37th Birthday Weekend, Day 3!

Last birthday post, I swear! Well, until next year when I do it all over again. But as I mentioned over the past couple posts, I stretched my 37th birthday (which was yesterday) out for 3 days with fun celebrations every day. My big friend gathering with dinner and a night out was Saturday. Sunday, we did birthday brunch and a celebration with my family.

Here's my 37th birthday selfie! I take one every year.

On Monday — my actual birthday — I took off work for a stay-cay day with Paul. I slept in until 7:30 (omg!) and then had Ramen Noodles with Tofu & Veggies in my PJs while I watched The Walking Dead on Netflix (I'm a season behind — no spoilers, please!).

I also had some coffee in a new mug that my mom had made for me. It has Maynard on it! He was impressed.

After breakfast, Paul and I went for an easy 3-mile run on the V&E Greenline by our house in Crosstown.

Typically, after a run, I have a protein shake or protein waffle. But I skipped that in favor of leftover Fried Vegan Drumsticks from Imagine Vegan Cafe. We'd eaten brunch there on Sunday, so I had some left, plus leftover mac and collards. Paul had some leftover biscuits and gravy and a piece of a waffle, also from Imagine. So I just made a giant plate!

My parents gave me birthday money to buy new running shoes, so we went to Breakaway Running for a little shopping time in the afternoon. I went back to Brooks Ghosts after a year-long break from them. Last year's model had a weird, hard plastic toe box that made my big toes go numb, but that's gone from the Ghost 10s. Can't wait to try them out after work today!

I also decided to buy myself a jean jacket as a birthday gift to myself. I've gotten so many patches and pins from Goddess Provisions boxes, plus other places. I put ALL of my patches and pins on my jacket. Maybe it's a little busy, but I don't care! Love it!

Around 4 pm, we headed to Alchemy for happy hour cocktails. They have half-off all cocktails and appetizers! I started with a Dirty Martini.

And Paul had a (not vegan) White Russian.

We also ordered an appetizer of Edamame Hummus to share. The hummus was fantastic, but those roasted chickpeas stole the show. They were so crunchy and perfect.

Then it was time for dinner! We drove out east to City Silo Table + Pantry — a super vegan-friendly place with bowls and sandwiches — to meet Mike, Andy, and Tyler.

After a weekend of fried craziness and booze, it felt really awesome to be eating such a healthy dinner. The El Goodo Bowl had buffalo tempeh, brown rice, quinoa, garlic greens, black beans, corn, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and a serrano-avocado sauce. YUM!

I had such an amazing 37th birthday weekend! Thanks for all the birthday wishes (and thanks for putting up with my many birthday posts!).

37th Birthday Weekend, Day 2!

Today is my birthday! Yay! But since it was a Monday birthday (and real talk, because I'm a Libra), I made this a 3-day birthday weekend! Last night, I posted about my birthday party with friends on Saturday night. And tonight, I'll post about my Sunday pre-birthday brunch and family dinner. I'll save the actual birthday pics for tomorrow night.

My BFF Sheridan and her partner Drew spent the night at my house on Saturday night since they live in Little Rock. So on Sunday morning, we woke up and went to brunch before they hit the road back home. Of course we went to Imagine Vegan Cafe! They had Fried Pickles with Ranch on special, so we started with that. Y'all know I love some fried pickles!

For my entree, I went with Vegan Fried Drumsticks with Ranch & BBQ Sauce, Vegan Mac & Cheese, & Collard Greens. BEST FRIED BRUNCH!!

Here's a pic of me and Sheridan at my house before they left town. We're both wearing Herbivore shirts!

Drew always makes the best videos when they come to visit, and he created this awesome birthday video from our Saturday and Sunday adventures.



After they left, Paul and I drove to Jonesboro, Arkansas for a birthday dinner with my parents.

I requested Totchos! So my mom made vegan chili, and she had vegan cheddar, sour cream, homemade guac, pickled jalapenos, and scallions. So good!

For dinner, she drizzled a Daiya New York Style Cheesecake with chocolate syrup and crumbled Oreos on top. We enjoyed this with Ben & Jerry's vegan Cherry Garcia. Yay birthday!

