Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 100

Engine 2 Food Journal, Day 1

So I finished the Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet this weekend, and you might expect a big, fun retox post today (cause I usually treat myself to something junky after a reboot). But nah — this time is different! I've decided to keep going on the regular Engine 2 plan for a couple more weeks. Don't worry. There will be pizza and tacos on here again soon! But I like how I feel on this plan, so I want to keep it up for a bit (and maybe adopt some long-term healthy habits!).

Engine 2 is pretty much the same as the Seven-Day Rescue, but it allows for more avocado, nuts, seeds, nut butters, tofu, and tempeh (the good stuff!). It's still oil-free, low-salt, and low-sugar, but I'll be a little less strict with those guidelines since I plan to eat out some. And I'll be drinking calories again in the form of wine and beer!

Anyway, my first day on regular Engine 2 started off pretty tame. I woke up at my friend Drew's dad's house in Jonesboro, where I spent the night after my high school reunion on Saturday. I'd brought a loaf of the Engine 2 Badass Banana Bread with me for breakfast, so I had a couple slices with — gasp! — almond butter! My how I missed almond butter all week!


The bread is oil-free and sweetened only with bananas, maple, and agave (not in the recipe but I ran out of maple). It's made with a mix of whole wheat flour and oat flour, and I added walnuts and raisins for fun. It's really tasty, though the lack of oil made it drier than most banana bread. That said, the almond butter fixed that.

After breakfast, I drove back to Memphis. I made a quick lunch using some leftovers from last week. This Burrito Bowl has fat-free refried beans, quinoa, steamed collards, baked sweet potato, corn, and salsa. Very filling!


In the afternoon, I snacked on grapes and strawberries. And then for dinner, I heated up leftover Sloppy Joe Tostados, which I made from the Seven-Day Rescue Diet cookbook for Saturday's dinner. I had a salad with oil-free dressing on the side. By the way, I had two tostados, but I couldn't fit both on this plate. So I went back for seconds!


And that's it for day one on regular Engine 2! I'll keep food journaling here as I go through the plan!

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Days 5-7

The Seven Day Rescue Diet challenge is over! Saturday was my last official day on this plant-strong, oil-free, low-salt, low-sugar meal plan. I embarked on this challenge as a sort of spring reboot after several weeks of junk food binging left me feeling in need of some serious nutrition. I've done many reboots and meal plans over the years (usually in January), and I love that I always learn something about nutrition and adopt a few new healthy habits.

This time, I learned more about sodium than I've ever cared to know before. And now that I know what to look for on labels, I'll definitely be seeking out low-sodium options when they're available. I've also learned to love the taste of food without much (or any) salt — in just a week! I plan to cut back on salt just a little because I was a bit of a salt-aholic. I'm also learning that I just don't need oil when I cook at home, so I'll be cutting back on that at the house (though I won't worry too much when I'm eating out or eating someone else's cooking!).

Anyway, here's a recap of what I ate over the last three days. All recipes here are from Rip Esselstyn's Seven Day Rescue Diet book. Thursday morning started with Cinnamon Stick Oatmeal, which was supposed to be cooked with a stick of cinnamon. But I didn't have any, so I just added ground cinnamon. Plus, ground flax, banana, and blueberries.


Morning snack at my desk was Engine 2 Roasted Red Pepper Hummus with Carrots & Celery. I've been eating so much hummus this week, but I will never tire of hummus. 

Lunch on Thursday was Rip's Bellissima Pasta Salad. This had whole wheat penne pasta with spinach, cannellini beans, roasted red peppers, tomato, onion, and steamed broccolini. The dressing was just plain red wine vinegar, and I have to say, I didn't miss the oil here. BUT I did actually miss salt in this. Pasta salad just needs a little bit of salt. If I made this again, I'd add some.

Dinner on Thursday was Rip's Red Quinoa Bowl and Steamed Kale. This bowl was REALLY good. It had a base of romaine lettuce topped with quinoa, bell pepper, pineapple, cannellini beans, and Jane's Dancing Dressing (an oil-free maple-balsamic vinaigrette).

I had a lot of fruit Thursday night as well. We had girl's night at my friend Shara's house, and I brought cantaloupe, and Becca brought berries and apples. 
On Friday morning, I had my favorite breakfast of the week — Savory Spinach Oats! This is steel cut oats with nooch, spinach, ground flax, mushrooms, turmeric, and hot sauce. Perfect! Didn't need salt at all. I would eat this again and again.

