Product Review: Susan's Own CBD Gummies

I've been using CBD products to calm anxiety and help me sleep for several years, and I've had varied results with different brands. One reason for that is because these products aren't regulated by the FDA, so there's no way to tell if the dose you're taking actually has the advertised amount of CBD in it. 

I have finally found a great local, Memphis-based purveyor of these products (shout out to Ounce of Hope!), but recently, I've also been loving Colorado-based brand Susan's Own, too! They shipped me three jars of their vegan CBD gummies, and they have been phenomenal. I can pop a gummy right after work, and within the hour, a relaxed feeling washes over me. With a lot of CBD products, I find I can barely tell I've taken anything. But with these gummies, I physically feel a change (not a high, just a relaxation similar to what I feel after one beer — just without the booze!).

Susan’s Own products are made using all-natural, vegan ingredients and American-grown hemp. They contain every cannabinoid present in the plant, which makes them highly effective at treating pain, inflammation, anxiety, and more. Don't they look like glittery little jewels?! Each gummy has 25 mg of CBD, which is perfect for me.

The coolest part? Susan's Own does third-party lab testing for potency and to screen out unwanted additives and pesticides. And you can see those test results right on their website. So you know just how much CBD you're getting when you take one of these!

The flavors are fun too! They sent me Pina Colada, Blue Raspberry, and Dragon Fruit. So far, the Pina Colada is my fave because you can taste that hint of hemp flavor paired with a coconutty taste of the tropics.

By the way, they also make tinctures in fun flavors, muscle balm, and bath bombs. And everything is vegan!

Fourth of July Food & Fun!

I'm not a patriotic person, but I do love grilling and fireworks and summer. So I kind of love the Fourth of July. I took advantage of the long weekend to get in lots of outdoor time! On Saturday morning, I ran 7 miles on my favorite trail at Stanky Creek. On Sunday, I chilled in our kiddie pool and enjoyed a beer in the summer sun. One note: A friend has alerted me to some concerning things about Brewdog, but just so you know, I didn't buy this beer. We subscribe to a monthly beer club, and this one was in the June box. 

Later that night, Paul and I went to the city of Memphis' free fireworks show at Liberty Park. They shot off fireworks to Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner," which was originally intended as a protest song (perfect for these crazy times when our rights as women are being stripped away). 

The next day, on actual Fourth of July, Paul and I got our kayaks out and headed for the Wolf River. We kayaked a new-to-us section between Germantown Parkway and Walnut Grove. Overall, it was a little over three miles of easy-breezy kayaking in low current. The river was pretty low at parts, so we got stuck a few times. But nothing a little butt-scooting couldn't get you out of!

When we got home, we fired up the grill and cooked Beyond Brats (for me; Paul had meat ones), Corn on the Cob, and Marinated Asparagus and Mushrooms. A perfect summer meal! And we finished out the night with one of the latest episodes of Stranger Things.

Review: The Fiber Fueled Cookbook

I'll start with this: I LOVE DR. WILL B!! I read the plant-based gastroenterologist's first book, Fiber Fueled, when Paul started having gut issues in 2021. I was hoping maybe I'd learn some things that could help him. And I did, but it was too late for Paul. He had perforated diverticulitis and ended up having two surgeries to correct it — all because he didn't eat enough fiber. And though I couldn't do much to help his situation, I learned so much about the gut microbiome in the process.

The original Fiber Fueled has a four-week meal plan that I still intend to do one day as a reset (and hopefully, I can get Paul on board, but the man still struggles to eat enough fiber ... but that's a different story for a different time). But I was so excited when Dr. Will B's new book — The Fiber Fueled Cookbook — came out. 

This book features full-color photos of beautiful, whole food-plant-based, fiber-filled meals. There are entire chapters and special recipes for people dealing with FODMAP issues and histamine issues (and Dr. B. teaches you how to heal your gut if those are your struggles). I don't have any major gut problems (except I do get gassy sometimes! TMI!), but there's a whole chapter of Fiber Fueled Unleashed recipes. There's also a chapter on fermentation that includes sourdough starter instructions, how to bake sourdough bread, recipes for using sourdough discard and recipes for ferments (like kraut, kvass, fermented soda and more). And there's a sprouting chapter that's ignited my love for growing my own broccoli and lentil sprouts.