Okay, one more birthday post tomorrow, and I promise I'll stop with the birthday stuff — until next year!

37th Birthday Weekend, Day 1

My 37th birthday is Monday, October 16! But I like to stretch birthdays out for as long as possible. A Monday birthday is a perfect excuse for a birthday weekend with parties and awesome food every day! On Saturday, I started my 3-day birthday celebration with a fun day with friends, food, and booze. I'll share those pics tonight, and then I'll catch y'all up on days 2 and 3 over the next couple days.

My BFF Sheridan and her partner Drew came up to Memphis from Little Rock on Saturday afternoon for my birthday party. Sheridan and I have been besties since eighth grade, and I'm so glad we live close enough to see each other every few months. We had a little time to kill, and Crosstown Concourse — the amazing building where I work — has only been open a few months, so I wanted to take them on a tour. Plus, it was around lunch time, so we started with snacks from Mama Gaia, the all-veg, organic restaurant inside Concourse.

I ran 16 miles on Saturday morning, before they arrived, and I was famished. But I knew I also needed to save room for birthday dinner (which was only a few hours away), so I went with a light snack — the Cena Petitzza with vegan cheese and mushrooms.

After lunch, I gave Sheridan and Drew a tour of this awesome, repurposed 14-story building. Here are Sheridan and I in front of artist Kevin Bongang's mural, a temporary piece that wraps around the Crosstown theater (which is still under construction).

We ended our tour at Next Door American Eatery, also inside Concourse, for beers! 

From there, we walked across the street to Crosstown Arts for a couple of art openings, one of which was for this awesome mural depicting local artist Michael Roy. It was painted by a visiting artist, Patrick Kane McGregor. Both artists posed in front of the mural for us.

We goofed around a bit.

And took a photo in front of the I Love Memphis mural.

And then it was time for dinner! I made birthday plans at Blue Nile with a bunch of friends.

I started with a Tofu Skewer appetizer.

And I went with the Veggie Platter for my main entree. I love Ethiopian food SO MUCH. So very much.

After dinner, we moved the party to Railgarten — a fun outdoor bar that's pretty much like hanging out in someone's giant backyard. They were having their Oktoberfest celebration, so the place was especially packed. We took some pics. I drank wine from a can (classy). We hula-hooped. And we chilled by the bonfire. Perfect night.

More birthday pics coming tomorrow!

Sweet, Savory & Free

I'm so lucky to not have any food allergies! I can only imagine how hard it would be to avoid such ubiquitous ingredients as gluten, soy, or nuts. But I do have a few friends with food allergies, and when I cook for them, I have to be very careful about what goes into my dishes. Debbie Adler's new cookbook — Sweet, Savory & Free: Insanely Delicious Plant-Based Recipes Without Any of the Top 8 Food Allergens — should be a great help in those instances. But it's also just an awesome book that anyone can use because her recipes are delicious!

Those top eight allergens include dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish, and shellfish. Plus, Debbie's recipes are also free of refined sugar and oil. And they're all vegan of course! The book contains everything from sweet and savory breakfasts to homemade condiments (HOMEMADE SRIRACHA!), soups, sides, pizzas, pastas, gluten-free breads, and desserts.

I tried a few recipes and loved them all. I typically eat ramen noodles every Sunday, and I tend to buy those Lotus Foods gluten-free rice ramen packages just because they're all-natural and delicious. So I had to try the recipe for the Sweet Miso Forbidden Rice Ramen Noodle Bowl.

I accidentally got the Lotus Foods Jade Pearl noodles instead of Forbidden Rice noodles, but they were still gluten-free. Just not the right purple color! The broth is made from sweet potato, ginger, turmeric, and green tea, and it's so savory and amazing. I usually add frozen veggies to my ramen bowls, but I've never had a broth made from pureed veggies. Genius!

