Product Review: Zukay Kvass

"Kvass" means "bread drink," a drink made from fermented rye bread. But Zukay Live Foods makes a raw, live, gluten-free version of kvass made from organic veggies, salt, active cultures, and stevia. They offered to send me a few bottles to review, and of course I agreed!

They sent Raw Carrot Ginger, Raw Beet, and Raw Beet Ginger Kvass:


Now, I'm a huge fan of kombucha tea, but I'll admit that it's an acquired taste. Fermented beverages have a very acidic, vinegar-y taste, and they're not for everybody. The kvass tastes very much like kombucha, but while most kombucha is flavored with fruit, the kvass is flavored with organic veggies.

I tried the Carrot Ginger Kvass with my co-worker Hannah on our Raw Food Thursday a few weeks back:

Hannah said it was a little too salty, but that didn't really bother me. I'm a salt-aholic, so nothing is really too salty for me. I really enjoyed the strong, acidic ginger flavor, and I felt a small burst of energy after drinking this.

The Beet and Beet Ginger flavors were even better than the carrot. The earthy beet flavor was a better complement to the fermented twang. This might be TMI, but all my, um, waste products were dyed pink after drinking this. That might seem weird, but beet juice stains EVERYTHING!

Zukay threw in a live Red Pepper Cilantro Salad Dressing too:

I'd been dying to try their raw dressings! Unlike most oil-based dressings, this one is simply made from red pepper, tomato, cilantro, garlic, salt, and live active cultures. No oil. And that means one tablespoon of dressing is only five calories!

This stuff is amazing! Just look at it on my salad:

Out of all the products Zukay sent, the dressing was my fave. I love a lot of salad dressing on my fresh veggies, and with this low-cal, flavorful dressing, I can really afford to drench my salad. The bottle suggests mixing the dressing with olive oil to create a vinaigrette, and while I'm sure that's tasty, it's not really necessary.

If Zukay is sold in your area, try the dressing and the kvass. It's not sold in Memphis, but it may be available in your area. Click here to find out. If it's not available in stores near you, you can place an order on their website.

Frying with Beer!

Two of my favorite things — beer and fried food. Yes, they're guilty pleasures, and no, I don't eat/drink them everyday. But sometimes a girl needs a tasty brew and crispy goodness, and sometimes she needs those two things in the same dish! When I saw the Beer Battered Tempeh Fish in the April issue of VegNews, I knew I had to make it:

OMG! The tempeh is seasoned with my other favorite thing — malt vinegar. Then its dipped in a beer batter (I used Magic Hat Wacko) and fried in hot oil. That white stuff is Tangy Tartar Sauce made from Vegenaise, relish, green olives, capers, and dry onion (the recipe is included in VegNews too).

I never cared for fish when I ate meat, but I do remember loving Captain D's as a kid. Not for the fish, but for the batter. This tempeh fish boasts a batter that's deliciously similar to the fast food chain's.

I served my "fish" with steamed, white pattypan squash from the Memphis Farmer's Market and Leahey Gardens macaroni and cheese.

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday (because Blogger was being CRAZY!) that I was featured as Memphian #180 out of 365 in the I Love Memphis "365 Memphians" Project. Blogger Kerry Crawford interviewed me about veganism, time travel, and my Friday night plans. Here's the link.

Lucky Number 7

My partner Paul and I celebrated our seven-year anniversary last night! We can always agree on Italian food, but I had a hard time picking an affordable place that wasn't a chain restaurant (we're trying to save for Vida Vegan Con!). And then I remembered that a new Italian joint had recently opened in the Cooper-Young neighborhood.

Cortona's Contemporary Italian took the place of one of our old bar haunts, Dish. So it seemed appropriate to eat an anniversary dinner in the same building that used to house one of our favorite bars. Here we are at a table for two:

I called Cortona's a few days earlier to place a reservation and to make sure they could accommodate a vegan. The man who answered the phone was super-nice and assured me that I'd find several vegan options.

