Samhain/Halloween Eats!

Halloween/Samhain was over a week ago, but I forgot to share my food pics! So here's a belated Samhain recap. On Halloween morning, our friends Sheridan and Drew drove up from Little Rock for a late birthday lunch with me. My birthday was October 16, but I was in Asheville, NC. Sher and Drew haven't gotten out much since the pandemic began in March, and they only felt comfortable meeting up for an outdoor meal and beer. So they just took a quick day trip. We grabbed some takeout from Imagine Vegan Cafe and took it to Crosstown Brewing Co. to enjoy on their spacious patio. Afterward, we enjoyed some beers in Concourse's meditation garden. Here's a safely distanced photo!

And here's what I ordered from Imagine — Messy Dog with Mac & Cheese. Every year on Halloween, I MUST have a chili dog. It's a family tradition! Until a couple years ago, my Me-maw had an annual Halloween party at her house, and we'd all have chili dogs (vegan ones for me!) while she handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. My mom and I both have retained the chili dog tradition, and we make sure to eat one every year. Imagine's Messy Dog is topped with chili, vegan cheese sauce, onions, kraut, and jalapenos.

We took some fun pics after lunch!

After Sher and Drew headed back to Little Rock, Paul and I quickly got dressed in our costumes for my coworker Jeremiah's wedding. It was an outdoor wedding (masks required) at the Woodruff Fontaine House, and there was so much vegan food (that I failed to photograph) — vegan donuts, black bean empanadas, falafel, chips and guac! I dressed as Carole Baskin.

And Paul was Deadpool. Ha! I tried to get him to go as Harold Baskin, but he likes to do his own thing.

I had a big Samhain feast planned, but we just didn't have time to cook. So I ended up cooking my Samhain meal on November 1, which is Day of the Dead anyway. Perfect timing really. We set up an altar honoring our dead friends and family and enjoyed breaking bread with them. I made Chickpea Noodle Soup (based on a recipe for chicken noodle soup from the 2021 Sabbats Almanac).

And I also made a fluffy loaf of White Bread from the Sabbats Almanac. I added some dried herbs for fun.

And for dessert, I made Pear Clafoutis. The Sabbats Almanac didn't include a vegan option for the clafoutis, so I googled and found this recipe. This is a simple dessert that's kind of like a cake-y cobbler. You can use any fruit, but pears gave it a nice fall feel. The cake was made with lots of aquafaba, so it was soft and spongey.

Bowls! Burritos! Bagels!

Just over here stuffing my face while we wait on this excruciatingly slow vote count. Anyone else stress-eating snacks? I am trying to keep my meals pretty healthy though. But in between meals, it's all vegan gummy worms, chocolate, and cocktails. 

Here's a bowl I ate in less stressful times. I hauled my leftover Peanut Butter Tofu and Kale from Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville home with me after my vacation there in mid-October. I had ordered Rosetta's Family Favorite bowl with PB tofu, kale, mashed potatoes, and gravy, and they were out of mashed potatoes and gravy. So they just gave me tons of tofu and kale. I used the leftovers to create my own Family Favorite bowl at home with mashed taters and brown gravy. YUM.

On a recent Taco Tuesday, I had a half can of chickpeas to use up, so I sauteed them with taco seasoning and spinach and made a yummy Mexican Chickpea Burrito. 

Here's a fun wrap! This has rice, tofu feta, kalamata olives, onion, tomato, and lettuce, like a Greek Salad Wrap. Just thrown together with some stuff I needed to use.

My current favorite thing to order at LuLu's is the Everything Bagel with Tomato Jam & Cashew Cream Cheese. I like to order this with a coffee from Dr. Bean's (next to LuLu's at Puck Food Hall) and sit outside on the patio to enjoy a nice breakfast before work every Friday morning. I'm still working from home, but it's nice to get out and enjoy a breakfast away from home every week.

I signed up for the Bring It Food Hub fall CSA, and I'm loving it. Here's last week's haul. The Bluff City Fungi mixed wild mushrooms found their way into a mushroom sandwich and a vegan omelet. But my favorite score was that Indian corn. It's not just for decoration! You can either grind the kernels into masa harina flour in a coffee grinder, or you can pop them like popcorn. I spent Election Night popping the kernels off the stalks, so I could pop it later this weekend. Very therapeutic. 

Falafel! Dal! Savory Oats!

A couple Takeout Thursdays ago, I picked up some Falafel and Tabbouleh from Global Café at Crosstown Concourse. Global has the best falafel in town! They're so big, and you get four in an order with a side of hummus. 

I can usually only eat three, so I plated three, but I got full after eating only two. So I saved the other two and ate them for lunch the next day on a Falafel Salad. I added the leftover hummus and some Roots Oil-Free Hummus, plus some lettuce, carrots, and avocado. 

