Bowl Love

Quick post tonight! I'd intended to wax poetic a bit about how much I love bowls and how I'm hoping to make these whole grain-veggie-sauce dishes a staple in my healthier diet going forward.

But Cassi and I saw Wicked tonight at the Orpheum (it was my second time), and we just got home. And it's already past my bedtime. And I can't get "Defying Gravity" out of my head (which is a good thing).

Anyway, rather that using lots of words, here are a couple of pictures of two variations on my fave bowl of the moment — Adzuki Bean, Grain, Kale, & Tahini Bowl. This one has brown rice.

And this one has whole sorghum.

Sadly, the sorghum didn't quite cook all the way through so some bits were crunchy. The Bob's Red Mill package said to cook for one hour, but the grains were still rock hard after an hour. I cooked it for two, and it was only beginning to get soft. But I had to stop the cooking because I was making this before bed the other night to eat the next day. And I had to go to sleep.

(UPDATE: This morning, before work, I threw the leftover still-hard, but slightly cooked sorghum into a pot with about 1/2 cup water, and then I set it on to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. And the sorghum FINALLY cooked through! I'm glad to know that re-cooking still-hard "cooked" grains works.)

Oh, and the tahini sauce is the Creamy Tahini Sauce from Cookin' Crunk. Not to toot my own horn, but my tahini sauce is kind of the bomb.com (yea, I'm bringin' that back, don't hate).

Here's the recipe.

Creamy Tahini Sauce (from Cookin' Crunk)
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1/3 cup roasted sesame tahini
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Water, to thin

Place the tahini, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, sesame oil, soy sauce, maple syrup, and garlic powder into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Stir well to incorporate. If the tahini seems too thick, you might want to mix the ingredients in a food processor or blender. If using this as a creamy topping, you may want to thin it out with a little water. Add a few tablespoons at a time to the blender or bowl and incorporate until desired consistency is reached.

Vegan Drinks 7!

I can't believe we've been doing Vegan Drinks in Memphis for seven months! Back in July, I organized the first Memphis Vegan Drinks at Chiwawa in Overton Square, and we had a great turnout.

Each month, though, the core group has dwindled a bit. Today, I sat by myself at the restaurant/bar for an hour before anyone showed up. Granted, I arrived a little early because I had hoop dance class tonight and needed to get my food and drink before 6 p.m. But even still, only Shay, Vaughan, Nicole, and Nicole's daughter Vera came. That's quite a bit smaller than our first meet-up of nearly 20 people.

But that's okay. No matter how small the group gets, I'll keep it going. As long as there's someone to toast with, Vegan Drinks will carry on. (And if you're reading this and you live in Memphis, join our Facebook group, so you can get updates on the next meetup!).

Tonight we met at Evelyn & Olive, a vegan-friendly Jamaican restaurant with decadent cocktails and a nice wine selection. I ordered what I always get there — Black Bean Tacos with Rice and Pigeon Peas.

The name is a bit deceptive. These aren't just black bean tacos. They have tofu in them too, and it's the best tofu I've ever put in my mouth. For real. The marinate it in magic. The tacos have a cabbage slaw and a kiwi salsa. And the rice and peas are delightfully spicy.

I'm typically a wine or beer drinker, but I couldn't pass up the signature Jamaican cocktail list. I went with the Jamaican Rum Punch — rum, strawberry puree, and lime juice. Not too sweet. Just the right level of tangy.

Shay ordered a Dark 'n' Stormy — dark rum and Jamaican ginger beer.

Vaughan and Nicole arrived just as I was about to leave, so I didn't get pics of their food or cocktails. But Vaughan did start with a non-alcoholic ginger beer. These are served warm in the traditional manner.

Because we had a lower turnout tonight, and I know that a few people who couldn't come really wanted to, I'm scheduling a do-over for Evelyn & Olive again for February's Vegan Drinks (Tuesday, Feb. 18th, 5:30 p.m.). If you're local, save the date. They have a number of vegan food options, and their cocktails are among the best in town.

Smoothie Days

There's a scene in Orange Is the New Black (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler, but if you haven't seen it, you should probably remedy that, stat) when Piper, the main character, is on the prison pay phone with Jason Biggs (who plays her husband, but I can't remember his name on the show). Jason Biggs is unloading groceries from Whole Foods in their kitchen while Piper is stuck in prison for a crime she committed years and years ago. When she asks what he bought, he lists off some items and says "I got some cherry juice for my smoothies" to which Piper sighs longingly and says "Oh, God, smoothies." There are no smoothies in prison.

Piper definitely can't get a smoothie in the prison chow hall.