From the Main Attractions chapter, I made the Mushroom Herb Ragu over toasted quinoa (from I Heart Keenwah). Paul loves mushrooms, so I knew this was a main dish we could eat together. Plus, I'm still doing the Dr. Fuhrman GBOMBS thing, and I need to get mushrooms in daily. This creamy dish is made with coconut milk and thickened with tapioca starch. I did have to add a little extra tapioca starch beyond what the recipe called for though as mine didn't thicken quite enough at first.

On the side, I made the Creamed Kale from the Meals in Muffin Tins & Ramekins chapter (what a fun theme for a chapter!). I've never actually had creamed spinach, but this is Debbie's take on that classic dish, using kale instead of spinach. The kale is steamed, chopped, and stirred into a creamy coconut sauce seasoned with coconut aminos. On top, you sprinkle Debbie's homemade Parmezan (a parm blend made from ground sunflower, pumpkin, and hemp seeds), and then you bake it in the oven.

Wow! The creamed kale is so full of flavor, and it's just fun to eat an individual portion in a ramekin! And I'm glad I have extra Parmezan left for topping other dishes.

I had a hard time deciding what to make from this book because everything looks so good! The Sriracha Hemp Noodles, Chipotle Mexican Omelet Tostada, Fakiin Bacon Crescent Rolls, Ultimate Veggie Pad Thai, and Cookie Dough Cupcakes are all calling my name! I also love that Debbie includes lots of traditional Jewish dishes, like Matzo Ball Soup, Challah, and Kugel. I'm not Jewish, but I've long been drawn to those traditional dishes.

Whether you have a food allergy or you just want healthy, wholesome, vegan meals (free of oil and refined sugar!), Debbie's book has something for you!

New Items at Mama Gaia!

Mama Gaia — the totally organic, vegetarian restaurant in Crosstown Concourse — has added two new menu items for the month of October. I tried them both, and they're among my new faves at the restaurant. Full disclosure: I do the social media and PR for Concourse, as well as Crosstown Arts. But I'd be sharing Mama Gaia news whether I worked in the building or not because I love this place! I'm so lucky to have an awesome, healthy vegetarian place in my office building.

Everything at Mama Gaia is organic, and nothing is fried. So you can feel pretty good about whatever you're eating there. The menu consists of pita sandwiches, bowls, and salads, but they just added a new vegan burger that blows so many others out of the water. And it's the first vegan burger offered in all of Concourse (several places there have veggie burgers, but they're not vegan). I tried the Smokehouse Veggie Burger this week — with vegan cheese, smoked onions, and garlic aioli. This typically comes with dairy cheese, but they're happy to make it vegan.

LOVE this patty! It's a homemade veggie patty, not a soy/seitan patty. So it's soft, but it holds together well, and it's packed with flavor. The smoky onions really take it up a notch. For all of October, you can get the burger in a combo meal with a side and drink (they serve Oogave agave-sweetened sodas and ginger-green tea lemonade) for $12. I opted for the Hummus & Veggie side.

They also added a new BBQ Tofu Pita with a smoky BBQ tofu and a creamy, vegan Asian slaw. It's a messy sandwich, just the way BBQ should be. And they're very generous with the tofu! I got one to go last week with a side of Mama Gaia's baked fries. This is also available for the $12 combo.

By the way, my pics are just everyday shots, but my friend Justin of The Chubby Vegetarian did these pro shots for Mama Gaia. YUM!

Three-Bean Beer Chili!

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my partner Paul is trying to eat more vegan and vegetarian meals. He's not going all the way, but he wants to get fit and feel better after years of eating crap and not really taking care of himself. He's started running again, and he's actually eating dinners that I cook. Before, all he wanted was frozen burritos, frozen pizzas, ramen, and cans of ravioli.

The other day, he said "How come you never make chili?" I explained to him that chili was a fall/winter food, and it's still in the high 80s here (even though it's officially fall). He said he didn't care about that, and he wanted chili soon. So last night, I made some chili! I didn't follow a recipe, just came up with a new one, so I'm sharing it in this post.

I made a beer chili, using a full can of Sam Adams Oktoberfest beer for a super-fall flavor. Beer adds such complexity to chili. I also used a full bag of Beyond Meat Beefy Crumbles because protein is awesome. Plus mushrooms because I try to eat some every day. I topped my bowl with a little Daiya because why not?