For starters, we ordered this Cannellinni Dip:

Our server described the dip as "like hummus but with white beans." And sure enough, that's exactly what it tasted like. I loved this stuff! Probably even better than hummus since I prefer white beans over chickpeas. I mean, of course I love chickpeas, but white beans take the cake. By the way, the pita served with the dip had some cheese sprinkled on it. But our server brought out some soft French bread for me.

I ordered a vegan Wedge Salad that wasn't exactly on the menu. It typically comes with bleu cheese and bacon. But our server had the kitchen hook me up with balsamic vinaigrette, red onions, and tomatoes instead:

And for my main course, I chose the Penne Rigate Primavera:

A little secret for vegans dining at Italian restaurants: Although most Italian places use non-vegan fresh pasta (contains eggs), many also offer shaped pasta, like penne or bowtie pasta, that's shipped in dry form. That's almost always vegan.

The sauce on these tender noodles was sweet and spicy, just the way a marinara should be. And the veggies — zucchini, red pepper, and onion — were the perfect topper. I actually had enough food in this bowl for three meals. I had some leftovers for lunch today, and I'll be eating more tomorrow.

Except for the part of the dinner when Paul accidentally flicked a red pepper flake into his own eye, the evening was perfectly lovely.

If you're ever in Memphis and looking for a locally-owned Italian joint that won't cost you next month's rent, Cortona's is the place to go. It's located at 948 S. Cooper. Call 901-729-0101.

Tofurky Lurky Pizza Time!

At least a year ago, Turtle Island Foods sent me a coupon in the mail for a free Tofurky pizza! They wanted me to review their new Daiya-covered frozen pizzas on my blog. And I was more than willing to do so. I rushed to Whole Foods when my coupon arrived, but sadly, the freezer section guy informed me that our store didn't carry the pizza yet.

So every single time I've visited Whole Foods between now and then (and that's at least once every two weeks), I've strolled through the frozen section just hoping against hope that my precious vegan pizza would be on the shelf.

Then one day about a week ago, my friend Richard posted this photo on Facebook of a freezer case full of Tofurky pizzas at our Whole Foods. He tagged me in one of the boxes, so I'd be sure to see it:

Thankfully, I'd held on to that coupon all this time. When I got to Whole Foods, I had a choice to make — Vegan Cheese, Pepperoni, or Italian Sausage & Fire-Roasted Veggie. The choice was obvious though. I love Tofurky's sausages, and fire-roasted veggies are the best! Victory!

One night over the weekend, I had a hankerin' for pizza and no time to cook a proper dinner, so I baked this little pizza and cut up a side salad:

Look at the little fire-roasted marks on that tiny tomato! I liked how the veggies and the sausage were diced very small, and even though it wasn't loaded with Daiya, there was enough to make it cheesy. I'll bet the cheese flavor has more Daiya. That's next on my list.

While you can't beat a homemade pizza (or better yet, a giant Mega-Veggie Pizza with Daiya from Mellow Mushroom), these little frozen pizzas are perfect for those nights when you're just too busy to cook. Plus, they bring me back to my pregan, college days when I lived on cheapo frozen pizzas, mac & cheese, and ramen.

Vegan Brunch

Memphis' only all-vegan restaurant, Imagine Vegan Cafe, is now serving brunch! The comfort food cafe opened in April, and they've been serving hearty, vegan meat-based entrees for lunch and dinner daily. But this afternoon, Imagine launched brunch, and my friends and I (we call ourselves the Imagine Vegan Supper Club, but we'll have to change that to Breakfast Club on Sundays) were there for the big event.

Much like their regular menu, the brunch menu is huge and loaded with mouth-watering options. I couldn't resist the Memphis Slam — two biscuits topped with sausage, tofu scramble, gravy, and cheezy sauce!

This was clearly enough food for two meals, but I ate it all! And I paid for it later by feeling miserably full all day. Next time, I'm asking for a to-go box.

My friend Kim went with the Breakfast Platter — potatoes, grits, tofu scramble, biscuits, and your choice of bacon or sausage. For some crazy reason, Kim didn't want the scramble, but pretend it's on this plate:

Leslie ordered the BLT, which is supposed to come with breakfast potatoes. But she wanted fruit, so they let her swap out the side. I would have totally chosen potatoes over fruit though!