Morning snack was more hummus and veggies, and then for lunch, I had Rip's Chopped and Cubed Salad. So big I had to eat it out of a mixing bowl! This had mango, sweet potato, corn, romaine, kidney beans, and a homemade sesame seed dressing. That dressing was FANTASTIC, and it only has three ingredients — toasted sesame seeds, maple syrup, and low-sodium soy sauce. You don't miss the oil at all since sesame seeds add some good fat, and the soy sauce — while light on sodium — provides plenty of flavor.

Dinner on Friday night was Quinoa Cali Rolls. Fun! These little veggie sushis are stuffed with quinoa, brown rice, mango, bell pepper, carrot, and cucumber. They didn't stick together as well as I would have liked since neither brown rice nor quinoa is ideal for sushi rolling, but they tasted great. I used less soy sauce for dipping than I typically would.

I went grocery shopping on Friday night, and by the time I returned, I was a little hungry again. My sushi just didn't stick with me. Luckily, I'd just bought Engine 2 Triple Berry Cereal at Whole Foods on my shopping trip, so I had a small bowl of that with oat milk for a late-night snack.

Saturday was the last day! So I treated myself to Rip's Oat Pancakes. These fluffy pancakes are made with oat flour (which I made by grinding oats in my coffee grinder), and they're sweetened with mashed banana and applesauce. Rather than smother them with maple syrup, I made some quick blueberry topping by cooking down frozen berries with some fresh-squeezed OJ.

Lunch was leftover pasta salad, and then I made banana bread! The recipe for Badass Banana Bread is actually from the new Engine 2 Cookbook, not the Seven-Day Rescue book (more on that Engine 2 book in a few). The bread is oil-free and sweetened with maple (though I didn't have enough maple left so I subbed a little agave too). I also added walnuts and raisins. I'll admit that it's not quite the same as regular banana bread with oil. It's lacked the moistness, but it was still really tasty. And after a week with no dessert, it felt like a treat.

After my snack, I hit the road to head to Arkansas for my 20-year high school reunion! Of course, I had some beer there. I hadn't drank in seven days since I've been on this reboot, so it was fun to kick back and enjoy a few beers with my old high school buds. My best friend Sheridan, her partner Drew, our friend Brittany, and I went together. Sher, Britt, and I went to school together, and we're all still close!

After the reunion, the four of us went back to Drew's dad's house for a slumber party! I brought Roots oil-free hummus (it's better than the Engine 2 hummus!) and baby carrots and some low-oil, low-salt popcorn for snacks. I knew I'd want snacks, and I wanted to have options that were best for the plan. 
But I also knew Sheridan would have some more decadent snacks, so I planned to eat a little of those too! And I did! She made vegan sour cream & onion dip, which we had with Ruffles. And I had some Zapp's Voodoo Chips (my fave!). I'm proud that I didn't just totally binge on junk food though! I had a little of each thing and didn't go crazy. I'm usually the girl at the party standing by the food table all night and just shoving food in until it's all gone. Working on that.
So there ya have it! I felt great over these seven days, sooooo I'm planning to stick the Engine 2 plan for a couple more weeks. I'll be graduating to the Engine 2 Cookbook, rather than using the Seven-Day Rescue Diet book, and I'll probably deviate from the plan here and there. I know I'll eat out a few times, and wine is definitely in my future. I'll keep y'all posted daily with more food recaps!

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Day 4

I'm over halfway there! Since Sunday, I've been following Rip Esselstyn's 7-Day Rescue Diet challenge as a sort of spring reboot. It's a veggie- and fruit-heavy plan that's oil-free, low sugar, low salt, and low on processed foods (though there are a few packaged products that meet the nutrition guidelines of Engine 2).

Here's a recap of what I ate yesterday on Day 4. The morning started with Rip's Peachy Keen Oats from the Seven-Day Rescue Diet book (all recipes here are from that book). This is steel cut oats with frozen peaches, raspberries, and chia seeds.


This was a little too tart for my tastes. My frozen fruit wasn't very sweet, and since I'm trying not to add much sweetener, I didn't cut that tart flavor with anything. This would be best with juicy, in-season peaches (or maybe just a little agave).

Morning snack at work was a leftover Baked Smashed Potato with Oil-Free Hummus. Really satisfying! I did sneak a bit of pink salt onto the potato because salt-free potatoes make me sad, but I used less than normal and it seemed fine. Maybe my tastebuds are adjusting to less salt!


Lunch was Rip's Red Pepper Smile Flats — open-faced sandwiches on sprouted grain with Engine 2 oil-free roasted red pepper hummus, jarred roasted red peppers, tomato, baby spinach, parsley, and scallion. Yay bread!!


I also had this Garden Salad with Jane's Dancing Dressing (a maple-balsamic dressing named for Rip's sister).


