Ethiopian Lentils! Spinach Fettucine! Brioche!

Last week, I met a friend for dinner at Blue Nile — the best Ethiopian joint in town! I usually get their Vegetarian Platter because it has a little of everything on it. But this time, I was craving a big bowl of my favorite Ethiopian stew, Messir Wat. This red lentil stew is SO GOOD scooped up with spongey injera bread. For my sides, I picked Collard Greens and Cabbage.

Last Saturday, the Crosstown Memphis CDC held a big yard sale at Crosstown Concourse, and I (wo)manned a Crosstown Arts info table at the event. I was there from 7 am-3 pm, so that meant I'd have to miss my usual Saturday morning trip to the Lulu's booth at the CY Farmer's Market. But my friend Susan saved the day! She showed up to the yard sale with this Lulu's Tomato Basil Brioche in hand right as I was starting to think about snack time.

Around lunch that same day, I decided to grab some takeout from the cafe at Crosstown Arts. They only serve brunch on Saturdays, but the brunch menu features both traditional breakfast items and more lunch-y things, like this Vegan Spinach Fettucine with Bolognese Sauce, Garlic Bread, & Caper Berries. 

WOW. This blew me away! The pasta was handmade (and VEGAN!!!), and the meaty sauce was made with Beyond burger. A co-worker, who is not vegan, tried a bite and loved it. She wanted to get a plate for herself but forgot to get over to the cafe before they closed. Several other people checked out my plate while I was eating and, after just looking at it, went upstairs to get their own serving. 

Of course, I don't eat out every day! I try to balance those decadent meals with healthy things at home, like this breakfast of Strawberry Flax Walnut Oats with chocolate peanut butter powder stirred into the oats.

Lulu's Summer Grill-Out Pop-up!

This past Sunday, our friends at Lulu's Memphis hosted a pop-up featuring fresh-grilled, hand-crafted blackeyed pea burgers and carrot dogs at the Memphis Made Brewing Co. taproom. It had all the makings of a perfect Sunday Funday! Vegan burgers and beer? I'm in!

Paul and I met some friends there just as they were opening at 1 pm, and there was already a line! Lulu's is well-loved and supported by the Memphis vegan community! Here's Don, Stephanie, and Tiffany grilling and plating.

You could choose between a handmade blackeyed pea burger or a smoked carrot dog. The dog sounded great, but I LOVE Lulu's blackeyed pea sausages so I figured I'd love the blackeyed pea burger as well.

And I did! This char-grilled burger was PERFECT in every way, served inside a grilled Lulu's fresh-based bun. The Lulu's buns are made with potato flour and have a soft brioche texture. Pretty much everything Lulu's sells is homemade, so they even made their own pickles and kraut. I had both of those on my burger, as well as watercress, tomato, red onion, mustard, and vegan mayo.

You could pick two sides, so I went with Potato Salad and Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad. Washed down with a couple of brews from Memphis Made — the Cat Nap IPA and the Lime Junt Ale.

New Vegan Burger at Farm Burger Memphis!

Farm Burger at Crosstown Concourse in Memphis has added a new handmade vegan burger to their menu! My office at Crosstown Arts is just upstairs from Farm Burger, and I stop in often for their Impossible Burger (the best one in town!). But sometimes a girl needs a veggie-based patty when she's feeling like getting her healthy eating game back on.

Today was one of those days. Paul and I made lunch plans for Farm Burger, but after a weekend of eating lots and lots of decadent, awesome food, I figured a good veggie patty (served atop a salad) would be a better choice than a burger on a bun with fries.

You can get any burger at Farm Burger served on a salad, rather than a bun. And today, I had the new Housemade Vegan Burger on the Superfood Salad (it has kale, cabbage, hemp seed, fried blackeyed peas, and grainy dijon vinaigrette). If you order the new burger on a bun, it comes topped with cucumber salad and lemon-garlic tahini dressing (YUM! I'll have to try it on a bun soon!).

The patty itself is made with quinoa, blackeyed peas, kale, roasted mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and spices, and it tastes amazing! It's firm enough that it holds it's shape (unlike some handmade veggie patties), and it has that char-grilled burger flavor.

