Move Over, Hamburger Helper!

Back in my pregan days, I used to buy boxes of Hamburger Helper and mix in veggie burger crumbles in place of the meat. That was dinner. These days, I can't imagine eating a supper centered around instant cheese powder from a box (except for those Road's End Organics vegan mac & cheeses meals ... those are pretty tasty in a pinch). But no worries .... I can still have my Cheesy Burger Mac:

This homemade version of the comfort food classic will be included in my cookbook. The little cheesy chunks peeking out is Daiya cheddar shreds, an optional but delicious ingredient. The sauce is super cheesy without the addition of packaged vegan cheese, but I believe everything is better with a little Daiya. I used quinoa pasta this time because I adore that stuff, but whole wheat elbow macaroni would work too.

I served my burger mac with Caramelized Brussels Pecan Saute:

Another cookbook tester that I've featured on the blog several times. I've been tweaking the recipe, looking for the best way to cook the sprouts all the way through while still achieving that sexy caramelized effect. I've finally nailed it. Yea!

By the way, Tasha at Voracious Vegan is giving away one of those fancy new-fangled TofuXpress tofu presses. Head to her blog for details.

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

I finally tried vegan overnight oats, and I liked them. A few months ago, overnight oats were hot stuff in the blogosphere. All the cool kids were making them. I kept making a mental note to try them, but my mental notes never stick around very long. I finally remembered to give the oats a shot one day last week when I noticed some chia seeds looking all forgotten and lonely on my pantry shelf.

Here's the Overnight Oats I enjoyed one hot summer morning last week:

I used this recipe for Easy Vegan Overnight Oats from Oh She Glows. It's super simple and kinda raw-ish. Just whole oats, chia seeds, a mashed banana, plant milk (I used soy), and vanilla extract. I topped my bowl with a healthy dose of Smart Balance peanut butter.

You mix all the ingredients up (except nut butter) the night before, place the bowl in the fridge, and let the chia seeds do their weird, expanding magic. The next morning, you've got a creamy bowl of oats best enjoyed cold from the fridge. Perfect cool breakfast for a humid summer morning.

Will I trade my steamy, creamy hot steel cut oats for overnight oats? No. But the cold chia version will be a tasty occasional treat.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Cafe Eclectic (and a Blogger Meetup!)

When Jessica of Veggie Cookie mentioned an upcoming trip to Memphis on her blog a few weeks ago, I left a comment suggesting that we do lunch. I never miss an opportunity for a blogger meet-up! Apparently, Memphis is Jessica's hometown, but she hasn't lived here since 1999 (I think that's right ... correct me Jessica if I'm wrong about the year). She and her partner Alex were headed to the M-town to visit Jessica's folks.

But thankfully, the two had enough time during their visit to meet me for lunch at Cafe Eclectic. Here's Alex, Jessica, and me in front of our booth:

Cafe Eclectic is a laidback Midtown coffeeshop with a full breakfast and lunch menu. The menu has a vegetarian selection, but there are several other veg options (or easily made veg) lurking in other areas of the menu. But it never fails. Despite having a few options to choose from, I always order the Spicy Black Bean Wrap with Roasted Taters:

The gigantic wrap is stuffed with Cafe Eclectic's spicy black bean patty, avocado, lettuce, tomato, and spicy Vegenaise (yes, they have spicy freakin' Vegenaise ... I guess they add the spice part in house). The black bean patty is also pretty tasty on a bun too.

Other veg options include a hummus wrap, a portabello panini (leave off the pesto and cheese to make it vegan), a veggie dog, and black bean and rice stuffed bell peppers. Of course, they also offer soy for their tasty coffees. And Cafe Eclectic sells delicious fresh-baked sourdough loaves and baguettes in their bakery case.

Cafe Eclectic Midtown is located at 603 N. McLean Blvd. Call them at 901-725-1718 or check out their website here. They also have a smaller location in Harbor Town at 111 Harbortown Square.

Frenchie Onion Soup

Cookbook author extraordinaire Sarah Kramer's 2010 Go Vegan wall calendar hangs proudly on my kitchen wall right next to the fridge. When I hung the calendar on New Year's Day, I promised myself I wouldn't peek ahead. Now each month's kitschy-cute pic of Kramer and accompanying recipe 'o the month is a fun surprise.

I also promised myself that I would make every recipe in the calendar in the month it appeared. June was Frenchie Onion Soup, and though I had intentions of making this veganized comfort standard in June, I actually didn't get around to cooking the soup until July 1st. Oops! Here it is — better late than never, right?

I haven't had French onion soup in years, certainly not since I went vegan in 2004. But I remember loving the soft, caramelized onions, melted cheese, and soup-logged bread. Kramer's easy beef stock-free version did not disappoint. You may not see much liquid in the picture, but it's there hiding under all those onions and whole wheat bread. My vegan cheese of choice was mozzarella Daiya, which melted to stringy perfection under the broiler.

If you don't have Kramer's wall calendar, this soup is also featured in La Dolce Vegan.

Raw Food In 30 Minutes or Less

So many raw dishes take forever to prepare. The night before a Raw Food Tuesday (the first Tuesday of each month), I spend hours in the kitchen — chopping, dicing, processing, blending, and then washing all those dishes. Ugh. I couldn't do it every day. Once a month is enough for me. But this Raw Food Tuesday's prep went a little quicker thanks to a few easy-peasy dishes.

