Vegan Stuff I Ate in Nashville/Franklin

I spent part of my weekend in Nashville visiting Paul, who goes back and forth between Memphis and Nashville for work. He comes home often, but I rarely go there (or anywhere that requires an overnight stay) because traveling means finding pet-sitters.

But I have some extra vacay days that needed using, so I took Friday off and headed to Nashville on Thursday night. Around dinner time, I stopped in Jackson, Tennessee — about an hour away from Memphis — for an Impossible Whopper. Yay for vegan fast food on the road!

I'd planned to keep with 80/20 Plants as much as possible on the trip, while still leaving plenty of room to enjoy some decadent vegan meals. So on Friday morning, I had some oatmeal with bananas and coconut almond butter (no pics, sorry). And for lunch, I picked up a salad from the Kroger salad bar. Shout out to the Hendersonville, TN Kroger for having an amazing salad bar.

That left plenty of room for me to enjoy a nice dinner at Graze with Paul on Friday night. Graze is our favorite vegan restaurant in Nashville. Paul's not vegan, but he always enjoys a meal at Graze. 

I started with The Dude — a vegan White Russian cocktail with kahlua, vodka, and almond milk. They didn't add enough almond milk at first (as you can see by the dark color), so I asked for a smidge more. 

And for my entree, I ordered a dish I'd always wanted to try but never chose — Mac & Chorizo! Not sure why I waited so long to try this because it was EVERYTHING! Creamy cashew cheese mac with aioli and spicy seitan chorizo! 

We got a hotel room in Franklin, TN, just outside Nashville, for Friday night. It's fun to hang out in hotels and watch cable! The next morning, I needed to get in my planned 13-mile run, and that meant I needed a way to eat my usual pre-long run bagel. I'd brought along Blueberry Bagels and Miyoko's Cream Cheese from home, but of course there was no toaster in the room. So I googled "how to toast a bagel in a hotel" and learned you can use an iron! Sure, it's a little gross. But I've definitely eaten grosser things. Just be sure and wipe down the iron thoroughly before and after toasting (and out of courtesy for people using the iron on their clothes, DON'T butter or oil it first). 

For the run, I set out on the Franklin Greenway and managed 10 miles before I realized I needed to get back and shower before hotel check-out time. Some days, you just can't get all your miles in! While on the run though, I passed The Grilled Cheeserie in downtown Franklin and saw they served vegan grilled cheese. I headed over there for lunch and enjoyed this awesome Vegan Grilled Cheese with Smoked Jalapeno Relish, Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup, and a Vegan Coconut Milkshake (!!!). Amazing!

Vegan Shakshuka + Burrito Bowl + Free Ice Cream!

I made some homemade harissa paste last week for my Halloween Buddha Bowl, so I've been trying to find fun ways to use it. There's a recipe in The No Meat Athlete Cookbook (I'm trying to work my way through cooking all of the recipes!) for Harissa Baked Tofu, a veganized version of the traditional Middle Eastern shakshuka breakfast. Traditional shakshuka is made with poached eggs, tomatoes, and peppers.

This vegan version is made with tofu in place of the eggs. The recipe calls for harissa seasoning, which I'd already used to make the paste, so I just subbed harissa paste for the tomato paste and left out the seasoning. It was perfectly spiced and great with toast for sopping up the juices.

Lunch today was Butternut Squash Soup with Soy Yogurt & Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, plus LuLu's Brioche on the side. The soup was from last Sunday's Vegan Soup Swap and lovingly made by Allie. Very good!

Last Friday was World Vegan Day, and Ben & Jerry's was giving out free non-dairy scoops! I needed to go out east for shopping anyway, so I stopped there first for a yummy free Coconut Almond Chip.

I also needed to eat some dinner out east before shopping, so I stopped at Chipotle cause it's cheap, healthy, and vegan-friendly. I got a Tofu Sofritas Burrito Bowl with brown rice, black beans, corn salsa, guac, pico, and lettuce. Hit the spot! I should eat at Chipotle more often.

And finally, here's a quick lunch from last weekend. Big Ass Salad with Sundried Tomato Cashew Ranch and Avocado Toast.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: The Doghouzz

There's a new vegan-friendly restaurant in Crosstown! After months of construction, The Doghouzz is finally open! This new gourmet hot dog bar is just across the street from Crosstown Concourse in the old Metro nightclub building.

