Cookbook Review: Jazzy Vegetarian

I've long been a fan of Laura Theodore, aka the Jazzy Vegetarian. Her PBS show was among the earliest vegan cooking shows, and I love her smooth, jazzy voice. You can tell she's a jazz singer! I also love that her recipes are all simple and whole food, plant-based. You know when you make a Jazzy Vegetarian recipe that it's going to be healthy.

Laura recently released the revised and updated 10th anniversary version of her classic Jazzy Vegetarian cookbook, and I was sent a copy to review. The book is full-color with gorgeous photos of almost every dish. She includes sample menus for brunch, a picnic, a 30-minute dinner, a meatloaf supper, and more.

I picked a couple of quick and easy dishes to try, starting with this Celery, Carrot, and Tofu Soup. I don't love the cold weather we've been having, but I do love soup. So I'm making the best of winter with delicious, warming meals.

This simple soup was loaded with potatoes, carrots, and a ton of celery. I loved the cubed tofu in it! Perfect with sourdough bread or a vegan grilled cheese. This cookbook has a lot of great soup recipes that I'll be turning to to keep me warm this season. Next up, I want to try the Carrot and Orzo Soup.

Next up, I made the Penne with Garbanzo Beans and Broccoli Rabe. Except I couldn't find broccoli rabe. So I subbed in some broccolini (which I like better anyway).

I had this the night before a long run, and it was so good. So often, I turn to spaghetti with red sauce before my long runs, but that gets old. It was nice to enjoy a pasta without a red sauce. This dish has an olive oil base with garlic, chickpeas, and lots of broccoli. Also great with sourdough bread. The cookbook has a whole chapter devoted to pasta, so this will certainly help me plan more diverse pre-run meals.

Plant Meats and More!

I got so excited when I first heard about Beyond Steak, so I started looking everywhere for it. But every place that had a spot on the freezer shelf for it was always out. And then one day, the Kroger near my house finally had it in stock. Yay!! I hoarded it in my deep freezer for a couple weeks while I thought about the perfect way to use it. And then it dawned on me — Steak Fajitas!

The Beyond Steak was SO GOOD. The little bits were very tender and juicy and, well, steak-y. They seemed much meatier than the Gardein Beefless Tips, which I've heard people compare them to. I sauteed these in a skillet with onions, peppers, and some homemade taco seasoning. And then I dressed my fajitas with some squeezy guac. Perfection! I can't wait to try the "steak" on a philly cheesesteak. That'll be my next experiment.

I heard on the Plant-Based Morning Show (my new favorite podcasts from the No Meat Athlete folks) that Burger King is doing $3 Whopper Wednesdays for a limited time, so I had to get one. You have to download the Burger King app and place the order online for it to work. So I did! I placed the order, drove to the BK a few blocks from my house, and my Impossible Whopper was waiting. I added some vegan mayo when I got home.

A couple Fridays ago, I met my friends Susan and Toby (both old Memphis Flyer coworkers) for lunch at Slider Inn. Slider has lots of vegan options, but my favorite are the Vegan Tofu and Cauliflower Wings. I also got a side salad with vegan ranch. Yum!

A Different Kind of Christmas

For the first time in my 42 years, I spent this Christmas away from my parents. On Thursday evening, Winter Storm Elliott made its way through the Mid-South, dumping ice and snow and extreme cold on both Memphis (where I live) and the small Arkansas town where they live. And since the temps didn't rise over 5 degrees on Friday or 20 on Saturday, the ice didn't melt up in the Arkansas Ozarks. So we weren't able to safely make the drive.

We'll have a makeup Christmas next weekend. But Paul and I wanted to make the day the holiday at home special so we did what we could. For Christmas Eve dinner, we picked up takeout Vegan Pho from Pho Binh. The leftovers doubled as our Christmas dinner, too. 

We slept in on Christmas morning, and then I made Sourdough Pancakes and Vegan Sausage. And mimosas, of course!

Then we opened presents with each other and the pets. We each got one another Memphis Grizzlies sweatshirts.

And Maynard got a new dog bed and some toys.

The kitties got lots of new toys and treats, which they immediately fought over. You'd never guess these two are 17 and 15 years old sometimes. Seymour, our cabinet kitty, got some new toys, too. 

After presents, we got dressed and headed to the Malco to watch Avatar: Way of Water on the big screen. And yes, I know James Cameron, a self-professed vegan, promoted the film at a live animal dolphin show. And that sucks. But I put that aside and just enjoyed the movie.

Later that night, the Memphis Grizzlies played the Golden State Warriors in our team's first-ever nationally televised Christmas Day game. So we stayed in to watch that and enjoyed our leftover pho. Unfortunately, we lost. Oh well! It was a fitting end to a weird Christmas. 

Happy Holiday Foods!

Well, this will likely be my last post before Christmas, so I figured I'd share some of the holiday foods I've been eating. Hanukkah started on Sunday, and though I am not Jewish, I love every holiday. And I love latkes. So I typically make them every year. This time, I made Isa's Sweet Potato Latkes from The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook (she includes several latke recipes there). These had scallions and nutmeg, and they were perfect with Tofutti sour cream.

On the side, I had some Israeli Couscous Salad (made from this recipe) and Roots Chipotle Hummus with Carrots. The latke recipe made quite a few latkes, so I've been eating them every day!

