This Is What Vegans Eat

It's photo dump time! I've been saving up pictures of stuff I ate that I didn't think warranted an entire post. This is a hodge-podge of dishes made from my own recipes, from other people's recipes, and one from a restaurant.

We'll start with what I ate tonight — Eggplant & Creole Sausage Jambalaya from Cookin' Crunk. I've posted about this dish before when I was developing my cookbook, but it's been well over a year since I've had this. I had some extra Creole sausages (my homemade spicy steamed seitan sausages) in the freezer that needed using. Spicy, eggplant-y, comforting.

For breakfast this week, I've been enjoying my favorite breakfast of the moment — Tofu Egg Bagel Sandwiches! These are made with pan-fried, pressed tofu seasoned with Cajun spices and black salt (for the eggy taste). The tofu is topped with a slice of Rice Vegan cheese and served on a Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Everything Bagel Slim with Chipotle Vegenaise.

Last week, I made this Spaghetti with Marinara and Match Ground Beef. It's gluten-free pasta topped with a homemade sauce made from whole tomatoes (which I crush by hand), loads of garlic, a splash of red wine, a touch of sugar, and some fresh basil and oregano. The "beef" is Match Meat, which is about as close to real ground beef as it gets. I'm certain this would fool even the most discerning omni palette.

I was in Nashville a couple weekends ago, and we stopped by Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant. LOVE THAT PLACE! I ordered my favorite dish there — Buffalo Beans & Greens (brown rice, pinto beans, buffalo tofu, kale, vegan ranch, and a carrot-daikon slaw).

I made some simple Chipotle Seitan Burritos a few weeks back — Upton's Chipotle Seitan, Teese cheese, tomato, lettuce, avocado, salsa, and gluten-free tortillas (I'm in no way gluten-free, but I prefer the texture of gluten-free tortillas and pasta over the regular kind).

And finally, here's a dish I made for a potluck a few weeks back from The Chicago Diner Cookbook, which I picked up in Chicago in August. It's Italian Marinated Vegetables (with chickpeas and kidney beans). Simple. Yummy. Very omni-friendly, which is good because it was an omni potluck.

North Coast Organics Vegan Deodorant Giveaway!

PSA: If you're wondering about the winners of the Earth Balance giveaway from last week, hang tight. There will be six winners, but I'm in the process of contacting each person and making sure I get addresses. If you're a winner, you will be contacted this week. I'll post the winners names here in a few days.

It's time for ANOTHER giveaway, people! And this time, we're giving away stuff that'll make your pits smell so fresh and clean. Let's face it — most vegan, Earth-friendly deodorant sucks. I'm not naming names, but I've experimented with a number of brands that have to be reapplied every hour on the hour lest I smell like a stinky old sock (vegans, you know what I'm talkin' about).

For the past year or so, I've been using one brand that I buy at Whole Foods that's just okay. It's better than some of the worst ones, but it still needs at least one mid-day reapply to offer all-day protection.

So leave it to a small, mom-and-pop vegan company out of Chicago to develop an all-natural vegan deodorant that's laced with essential oils and ACTUALLY WORKS. North Coast Organics sent me two samples of their Revolver All-Natural Deodorant and their Death By Lavendar All-Natural Deodorant. I've been putting them to the test in these last few hot days of Indian summer.

I can swipe this stuff on once after I get out of the shower, and it works all freakin' day. All freakin' day, y'all. I did have to reapply after a few sweaty workouts on the stationary bike (still off my foot with a stupid stress fracture!), but that's to be expected from any deodorant. It's made with cold-pressed coconut oil, carnauba wax, cornstarch, baking soda, and essential oils. That's it!

The lavender scent is my favorite, because lavender is the essential essential oil in my house. I use lavender oil for everything — baths, sleeping, calming, even in cupcakes! But I also loved the Revolver scent. I'm not sure what essential oils are in this one, but I'm getting hints of patchouli and maybe sage. Or maybe not. Smells great though and definitely macho enough for a dude but gentle enough for a lady (not that I'm gentle).

North Coast Organics wants to give two winners each a set of travel-sized deodorants in both scents. All you have to do is leave a comment at the end of this post for one entry, and if you want an ADDITIONAL entry, tweet the following (and come back here and leave a comment letting me know you tweeted!).

Vegan deodorant giveaway on Vegan Crunk from @NorCoastOrganic and @biancaphillips: http://tinyurl.com/mxll9hu

Please leave your email address in your comment (unless your account is tied to a blog where I can contact you or unless you tweet and I can tweet back. Basically, just make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win). I'll randomly pick the winners next Tuesday. If you don't win, never fear. North Coast Organics is offering a 15 percent off discount to Vegan Crunk readers. Go to their site and use promo code 15VC. It will work for 21 days after this post.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Sometimes you make a big ole meal, and, well, it looks like a big ole mess. But it tastes so good! That's what happened with last night's dinner — BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Yea, I know. It's not very pretty. I used a recipe from the inside of a box of Beyond Meat Grilled Chicken-Free Strips. It was such a simple recipe, and anything with barbecue sauce, fake chicken, and vegan cheese is right up my alley. Comfort food at its finest.