Metro was a gay bar back in the early- to mid-2000s, and we used to hang out there. So it's cool to see something fun happening in this spot again. The inside looks similar, only they've taken down the wall that used to separate the bar from the dance floor. The back patio, where we usually hung out, looks the same!

The Doghouzz serves a Vegan Braised Carrot Dog, and it can be customized in all kinds of ways. I went in for lunch today and ordered the carrot dog on a poppyseed bun with added mustard, avocado slices, and raw onions. The braised carrot was just the right texture — soft but still firm enough to be toothsome — and it was massive. So big that it barely fit into the bun!

It's cool to see a carrot dog offered rather than a plant meat dog since that's available elsewhere in Memphis. Plus, I feel better sticking with whole foods, like carrots, as much as possible.

Vegan sides include pinto beans or chips. I went with the beans and they were mind-blowingly good! Owner Steve says they're prepared with his secret recipe.

The Doghouzz is currently only open for lunch until they get their beer license and liquor license, but they'll eventually be open til 3 am!

Since the place is named The Doghouzz, there are plenty of dog-themed touches, including these adorable bathroom signs.

The Doghouzz is located at 1349 Autumn Avenue.

Vegan Souper Sunday!

I'm no fan of cold weather, but I am a fan of soup. Soup, plus the fun fall/winter holidays, are the only things that keep me sane when the temps drop below the 70s.

Lucky for me, my friend Nichelle organized a vegan soup swap on Sunday, and now I've got seven different vegan soups stocked in my deep freezer — ready to keep me warm this fall and winter! Look at all this frozen soup!

Each person who signed up was instructed to bring nine quarts of soup — eight for swapping and one for sampling at the event (one person dropped at the last minute so we ended up with one extra bag of our own soup). We met at Nichelle and Sean's place and enjoyed snacks and wine before soup tasting.

We each grabbed tiny bowls and went around the kitchen, tasting each soup. There was Nichelle's Sweet Potato Peanut Soup and Mindy's Cannellini Bean & Greens Soup.

Sean made Tortilla Soup. Allie brought Butternut Squash Soup. And Jennifer made Split Pea Soup.

Stephanie made a Black Bean Soup, and I brought Smoky Tomato Soup.

And Nichelle also made the best Kale Salad with Pecan Parm as a side dish. Definitely the best kale salad I've had! She used this recipe from Oh She Glows, and it's literally called The Best Shredded Kale Salad.

Everyone's soup was so good, and I'm so excited to have a freezer-full of lunch and dinner options! I've been eating a lot of the Smoky Tomato Soup I made over the past couple days. I used this recipe from Olives for Dinner. Perfect with vegan grilled cheese & avocado. 

Halloween Eats!

Halloween/Samhain is my second favorite holiday (right after Thanksgiving, which always wins because FOOD). I love witchery, costumes, skulls, pumpkin spice, scary movies, and any excuse to eat candy!

This year, I was Daria Morgendorffer from MTV's Daria, which was among my favorite TV shows in my high school years. Deep down, I'm a bit misanthropic and sardonic just like Daria.

I think I made a pretty decent Daria, no?

Y'all know I love a good food theme, so I had to start my morning with pumpkin! I made Pumpkin Pie Yogurt by mixing pumpkin puree with homemade soy yogurt (made by my friend Jennifer), maple, and pumpkin pie spice. Topped with coconut clustersa and rawnola. This was REALLY good!

When I got to work, my vegan co-worker Lily had made Vegan Vanilla Banana Skull Cakes! I chopped off about a third of one, and they were really good.

Lunch was more tofu stir-fry, but I wish I'd planned a Halloween-themed lunch. Snacks were popcorn and salad (with pumpkin seeds, of course!).

I snacked on candy throughout the day — Nerds, YumEarth lollipops, Bottle Caps. I also had some Biscoff cookies, which a couple co-workers were giving out as part of their pilot/airline stewardess costumes. We have an annual trick-or-treating event at Crosstown Concourse, so I stayed late to pass out candy.