For starters, I made the Live Cinnamon Rolls from 30 Minute Vegan:

Don't let the fancy presentation fool you. These tasty raw buckwheat-based treats only took about 20 minutes to prepare. All you need is a food processor and a few ingredients. The light brown part is made from processed raw buckwheat, dates, and agave. That's spread with a cinnamon-raisin mixture and walnuts. But the best part? The frosting!

The roll's frosting has a coconut butter-orange base, which meant I had to break down and shell out $12 for a jar of Artisana coconut butter. I've been eye-ing this stuff for ages at Whole Foods (ever since I read about it's awesomeness on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog), but I'm cheap. I needed to have an excuse to allow myself to buy it, so I made plans to make cinnamon rolls. Now I can't imagine why I've waited so long. Coconut butter is amazing!! Totally worth $12.

Mid-morning, I snacked on some Raw Veggies with a Quick Cheesy Sauce:

The cheese sauce is just 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast mixed with a little water, salt, and pepper. Perfect for veggie dippin'.

Lunch was another 30 Minute Vegan recipe — Live Mango Gazpacho:

Again, this was super-easy to make. I would say it took 10 minutes from start to finish, and it tasted wonderful. The sweetness of the mangos was the perfect balance to summer tomatoes, jalepenos, and red onion. I had a small garden salad on the side.

I snacked on more veggies and cheese dip, as well as half an orange (leftover from the cinnamon roll's frosting) before dinner.

I chose one of the quickest sauces from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen to top my zucchini pasta — Garlic Cashew Aioli:

Ani suggests using this sauce to top raw pasta for "fettucine alfredo" and though I've had a better raw alfredo (Gena's sauce from the Choosing Raw blog), this one was damn tasty atop my locally-grown zucchini.

I served my pasta with a slice of Raw Flax Foccacia from Living in the Raw Gourmet:

Okay, I'll admit. This raw bread took a little longer to prepare because it had to dehydrate for 14 hours. But it was a cinch to mix up and spread on a Teflex sheet. The Excalibur took care of the rest. The "bread" contained a base of summer tomato and basil, as well as ground almond and flax seed. A bit like a flax cracker but softer. Perfect for scoopin' up extra cashew aioli sauce.

After dinner, I went to my friend Shara's house for O.C. Night (yes, we watch all the old episodes of The O.C. on DVD). I took the extra cinnamon rolls, and everyone — all omnis, mind you — actually liked them.

By the way, I totally forgot to ask you guys to check out my guest post on Lindsay's Cook. Vegan. Lover blog. It went up on Friday, and it contains a few of my favorite vegan tofu-eggy recipes. Thanks Lindsay for letting me guest post!

Fourth of July Fun!

Admittedly, I'm not a very patriotic person. But I do love grilling out and watching fireworks, so I happily celebrate Fourth of July every year. This year, my friend Greg and I wanted to grill like we did last year. But my old charcoal grill has seen its last veggie burger. It's all rusty now and destined for the dump. So I borrowed by mom's indoor grill and set it up outside. Here it is loaded up with Amy's Quarter Pounder veggie burgers and some local squash and zucchini:

We basted the burgers with BBQ sauce and enjoyed them with barbecue chips:

I washed mine down with Sam Adam's Summer Ale, a light lemon-y brew:

For dessert, I made a Blackberry Cobbler (from my cookbook) using local blackberries hand-picked by my friend Aaron:

After dinner, it was fireworks time! We loaded up on explosives from wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler's fireworks stand in West Memphis, Arkansas (they don't sell fireworks in Memphis city limits). I found this kitschy Exploding Osama Bin Laden Noggin:

I'm totally against the wars in the Middle East and all, and I certainly don't condone real violence. But I bought the Osama head for pure kitsch value. It seemed super-white trash and funny.

We actually caught the city's lame-ass fireworks show on Beale Street, but we started a small show at the house before dark. My inner child was way excited about these black snakes:

And Greg pretended to be just as enthused:

Later, after the city fireworks, we found a vacant parking lot in Midtown and shot off lots more sparkly fun.

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Cafe Ole

Two restaurant recaps in one week! I've been eating out a lot lately thanks to a sudden increase in social obligations. Last night, that obligation was Girl's Night Dinner with my friends Misti, Holley, and Maggie. We met on the spacious courtyard patio at my favorite Mexican joint — Cafe Ole in the Cooper-Young Historic District.

Here's Misti and I, anxiously awaiting our food. We were starving:

My photo of Maggie came out all blurry, but here's Holley lookin' cool in her shades:

Of course, we started with a pitcher of Strawberry Margaritas:

These icy cocktails are so fantastic for sipping on the Cafe Ole patio during this crazy Memphis heat. The margaritas are spiked with real chunks of strawberry, and they're just the right balance of tangy and sweet.

Cafe Ole offers several vegetarian and easily veganized options. Veg dishes are clearly marked with a green "vegetarian," and though most contain cheese, the cooks are more than happy to leave it off. My faves include the Veggie Taco (it has bean sprouts!), the Veggie Burrito, and the Cozumel (pictured here):

The Cozumel is two enchiladas — one with spinach and mushrooms and the other with black beans — smothered in tomatillo sauce. The dish is served with a small guacamole salad and the best Mexican rice ever:

Cafe Ole's Mexican rice is lightly seasoned, and the texture of the rice is always perfect. Though I prefer brown rice at home, I don't mind splurging on white rice when I'm dining out.

Cafe Ole is located at 959 S. Cooper St. Call 901-274-1504 or go to their website here.