The fact that Farm Burger now carries TWO vegan burger options is so cool! When they first opened a couple years ago, there were no vegan burger options there (they had a vegetarian patty that wasn't vegan). Of course I made the need for a vegan burger known every chance I got! And I'm sure other Memphis vegans did to. They heard the demand loud and clear and added Impossible pretty early on. And now they have this great veggie patty option!

By the way, I've been told that Farm Burger (like many smaller chains and locally owned restaurants) is experiencing an Impossible burger shortage thanks to increased demand worldwide. It's pretty cool that Impossible has grown so quickly and that they're expanding into chain fast-food restaurants. But I do hope Impossible works that out soon! Thankfully, Farm Burger has this new vegan burger option!

Artichoke Burgers by Foodies

I love a good plant-based meat burger, like Beyond or Impossible. But now that I'm trying to focus on whole foods most of the time, I'd rather save those for occasional treats. For everyday burger needs, I prefer a veggie- or nut-based patty, but there aren't many burgers on the market that are made entirely of whole foods.

A few months ago, the folks at Five Star Foodies sent me some free product coupons to review their artichoke burgers and vegan frittatas. I'd tried their eggless frittata (made with a base of pumpkin seeds and potato!) before, but I'd never seen their burgers for sale around here. When I looked the burgers up on their website, I was excited to see they were made with real stuff, like brown rice, cashews, artichokes, onions, nooch, potato flour, and apple cider vinegar. No ingredients you can't pronounce!

It took me FOREVER to find these locally. The Kroger store that used to sell the Five Star Foodies Frittatas when I'd last purchased them no longer carried anything from them. I also couldn't find their products at Whole Foods or Sprouts. But I kept the coupons in my wallet just in case I happened upon some, and lo and behold, that finally happened at the Poplar Plaza Kroger! They didn't have the frittatas, but they did have two flavors of the burgers.

I've tried both the Original and the French Herb this week, and both were excellent. The patties are soft, as most veggie-based burgers are. But they retain their shape after a few bites, which is impressive. The Original has a hint of artichoke and a satisfying fattiness from the cashews, and the French Herb has a garlicky rosemary flavor.

I enjoyed the Original patty topped with a slice of Daiya American cheese and enjoyed with some sweet potato fries made in the air fryer. And the French Herb made an excellent work day lunch topped with red onion, pickle, lettuce, and dijon.

These burgers also come in Indian Tandoori, Thai Coconut, and Italian Herb. All of those sound great, but if I ever spot those Indian or Thai patties, they're definitely making it into my cart!

Oh Snap!

Call me cliche, but I love a good pickle — pickled cucumbers, pickled okra, pickled beets, pickled just about anything! Pickles are a go-to snack when I'm not actually hungry but just want to be eating something, which, let's be real, is every moment between meal times.

But packing pickles for work can be messy since the brine tends to spill everywhere in my lunch bag. And forget about eating pickles on the road! I have a year-old Subaru Crosstrek, and I still freak out when any food or liquid comes anywhere near my seats.

But Oh Snap! Pickling Co. is making pickle-snacking more convenient! These crisp, sour pickles come in easy-to-carry, brine-free packages. That means you can toss them in your purse or lunch bag and even eat them in the car!

They sent me a few flavors to review, and I've been enjoying them over the past couple weeks. First, I tried the Hoppin' Jalapenos on a Black Bean, Roasted Pineapple, & Plantain Bowl with Avo-Lime Dressing (from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook). The recipe didn't call for jalapenos, but after assembling the bowl, I knew something was missing. Hot peppers! These crisp pickled jalapenos were fairly mild but they added just the right level of heat and tang. These would also be good as snack on their own.

The Pretty Peas made a nice side to a sandwich one day at work. These snap peas are brined and slightly sour, but they maintain their crispy bite.

But my very fave were the Carrot Cuties! I had these today as a morning snack, along with a slice of fresh rosemary bread and some strawberries. These slim sticks have a light pickled flavor with a satisfying snap.