And then I headed home to do my annual Feast of the Dead. Every year on Samhain, I honor my dead friends and family with a dinner. I cook a nice meal, pour some wine, and sit down to break bread with them.

This year, I made a Fall-inspired Buddha Bowl with roasted butternut squash (from the farmers market), avocado, balsamic roasted chickpeas, spinach, quinoa, and homemade harissa paste. I'll be posting that harissa recipe soon! The bowl idea was inspire by this recipe on Fit Foodie Finds.

For dessert, I had my last slice of Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake, which I'd frozen after last Sunday's potluck. This is from a recipe in the latest issue of VegNews.

Brioche! Spaghetti! Scramble!

Last Saturday, I stopped by the Lulu's booth at the CY Farmers Market on a very rainy morning and picked up this Pumpkin Spice Muffin as a pre-bootcamp snack. They're actually using butternut squash instead of pumpkin since they have a good local supplier. You couldn't tell the different at all in this moist muffin. I cannot get enough of the soft texture that pumpkin and squash adds to breads and cakes.

Don was also selling mini loaves of plain Vegan Brioche, so of course, I had to get some. I had moved my Saturday long run to Sunday since it was so rainy on Saturday (and went to bootcamp Saturday morning instead). So on Sunday, I enjoyed some Toasted Brioche with Miyoko's Cream Cheese before an 11-miler. I can't say for certain if this toast made a difference, but my run went very well. Felt strong the whole time and managed a negative split (that's when you finish faster than you start; always the goal but hard to achieve).

I had some more brioche (with avocado this time) as a side to my Monday morning Chickpea Scramble. The scramble recipe was linked on the 80/20 Plants site, but you can find the recipe here on Well and Full. Mashed chickpeas are sauteed with onions and turmeric and served over baby spinach. It's a nice change from tofu scramble.

I've been eating Tofu Veggie Stir-Fry for my work lunches this week. For this, I air-fried tofu and then sauteed that with broccoli, red pepper, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, and zucchini. The sauce is made with Bragg's, veggie broth, sriracha, and tahini and then thickened with cornstarch. Served over brown rice. I love these single-bowl lunches because they're super easy to pack and eat.

I had some leftover tofu ricotta from the stuffed mushrooms I made for Sunday's potluck, so I served it atop Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Marinara. Added some black olives for extra flavor. This has been the perfect dinner for the past couple nights since I've had early morning runs scheduled. Carbs!

And finally, here's the most delicious Smoked Pecan Mocha from Comeback Coffee. Made with vegan Ritual chocolate and oatmilk. I tend to order my coffee drinks unsweetened, but some days, you need dessert coffee. Especially on these chilly, rainy fall days we're having here.

Thai Tofu Pizza! Tostada! Salad Rolls! New Hair!

Late last week, I used a recipe that I found linked on the 80/20 Plants site to make this amazing Thai Tofu Pizza! It's topped with peanut butter sauce (instead of marinara), tofu, pineapple, carrots, scallions, and cilantro. For the crust, I used a pre-made Simple Truth Organic vegan pizza crust. I love these because they're cracker thin and mega-convenient. Here's the recipe on Foxes Love Lemons.

I grabbed a quick lunch from Juice Bar in Crosstown Concourse last Thursday. You can get a meal and juice there for $10! So I got Salad Rolls (stuffed with avocado, lettuce, and some other veggies) with peanut sauce and a Ginger Greens Juice.

I know I showed y'all a tostada last week, but here's another one! I ate a lot of Bean Tostadas last week, stuffed with mashed pintos and topped with lettuce, tomato, salsa, and avocado. For this one, I also topped with Chipotle Bitchin' Sauce (an awesome find at the Truck Patch health food store in my hometown). It's an almond-based sauce that's totally addictive.

I got all my hair chopped off last week, and I got highlights! We have a new salon, Hero & Sage, at Crosstown Concourse, and since I'd not had a haircut in three years (not even a trim!), I figured it was way past time. When you arrive, they offer beer or wine (or non-alcoholic beverages if that's your thing). My appointment was at 3:30 on a Wednesday. And look what beer I found — Memphis Made's 3:30 on a Wednesday fruit ale!!

Here's the new look. I like it!! It involves more styling than I'm used to, but it's so nice to have all that weight off my head.