When I watched that episode, I'd only recently broken my foot. And I was getting adjusted to a life of not running. It sucked. Hard. I also wasn't having the three or four Vega protein smoothies a week that I'd gotten so used to having after my runs. No need to waste my expensive Vega stash when I wasn't working out hard enough to need all that protein. But I could relate to Piper's longing for a smoothie.

At that time, I thought I'd be up and running again in a few weeks. The doctor told me my stress fracture was likely to heal in two to four weeks, and he expected I'd still be able to run the half-marathon I'd signed up for in October.

Fast forward to now — five months later. I'm still recovering from the same stress fracture, plus a new one that magically popped up in the same foot last month. I'm still not running, and thus, I've not had many smoothies. I removed my walking boot this week, and although I'm having some residual pain in my foot, I think it's finally getting better.

My crazy bone growth stimulation machine! I have to wear it 10 hours a day!

I'll still have to wait a few weeks before I can even attempt to run. But I'm not waiting around for a smoothie any longer. As part of my post-Crazy Sexy Diet plan, I'm going to alternate fresh juices and smoothies for breakfast. I downloaded Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Juice & Succulent Smoothies for ideas. The ebook is 25 percent off through the end of January if you use the code VIBRANT2014. You might wanna snatch one up now!

I'm not having Vega smoothies yet since I'm still saving my protein powders for when I start back to running again. But I will have fresh fruit and veggie-filled green smoothies. This morning, I turned all of this ...

(Nevermind that brown banana. Frozen bananas aren't very attractive). 

 ... into this Strawberry Fields Smoothie.

It was fruity and refreshing, and it even kept me full until 11-ish. Then I snacked on some almonds. I probably won't be buying the Engine 2 almond milk again though. It only has 2 percent of your RDA for calcium! Who makes almond milk without fortifying with calcium? Seems a little pointless.

But anyway, go check out Kris Carr's ebook! And while you're at it, download the free ebook from Vega's #onechange campaign. It's loaded with recipes using Vega protein powder. I'll definitely be referring to that book as soon as I'm fully back on my feet.

Crazy Sexy Wrap-Up

As I mentioned last night in my celebratory splurge post, my 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet is finally over! Over the past three weeks, I've avoided sugar, coffee, alcohol, gluten, processed food, and fried things in favor of alkaline juices, salads, and whole foods dishes made with beans and grains.

I feel clean! And light! And in fact, I am a little lighter since I lost the five pounds I'd packed on in the past five months of not running (because of my never-ending stress fracture). My jeans fit again, and that perhaps, is the best outcome I could hope for. No one wants to go up a jean size.

I also slept better than ever on the cleanse. I've never really had sleep problems. I'm the kind of girl who falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. But when my diet isn't clean, I tend to be more restless and wake up more times throughout the night. And even though I fall right back to sleep, restless nights just don't result in the same rested feeling the next day.

And it's probably TMI, but I've been pooping like a champ all month!

I want keep feeling great, and I want to keep off those pounds, especially since I won't be running for at least another month. Doctor's orders. Yoga and hula-hopping just don't burn the calories that running does. So here's my plan, and it's reflected in what I ate today on the first full day off of my cleanse.

I will start each morning with a fresh veggie juice or a smoothie. Juicing was my favorite part of the cleanse. I downloaded Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Juices & Succulent Smoothies e-book for ideas. This morning, I made the Lime Shine Juice from that book (green apple, celery, romaine, cucumber, and lime).

But unlike on the cleanse, I won't be having just juice in the mornings. I missed my sit-down breakfast. So I'll have a light breakfast immediately after my juice. This morning, that was Whole Wheat Bagel Thins with Tofutti Cream Cheese and my homemade Fig Preserves.

One commenter, Pam, asked how I felt after bringing gluten back into my diet. The answer? Great! I've done a number of these gluten-free cleanses over the past several Januarys, and through trial and error, I know I don't have a gluten sensitivity at all. Thank goddess.

I'll also be bringing roasted nuts back into my life. Only raw nuts were allowed on the cleanse (something about the oils in roasted nuts being rancid?). But the research on raw versus roasted is still conflicting, and I like 'em both. Today, I had Wonderful brand Sweet Chili Pistachios as a morning snack and again as an afternoon snack.

I'm going to try to stick to whole foods most of the time and save plant meats for splurges (don't worry, I'll splurge a few times each week!). And I want to have salads or cooked greens with meals as often as possible. Lunch today was Chili Sin Carne from Kitchen Divided (leftover in my freezer), which has all kinds of veggies, beans, brown rice, vegan burger, and even cashews!

And I had a Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Carrots, and Dijon Vinaigrette on the side.

