Where Do I Get My Protein?

We all get asked the annoying "where do you get your protein?" question by non-vegans all the time. And I typically give the standard answer — tofu, tempeh, seitan, beans, nuts, seeds, peas, even many veggies. But lately, I've been adding another protein source to my list — Vega!

Okay, y'all probably know that I love, love, love Vega products and basically anything by vegan Ironman triathlete Brenden Brazier. So how could I say no when the Vega folks offered to send me a massive sample pack for review? Not only did I say yes, I probably screamed a bit at my desk when the package arrived.

Look at all this stuff!

And this! I wasn't expecting this much stuff!

Ever since I started increasing my running mileage earlier this year, I've been relying on Vega One nutritional shake powder in smoothies after my runs. And this sample pack contained all sorts of Vega Sport products and Vega One products that I'd never tried before.

I decided to give a few Vega Sport products a "test run" (no pun intended) before, during, and after a hour-long run.

Before my run, I mixed the Pre-Workout Energizer powder with water. This is made from green tea, yerba mate, coconut oil, and rhodiola, which are supposed to provide energy, endurance, and mental focus before a workout. It was Acai Berry flavored and pretty tasty. It's 70 calories per serving.

I typically have a homemade energy bar before my runs and that usually gives me enough energy to last the whole run. But my energy bars have more calories than the energizer, so I knew I'd get hungry mid-way through my run. I brought along an Orange Zest-flavored Vega Sport Endurance Gel to consume at the 30-minute mark. Unlike some gels that are made with maltodextrin and dried cane syrup, the Vega gels have more natural ingredients like dates (the main ingredient), coconut oil, and natural flavors. This 100-calorie gel was what I needed to power me through my run.

After running, I typically have coconut water to restore electrolytes. But in the Vega sample pack were these cute little Electrolyte Hydrator packs. It's a stevia-sweetened powder that you mix with water. I tried the Lemon-Lime flavor. Voila, electrolytes!

Turns out I enjoy this more than coconut water (it has a Gatorade-like taste), so I've been buying these for the past few weeks. They're calorie-free (unlike coconut water) and more economical. Plus the packs are travel-friendly.

Finally, I tried the Vega Sport Performance Protein Bar in Chocolate Saviseed Flavor about 30 minutes after my run. I usually have a Vega One smoothie for my post-run protein, but this chocolate-covered bar was a nice change. It has a ton of protein and it's designed to help your body recover faster after your workout. Those little white flecks are Vega Saviseeds (a.k.a. sacha inchi seeds).

I love how Vega has all these great products specifically designed for before, during, and after workouts. It takes all the guesswork out of trying to figure out the proper things to consume at workout time.

A few days after I sampled those products, I tried the Vega Sport Performance Protein Powder in a smoothie about 30 minutes after a run. This has 25 grams of protein compared with only 15 grams in my usual Vega One protein powder. I'm no sports nutritionist, but I would guess it's better to consume Vega Sport after longer runs. I'll save my Vega One sample packs for the shorter runs.

The Vega One All-In-One Nutrition Bars in my sample pack were new to me as well. I haven't seen those in stores around here. But these are amazing. I enjoyed one at my desk as a snack on a day when I knew I'd have to eat a very late lunch.

They come in Chocolate Almond, Chocolate Cherry, and Double Chocolate. And they're not lying about all that chocolate. Each bar is coated in dark chocolate, so they almost seem naughty. But under all that candy bar goodness is sprouted brown rice protein, pea protein, chia seeds, Vega Saviseeds, dates, pumpkin seed butter, all kinds of goodness. Each bar has 15 grams of protein, plus lots of other good stuff like fiber, omega-3s, antioxidants, probiotics, and greens.

Finally, let's talk about those Maca Chocolate Bars! They sent five of them! And it's one of my favorite chocolate bars. They're 70% cocoa, organic, and each bar contains 4,000 mg of maca, which is said to balance, invigorate, and energize. Honestly, you don't have to give me a healthy reason to eat chocolate. But hey, bonus!

I signed up for my first half-marathon on Friday — the Shelby Farms Greenline Half-Marathon in October. I know Vega will play a big part in my training.

Father's Day Taco Time!

I'll be at the annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee on Father's Day this year, so my parents and I celebrated an early Father's Day today in my hometown of Jonesboro, Arkansas.