So far, I've made a few recipes, and I intend to work my way through the whole book. My favorite so far has been this Tempeh Skillet with Saffron Rice. It has tasty marinated tempeh with bell peppers and zucchini served over saffron rice. I never know what to do with saffron, but it's so fun and tasty.

This Coco Nana Smoothie Bowl was awesome. The base was bananas, cocoa powder, peanut butter, hemp, date, and vanilla, and it's topped with coconut, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, and more peanut butter.

Here's the Mango Blueberry Smoothie, which was made without banana because it was in the histamine chapter. Bananas are high histamine — for people who have issues with that. I don't, but I thought I'd try a banana-less smoothie anyway. It was good!

This was the Chickpea Glow Bowl, and it was fantastic. It had a quinoa base that's topped with sauteed tofu and chickpeas, plus parsley and fresh cucumbers. I loved the contrast of cool and hot.

The Summer Sunburst Salad had Dr. B's tofu feta mixed with quinoa, spinach, bell peppers, white beans, scallions, and parsley. Such a fresh and fun dish for summer!

After reading the sourdough chapter, I decided to start making my own sourdough (yea, I'm about two years late to the pandemic sourdough game). I started my starter this week and named her after my favorite actress, Chloe Sevigny. Meet Doughy Sevigny!

There are so many more dishes from this book that I want to try. Tomorrow, I'm planning to make the Simple Spaghetti with Garlicky Kale (pasta with olive oil, shallots, garlic, and kale), and on Sunday, I'll make the Sourdough Pancakes with my discard. Also on my list: the Nashville Not Chicken (made with tofu), Pozole (because I love hominy!), Vegetable Ceviche (another recipe with hominy), Sweet Potato Shawarma Bowl, the Creamy Cajun Bow, the Tuscan Flatbread and Cookie Milk (to name a few!). I'll also be making Dr. B's sourdough bread this weekend and his fermented Smokey Pineapple and Tomato Salsa. 

'Guilty' Eats, Eggy Toast, & an Old Chicken Sandwich

For months (maybe a year??), I've been trying to catch Da Guilty Vegan food truck when it comes to Midtown or Downtown. The truck is typically parked in Cordova, which is a good 20-minute drive from my house, so I never get out there (because I never leave Midtown or Downtown Memphis). But last Friday, they announced they'd be at Wiseacre Brewing in the Broad Avenue Arts District! So Susan and I met up for beers and comfort food (which was extra-needed following Friday's terrifying Roe v. Wade news).

I ordered the Memphis Veef Brisket Sandwich with Fried Okra. I wish you could see the inside of this sandwich because it was a thing of beauty. The brisket was made from juicy seitan, covered in tangy BBQ sauce, and served with coleslaw and pickles. I love that fried okra was offered as a side!

On Friday morning, I had planned to eat Ezekiel cereal for breakfast. I poured some in a bowl, added some monkfruit, raisins, hemp seeds, almonds, and sliced banana. And then I went to the fridge, only to realize I was out of soymilk. So scratch that (I did eat out the banana slices and saved the rest for later though). Instead, I made Eggy Toast with Just Egg and Follow Your Heart American cheese on LuLu's sourdough.

Here's a quick meal from last week. I had some Starlite coupons that I used to get $1 off their Chick'n Enchiladas. These were REALLY great for a frozen meal. Will buy again!

And finally, here's an old chicken sandwich. Ha! I found a Simple Truth Emerge vegan chicken patty in my deep freezer recently. It's been there over a year, and I'm pretty sure Kroger doesn't even sell the Emerge vegan meat line anymore. And honestly, the products were not great. But I decided to try and cook it anyway and see if it was still edible. I coated liberally in BBQ sauce and topped with FYH cheese, and it was fine! No freezer burn. Still kinda bland, but the BBQ sauce helped.