My problem started with the crust. A couple months back, I made a trusty batch of "Pizza Dough — A Novel" from Vegan with a Vengeance. It's a no-fail recipe that I've used time and time again. It makes two crusts, so I always freeze one in a ball and use one right away. When I saw this BBQ Pizza recipe, I knew I had a crust in the freezer. Perfect right?

I sat the frozen dough in a large bowl, coated with olive oil, and covered it with a towel to thaw and rise. It works every time. But not this time. You see, I placed that rising bowl in the microwave (to keep the cats out while I was at work) along with the frozen package of Beyond Meat, which also needed to thaw in a cat-free zone.

But I guess two frozen items thawing in one tiny space made too much cold for dough to rise. It thawed, but it failed to rise. I used it anyway, and it made a cracker-thin crust that was tasty but too thin to really hold the chunky Beyond Meat chicken and toppings. 

Still yet, the pizza was delicious. Beyond Meat, which is the most convincing plant meat on the market, is tossed in BBQ sauce, salt, and pepper. More BBQ sauce is spread over the pizza crust. That's topped with red onions, the chicken, vegan mozzarella (I used Follow Your Heart shreds), and fresh herbs (I used basil).

Delicious! But not so pretty. Oh well.

Vegan Cuts Beauty Box

We've talked about the awesome Vegan Cuts snack box, the once-a-month subscription service that delivers samples of yummy vegan goodies to your door, before on this blog. But there's a new Vegan Cuts box in town, and, in my opinion, it's even better. It's the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box!!

You see, I'm a food hoarder. I don't subscribe to any snack boxes (though I'd love to!) because I know my habits. I'll hold on to some of that stuff forever because I have some irrational fear of running out of food (you should see my pantry/freezer/fridge ... trust me, no one is going hungry around here). But sustainable, ethically-made vegan beauty products? I'll use the heck out of those.

Each month, the Vegan Cuts Beauty Box delivers a grab bag of both sample and full-size items. They sent me a box to review. Here's what was inside — four sample bottles of Weleda body lotion (pomegranate, wild rose, citrus, and sea buckthorn), Weleda Refreshing Citrus Body Oil, Manic Panic Pretty in Punk Mix eyeshadow, Beauty Without Cruelty Shampoo, NYL Gentle Sugar Body Polish, and Good Almost Naked Lube.

Love the little Weleda lotions! I'm a chronic hand lotion user since my skin is a desert. And the Weleda body oil and the NYL sugar scrub were godsends for my skin. I'm one of those people who just can't put enough oil on my skin. Oil-free = not for me. On the one hand, it's great because I rarely get zits. But on the other hand, it's not uncommon to literally see flakes of dry skin falling off my face (gross!). The BWC shampoo was also great! And it's the perfect travel size for my upcoming trip to Atlanta VegFest in November.

But the best part of this box was, hands down, the Manic Panic eyeshadow. I love colored eyeshadow, and I didn't have anything in this shade of blue. Plus, how cool is this '80s cassette case?

Here I am taking Instagram selfies wearing my new eyeshadow.

  
Alright, this is the part of this post that boys shouldn't read. Inside the box was a card with a coupon code for a free reusable pantyliner from Glad Rags! Being the eco-friendly girl that I am, I've always wanted to try reusable lady products. But I was scared to spring for a whole set of Glad Rags when I didn't know for sure if I'd like them (they do offer a money-back guarantee if you're not happy though). But this free liner is a chance to try these babies on and see how they do. It arrived in the mail today! If I love this, I'll order more!

The Vegan Cuts Beauty Box is $19.95 per month (with free shipping in the U.S.!). Click here for more info on how to subscribe.

Full disclosure: I'm a Vegan Cuts Ambassador, meaning I promote this awesome vegan discount and box subscription service on my blog through ads (on the right side of my page) and occasional products reviews. Vegan Cuts is the only vegan company that I have a regular affiliation with, but it's an awesome mom-and-pop run by some awesome vegan friends.

Gettin' Crunk on the TV News

Bright 'n' early on Saturday morning (6:45 a.m.!), I was on Fox-13's Good Morning Memphis mixin' up my Eggless Tofu Olive Salad from Cookin' Crunk with morning show host Wendy Nations. Okay, technically I wasn't mixing anything up at 6:45 on Saturday. The segment was pre-recorded around 10:30 a.m. on Friday to air on Saturday's show. I had the option of doing a live segment, but being up that early on a Saturday is tough.