And Mike ordered a platter of Piggies in a Blanket for the table — sausage links wrapped in flaky crescent rolls:

Everything I tried was amazing, and I'm sure I'll be back to try everything on the brunch menu. Our supper club meets at Imagine every Wednesday night for dinner, but we may have to start coming every Sunday too. In fact, I love this place so much, I could totally stop cooking and eat there everyday! But don't worry ... I need to cook to be happy. So that won't happen.

Raw Food for Two

For years, my all-raw food day detoxes were a solo effort. I know lots of vegans and vegetarians, but none willing to give up cooked food for a whole day. Well, I have a few raw friends, but they're raw every day and doing a one-day raw cleanse with them wouldn't be the same. They're so above my level!

But when my vegan co-worker Hannah moved into the cubicle next to me several months ago, she suggested we do a raw day together. We put it off and put it off for months for various reasons — weddings, vacations, busy work weeks. But today, we finally had a successful Raw Food Thursday. After spending two hours prepping food Wednesday night, we were ready for a full day of uncooked eats.

We started our morning bright and early at Cosmic Coconut, Memphis' only all-vegan juice and smoothie bar. Our awesome friend Ashley owns the place, and she gave us these sweet, stainless steel reusable straws for our smoothies! Mine is a Mango Mama (mango, coconut meat and juice) and Hannah got the Tropical Fusion (mango, pineapple, coconut, and pomegranate):

Ashley also sells raw desserts at Cosmic Coconut, and Hannah and I HAD to buy some of her bittersweet cacao-coconut balls, Coco-Nutties. These may be the best raw dessert I've ever had:

But we didn't stop there. No way. Ashley knew we were coming, so she brought in some Raw Cookie Dough for us to try. I'm not sure what is in this, but I detect cashews, coconut oil, and carob. It really tastes a lot like cookie dough, but it's way healthier:

We saved those raw desserts for mid-day snackin', but first we had a hearty lunch of this Spring Herb Rainbow Salad in Kreamy Curry Dressing from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. The salad was made with chard, dill, rosemary, and cilantro and tossed with a sweet curry dressing that was tasty enough to eat by itself with a spoon:

We also had Zucchini Hummus from Raw Food Made Easy. I've had several raw hummus recipes, and this one may be my favorite. It was perfect with these leftover Salsa-Flax Crackers from a past raw day:

Dinner was another raw day stand-by for me, but it was Hannah's first time trying the Raw Tacos from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. Ani's recipe actually called for cabbage leaves to be used as burrito shells, but we opted for Romaine heart taco shells instead. They're stuffed with Ani's Nacho Cheeze, Taco Nut Meat, and Red Pepper Corn Salsa:

In between meals, when we weren't snackin' on raw cookie dough at our desks, we were shoveling (quite literally) these Cheezy Raw Kale Chips into our mouths. We invented the recipe on Wednesday night in an attempt to recreate Kookie Karma's Cheesy Kale Krackers, which I'd gotten in my Easter basket a few months ago:

These were delicious! Hannah said they reminded her of spicy Cheeze-Its, which she's all sad that she can't eat anymore now that she's vegan. They were crunchy right out of the dehydrator, but they did soften a bit after I bagged them up and took them into the office. I'd recommend eating these right away. Here's the recipe.

Bianca & Hannah's Cheezy Raw Kale Chips
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1 bunch kale, washed, stems removed, leaves torn into small pieces
1 cup raw cashews
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
Juice from one lemon
1 Tbsp. miso
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Water

Wash and tear the kale. Place into a large bowl and set aside.

In a food processor, combine the cashews, red bell pepper, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, miso, pepper flakes, and about 1/4 cup of water. Process until smooth, adding more water as needed to create a creamy paste.

Pour the mixture over the kale in a bowl, and massage it into the leaves. Spread the kale leaves out onto a couple of dehydrator sheets (we used two sheets in my Excalibur). Dehydrate for 7 hours at 115 degrees.

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.