Paul requested cornbread on the side so I made the Jalapeno Corn-Cornbread from Cookin' Crunk, which has corn kernels inside and chopped, pickled jalapenos on top!

Three-Bean Beer Chili

Yields 4 servings

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1 package Beyond Meat Beefy Crumble

1 12-oz. can or bottle of Oktoberfest beer

1 24-oz. can crushed tomato

2 14-oz cans mixed beans (I used Simple Truth Organic Tri-Bean Blend), drained & rinsed

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

2 Tbsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. maple syrup

1 Tbsp. apple cider vineger

Heat the oil in a large soup pot and add the onion. Saute 3-5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and saute one more minute. Add the mushrooms, and saute 3-5 minutes. Add the crumbles and saute until thawed and lightly browned.

Add in the beer, crushed tomato, beans, tomato paste, chili powder, salt, and maple syrup. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes. 

Turn off heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar.

Crosstown Culinary Crawl

I live and work in Crosstown Memphis, and in my spare time, I volunteer as the secretary for the Crosstown Memphis Community Development Corporation. We're a new(ish) board dedicated to improving safety, boosting economic development, and beautifying the Crosstown community. This past Saturday, we partnered with City Tasting Tours for a Crosstown Culinary Crawl to show off some of the awesome restaurants around the Crosstown area.

You've probably read my posts about Crosstown Concourse, the one-million-square-foot, 14-story "vertical urban village" where I work as the communications coordinator for Crosstown Arts. Concourse has a number of restaurants, but they're all new to the area, having all just opened this year. But we wanted to share the great restaurants around the building, which have been around for several years before the Concourse development even broke ground.

The CDC and City Tasting Tours chose Phuong Long, Midtown Crossing Grill, and Mardi Gras Memphis for the tour. But first, my friend Misti and I started at my house with a little pre-game wine, Rosemary Pecans, and Praline Peanuts. The nuts were fresh-roasted at So Nuts & Confections in Crosstown Concourse.

Then we walked over to Concourse, where the tour group mingled and listened to a performance by the Snowden School Band. It was time for the food tour at 5:30 pm, and everyone walked over to Phuong Long, where we were treated to a buffet! Here's our group!

Selfie with Misti! I've been friends with this lady for YEARS. We both moved to the Memphis area (she lives in Marion, Arkansas - about 15 minutes away) from Jonesboro in 2002, but we were friends back in college when we both attended Arkansas State.

This wasn't a vegan food tour, but there were a number of options at a couple places so I felt confident that I'd get my money's worth for my $35 ticket. And I was so right! Phuong Long had Lemongrass Tofu & Rice, a Veggie Lo Mein Stir-fry, and (not pictured) Veggie Spring Rolls. I went back for seconds on the tofu!

Next stop was Midtown Crossing. Most tour participants got a mini Vegan Banh Mi, the Artist Pizza, and a Cannoli. But owner Octavia hooked me up with two mini banh mis (the Bianca Banh Mi with tofu, hummus, & pickled veggies) and a salad since she knows I'm vegan.

By this point, I was stuffed, so I didn't mind that our next stop — Mardi Gras Memphis — didn't have vegan options. It's a Cajun restaurant, and the menu is not vegan-friendly at all. Here's our group at Mardi Gras though! They had crawfish etoufee and catfish. I was happy to just sit and talk, knowing that wouldn't be leaving nearly as over-stuffed as everyone else.

Here's our City Tasting Tours organizer Cristina (in the green shirt with the head wrap)! We used to work together at the Memphis Flyer, and now she organizes multiple food tours around the city each week.

And this is Porsche, the CDC board member who really did the heavy lifting on organizing this tour with Cristina. Porsche and I also work together at Crosstown Arts.

The official tour ended at Mardi Gras, but some folks went over to Crosstown Concourse for dessert at Area 51 Ice Cream. They do have vegan sorbet there, but Misti and I were too full to eat another bite so we headed back to my house.

I love Crosstown!