Here's a screenshot. The full clip is at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, the producer had asked me to come in and talk about approachable vegan options, and she suggested that it'd be even better if I could demo something while I was being interviewed. I won't pass up any opportunity to promote veganism to the mainstream, so of course I said yes! A couple days later, the producer emailed back to let me know that host Wendy Nations was vegan too!

How cool! I've done cooking segments on morning shows before (one other time on Fox and another time on the local CBS affiliate) but never with a vegan host. Wendy told me, before we began filming, that she went vegan in February after a short vegan and gluten-free cleanse left her feeling better than ever.

Anyway, here's the full clip. It's only three minutes! And you get to see me make a blooper. I totally spilled red onions all over the counter. Oops!

Earth Balance Giveaway!

It's time for a giveaway! And I guess this is what you'd call a sponsored post. I don't typically do those. Sure, I get free stuff to review sometimes. But those are review posts, and I'm free to express my opinion — like or dislike — about a product.

But there's not much I don't like about Earth Balance. It's the vegan answer to margarine, and as a lady who used to eat dairy margarine by the stick (yes, my Granny let me do that when my parents weren't around), I truly appreciate having a delicious, non-hydrogenated, and widely available vegan alternative. So when Earth Balance contacted me about hosting a giveaway during Mofo, I happily obliged.  

At the end of this post, just leave a comment (and an email address) about how you love to use Earth Balance spreads and I'll randomly select a few winners next Tuesday for some Earth Balance free product coupons.

But first I'm including one of my recipes from Cookin' Crunk: Eatin' Vegan in the Dirty South that I like to use a very specific Earth Balance product in. The Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread is awesome in both savory and sweet applications. My omni boyfriend Paul just eats it plain by the spoonful. I wouldn't recommend that, but it's great on toast with nooch, used in stir-fries, melted over mashed potatoes. Or you can try it in my Granny's recipe for Old-Fashioned Coconut Pie from my cookbook.

Old-Fashioned Coconut Pie

Yields one 9-inch pie (6 to 8 slices)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 tablespoons Ener-G Egg Replacer powder + 1/3 cup soymilk

6 tablespoons Earth Balance Organic Coconut Spread, softened

1/2 cup soymilk

1 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut (divided into 1 cup and 1/2 cup)

1 single pie crust, uncooked

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Stir together the sugar, flour, and sea salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the egg replacer and 1/3 cup of the soymilk in another large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the margarine and beat until margarine is creamy. Add the 1/2 cup of soymilk and beat until everything is incorporated. Pour the flour mixture into the mixing bowl and beat until just combined.

Use a spoon to fold in 1 cup of the shredded coconut. Transfer the filling into the uncooked pie crust. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of shredded coconut. Bake for 1 hour.

Leslie's Birthday Potluck

 This is my friend Leslie.

She invented the Magical Traveling Vegan Potluck, which moves from friend's house to friend's house each month. It died for a time when someone dropped the ball and didn't host their potluck (you know who you are, coughSHAYcough). But Leslie picked the ball back up in August and re-launched the potluck at her house. Well, since her birthday is in September, she decided to host this month's potluck there again.

We had a mostly Indian feast since Leslie LOVES Indian fare (and does an amazing job cooking it). She made these Samosas and chutneys from scratch!

And since she had the fryer going, she also made my favorite Indian dish, Vada!!

And hell, why not fry up some Papadum while you're at it, Leslie? I adore this crispy fried gram flour Indian snack, especially dipped in coconut chutney!

I brought a crock full of Chana Masala from The Vegan Table.

Vaughan brought an interesting dish of Lentils with Dried Cranberries.

And Cassi made homemade Vegan Dumplings! These were super tasty.

Greg brought his usual — Tofu Nuggets. He gets requests for these at every potluck, so he can never bring anything different. My friend Greg makes the most amazing breaded and fried chicken-flavored tofu nuggets!

Nick brought a dish of Lady Peas with Squash and Smoked Paprika. Lovely end-of-summer treat. Lady peas are so expensive that I rarely shell out the dough for them. Glad Nick did.

Oh, and let's not forget the non-brown dish at the table. Leslie made a lovely Berry and Almond Salad. Sadly (for my waistline), I filled my plate with lots of fried goodness and only a smidge of salad.

Oh, and then there was cake!! Stephanie (Poopie Bitch on the PPK) of Swell Baked Goods made two cake treats for Leslie's birthday. She brought Fauxstess Cupcakes (and yes, there is cream in the middle)!

And since Leslie attempts to eat gluten-free when possible, Stephanie made a Lavender and Jasmine Gluten-Free Birthday Cake!

After we stuffed our faces, Leslie (a trained herbalist) taught us how to combine herbs at this build-your-own tea station. I made black tea blends and a few tisanes that I plan to drink iced since I'm not a fan of hot tea.