18 Years with Paul!

On Tuesday, Paul and I will celebrate our 18th anniversary! Hard to believe it's been that long, but time flies! Since Paul works late on Tuesday, and I have a very early bedtime due to my early work hours (I start my work days at 4:30 am!), we'll likely not have time for more than a champagne toast before bed that day.

So we celebrated on Sunday when we knew we'd have time. Most years, we go to a semi-fancy place for dinner. Never anything too fancy because those kinds of places around here do not have vegan options. But we often end up at Seasons 52 or a nice Thai place. But this year, Paul wanted Italian food because he's on a lasagna kick lately. We looked at every Italian menu we could find, and most did not have very exciting vegan options (just plain spaghetti marinara, no thanks). So we decided to throw out hopes of finding a "date night" place and opted instead of fast-casual. 

Rotolo's Craft and Crust just opened a location here, and I'd heard they had lots of vegan options. And they had lasagna. So off we went!

We split an appetizer of Tre Beyond Meatballs (minus the parm), which were tasty, seasoned vegan meatballs in marinara.

For my entree, I went with the Vin Monster Pizza with Daiya, Field Roast pepperoni, and Beyond Sausage. The pizza comes with non-vegan meats normally, but you can sub vegan meats on any pizza. This was supposed to also have mushrooms, but they forgot those. After I took the pic, the server took the pizza back and they added mushrooms! This was a very good (and very filling) pizza! 

We were stuffed from dinner, but we have an annual tradition of playing pool at Newby's for our anniversary. That's because we met at this college bar way back in 2004 (that was well after college for me, by the way, but we were still very young. I was 23 when we met!). Here we are holding the 1 and 8 balls for 18 years!

Korean Gimbap, Pickle Toast, and a Jameson Slushie

Global Café inside Crosstown Concourse has brought on a Korean chef so they've got a whole new section to their menu! I had meeting at Concourse last week, so I stopped in to Global for an order of Vegan Gimbap to go. This Korean-style sushi has spinach, carrots, and pickled daikon and is served with a soy-chili dipping sauce. Seriously SO GOOD. I've had vegan gimbap before, but this was the best by far.

On Monday, I stopped by the Raw Girls for my usual Monday to-go lunch and grabbed the Mung Bean Pasta with pesto, tomatoes, and asparagus. I love their bean pasta dishes because they're super-filling and so comforting.

Lunch yesterday was a Burrito Bowl using the last of my Upton's Naturals Fava Bean Crumbles, brown rice, Simple Truth cauliflower queso, and veggies. Tasty and simple.

I have a new favorite snack — Pickle Toast! I am SO IN LOVE with Lantana's Dill Pickle Hummus (it's better that Trader Joe's by far), and it's perfect on sourdough bread with fresh pickles. 

And I'll leave you with this: On Tuesday, I met up with some old Crosstown Arts coworkers at Slider Inn, and I ordered a Jameson Slushie. I love these! And it was the perfect treat on a hot day!

Pasta, Pancakes, and Tacos!

Last Sunday, for Father's Day, I woke up early and made some pancakes — Paul's fave breakfast — for my favorite cat/dog dad. I made his with white flour because he's a super-picky eater who hates anything remotely healthy. And I made my own batch with whole wheat pastry flour, fresh peaches, and monkfruit maple syrup. I use real maple for recipes, but I like the monkfruit syrup for pancakes because I like to drown mine in syrup. And this stuff is sugar-free. We had Impossible sausage on the side.

Here's some recent pasta I made from The Plant-Based Athlete. This was the Quinoa Tofu Pasta, which had quinoa rotini, crumbled tofu, spinach, sprouts, and a tasty oil and vinegar dressing. A nice, simple, protein-packed pasta salad!

I've been eating a lot of tacos lately! I made these Chicken Tacos with Daring Foods vegan chicken pieces (the texture is so crazy real!). I had these on a Wednesday, but that didn't stop me from enjoying a Taco Tuesday Mexican Lager with them!

And I made these with Upton's Fava Bean Taco Crumbles. Those fava bean crumbles remind me of TVP or even plant meat crumbles, but they're made from beans! Upton's makes the coolest stuff!