When I do eat unhealthy stuff, I'm going to try my best to practice portion control. And then I can have a much bigger portion of a healthy side. For example, my friend Shara gave me some leftover Almond Tofu from Pho Binh the other day when I was still on the cleanse, and I saved it to eat today. There was almost an entire order of this rich dish of fried tofu, savory brown sauce, almonds, and green peppers in the takeout box she gave me. And there was also leftover steamed white rice.

Normally, I'd eat at least half of what she gave me in one sitting, and I'd use that white rice. Instead, I split the takeout into three servings of just a little over 1/2 cup of the tofu dish. I made some brown rice and tossed that white rice in the trash. And then I had a small portion of Almond Tofu and Brown Rice for dinner. And I have leftovers for two more days.

On the side, I had a healthy bowl of Miso Soup with Nori, Carrots, and Onions.

So there's an idea of how I'll change my eating habits, post-cleanse. Of course, I won't have fried tofu everyday. But when I do, I'll make sure the rest of the day is super healthy. As for dessert, I skipped it today since I had a massive cupcake last night. I'm going to try to limit big desserts to once or twice a week, and I may have a bite of chocolate or a small candy a couple times each week on days when I don't eat the big stuff.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I've brought coffee back into my life! I enjoyed three espresso-sized cups of Turkish Coffee (my drug of choice) this morning as I got ready for work. I missed coffee so much!

Crazy Sexy Celebration!!!!

My 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse is OVER! I officially ended my ban on sugar, gluten, coffee, alcohol, and processed food at 2:30 p.m. today. I probably should have finished out the day, since today is Day 21. But I had some big plans this afternoon that I knew would be the perfect excuse to end it a few hours early. More on those plans in a few.

I started the day off right with a Sicilian Juice (red pepper, tomato, spinach, garlic, celery) and a small bowl of One Degree Veganic Sprouted Ancient Maize Flakes with unsweetened coconut-almond milk, enjoyed in my PJs while Paul and I finished watching Captain Phillips. We both passed out trying to watch it Saturday night.

Lunch was a Giant Everything Salad — romaine, spinach, cherry tomato, carrot, kalamata olives, baked tofu, curried cashews, coconut bacon, currants, and homemade sprouted grain croutons with ginger-sesame dressing.

But that's where the healthy eating ended, and the celebration commenced. First up at around 2:30 p.m., my friend Andy and I went to an event celebrating the life of Lisa McNeil, a bartender at Dru's Place (our fave LGBT bar) who passed away a few weeks ago. Lisa was a special person and the kindest bartender ever. So cleanse be damned, I was having a drink in her honor. Dru's Place has a decent beer selection, but it's not huge. I probably wouldn't have picked a Fat Tire for my first beer in 21 days if local craft options were available. But it was still damn good.

After that, I had very important foodie plans. My friend Stephanie (Poopie Bitch on the PPK) turns 33 on Tuesday, but she wanted to have a birthday dinner tonight at Mellow Mushroom. What perfect timing! Pizza is my favorite food, and I was so very happy for it to be my first non-cleanse meal in 21 days.

While we waited for everyone to arrive, Stephanie and I dove into this Hummus & Pita appetizer. Besides some sprouted grain on the cleanse, this was my first real gluten. I'd forgotten how amazing gluten can be! These little pitas were perfectly toasted, warm, and chewy.

We ordered a massive Jerk Tempeh & Pineapple Pizza with Daiya Cheese for four people to share. Wow! Just wow. Everyone else ate one slice and said they were saving room for dessert. But me? I ate two. I'm a total piggy.

And guess what? I still had room for dessert! No way was I passing up Stephanie's home-baked vegan cupcakes! I'm so lucky to have a professional vegan baker as one of my close friends. She made Pomegranate-Lemon Cupcakes, and they were double-sized!

Other than a couple tiny vegan cheesecake bites that Cassi made me last weekend and a bite or two of dark chocolate now and then, this was my first big sugar splurge in 21 days. And I'm pretty sure I got a bit of a sugar high from eating this. IT. WAS. SO. GOOD. Out of everything I couldn't have on the cleanse, I think I missed sugar the least. I love baked goods, but I'm more of a savory person. Yet this cupcake was just amazing. I needed that.

Today was awesome! But I'm still feeling pretty stuffed three hours later. I probably should have just had one slice of pizza, but you know, I was celebrating! And starting tomorrow, I'm getting back on the wagon. Sort of. Tomorrow night, I'll fill y'all in about my post-cleanse, long-term eating plans. Don't worry — I'm not going raw or anything crazy. But I do plan to maintain a few cleanse-friendly healthy habits.

Oh, and one more thing. I need to give a congratulatory shout-out to my bestie Sheridan and her partner Drew. They also wrapped up their 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse today too!! I heard they celebrated tonight with vegan cheese fries and beer. Yum.