After I made Chipotle Chickpea Chili on Chef AJ's show last week, I had a big bowl of it for dinner. Topped with lots of Simple Truth Queso Dip and guacamole salsa. Y'all the Simple Truth Queso Dip is my favorite vegan cheese dip ever! It's made from butter beans, and it's sooooo good.

In my new weekly meal theme plan, Wok Wednesdays have become World Cuisine Wednesdays, so I can make any dish that's not American. Last Wednesday, that was Yellow Dal with Grain-free Garlic Naan from Eat Feel Fresh. The dal was a classic version that really hit the spot, and the naan was the best gluten-free thing I've ever made. It had a base of almond flour and tapioca starch, so it was very soft and chewy. 

And finally, here's a hearty bowl of Savory Oats from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook. This is my go-to savory oats dish. It has shredded carrots, nooch, marinara (or salsa, either is suggested), avocado, and pumpkin seeds. 

Tacos, Crabless Cakes, & More!

Why does Election Day always fall on Taco Tuesday? Well, technically, that's because Election Day is always on a Tuesday. But I'd like to think some divine power planned it that way as a gift to help us through this anxiety-inducing time. I'm a bundle of nerves today, as I'm sure many of you are. And I know tacos (and maybe a cocktail) will help me feel better tonight. I voted early (on the first day!), so I've done my part, and now all I can do is wait and stuff my face with tacos. Fingers crossed for a brighter day, y'all.

Here are some tacos from Tuesdays past! Last week, I made Just Egg & Potato Tacos using bottled Just Egg, black beans, and air-fried hash browns. Topped with guacamole salsa and some fresh tomato. Breakfast tacos for dinner for the win!

And here are some Black Bean Zucchini Tacos with Violife shreds and sauteed zucchini. My favorite tortillas are the Sprouts corn tortillas. They contain some flour, so they're a little softer and thicker than a traditional corn tortilla.

Here's a Vegan Chicken & Veggie Stir-fry made with this fun soy chicken that I found at the Vietnamese market. It came in sausage shapes, which I sliced and then cut in half. It tasted a little like tofu and a little like seitan. I love trying new-to-me vegan meats!

Here's a quick dinner (or maybe lunch?) of PlantMade Crab-less Cakes (made with hearts of palm and artichokes) topped with vegan remoulade and served with some steam-in-the-bag Black Rice with Edamame.

And finally, here's a local meal that really hit the spot! I got some purple hull peas in my CSA a few weeks back, so I made Purple Pull Peas & Cornbread using the Hoe Cakes recipe from Cookin' Crunk. Hoe cakes are just pan-fried cornbread cakes. Like pancakes. But cornbread. 

In Memory of Gelfing (Oct. 2005-Oct. 30 2020)

On Friday, we said goodbye to Gelfling, our scrappy little alpha kitty. Giver of the most aggressive head butts, ruler of the house, dominator of pit bulls. 

Gelfling was just a little Memphis street cat when Paul found him in Oct. 2005, his pointy black ears poking over blades of grass. He ran into Paul’s arms, and the next thing you know, we had another cat. I was the maid of honor at my friend Autumn's wedding that evening (Oct. 8, 2005), so I was at the wedding helping her get ready when Paul found him. Paul showed up to the wedding as a guest later that night and informed me that he found a cat. At the time, we had three other cats (Akasha, Pandora, and Polaris) and our dog, Datsun. I didn't think we could handle four cats, so I tried to find home for him, but nobody wanted another cat. Turns out Gelfling was already home with us. And then we ended up taking in two more cats and another dog, so that our fur family was once eight pets strong. Akasha, Pandora, and Datsun have all passed, and now Gelfling has gone on to join them.

I named him Gelfling, because in that first few days with us, he made these strange whimpering sounds that reminded me of Lord Chamberlain, one of the Skesis on The Dark Crystal. Since the Skesis were the bad guys, I couldn't name him after Chamberlain, so Gelfling it was! Right away, we knew this little guy was special. Here he is climbing the Solstice tree for his first Christmas. 

And here he is at Solstice 2009! Every year, the pets get their presents a few days before Christmas on the Winter Solstice. Gelfling loved his catnip mice right up until the end. He would walk around the house with them in his mouth, hollering as loudly as he could. He wanted to make sure everyone knew he had caught a mouse.

He was truly the alpha kitty, and he ruled all the other cats. Here's Gelfing getting a good swipe it at Ozzy on another Solstice. All hopped up on catnip, no doubt. 

Gelfing was also known to chase Maynard (our 75-pound pit bull) around the house. And if Maynard so much as looked at Gelfling the wrong way, Gelfiing would swat at his face. They weren't always fighting though. Gelfling could snuggle with the best of them. He loved to be close to his brother, Polaris, as they were the closest in age (we took in both of them as kittens in 2005). In this pic, you can also see Akasha in the background. Even though Akasha was the oldest, he knew Gelfling was the pack leader and was just fine being in the background. 