I haven't opened the Dilly Bites yet, but I've actually picked these up at a gas station in the past during a road trip. I was very impressed that the pickle slices retained their dilly flavor and crispness without brine.

Food My Parents Made Me!

Last weekend was one of those weekends with only a few plans, so I decided it'd be fun to visit my parents in Arkansas. They didn't have Saturday night plans either, and they love to cook. So I asked if my dad would cook his famous (thanks to my mom's frequent Facebook posts) Oven Chicken Fajitas. 

He typically makes these with meat chicken, but since I was coming, he veganized the recipe using Gardein crispy tenders. He'd planned to use Beyond Meat strips, but their health food store was out. So instead, he chopped the breading off the Gardein strips and sliced into smaller bits. That's a lot of work, but I'm so grateful he was willing to do that so I could try his amazing fajitas.

The fajita mix is baked in the oven with bell peppers, onions, and spices. It was just as good as my mom had previously bragged on Facebook! On the side, my mom made Spanish Rice-a-Roni (yes, it's vegan!) and some Refried Beans with Daiya. Plus, she whipped up her Vegan Pancho's Dip and some guac.'

If you're from Memphis or Northeast Arkansas, you know about Pancho's Cheese Dip. It's the food of the gods around these parts. Pancho's Cheese Dip — the staple dip you're served at Memphis/West Memphis Pancho's restaurants — is a creamy nacho cheese dip with a hint of cumin, always served cold. If I could go back on my veganism for any one food, it would be Pancho's Cheese Dip, so I am thrilled that my mom created a vegan version. She uses vegan cream cheese, vegan cheddar, Rotel, and spices (definitely cumin). It's SO GOOD.

After dinner, we enjoyed some homemade Fried Strawberry Pies that my mom made with fresh berries that she cooked down into a pie filling. These glazed fried pies were so tender and lightly sweet. All they were missing was a glass of iced tea (which they always keep in the fridge, but I tend to avoid to keep my sugar intake down). Me eating a fried pie!

My dad got a smoker around Christmas time, and when I stop by, my dad smokes me a couple pounds of tofu to take back home with me. This time, he made a "chicken" smoked tofu and an Asian-spiced smoked tofu. I had some of the chicken-y tofu atop some Savory Oats for breakfast yesterday! The oats were seasoned with nooch and salt. I mixed in some steamed broccoli and carrots.

Seems like I should go home more often!

Bread! Tofu! More Bread!

I went to the Cooper-Young Farmers Market last Saturday with the intention of picking up a Lulu's Baked black-eyed pea & sausage biscuit cause they're awesome. But then I laid eyes on this beauty — Broiche with Beet Prosciutto, Jalapenos & Cashew Cream Cheese. So this was my breakfast! I took it home and slowly enjoyed every bite. This was probably the best thing I've ever had from Lulu's, and that's saying a lot because everything from Lulu's is amazing. The brioche was soooo soft and perfect.

Speaking of Lulu's, I picked up some Tomato Focaccia from them a couple weeks ago at the downtown farmer's market. I didn't have any immediate plans for it though, so I stuck it in the freezer. Last week, I thawed it out and used it for some Cashew Cheese & Veggie Sandwiches made with herb-garlic Treeline cashew cheese, cucumbers, tomato, lettuce, carrot, roasted red pepper, and kalamata olives.

I had some leftover Daiya American slices after 4th of July, and you know what that means! Grilled Cheese!! Served with some Plantain Chips with Salsa and Guacamole. I've recently discovered Herdez salsa, and I will NEVER GO BACK to any other salsa. This jarred salsa tastes like the fresh stuff from a Mexican restaurant. And it's cheap!

Last Friday, my co-workers and I went to Phuong Long for lunch. This neighborhood Vietnamese restaurant is home one of the best tofu dishes in Memphis — Jalapeno Salt Tofu. This dry fried tofu dish is so full of flavor. The jalapenos tend to be super hot (hotter than the kind I typically find in the store), so I usually only eat a couple of those. But I eat all my tofu!