I call him Daddy, but y'all probably know him better as Papa Crunk. My Daddy is pretty much a badass. He rides a Harley. He's totally into skulls and being rebellious. And likely much to my Mama's dismay, he made me into a little rebel too. But past all that hard, badass stuff, he's really a big ole softie. He has tons of friends, and he'll do anything for them. He's the kind of guy his friends can call when they need help, and no matter what is wrong, he'll find a way to fix it. He's basically the best dude ever.

So I drove the hour to my parents' house this morning to hang out with the best dude ever. I arrived just in time to find my Mama hard at work in the kitchen preparing vegan and non-vegan tacos. She made meat tacos for my Daddy and Tofu Tacos for she and I (she's not vegan, but she loves tofu!).

Since she was just getting started, she put me to work in the kitchen. I cubed the tofu and marinated it in soy sauce, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne. Then I fried the cubes in a skillet. Daddy tried a bite and declared that it was "pretty good." Also on these tacos is cabbage dressed with rice vinegar, tomatoes, jalapenos, Daiya cheese, and Tofutti sour cream.

On the side my Mama made my favorite vegan Pancho's Cheese Dip! If you grew up in the Mid-South, you know about Pancho's cheese dip. Well, my mama made a vegan version, and it tastes amazingly similar.

She also made some fresh guacamole and refried beans.

When we were almost done eating, Daddy remembered that Mama had put a bucket of frozen margaritas in the freezer the night before. Since it was frozen, we'd have to wait awhile for the ice to melt a little to drink them. So instead, we used spoons and had Margarita Snowcones!

A Mexican/hot dog joint in Memphis called Chiwawa serves "adult snowcones" made with tequila and margarita mix, and I have to say that these were just as good.

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the whole world ever!

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Cooper Street 20/20

Sometimes there's just no time for cooking. And sometimes, there's really no time for waiting on takeout. It's times like these that you need a good grab-and-go shop. And Cooper Street 20/20 has busy, lazy, and just plain hungry vegans covered.

This Cooper-Young grab-and-go storefront offers vegan specials every week, plus a regular menu of vegan soups and hummus. Vegan items are clearly marked, and all ingredients used in each dish are listed on the label. Cooper Street 20/20 owner Kathy Katz offered me samples of this week's vegan specials to try.

My very favorite was this Stuffed Eggplant. Isn't it beautiful?

An eggplant half is hollowed and stuffed with a mixture of eggplant, squash, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. And that's topped with a very decorative swirl of mashed potatoes. Kathy cooks everything first and then packages it in an easily re-heatable package. This came in a small metal pie pan with instructions to bake for 20 minutes. By the way, those lovely crispy spots were already there when I picked this up. Beautiful! And it tastes like a shepherd's pie made with eggplant.

I also sampled Kathy's Chickpeas and Brown Rice.

These were Indian spiced with just a tad bit of heat and a generous amount of curry. I had these for lunch today, and since I'm easing out of my juice fast by trying to eat more wholesome solid foods (nevermind that peanut butter tart I had this afternoon ... that doesn't count), this meal made me feel really healthy. I had these with a side of sauteed kale that I made at home.

Finally, I tried the Veggie Pot Pie. Here's the whole thing.

And here's a slice.

I love that layered veggie look. Almost like a terrine. Layers of broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and carrot are topped with a crunchy streusel crust. Amazing!

Now, one thing you should know is this Veggie Pie does contain honey. So if you're super-strict about honey, you won't want to get this. But the honey is listed on the label. I don't personally buy honey or honey-containing products in the grocery store, but I'm a little more lax when eating out.

Here's a picture of a label so you can see how it breaks every ingredient down. This is all wholesome stuff, folks.

Kathy will have these vegan specials tomorrow at the store (800 S. Cooper), and she'll also be at the Memphis Farmer's Market on Saturday morning with these specials (as well as her non-vegan specials). But when this week has come and gone, she'll have other vegan stuff to try! Plus, she generally always has quite a few regular vegan soups and other goods.

The following soups are vegan: Gazpacho, Tomato Basil, Greek Lentil, Curry Carrot, Russian Cabbage, Black Bean Chili, and African Peanut. There's always a variety of hummus: Traditional, Black Bean, Roasted Red Pepper. And perhaps best of all? Cooper Street 20/20 sells pints of homemade pickles!

Cooper Street 20/20 is located at 800 S. Cooper. Call 901-871-6879. They're open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Juiced Out

Yesterday, I wrapped up Amber Shea Crawley's whole foods-based Real Food Cleanse, my attempt at undoing the damage done by too many doughnuts in Portland. But for some crazy reason, I didn't want to stop there. I decided that it would be a good idea to forgo solid foods until dinner time today in favor of fresh juices.

