Biscuits! French Toast! Brats! Salads!

I usually get a LuLu's brekky sandwich from their shop on Friday mornings, but last week, I decided to change things up with this Sausage Biscuit with Tomato Jam. My friend Stephanie makes their jams from scratch, and this one was soooo good. Sweet and savory at the same time!

It was a LuLu's kind of weekend! On Saturday, I went by their booth at the CY Farmers Market and picked up a loaf of whole wheat sourdough, which I used the next day for French Toast. I served some BE-Hive seitan and quinoa sausage on the side. To make the French toast, I mixed Vegg yolk powder with water, dipped in the bread, and pan-fried. Super-easy.

I used more of that bread as a side for a White Bean Salad with Spirulina Dressing from The Idiot's Guide to Ayurveda. I added a little Miyoko's garlic-herb cheese to my toasts.

Here's another salad! I'm trying to eat appropriate foods for pitta season (summer), so I'm working in a few salads (with fresh farmer's market veggies) each week. For this, I used Imagine Vegan Cafe's ranch and made some homemade sprouted grain croutons. Topped with some Seapoint Farms Lil' Lentils and nooch.

And finally, here's my meal from Sizzle Saturday (that's our name for our grill-out day). I grilled a Lightlife Brat and served with caramelized onions and kraut. We grilled some fresh farmers market Corn on the Cob on the side. I'll be so sad when grilling season ends.

I Run 4 Donuts 5K!

The spring races that postponed to fall have now mostly all cancelled. Bummer! I have a couple real races on the calendar still for 2020, so we'll see if they happen. But I'm staying motivated with fun, themed virtual races. Last month, I did the I Run 4 Tacos 10K, and last weekend, my friend Megan and I did the I Run 4 Donuts 5K. Both were from the same company — I Run 4 Movement. They ship you a race bib, medal, and tee, and you can complete your miles whenever you want.

They have lots of fun themes to choose from, but I love the food themes because it gives me an excuse to eat something exciting after the race. I also love themes that match my Goodr sunglasses collection. Last month, I wore my taco Goodrs, and this time, I wore my donut Goodrs (you can't see in the pic, but they have tiny donuts all over them). Of course, we ordered vegan donuts from Darling Donuts Memphis to enjoy after.

Y'all, Darling Donuts is really blowing up! My friend Lily runs this vegan donut delivery company, and they're up for Best Donuts in the Memphis Flyer's Best of Memphis poll. Go vote for them (it's under the Food & Drink category).

Anyway, Megan and I met at Overton Park on Saturday morning to run two 1.5.-mile loops through the Old Forest. Sadly, Megan's medal and race bib didn't arrive before our planned race date, but we decided to do it anyway. That just means we'll have to do another donut run next month! More donuts! After the run, she borrowed my medal for a photo.

The run went really well for me! Not a PR, but I ran it in good time. Megan has been getting back into running lately, so she did a walk-run method (run one song, walk one song). We separated during the run, but we met up at the homemade finish line.

Then, we properly stuffed our faces with donuts. I started with a Chocolate Sprinkle and she went with Berry. Then we went in for round two — Cookies & Cream for me and Matcha Green Tea for her.

Such a fun run! I love this medal, and I've since proudly displayed it next to my taco medal on my medal hanger. Next up, I'm running a virtual I Run for Beer race. Can't wait!

Sugarbearhair Vegan Hair Vitamins!

Last summer, Sugarbear — maker of awesome vegan gummy vitamins — sent me some of their Sleep Vitamins to try out. The melatonin/magnesium gummies had me yawning 30 minutes after taking them, and they helped me sleep through the night. When they offered to send their Hair Vitamins about a month ago, I was all in! If the sleep vitamins worked, I assumed the hair ones would be awesome too.

And they are! These berry-flavored gummies are gelatin-free and contain vitamins that help strengthen your hair and nails. They contain vitamin A, C, D, E, B6, B12, biotin, pantothenic acid, iodine, zinc, and sodium. I have very thin, dry hair and brittle nails (thanks to my vata dosha!), so I need all the help I can get. 

I started taking the vitamins a month ago, and I waited 30 days before reporting results here because I wanted to give them time to do their job. I haven't had a trim or coloring job since last October because I don't see much point in getting my hair done during the pandemic when I'm working from home. So excuse my terrible roots, but my hair is looking shinier and seems to have more life to it than before. I've also noticed less hair coming out in my comb.

