, and they're also excellent on their own for breakfast.

By the way, if you don't see any eggplant in this picture, it's because I peel my eggplant. I can't stand eggplant skin. It's tough and gross. It must come off!

On the side are my smoky Mess O' Greens, also in the cookbook. I typically slow-cook my collards with turnips, but I didn't have any on hand. Either way, the dish makes for a healthy nutrient-packed side. And yes, I super slow-cook my greens ... none of that newfangled quick-cookin' stuff.

Breakfast Lasagna

I developed a breakfast casserole a while back and I even posted the recipe on my blog. But it had some flaws that weren't really noticeable at first ... like creeper flaws. So I took it upon myself to fix the recipe to be used in my cookbook. And I changed the name to Breakfast Lasagna because that's way more fun than "breakfast casserole":

Since I've already let the cat out of the bag in the recipe I posted in 2008, I'll let y'all in on the secret. What used to be a bottom layer of torn whole wheat bread was swapped out for a layer of boiled, sliced white potatoes. Those are topped with vegan sausage, scrambled tofu, my basic noochy cheese sauce, and slices of fresh local tomato.

In its last incarnation, the bread layer got a little chewy on the edges where there wasn't enough liquid-y vegan cheese sauce to make it soggy in the oven. But the white potatoes were a perfect substitute — no chewiness, just tender, hearty taters. I ate this big ole slice with a piece of toast spread with tomato marmalade. Kept me full straight until lunch.

By the way, I got some sweet, sweet love today from one of my favorite vegan food blogs, Vegansaurus. Check out this post about Vegan Crunk (you might have to scroll down a couple of posts). Apparently, the Vegansaurus blog wants to marry my blog. And to that, I say "I do."

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Trolley Stop Market

I apologize for posting two restaurant reviews back to back, but I've been eating out a lot lately. I promise to get back to cooking for the rest of the week. But I couldn't miss an opportunity to try the food on Vegan Night at Trolley Stop Market.

The Trolley Stop Market is a new-ish cafe run by one of my favorite farmin' couples — Jill and Keith Forrester. They've been selling their fresh produce (and delicious heirloom tomatoes) at the Memphis Farmers Market for years under the name Whitton Farms. I've even had the pleasure of touring their farm in a nearby Arkansas town.

Earlier this year, the couple opened a Medical District restaurant featuring fresh food made with local produce from their farm. The market also sells local products like Memphis-roasted Ugly Mug Coffee and pecans treats from Delta Pecan Orchard. They even sell some of their fresh produce right out of the store.

On most days, they only offer a couple of vegetarian/vegan options. But Monday night is Vegan Night and the entree special is totally cruelty-free. I kept meaning to go and finally found time tonight. The special was Trolley Stop Biryani with Roasted White and Sweet Potatoes:

Yum! The biryani featured traditional eggplant, summer squash, spinach, onion, and tomato over brown rice, and the whole dish was seasoned with homemade garam masala. On the side were some super-tasty taters, also seasoned with a blend of Indian and Middle Eastern flavors.

Though I wish the Trolley Stop would offer more veg options all of the time, the Vegan Night idea is pretty impressive for Memphis. Though most places in Memphis offer a few vegan items, many are "accidentally vegan" and they don't feel quite as special. I love that the chefs at the Trolley Stop go out of their way to cater to vegans at least one night a week. It makes me feel pretty special.

If you're reading this and you live in Memphis, please support Monday Vegan Nights so we can keep it around. Even if you're not vegan, this food will impress. Promise.

The Trolley Stop Market is located at 704 Madison Ave. Call 901-526-1361. Check out their Facebook page for daily specials. Vegan Night begins at 5:30 p.m. every Monday and runs through 9 p.m.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Saigon Le

My neighborhood is only a few blocks away from Memphis' version of Little Vietnam. Cleveland Avenue in Midtown is lined with authentic Vietnamese restaurants and an Asian grocery called the Viet Hoa. Most of those restaurants boast plenty of vegan options, especially the Pho Hoa Binh on Madison (just a few more blocks away) and Saigon Le on Cleveland. Though Pho Hoa Binh is my favorite, Seigon Le holds the esteemed title of my "second favorite Vietnamese restaurant."

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Greg and I were craving fried tofu. We drove to Pho Hoa Binh at 7:30 p.m., only to find the place was closing early for the night. They're really bad about closing whenever they want. So we opted for the second choice, Saigon Le. The no-frills Vietnamese joint offers about 15 to 20 vegan options, including this tasty Hunan Tofu:

This was my first time trying the semi-spicy Hunan Tofu, and I think it might be my new fave dish at Saigon Le. So many Vietamese tofu dishes are heavy on fried tofu and low on veggies, but this dish offered a great balance. The broccoli was an impressive co-star to the chewy tofu, all covered in a savory-sweet 'n' spicy sauce. Of course, I doused it in extra sriracha because I love the burn. It's served with sticky white rice, but the above picture is actually my leftovers. Though I love the white rice, I can't justify eating it at home. So I made brown rice to go with the leftovers.

Other yummy vegan dishes at Saigon Le include curry tofu, barbecue wheat gluten, tofu in black bean sauce, and sauteed green beans and tofu. Watch out for the tofu with vermicelli as it contains eggs. I made the mistake of ordering it once.

The atmosphere is super-casual, and maps of Vietnam grace the glass-covered booths. Though it will never top Pho Hoa Binh (they have a $5 all-you-can-eat tofu lunch buffet!), Saigon Le holds a special place in my Vietnamese cuisine-loving heart.

Saigon Le is located at 52 N. Cleveland. Call 901-276-5326 for more information.

King Cake

To be honest, I'm not a huge Elvis fan. But I live in Memphis, and I've gotta give the man props for putting us on the musical map ... oh, and for um, inventing rock 'n' roll. Not to mention that Elvis was smokin' hot.

Elvis is everything here, especially for two weeks out of the year — Elvis' birth week in January and his death week in August. Early next week, thousands of tourists from across the globe will descend upon our fair city to pay homage to their fallen King on the 33rd anniversary of his death. Though he actually died on August 16th, Graceland offers a week of celebratory events.

Tonight, I honored His Highness by baking a batch of my kitschy Elvis Cupcakes to bring to O.C. Night:

These are going in the cookbook, and I've featured them before. But I'm testing, so I thought Elvis Week would be a very appropriate time to make these again. Plus, I wanted to get the opinions of the bitches at O.C. Night.

Basically, it's a banana bread-like cupcake topped with peanut buttercream in honor of Elvis' favorite fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. I know the pirate cupcake wrappers don't really fit the King theme, but I've been dying for an excuse to use them. I'm sure Elvis could appreciate a good pirate.