For one thing, I've been meaning to review The Everything Giant Book of Juicing. And for another, I do love the way I feel the day after a juice cleanse. I picked out four juices from The Everything Giant Book of Juicing to make two times each. So I made eight large juices in all. Last night, I separated out the veggies for two juices and let them soak in the sink as a lazy way of washing.

The morning started with a large hot water with lemon (something about getting the circulation going, I read that somewhere), followed by a large Energizer Juice from the book. This had apples, cucumber, celery, lemon, kale, spinach, and romaine. It was supposed to also have ginger but I forgot to buy any, and it was supposed to have fennel, but that's gross. Loved this juice! Apples make green juice tasty.

I brought two large juice jars to work as morning snacks — another Energizer Juice and this Powerhouse Juice. The Powerhouse was made with celery, parsley, spinach, cucumber, carrots, and beets. It also called for Swiss chard but only two leaves. I didn't see a point in buying chard for two leaves. I'm always a fan of beet juice, and this hit the spot.

I should mention though that the Powerhouse Juice totally killed my Jack Lalanne juicer. Midway through juicing a beet, the motor just gave out. I considered giving up then and there and having a bowl of peanut butter oats instead. But then I remembered that I had a key to my friend Cassi's house and that she had a Breville. I broke in, stole her juicer, and brought it back to my house. This is what she gets for entrusting me with a key. Oh, and by the way, I learned today that the Breville trumps Jack Lalanne big-time. That Breville could juice a brick, as Cassi likes to say.

Anyway, I went home from work at lunch to make more juice. I'd prepared this sink full of veggies for my gazpacho juice.

But before I made the tomato-based gazpacho juice, I had this Vampire Chaser — cucumbers, parsley, and garlic. I LOVE juices with garlic, but I'm sure the people around me don't. Oh well. This was light and refreshing with a spicy garlic kick. Sorry if I breathed on you.

And finally, I had Good Old Gazpacho — tomatoes, scallions, garlic, red pepper, green pepper, and jalapeno.

This was my very fave! I love tomato juices the best, and with the garlic and jalapenos, it was like a way fresher, less sodium-heavy Spicy V8.

By 5 p.m., I'd had seven servings of these combinations. I ended up not even needing my last jar of Vampire Chaser because I was actually full.

But before you go thinking this juice fast was easy for me, not so fast. It was hell. I drank lots of water in between juices and had a juice every time I started to feel even the slightest bit hungry. But I never felt satisfied (full, yes, but not satisfied), and around 2:30 p.m., I started to feel light-headed and weird. I decided that I must be high on vegetables.

I can't even begin to explain how happy I was when dinnertime arrived! My friends and I go to Imagine Vegan Cafe every Wednesday. I ordered their Hummus Plate, and omg, I have never been so excited about hummus.

Imagine is a comfort food cafe, and they're known for pizza, chili dogs, and vegan country fried steak. Not hummus. This dish wasn't even on my radar before, but it seemed like the perfect thing to eat coming out of a juice fast.

I felt 100 times better after eating solids, but I was still hungry. So I ordered a Side Salad with Vegan Ranch. Now ranch probably isn't a good thing to have after a juice fast, but it tasted so good. And I felt like that little indulgence might be the perfect food to transition me into regular solid food tomorrow. God, I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm sure I'll feel great for having juice-cleansed, and I'll be so glad this is over.

To be fair, the juices I drank were delicious. And the Everything Giant Book of Juicing is awesome. It's packed with all sorts of creative juice combos (they even juice sweet potatoes!), and juices are organized in chapters of veggie juices, fruit juices, detox and cleansing juices, anti-aging juices, cold soups, and smoothies. I'll continue to use the book but probably not for fasting. An occasional juice snack between solid meals is perfect for me.

I've successfully done two "until dinner" juice fasts before today, and I've had one total failure. Although this juice cleanse had its downs, I think it may have gone a little easier than cleanses in the past. The key for me this time was lots and lots of juice. I drank so much liquid, and I was peeing all day. But despite the lightheadedness at times, I wasn't starving like I have been on cleanses in the past. Though I'd rate this one as the most successful of my four juice fast attempts, damn, I'm glad it's over.

The Real Food Cleanse, Day Three

If you've been following my posts over the last couple of days, you know that I've been doing Chef Amber Shea's Real Food Cleanse, a three-day, mostly-raw, whole foods cleanse from an e-book titled The Real Food Cleanse (you can download it on Amber's blog for $14.99).