But the biggest improvement has been with my toenails! I'll spare you a picture, but as a long-distance runner, my toenails are pretty disgusting. I've lost a number of them after marathons or during training, and they never grow back right. Since I've been taking these, my toenail issues have cleared up somewhat. I still have a few funky ones that grew back too thick, but I'm not currently losing any toenails, which is a win. The ones I was losing have stopped breaking off, so I've been able to trim the dead nail back. Don't get into running if you're attached to your pretty feet! They won't stay that way! But these Hair Vitamins will help.

Tacos! Bowls! Avo Toast!

Last Taco Tuesday, I made the Cauliflower and Lentil Tacos from Eat Feel Fresh by Sahara Rose. These were SO GOOD. They're stuffed with lentil taco "meat" and roasted chili cauliflower, drizzled with tahini-lime sauce, and topped with cucumber, avocado, and cilantro. I'm just always amazed how versatile the humble taco is. You can put whatever you want in a corn tortilla, and it's delicious.

Speaking of tacos, last Takeout Thursday, I saw on Instagram that Chef Tam's Underground Cafe was doing a special Impossible burger day. This soul food restaurant doesn't always have vegan options, but on this day, she was offering Impossible burgers, Impossible tacos, and Impossible taco salad (all vegan!). I couldn't miss out on this chance to support vegan options and a Black-owned local business. The Impossible Taco Salad was MASSIVE. This made two meals for me.

The has a generous portion of taco-seasoned Impossible burger, vegan cheese, black beans, lettuce, and tortilla chips. Served with taco sauce and guacamole salsa (that Herdez kind that I really love!).

I had some leftover Plant-Based Pink Raita (cashew yogurt sauce with beets and mint) from when I made the Tempeh Tikka from Eat Feel Fresh last week, so I used some as a sauce for a lunch Grain/Green/Bean Bowl on Friday. This had leftover taco lentils (from my tacos), air-fried tofu, kale, some leftover stir-fry veggies, and avocado. A great way to use up my leftovers!!

And I used the rest of the pink sauce on Avocado Toast with tofu and sliced fresh tomato (from my garden!).

Review: No Bull Dairy-Free Ice Cream!

You scream, I scream! We all scream for ice cream! Growing up, I remember my Me-maw had ice cream every day (maybe she still does?). It was her very favorite thing. I was a weird kid and didn't care for sweets at all, so back then, I didn't get her undying love for creamy frozen desserts. But something happened when I went vegan in 2004 – I developed a sweet tooth! And a love for ice cream!

Since going vegan, I've sampled as many vegan ice creams as I can get my hands on. I love the almond-based ones and the coconut ones. Even the soy-based ones (anyone remember Tofutti?). But nothing comes close to the oat-based ice creams. Those are jam these days. There's something about the creaminess of blended oatmilk and the natural nutty sweetness of oats that just makes me feel all tingly inside. And now there's a new oat-based frozen dessert that's just fantastic! Meet No Bull Dairy-Free!

They offered to send me some ice cream to sample, and I was pleasantly surprised to see EIGHT FLAVORS! There's Vanilla Bean, Blueberry Pie, Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter Fudge, Mint Chocolate Fudge, Caramel Apple Pie, Sea Salt Caramel, and Strawberry Frappe. It's non-gmo and sustainably sourced!

I opened them all up and sat outside on my back porch with a spoon. That's the hard life of a food blogger! Somebody had to do it! I even took notes.

All of the ice creams have a very creamy texture. There's no iciness at all. And there's that yummy hint of oatmilk flavor that's present in all of them. Surprisingly, I found that I liked the fruity flavors the best — Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Frappe, and Caramel Apple Pie. I'm typically one who prefers vanilla or peanut butter flavors over fruity or chocolate. But that's because most fruity creams tend to remind me of sorbet. Not these! The creamy factor is high on the fruity flavors, and due to the nuttiness of oats, they really taste more like a fruit pie than a fruit sorbet. The Caramel Apple even has a gooey ribbon of caramel running through it.

Here's a very melty pic of the Blueberry Pie (my number-one pick!). It's hard to photograph ice cream outside in the Memphis heat. But I wanted to share this one anyway because the color is so beautiful!

