Cheeze Eggs & Gravy

Like every good Southern girl, I love me some gravy. Honestly, no matter where you hail from, you really ought to love gravy. It's good on biscuits, mashed taters, vegan sausage, veggie burgers. Hell, the Canadians even smother gravy on their French fries and give it a fancy name like poutine. When I saw this recipe for Cream Toast on VegWeb, I knew it'd become a breakfast staple in my house:

That's a slice of toast topped with a cheezy tofu scramble and creamy white gravy. Does the morning get any better? I've been eating this all week, and I seriously can't even sleep in anymore. When my alarm goes off, my first thought is "cream toast!!"

Then I hop in the shower and wash off as quickly as possible, so I can savor each bite of this creamy, cheezy breakfast afterward. By the way, the cheeze in the tofu scramble is melted Follow Your Heart Cheddar. Reminds me of the cheese eggs my mom used to make. Definitely a keeper.

Summer Solstice Dinner!

Summer is my favorite season! I'm happiest when the temps are in the high-90s, the humidity is through the roof, and the cicadas hum so loud you can hear them indoors. As a native Southerner, I can take the heat. So naturally, Summer Solstice is pretty important to me.

Since I had a busy solstice night planned, I celebrated the changing of the seasons on Monday night with a spicy Latin-inspired meal of Pasta de los Angeles and Chili-Lime Rubbed Tofu from Appetite for Reduction:

The plate you see above has less than 400 calories! And it was oh-so-filling. The pasta is seasoned with lime juice, shallots, and garlic and tossed with sauteed tomatoes, spinach, and black beans. I took Isa's advice and served my noodles with her simple chili-lime baked tofu.

Of course, a proper summer celebration isn't complete without dessert. Since I'm so burnt-out with baking (after baking 160 cupcakes with my mom this weekend), I cheated and purchased a Lavender Vanilla Cupcake from Imagine Vegan Cafe:

The combo of vanilla cake and lush lavender frosting was beyond-words delicious. And look at the cute-ass little leaf embellishment.

More importantly, check out the plate the cupcake it sitting on! My best friend Sheridan got me me this as my bridesmaid's gift for helping with her wedding. It's by the Vegan Dish lady! I have one of her vegan bowls and a vegan mug, and this adorable saucer is the perfect addition to my collection.

Sheridan and Drew's Vegan Wedding!

As promised, today's post is all about the vegan awesomeness at my best friend Sheridan's wedding. I don't care for weddings, unless there's delicious food involved. In fact, I don't care for much of anything unless delicious food is involved. My priorities are clearly in order. :-) But when Sheridan got engaged, she promised me an amazing vegan wedding. And she delivered!

Here's Sheridan and I, all dressed up. Isn't she pretty?! I don't cry unless animals die, but I'll admit I had to fight back a tiny tear when I saw her walk down that aisle lookin' all fabulous.

Sheridan's original catering plan totally fell through only days before the wedding. The friend who'd promised to do her food had car trouble and couldn't make the trip. But luckily, Wonder Meghan stepped in! She isn't even vegan, but Meghan whipped up some yummy vegan finger foods in a hurry. Here's Meghan preppin' food Saturday morning with her partner Patrick:

She made cute-ass, tiny Cucumber Sandwiches with dill and Vegenaise:

And Tabouli!!!

She set out this bowl of chopped veggies with Annie's Woodstock Dressing, which is hands down the best flavor of Annie's dressing ever ... even better than Goddess in my not-so-humble opinion:

She made Black Bean Dip from scratch, and even though I forgot to take a photo, there were also three kinds of hummus:

Drew's dad Barry made his famous secret-recipe Pasta Salad. It had black beans, corn, peppers, peas, carrots, and some sort of delicious tangy-sweet dressing:

My mama and I were in charge of making 160 cupcakes for Sheridan's wedding. When I volunteered for the job months ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. And neither did my mom, since I sort of volunteered her help without her knowledge. Oops! Here we are posing in front of Sheridan and Drew's getaway Corvette (it's actually Drew's stepdad's car):

Drew is a crafty fella, and he made almost all the wedding decorations himself. He built this fairy-like cupcake stand from a tree limb and some wooden platforms:

And he made this cupcake topper from thin pieces of wood. You can't see it here, but the backs of the Sheridan and Drew toppers are Batgirl and Batman:

After hours slaving away in my mom's kitchen on Friday, we'd produced enough cupcakes to fill the couple's cupcake stand several times. We made three flavors — the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes from Vegan with a Vengeance:

Strawberry Daiquari Cupcakes from Are You Sure That's Vegan?:

And the Basic Chocolate Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. All the cakes were topped with the buttercream frosting from that book:

In the end, it was a lovely ceremony. And despite my feelings about weddings, I was okay with this one. Sheridan and Drew put a ton of creative energy into it, and it was far from traditional. It's really the idea of tradition that I hate, not so much the idea of commitment. Sheridan and Drew's wedding was so far from traditional that none of that mattered on Saturday.

My BFF's Wedding: The Rehearsal

My best friend Sheridan got married this weekend. We've been friends since 8th grade, and even though she's moved all over the country since then, we've stuck together. Now, she lives in Little Rock with her partner Drew, and the two finally got hitched after 10 years (off and on) of shackin' up. I was one of three bridesmaids.

As I've stated plenty of times before, I'm no fan of elaborate weddings. I'm kind of a dude when it comes to things like that. So when my invites for the "bridal luncheon" and "rehearsal dinner" came in the mail, I just rolled my eyes. I'd already volunteered to make Sheridan's cupcakes on the day before her wedding, and these two social commitments sounded like a huge time-suck. Who needs to rehearse for a 20-minute wedding ceremony? We're just standing there, right?

But I must say, the delicious vegan options (and abundance of wine) offered at Sheridan's rehearsal dinner totally changed my mind. By the 7 p.m. dinner on Friday, my mom and I had managed to finish baking 160 vegan cupcakes. So the red wine at the dinner was much-needed. But I was even more impressed by Molly's amazing vegan spread. Molly is Sheridan's partner Drew's mom, and since the two of them went vegan in January, she made a mostly-vegan buffet for us.

She made vegan sushi as an appetizer!

My favorite dish was this Rice Stuffing with Dried Cranberries. It reminded me of Thanksgiving! Sorry the photo is out of focus:

And the Chickpea, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad was so refreshing on the hot June night:

Look at this colorful raw Beet Salad!

These carrots were cooked to perfection:

And the French Potato Salad was cool and hearty, as was the Citrus Asparagus:

But Molly (and her sisters) didn't stop there. They also made four varieties of vegan truffles! Frangelico truffles, coconut surprise, almond, and peanut butter date bites:


At the end of the dinner, Sheridan and Drew learned about their surprise honeymoon ... to Jamaica!!!!!

I'm super jealous of their sweet trip (they should be there now!), and the rehearsal spread was fantastic! So my opinion of rehearsal dinners has made a complete 180. I completely approve of them so long as delicious vegan food is involved.

Stay tuned for photos of the wedding (and vegan wedding food!) tomorrow!

Cheeze & Waffles

Sometimes the best meals are weird and simple. A few days ago, I was email chatting with my cookbook's managing editor Cynthia Hopzapfel of Book Publishing Company. She told me "got" my Tofu Chicken Wafflewich (pictured here) because she, too, was a fan of the savory waffle meal. But her favorite treat is waffles and vegan cheeze!

Now I'd never heard of such a thing, but it sounded quite delicious to me. She recommended Leahey Gardens powdered sauce mix for the cheeze, and I have a stockpile of that in my pantry. I could have made homemade waffles, but between Bonnaroo last weekend and my BFF's wedding this weekend, I'm a busy, busy bee. So I bought some frozen Van's Gluten-Free Flax Waffles instead.

Behold Vegan Waffles & Cheeze:

The perfect mix of savory and sweet, this was a surprisingly satisfying breakfast. You could also make it with a simple nutritional yeast sauce if Leahey isn't around.

On that note, I'll see y'all again on Sunday or Monday. Leaving town again tomorrow for my best friend Sheridan's wedding in our Arkansas hometown. She's vegan, so I'm baking her wedding cupcakes (I have to bake 150 on Friday!!). Expect lots of pics later.