Now that I've finished day three, I can attest that this e-book is worth every penny (To be fair, I think I actually got mine for a promo price when it was first released, but I'd pay full price in a heartbeat). I started the cleanse to reset my eating habits after returning from Portland, where I stuffed every vegan doughnut, fake meat, cheese sauce, and fried food into my mouth that I could. I needed a reset button, and this cleanse was it! I feel great.

I've forgone processed foods, grains, alcohol, and sugar for the past three days. But that doesn't mean I've been starving. In fact, the portions on this cleanse are abundant, likely because the extra veggies make up for the lack of grains. And the food is simply delicious. Take today, for example.

I run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and at least one weekend day, so today was a running day. That meant that I needed a pre-workout snack when I awoke this morning. It wasn't on the cleanse, but I had one of Amber's Cocoa Crunch Clusters from Practically Raw Desserts (I keep these in the freezer for quick pre-workout snacks). Technically, cocoa isn't allowed on the cleanse, but that's the one rule I decided to break from the get-go.

After my run, I sat down to this filling bowl of Blueberry-Banana Chia Pudding.

The chia seeds were soaked overnight in unsweetened almond milk (you can also use water, but I opted for milk) so they were all gelled up and doing that magical pudding trick that chia seeds do. And they're topped with bananas and blueberries. I also had a scoop of Vega One Vanilla Chai protein powder mixed with water to get some extra protein after my run (not on the cleanse, by the way).

This meal kept me full until about 11 a.m., my usual morning snack time. I brought some raw mini bell peppers to work, so I had about four of those.

And then lunchtime came. Glorious, glorious lunchtime. Guess what I got to eat for lunch? A whole freakin' avocado!! Not by itself, of course. But a whole avocado went into the dressing for this Caesar Salad with Chunky Olive Tapenade.

If you and I are Facebook friends, you might have noticed how happy this avocado dressing made me today. I rarely eat an entire avocado in one sitting. But I should do that more often. Too often, I get my fat in less healthy ways (French fries, anyone?). Whole avocados are the way to go.

My afternoon snack dessert may have topped the avocado on the awesome factor — Whipped Cherry Banana Freeze!

This is basically simple frozen banana soft serve but with frozen cherries mixed in! I always let too much time pass between instances of eating banana soft serve. I need to be eating this stuff everyday. By the way, here's an example of how generous the portions are on this cleanse. I cut the recipe in half, because I ate this shortly before dinner, and there was still a ton!

The grand cleanse finale may have been the best of all though because it combined my two favorite veggies with one of my favorite spices — Roasted Kale and Cauliflower with Curry Cream.

Both the kale and the cauliflower are roasted, so it's kind of like eating cauliflower popcorn and kale chips for dinner! And that's all topped with a spicy curry sauce. Oh, and check out the portion sizes here! Amber calls for an entire small head of cauliflower and one whole small bunch of kale. I could only find a large head and a large bunch though, so I used about 3/4th of the cauliflower and kale.

Now that the cleanse is over, I'm ready to start eating a little healthier. Of course, I'll add back in my beloved faux meats, but I'll try to limit those items to a couple times each week and stick with more whole sources of protein, like tofu, tempeh, homemade seitan, and beans. Granted, I've got another short road trip coming up next week, but I don't think it'll mess me up too much.

Stay tuned tomorrow. I'll be attempting a half-day juice fast just for fun (not as part of Amber's cleanse ... there's no fasting required there!). But don't worry: I'll be eating dinner. I can't make it a whole day without solids. But I'll review some juices tomorrow night.

The Real Food Cleanse, Day Two

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm doing Amber Shea Crawley's three-day Real Food Cleanse to reset my eating habits after letting myself go in Portland. The Real Food Cleanse is an e-book, and you can download it from her Chef Amber Shea website for $14.99. It includes breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipes for three days, plus a shopping list and tips on prepping meals the night before.

I started the cleanse yesterday (Sunday), and I felt great all day! The food is high-raw, so you do get to eat some cooked beans. But there's not supposed to be any sugar, caffeine, alcohol, grains, or processed stuff (but I am having hot raw cacao and tea for caffeine so I don't die). I woke up this morning feeling pretty darn good about myself after eating so well yesterday.

The plan includes "bulk it up" instructions for those needing higher calorie diets. Basically, it involves including sunflower seeds and bananas as snacks. Since I work out, I need more calories. So I started my morning with a pre-workout banana. I did a little cardio workout, and then sat down to breakfast — Chilly Cherry Coconut Porridge.