A couple weeks ago, the Crosstown Memphis CDC board (on which I serve as secretary) held its monthly board meeting, and we all agreed to bring cookies to share. I made the Vegan Gingerbread Cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar (another Isa and Terry classic). These were excellent. And I had some left so I took them to the office, and they were a hit with my non-vegan co-workers. 

And finally, last night — Dec. 21 — was Yule/Winter Solstice, so I made two recipes from Llewelyn's Sabbats Almanac. The recipes in that book are very meat-heavy, but I enjoy veganizing them. For Yule, they suggested a berry-coated salmon, so I thawed a Good Catch Plant-Based Salmon Burger and shaped it into a salmon shape. And then I topped it with the recommended juniper berry and black pepper rub and a compote of blackberries and raspberries before baking it in the oven. It's not pretty, but it was quite tasty. I enjoyed this preparation much better than eating the salmon burgers on buns. 

The book also included a recipe for Horseradish Potato Salad, which was easy to veganize with Tofutti sour cream and Bubbie's horseradish. 

And the book also suggested Candy Cane Cocktails, which I made with a few substitutions. Mine had vodka, peppermint schnapps, grenadine, and oatmilk with a peppermint candy rim. Yum!

Happy holidays!!

Lil Buck's Vegan Cheese at Imagine Vegan Cafe

Lil Buck, a Memphis-based jookin' dancer who has performed with Yo-Yo Ma and Madonna (he's kind of a big deal), also happens to be vegan. And he's a big fan of Memphis' Imagine Vegan Cafe. So the two of them collaborated on a new vegan cheese sauce called Buck Up Sauce. And it's purple!

Imagine held a Buck Up sauce release party with Lil Buck a couple weeks ago, and my friend Susan and I stopped by. At the event, you could get the purple cheese on any menu item. I was excited to meet Lil Buck. I've long been a fan, and I especially love that he's vegan (and that he credits his awesome skills to his veganism; check him out dancing at the Kennedy Center).

I ordered the BBQ Chicken Sandwich with Buck Up Sauce and a side of Onion Rings. In retrospect, I wished I'd asked for the sauce on my onion rings too! 

But check out that purple cheese mixed with the BBQ sauce. This sandwich had two fried vegan chicken patties topped with lots of both sauces. It was huge!

Imagine also had purple lemonade.

And purple cupcakes!

Now that the party is over, you can get Buck Up Sauce on any dish at Imagine any time. And Lil Buck has plans to distribute the sauce to other vegan restaurants around the country.

All the Vegan Chicken (and a Burger!)

Just before Thanksgiving (that's how behind I am!), three Memphis vegan pop-up businesses (The Vegan Goddess, Rich Health, and Chef Avery) got together and held a pop-up at Wiseacre Brewing Co. I stopped in to get some takeout, and WOW! The food was awesome. The Vegan Goddess made Jackfruit Fried Chicken, and there was Mac & Cheese and Cabbage & Greens. 

The Vegan Goddess makes all of her plant meats from jackfruit, and she has some special skills. I'm not usually a huge fan of jackfruit, because it's always kinda wet and briny. But she works some magic and dries it out a bit and then shapes it into all sorts of things. Look inside!

Speaking of vegan chicken, have y'all tried the new Morningstar Farms Incogmeato Vegan Chicken and Wafflewich? It's good, but they're a little smaller than I'd imagined they would be. There are two in a box, and I was hoping for a regular burger size. But they're more slider-sized. The waffle has maple syrup in it already, but I added more.

I also recently had the Gardein Ultimate BBQ Chicken Nuggets, and they were excellent. Gardein Ultimate wins every time. On the side, I had some Modern Table vegan mac and some slow-simmered greens with turnips. 

And this isn't chicken, but it was tasty. Huey's serves the Morningstar Farms Black Bean Chipotle patty as their black bean burger, and the company recently made the patties vegan! Morningstar made a promise a few years ago to veganize their products, and it looks like they're making good on it. So I can finally order the Black Bean Burger at Huey's! YAY! I still prefer their chargrilled veggie patty and their Beyond Burger, but it's nice to have three vegan burger options on Huey's menu. Also, they have vegan Gouda and vegan mayo, so score! Thanks, Huey's!

Tacos, Nachos, and Classic Beans & Rice

Okay, y'all I know I've missed a few days again. But I've been busy, and I'm thinking I may go to blogging more like 2 to 3 days a week rather than every Monday through Thursday. Just depending on time. It's just hard to commit to daily blogging these days. So some weeks, I may blog a few less days. But I'll still be around. And some weeks, I'll be here every day!

Alright, on to the food. I had some Hodo free product coupons that expired at the end of the year, so I used the last one to buy the Hodo Mexican Crumbles again. These are tofu crumbles seasoned with taco spices, and they're great! Made some excellent (but huge) Tofu Tacos on flour tortillas.

I also had this tasty plate of Black Bean Nachos recently. I used Core & Rind Cashew Cheesy Sauce (from a jar) with black beans, corn, and lots more veggies. Almost like a salad on chips!

Here's a quick week day lunch from Raw Girls — Yukon Potato & Beet Salad. I love having their salads on my office days.

And finally, here's a dish of good ole beans and rice. I made the Mexican-style Basic Beans & Rice from the first No Meat Athlete book and served with avocado and kale. Beans, greens, grains. Can't beat it!