Crazy Sexy, Day 18

I'm so close to being done with this 21-day Crazy Sexy Diet cleanse! In fact, when you hear from me again on Sunday, I'll be through! I'm ending my cleanse around 2 p.m. on Sunday because I have an event that involves beer in the afternoon and a birthday dinner for Stephanie (aka Poopie Bitch) at Mellow Mushroom. Can't wait!

Sadly, food today just didn't taste good. But it wasn't the food's fault. Something crazy happened to my taste buds! Since last night, I've noticed that everything I eat or drink (even water) has a bitter aftertaste. It tastes great initially, but as it goes down, it leaves a metallic, bitter funkiness. After a little googling, I figured out why. Apparently, bad pine nuts can alter your taste buds for up to a week! And I've been eating pine nuts in my Truffled Parmesan from Crazy Sexy Kitchen for the past couple days. In fact, the bitter taste problem started just after I finished my dinner with the pine nuts in it last night.

It makes me sad because food should taste good. And it also makes me sad that I have to throw out the rest of my truffled parm. It was so good! But I don't want altered taste buds forever. Anyway, despite my mouth problems, I still ate a full day's worth of food — Sicilian Juice in the morning, followed by sprouted grain cereal, and then a banana-strawberry-almond butter-date sandwich with baby carrots and hummus for lunch.

My afternoon snack was especially awesome, even if it was a little bitter going down. I mentioned yesterday that I took a hoopdance class at the new Co-Motion Studio down the block from my house. Well, I didn't mention that, besides offering hooping classes, Co-Motion also sells raw vegan desserts from the Raw Girls, a vegan duo who sells prepared raw foods in Memphis.

I picked up this Raw Chocolate Ganache with Pink Himalayan Salt and Pomegranate Seeds last night, but I waited until today to dig in. Holy crap! This is the best chocolate ever! It's soft and ganache-like, and there are crunchy nibs tucked inside. I was only able to eat a tiny bite though because it's very rich. This hunk will last me a few days.

Dinner was a bit of a challenge. My friend Greg's birthday was today, and although he hates birthdays, I insisted on organizing a dinner at his favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Binh. They're known for their AMAZING fried tofu dishes, but deep-fried stuff isn't really allowed on my cleanse. So while everyone else enjoyed mouth-watering tofu, I had to opt for something a little healthier.

Fortunately, this Vegetable Rice Noodle Soup was really tasty!

Now, white rice noodles aren't really cleanse-friendly, but they're certainly better than a plate of fried tofu. This clear broth soup was loaded with fresh veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, bok choy, green onions), and it felt like a light, guilt-free meal. I did sneak a couple bites of Greg's and Shara's tofu dishes but only a taste, I swear.

Well, see y'all Sunday. Hopefully, my taste buds will get back to normal before Sunday's pizza party!

Crazy Sexy, Day 17

Today on the Crazy Sexy Diet started off just like every other day this week — with a Sicilian Juice from Crazy Sexy Kitchen. Here's the contents of my juice before juicing in my new Breville: spinach, tomato, carrots, garlic, red bell pepper, celery, and jalapeno.

My morning snack at my desk was another small bowl of One Degree Veganic Sprouted Ancient Maize Flakes with Coconut-Almond Milk. I've been enjoying this gluten-free, coconut palm sugar-sweetened cereal all week.

Lunch was a new recipe — Fruit and Almond Sandwich from Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

This is like a healthier twist on PB&J. There's raw almond butter, homemade date paste, cinnamon, bananas, and strawberries on sprouted grain bread. I'm not the world's biggest fan of fruit, but bananas and berries were so good with the almond butter and date paste on bread. I need more fruit and nut butter sandwiches in my life.

On the side, I had Carrots and Whole Foods Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I've eaten sooooo much hummus over the past 17 days! But I never, ever tire of hummus.

I snacked on some trail mix late in the afternoon while writing a blog post for work. Then I headed home and had a small bowl of leftover Farmer's Salad (potato salad made with cashew aioli, fava beans, red peppers, and spinach) from Crazy Sexy Kitchen before heading to Co-Motion Studio for my first Beginner's Hoopdance class.

Co-Motion is a new hula-hooping studio just a block from my house. I've been wanting to take a class there since they started offering them a couple weeks back, so I signed up for a five-week hoopdance series. Tonight, we did lots of hand-hooping and spinning the hoop down our bodies from above our heads.

After class, I heated up a bowl of leftover Nana's Marinara, Mung Bean Fettuccine, and Truffled Parmesan from Crazy Sexy Kitchen.

Only four more days to go!