This was a banana and cherries blended together (like a smoothie!) with coconut and cinnamon on top. It was tasty! But as I suspected, it didn't fill me up. I'm a BIG breakfast eater. I typically have a large meal with grains (like oats, toast, English muffins, or bagels) and protein (usually tofu). I was satisfied for about an hour, and then I was FAMISHED. Luckily, since I'm following the "bulk it up" plan, I had one-fourth cup of raw sunflower seeds and some bell peppers for a snack.

That mostly kept me satisfied until lunch. But I was more than ready to tear into this Mediterranean Mezze Platter with One-Minute Hummus.

Now this is what I'm talking about! The hummus was oil-free but yet still so delicious. And it had nutritional yeast in it, which I've never put in my hummus. I'm not sure why because noochy hummus is amazing. To dip, I had an entire sliced cucumber, a whole sliced red bell pepper, 3 carrots, and 6 olives. This actually kept me full for a long time.

But come 4 p.m., I was ready for my dessert snack. I'm eating all of the desserts on the plan in the afternoon before dinner. That's just when I crave sweets. This Strawberry Avocado Pudding hit the spot.

I'd had chocolate avocado pudding before but never strawberry. It was so creamy and awesome. I loved the slight avocado taste mixed with the tart sweetness of the strawberries.

Dinner was another huge meal — Fiesta Black Beans with Coconut-Buttered Sweet Potato.

Coconut butter and sweet potatoes were meant to be together. Forever and always. The beans (left from the can I opened yesterday) were tossed with the leftover dressing from yesterday's salad and served over the remainder of the salad greens from the bag I opened yesterday.

That is the single most awesome thing about Amber's book, by the way. She has you utilize all of everything you buy for the cleanse in the three days. There's no waste. And each recipe makes a single serving. As a person who cooks for only herself, I can't tell you how much I appreciate a recipe that makes one serving and a cleanse that isn't wasteful. Thanks Amber! One more day to go!

The Real Food Cleanse, Day One

Now that I'm back from Portland and caught up on sleep, I'm realizing that I might have put on a few pounds in Stumptown. My skinny jeans are, um, a little too skinny. So I'm ready to reset my eating habits and get back into doing more long runs. You know how I love a good whole foods-based cleanse to get my ass in line, right?

Well, a few months ago, I downloaded Amber Shea Crawley's e-book The Real Food Cleanse. It's a three-day, high-raw cleanse with no sugar, booze, grains, or processed stuff. I started the plan today, so I'll be posting pictures from all three days of the cleanse this week. Then I plan to spend Wednesday juice fasting until dinner. Juice fasting is not part of Amber's plan, but I have a juicing book that needs reviewing, so I figured I'd tack that on at the end.

Day one of the Real Food Cleanse was filled with delicious, wholesome meals that totally satisfied. I didn't even miss fake meat! Breakfast was this GIGANTIC Strawberry Blonde Bowl — one apple, one banana, 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries, mixed with a tahini sauce. It made so much that I had to eat it out of a mixing bowl.

I ate this while watching Downton Abbey in my pj's. Then I got dressed and went for a 6.2-mile run. Protein powders aren't on Amber's cleanse plan, but I like to drink Vega after long runs because the high level of protein helps rebuild muscle. I typically drink my Vega in smoothie-form as a meal replacement, but today, I mixed the Vega One Vanilla Chai powder with water and drank it that way. Not as delicious. But not half bad.

Lunch was this Zingy Spring Mix Salad with Black Beans. It had a nutritional yeast-tahini dressing and avocado as well. I loved having the cooked beans in with the otherwise raw salad. It was more filling that way. Sometime totally raw food meals leave me hungry.

Each day on the Real Food Cleanse includes a dessert. But I don't eat dessert after dinner because I'm always too full. I'm a dessert in the mid-afternoon kind of gal. I had these Buttery Stuffed Dates and Blueberries while reading Damien Echols' Life After Death memoir this afternoon. The dates were stuffed with coconut butter, which has long been one of my fave desserts. Few things go better with dates than creamy coconut butter.

Dinner was massive and very filling — Cheese-Smothered Broccoli and Chickpeas. An ENTIRE HEAD of broccoli florets are steamed with a half-cup of chickpeas, and that's topped with a noochy cheese sauce.

One thing I'm loving about this cleanse is all the nutritional yeast and tahini. Raw and steamed veggies are all fine and good, but they're five million times better topped with nooch and tahini!

Now I'm about to start prepping my meals for tomorrow. Amber includes detailed lists of things you should do the night before to make meal prepping a breeze. See y'all then!