Gelfling was probably best-known for his very strong head butts. If he wanted attention, you would most certainly know because he would push his little head into your body with such force that you couldn't dare ignore him. But despite his tough exterior and alpha ways, Gelfling had the sweetest little high-pitched, sing-song meow. I'll never forget that tiny kitty voice.

One time, Gelfling and I had professional photos made! I used to work for Memphis Magazine, and we were doing a pet issue, so I brought Gelfling in for his close-up. He wasn't happy at all to be there, but he still managed to slay in that photo shoot.

We weren't ready to say goodbye, but he was. Just about a month ago, I noticed that Gelfling's breath smelled really bad. I assumed it was a rotten tooth, so I took him into the vet. My vet told me his teeth were just fine but that he had a mass under his tongue that she suspected might be cancerous. After a consultation about having the mass removed, we were told that it was very likely cancerous and would immediately grow back. During that time, we noticed that he was struggling to eat his food, and by last week, he was unable to eat at all. He'd changed from a rambunctious and happy kitty to a very sick and lethargic kitty. We knew it was time to let him go.

We're so very grateful for the 15 years we had with Gelfling. My lap will never be the same without him. May we meet again at the Rainbow Bridge, sweet Gelfling.

I Run for Beer (and Donuts!!) Virtual 5K

After most of our races were cancelled due to COVID, Paul and I got a little overly excited about virtual races with really cool medals! I signed up for a few; he signed up for more than he could handle. I convinced my friend Megan to sign up for one with me — the I Run 4 Donuts 5K from I Run 4 Movement (an awesome virtual race company). We planned that donut run back in late August and went through with our race, but Megan's medal got lost in the mail. So clearly, we had to do it again! But I earned my medal at the August run, so I ordered another medal/bib/tee for the I Run for Beer 5K. And you know what that means? We got to do a Beer & Donut 5K!

We met up in Overton Park last Saturday, and Paul joined us to run his International Space Station 5K (with a cool space station medal). Paul hasn't run much lately, and he was struggling for the first mile or so, but by mile 2, he'd left me in his dust. Still, I finished in good time; it was my third fastest 5K!

Here's Paul's cool medal!

But the best part of running of a Beer & Donut 5K are the beers and donuts afterward. Saturday was a cold, drizzly, grey day, so we decided to drive the couple blocks over to Megan's house and have a toast with donuts on her porch. I ordered the Spooky Donut Box from the all-vegan Darling Donuts Memphis. This has red velvet skull cake donuts, a yeasted Bavarian cream-filled candy corn donut, an apple fritter, and chocolate sprinkle donuts. Megan and I each had a chocolate donut, and the halved the candy corn and fritter. 

I had my skull cake the day before when the donuts were delivered because I couldn't help myself. Here's a sexy inside shot! Most of Darling Donuts' offerings are yeasted, but there are a few cake donuts.

As for beer, I brought some Hi-Wire Oktoberfest that I picked up in Asheville at Hi-Wire Brewing. Paired perfectly with spooky donuts. And check out this cool medal. It's a beer opener!

Soup, Spaghetti, & Stewed Okra!

Before we get into tonight's post, I wanted to share this link to my appearance yesterday on Chef AJ's show! I made the chipotle chickpea chili from Cookin' Crunk, and we talked about being vegan in the South, what I eat in a day, running, and more. I met Chef AJ years ago at a VegFest in New Orleans, and she's so cool! It was an honor to be on her show.

I'm currently working my way through a chakra balancing program, and as I work on each chakra, I'm making the corresponding chakra soup from Eat Feel Fresh. I just finished up work on my solar plexus — the center of your confidence, self-esteem, and strength — so I enjoyed this Solar Plexus Soup. It's made with roasted cauliflower, coconut milk, and turmeric, and it's my favorite of Sahara Rose's chakra soups thus far! Served with a vegan grilled cheese.

I had some leftover Sundried Tomato Pesto from my Mabon/Autumn Equinox ritual meal (yep, that's how far behind I am on these posts!), so I mixed it unto some whole wheat spaghetti, sprinkled with lots of Parma, and served with a side of kale.

Here's a Veggie & Cheese Pizza from the last Slice Sunday. I've since changed my weekly meal themes so I'll be sharing new meal ideas soon! This pizza had a gluten-free almond flour crust.

I signed up for the Bring It Food Hub's fall CSA, and here was my first bag! This was about three weeks ago. They also included fresh pasta, but I gave that away because it had eggs. 

I used that okra and some tomatoes to make Curried Okra & Tomatoes! I started with the Stewed Okra & Tomatoes recipe from Cookin' Crunk, and then I added curry powder and chickpeas to give it an Indian flair. Served with cornbread sticks (made using my recipe in Cookin' Crunk).