After the fruity ones, I'd say Peanut Butter Fudge would be my next pick because, well, peanut butter. This one is thick and creamy and really reminded me of the fudge I used to love to get from candy shops in my pre-vegan days.

Mint Chocolate is super-minty with a very generous chocolate swirl, and the Vanilla Bean has so many flecks of vanilla that it almost looks like chocolate chip. No Bull does not skimp on flavor! Sea Salt Caramel's delectable gooey caramel ribbon makes it hard to put the pint down, and the Double Chocolate is creamy and rich, like a chocolate hot fudge cake. 

Y'all, I think I have a new favorite vegan ice cream! And with all this ice cream in my freezer, I'll be eating ice cream every day for awhile. Me-maw will be proud. 

Review: Mighty Lil' Lentils

I'm all for snacks that taste like chips but are made with way healthier ingredients. I want a salty, savory, crunchy thing made with whole foods. And Seapoint Farms Mighty Lil' Lentils are just that! They offered to send me a few packs for review, and I cannot get enough of these things!

The main ingredient in Mighty Lil' Lentils is just what you'd expect — lentils! Plus, a little oil and spices, and that's it! They come in four flavors — Pink Himalayan Salt, Barbecue, Falafel, and Cinnamon Sugar.

They're teensy, so they're ideal for popping a handful into your mouth at a time or — let's be honest — just turning the bag up and dumping directly into your mouth. I've been doing just that when I need a mid-afternoon pick-me-up while working in my home office/living room (pandemic life!).

The Falafel flavor, which has notes of garlic, onion, paprika, and turmeric, is my fave, because it tastes very much like a crispy fried falafel ball. But Barbecue comes in a close second. They taste just like BBQ chips, but they're way better for you (and have 5 grams of protein per serving).

I've been enjoying the Pink Himalayan Salt lentils as a salad topper. I love a good crunchy salad topper.

And the Cinnamon Sugar are surprisingly not too sweet. I was hesitant to try that one because I'm not always a fan of sugary snacks that seem like they should be salty. But since they're lentil-based, you get a natural savory flavor just hint of sweetness. These might be weirdly good atop vanilla ice cream, but I'll you try that first. :-)

Kabobs! Butter Cups! Pasta!

I've decided I want to make everything from Eat Feel Fresh, the Ayurvedic cookbook by Sahara Rose. And I feel like I'm well on my way there! I've made so many things! Last Thursday, I made her Tempeh Tikka with Plant-Based Pink Raita and Mint Cilantro Chutney. For the tikka, you marinate tempeh and veggies in a vindaloo yogurt sauce before grilling. The pink raita (yogurt sauce) is made with beets and cashews, and the chutney is loaded with herbs. I love things with dipping sauces!

Last night, I made the Golden Milk Butter Cups from Eat Feel Fresh! These are stuffed with golden milk-spiced coconut butter, and they're so good! 

I wanted them to be on the healthier side, so I bought the Lilly's stevia-sweetened dark chocolate. It's pricy, but fair trade, so I felt okay about it. Then on my first try, I accidentally got water in the chocolate as I was melting it, so it seized up and became unusable. I wanted to cry!! When I have baking fails, I get so upset, and I can't sleep until the mistake is fixed. I knew I had to try again, which meant buying more expensive chocolate. I ran back to Kroger and bought another bag of Lilly's. And this time, I was VERY careful not to get water in the chocolate. Success! Still mad that I spent all that money, but at least I have lil' chocolates now.

After my weekend in Nashville, I needed to detox with some green juice, so I made the Alkalizing Green Juice from Eat Feel Fresh. This has celery, cucumber, lemon, ginger, turmeric, and coconut water. Juicing isn't recommended for vata types (like me), but they say, if vatas are going to juice, they should add some spice, like ginger and turmeric. Okay by me!

And finally, here's a meal that isn't from Eat Feel Fresh. This is the Cowboy One-Pot Pasta from The Abundance Diet by Somer McCowan. I did her Abundance Diet as a January reset one year and made almost every recipe in the book, including this one. I remembered really liking this easy pasta dish with zucchini, tomatoes, and white beans, so I made it again for Macaroni Monday. 

I used Banza cavatappi pasta, which is gluten-free, loaded with protein, and really great! I learned about this on My Cat Loves Daiya and then found some on sale at Kroger. Score!