Spaghetti Bitch

I have long been a fan of the Skinny Bitch empire. Kim and Rory are crude-ass, potty-mouth bitches on a mission to veganize the world. And seeing as how I'm pretty vulgar myself, their approach is right up my alley. So needless to say, I have all their books and exercise videos (I even have that silly Skinny Bitch journal that I never use). So of course, I asked for Kim Barnouin's Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook for Xmas! But I got so many books for Xmas, I'm just now getting around to cooking from it.

The glossy full-color, hardback is full of mouth-watering, healthy vegan recipes. But I'm always a sucker for a simple pasta dish, and this Spaghetti with Spinach in a White Wine Garlic Sauce was begging to be made:

It may not be all that pretty, but it was damn good. The sauce is made from olive oil, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, white wine, and vegan parm. The wine was Orleans Hill Alexandria, an organic, vegan white blend I purchased at my favorite vegan-friendly wine shop, The Corkscrew.

I served this with a big ole green salad topped with fresh corn, carrots, bacon bits, and Italian dressing. Washed down with more white wine, of course. You have to make use of the rest of the bottle or it will go bad, right? ;-)

What sort of recipes do you gravitate toward when you break open a new cookbook?

Veganaroo

Well, I survived Bonnaroo Music Festival once again. Four days of camping in the humid, 90-plus degree Tennessee summer isn't easy, but that's why god made vegan Bloody Marys. A stout tomato-based cocktail at the campsite, followed by lots and lots of water (got to stay hydrated), is the perfect way to face the day at an outdoor music festival.

After enjoying our morning drinks, my friends and I headed into Centeroo — the main festival area with stages, vendors, a water slide, a ferris wheel (above) and other activities — to see NOFX, Loretta Lynn, Florence and the Machine, Arcade Fire (who I didn't like until this past weekend ... their live show is so much better than their recorded stuff), Eninem, Wiz Khalifa, Beats Antique, the Scissor Sisters, and plenty more. Oh, the very best part? Raunchy cult filmmaker John Waters in the comedy tent.

This was my second Bonnaroo. Last year, I was concerned about finding vegan festival food, but this year I knew better. Vegan food abounds at the 'Roo. I did bring some canned goods and sandwich supplies to save money, but I managed to score a few meals from vegan-friendly vendors.

On Friday night, I was craving a tasty snack to enjoy with my special edition Sierra Nevada Bonnaroo Brew. So I grabbed this Veggie Samosa from the Samosa Man cart to nosh on while watching Bassnectar:

It may not be the prettiest shot, but hey, I was shooting with a flash in total darkness at 1:30 a.m. The giant crispy samosa was stuffed with spicy potatoes, peas, and other curried veggies and served with a spicy tomato sauce.

On Saturday, I needed a quick bite in between sets by Wiz Khalifa and Loretta Lynn, so I grabbed this Crunchy Earth Burger (their name, but I like it) from TomKats Catering inside the media hospitality tent:

This hearty black bean patty was so tasty, and you could see bits of corn and other veggies with each bite. I enjoyed it with kettle-cooked Zapp's Cajun Dill Gator Taters.

On Sunday, I couldn't resist the Vegan Daiya Pizza from the Full of Life wood-fired pizza stand:

I had their vegan pizza topped with beets and carrots last year, and it was killer. Here the menu for this year:

And here's the little man who cooked my pizza:

This year's vegan pizza was a little better. Topped with lots of Daiya mozzarella, kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, and fresh spinach:

OMG! I stuffed my face with this while I waited an hour for John Waters tickets at the comedy tent. Unfortunately, the pizza didn't last the entire hour. I wish it lasted all day.

Later on Sunday, I was feeling pretty beat. Standing in the John Waters line with blazing sun and no shade took a lot out of me. After downing some much-needed water, I knew fresh produce would make me right again. So I stopped at the smoothie stand for this refreshing Pineapple-Coconut-Banana Smoothie:

There was plenty of vegan food I didn't get to try — BBQ tofu sandwiches, falafel with hummus, vegan burritos, salad from the organic salad cart, Greek veggie pitas, and so much more. I wish every festival was so vegan-friendly, but since Bonnaroo draws more than 60,000 people (many of them vegan hippies), I can understand why they cater to everyone ... including herbivores.