Mighty Yum's Vegan Lunch Kits!!!!

I've been vegan for 18 years now, and over that time, plenty of new products have come out to fill just about every need I have: vegan sour cream and onion chips, vegan nacho corn chips, vegan hard-boiled eggs, vegan scrambled eggs, vegan gouda, vegan steak tips, you name it. But the one thing that's been missing: vegan Lunchables. That is, until now.

Mighty Yum contacted me recently about sampling their new vegan lunch kits. Now, they're not called Lunchables; that's trademarked. But these vegan lunch kits are certainly Lunchable-inspired. I lived off Lunchables as a kid, and now, I can do that as an adult. They sent the plant-based Ham & Cheese, Turkey & Cheese, and Pepperoni Pizza Kits.

Since lunch kits are best enjoyed on the go, I brought the Ham & Cheese with me on a trail run. I stashed one in a cooler bag (with an ice pack) in my car while I ran 20 miles in the woods. Afterward, I hydrated with some electrolytes and then enjoyed some little cracker sandwiches on the drive home. These took me right back to childhood. The meat was seitan-based, and the cheese tastes a lot like Chao or Follow Your Heart slices. The kits have plenty of protein too, so this was perfect for post-run.

I took the Pepperoni Pizza to the office with me one day. I needed a quick lunch, so I packed this and a container of hummus and veggies. 

I had a good time making the two mini pizzas in the office breakroom. I purposefully didn't melt the cheese in the microwave because, when I was kid, I never had a way to do that in the school lunch room. The unmelted cheese was nostalgic.

And finally, I had the Turkey & Cheese one day at home as a snack. This one was very similar to the Ham & Cheese, but the flavors were slightly different. I loved the white cheese slices!

Mighty Yum also sent me some of their Plant-Based Protein Bars.

These are actually rice krispy-style treats with only about four grams of protein. But I think they're really designed as a snacks for kids' lunches. And four grams might be good for a kid dessert. I've been treating these more as dessert snacks than protein bars. And they're tasty! Who doesn't love a good krispy treat? The blueberry, which has little dried berry chunks, is my fave.

We're going camping tomorrow through the weekend, and I'll definitely be packing plenty of these bars for the trip. On that note, I'll check in with y'all next week! This is probably my only post for the week. See ya then!

Papa Crunk turns 69!

My dad turned 69 on Monday, but I celebrated with my parents a little early on Friday. Severe weather was predicted for both Memphis and their small North Arkansas town, and the storm system was supposed to go right through my route to their house. I left Memphis earlier in the day than I normally would to beat the storms. I arrived in time, and we had a nice dinner of Spaghetti with Mushrooms and home-baked Garlic Toast (made by my dad) before the storms hit.

My mom also made a big salad.

After dinner, we started hearing about tornadoes in Little Rock, just a couple hours south and where my best friend Sheridan lives. And another tornado hit tiny Wynne, Arkansas, just an hour from Memphis. We nervously watched the weather, but thankfully, the tornadoes missed Cherokee Village and Memphis. One did hit my BFF Sheridan's neighborhood in Little Rock though, but her house and cats were okay! So thankful for that.

After dinner, my dad opened his gifts — Blue Note whiskey (made in Memphis) and a Harley Davidson license plate for his new truck.

And then once the storm threat had passed, we relaxed with some dessert. My mom made my Chocolate Puddin Cake from Cookin Crunk, and we topped it with vegan ice cream, almond whip, and a cherry on top.

On Saturday morning, I got up super early to run 18 miles in the hills (they live in the Ozarks). Since my May 50-mile race is in the Osage Hills, I figured this was opportune hill training. After that run, I was famished. And my mom had brunch ready! She made a Vegan Breakfast Casserole with biscuits, gravy, and Just Egg and served it with hash browns and mimosas. 

I always eat so good when I go home! Happy birthday, daddy!

Shroomlicious Shrooms, Pad See Ew, and Breakfast Sammy

Here are a few meals I've eaten out lately. I've been really into Shroomlicious, a Memphis takeout meal service where everything is made with mushrooms. The other day, I got a craving for their oyster mushroom wings, so I logged onto their site and saw Korean "Chicken" and Waffles, and I NEEDED that. I mean, NEED. Just look at it!

It was the same crispy, fried oyster mushroom that you get with the wings but served atop a waffle with a spicy-sweet sauce. Mmmmmm.

And then, about a week later, I stopped by to support them during Memphis Black Restaurant Week. Shroomlicious was offering a Vegan Catfish Sandwich special (made with mushrooms, of course) with a side of fries and a lion's mane lemonade. The "fish" really tasted like catfish! The breading had that same flavor I remember from eating fried catfish as a kid. 

Paul and I got some takeout from The Nine Thai Sushi a couple weeks ago, and I opted for the same thing I always order there: Pad See Ew with tofu. I love, love, love pad see ew. I was a little bummed to see they'd switched from deep-fried tofu to pan-fried tofu, but it was still good. We enjoyed this while watching The Hangover II, which is set in Thailand. Yes, I know it's a terrible movie, but I love trashy comedy.

And finally, here's a recent "Kenzie Special" from Lulu's Cafe & Bakery. My friend Kenzie works remotely from Lulu's many days of the week, and she's had everything on the menu. So she's started inventing stuff. This was one of her inventions, and I had them make it for me too. It has their blackeyed pea sausage, cashew cream cheese, and strawberry-chipotle jam on a sourdough bun.

Y'all, I met Tabitha Brown!!

On Sunday, I met Vegan Queen Tabitha Brown!!!

Tab was in town as the special guest for Memphis Vegan Brunch, an event organized by local vegan restaurant Plant-Based Heat. Organizer Ralph Johnson got together a team of local vegan chefs (including Chef Derek of Da Guilty Vegan and Chef Daishu of Shroomlicious) to create massive brunch buffet! There was no way I would miss this.

My friends Melissa and Nicole also bought tickets. We arrived around 12:30 p.m. to find a pretty long line waiting to get into the event. So we waited! 

When we finally got in the door, there was another big line for food, so we waited some more. All in all, we stood in line for over two hours, and while some people might get impatient, we didn't mind too much. We made a run to the bar and grabbed mimosas to enjoy while we waited. 

I was just glad to see SO MANY people packed into a vegan event. There had to have been 500 or more people in line. At one point, Ralph asked the audience for a show of hands from the non-vegans, and the majority of the room raised their hands. So that means a ton of non-vegans paid good money to stand in line for a chance to meet Tab and eat vegan brunch. And that's awesome.

We were very excited when we finally made it to the plates!

Once we did, we got a little taste of everything. This plate was mostly brunch items with Just Egg scramble, hash browns, pancakes, mushroom bacon (so good!), mushroom "shrimp" and grits, fried rice, and a mini mushroom taco. Oh, and two mini cupcakes (one lemon and one carrot cake).

I ended up getting two plates because I don't like too many foods piled atop one another. This plate was mostly soul food with blackeyed peas, greens, a mushroom "crab" cake, fried mushroom "chicken," a vegan potato deviled "egg," roasted tomatoes, a yam quesadilla, and BBQ jackfruit nachos.

Right after we sat down to eat, Tabitha came by our table! She went to every person in the room for selfies. She's just amazing. In fact, I was so starstruck thatI didn't know what to say to her, so all I could say was "You're amazing." Haha. My friend Melissa grabbed this photo of me taking a selfie with her.

The event also featured a fashion show curated by local influencer David Quarles and a musical performance by singer David Michael Wyatt. At the end, Tab took the stage and offered some words of encouragement, and then she tried her hand at jookin' (a style of Memphis hip-hop dance). What a fun event!

Jollof Rice, a Vegan Omelet, and a Flashback Burger

Here are a few things I've been eating lately! I picked up this jar of curry Royal Red Stew, the sauce used to make African jollof rice, at the Cash Saver.

So I made some Jollof Rice with white rice, homemade seitan, spinach, peas, and that curry tomato sauce. So good!

Here's a recent scramble. This was the Sunshine Scramble from Plant You, which has a lot of tomatoes and spinach. Plus some sourdough with Marmite on the side.

Another breakfast: I recently bought the Speros Pepita Egg, which was next to the Just Egg on the shelf at Sprouts. It made a tasty omelet. It's not as fluffy and egg-like as Just Egg, but the main ingredient is pepita seeds, so it felt slightly less processed.

And finally, here's a blast from the past! I got some Boca Burgers recently for old time's sake and because they were on sale. And my friend at Tofutti had sent me some American cheese slices, which I haven't seen sold in stores here since my early vegan days. This tasted like nostalgia, and I loved it.

Also, my dad has a little tip for making Boca Burgers taste better. Thaw and marinate the patties in soy sauce, vegan Worcestershire, Liquid Smoke, and hot sauce before pan-frying. It's very good!

Pizza, Pasta, Potatoes, and Pinto de Gallo

I've been eating a lot of good stuff lately, y'all! I made my favorite Tuscan Flatbread from The Fiber Fueled Cookbook a week or so ago. This had a sourdough crust with artichokes, kalamata olives, tomatoes, red onion, chickpeas, and lots of homemade cashew parm. It's like salad on pizza! But it's sourdough so even the dough is good for you.

I also recently pulled Julie Piatt's This Cheese Is Nuts book off the shelf and made this Mac & Cheese with Garlic Spinach. I have some exciting Julie Piatt news to share soon, but I'll save that for another day. But her cashew-based mac and cheese, made with Banza pasta, was so comforting and delicious. 

I've been focusing on whole foods a lot lately, so I'm cooking more from Plant You. Everything in this book is super healthy, including this BBQ Chickpea Stuffed Sweet Potato. This was super easy. Just season and roast some chickpeas, bake a potato, and top with tahini sauce.

And finally, here's one of my favorite healthy meals from The Blue Zones Kitchen — Pinto Gallo! Few things are more comforting than this combo of black beans and white rice. I also made the Fried Plantains from the book and served with cashew cream and hot sauce. 

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Knifebird

I have a group of lady friends I get together with once a month or so for happy hour, and we always try to go somewhere kinda fancy: cocktail bars, wine bars, etc. For our February meetup, we gathered at Knifebird, a wine bar that turned out to be very vegan-friendly!

For starters, you can get a wine flight during happy hour. That's three 3-ounce pours of white, red, and rose, which are served in proper glasses. All four of us ordered that, so our table was filled with wine glasses! It looks like way more than it was, I swear.

As for the food, their menu includes vegan bruschetta, a kale caesar salad and — this is exciting — vegan charcuterie! I had to get the charcuterie.

It came with pita, hummus, black olive tapenade, carrots, and celery. So simple, and I feel like any bar that offers charcuterie could do this. It's really nice that Knifebird added this option to their menu. My favorite kind of meal involves bread, hummus, and wine. Really, that's all I need.

Knifebird is located at 2155 Central Ave.