Afternoon snack was diced Honey Mango & Grapes. Honey mangoes must be in-season because I never see them, but Kroger had them 2 for a $1! I LOVE how sweet they are! Hey look, it's my good foot (the other one is in a special fracture shoe, a step down from the walking boot - getting better!).


Dinner was a another Southwestern Potato Bowl & Steamed Kale.


I made this on Monday night as well, but I had some leftover fat-free refried beans, so I air-fried more potatoes (without oil! but with a little salt). The potatoes are on the bottom with some raw baby spinach, and they're topped with the beans, rotel, bell pepper, and corn. This was very good, and it made a HUGE bowl of food that took me about 30 minutes to eat (granted, I'm a very slow eater).

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Day 3

In case you're just catching up, I'm doing Rip Esselstyn's 7-Day Rescue Diet, a more extreme version of his Engine 2 program. The regular program is oil-free and plant-strong, but the 7-Day Rescue focuses even more on making sure you're limiting added sodium and sugars. Plus, there's a little less nuts and avocados (though they're still allowed, just in smaller portions for 7 days). I needed a spring reboot to help me clean up my junk food binging habits and to give me something to keep me busy while I'm not running.
Yesterday morning, I slept in because I've been doing an evening spinning class on Tuesdays. When I woke up, I had Raw Strawberry Oats from the 7-Day Rescue Diet cookbook. All recipes in this post are from that book, by the way. 

This was plain, rolled oats with oat milk, chia seeds, strawberries, banana, and kiwi. It was excellent! Not sure I've ever had plain rolled oats as a cereal, but I really loved the way they soaked up the oat milk. That oat milk, by Pacific, is one of only a few plant milks recommended on the plan because it has way less sodium and is naturally sweetened by the oats. It's very good!
Morning snack was Baby Carrots & Radishes with Rip's recipe for homemade oil-free hummus. By the way, those hot pink walls belong to my office breakroom! I love working for an arts organization!

Lunch was leftover Split Pea Soup with Brown Rice. On Monday, I had this over quinoa, and yesterday, I used rice instead. I like the rice with it the best!

I had Side Salad with cherry tomato, cucumber, onion, romaine, and oil-free maple-balsamic dressing on the side.

My spinning class at the Church Health YMCA was at 5:30 pm, right after work. So I had a BIG snack of Fruit Salad with banana, kiwi, strawberry, grapes, walnuts, and a couple chopped almond date rolls. I usually have a Clif Bar before class, and I wanted to make sure my snack would satisfy like a bar would.

It did! I made it through an hour-long class without starving! But I was pretty hungry when I got home, so this hearty meal of Lazy Day Tostadas hit the spot. Corn tortillas are topped with smashed, baked white potato, a mix of fat-free refried and black beans, salsa, scallion, and cilantro. 

And I had more steamed Turnip Greens with oil-free spicy vinaigrette on the side.

I love how hearty these meals are! So many beans and potatoes and grains. It's a very carb-heavy diet (I'm averaging 70% carbs, 10% fat, and 15% protein), which is perfect for me as I do better on high-carb diets. I'm feeling amazing. My digestion is on point, and I have more energy than usual.

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Day 2

Day 2 on the Engine 2 7-Day Rescue was another amazing day! As I mentioned yesterday, I'm embarking on Rip Esselstyn's 7-day challenge to eat oil-free, low-salt, and low-sugar plant-strong foods. I needed a spring reboot to boost my energy while I'm not running, and this plan allows me to eat the same volume of food with less fat and calories (I need those extra calories when I'm marathon training but not while rehabbing an injury).

Just to be clear because I know people feel weird about diet culture: I am NOT trying to lose weight. I am just trying to eat more volume by choosing less calorie-dense foods. For me, the 7-Day Rescue is about maintaining my weight and feeling great while I'm not able to run. That said, for people with health issues, the rescue can be a great way to prevent and reverse conditions like diabetes, hypertension, etc.

Anyway, here's what I ate on day 2 — all recipes from Rip's Seven Day Rescue Diet Cookbook. But I did start my morning with a non-recipe, pre-workout snack of an Almond Date Roll. I typically have bars before my workouts, but I'm going with more low-sugar, whole foods options on this plan, so dates are perfect. I had one of these before I went on a short neighborhood walk to test my foot (it's getting better!) and some ab work at home.


 Breakfast was Banana Steel Cut Oats with kiwi, strawberries, and chia seed.


I mentioned yesterday that it was an adjustment for me to eat my oats without any sweetener, but in this recipe, banana IS the sweetener. You mash a whole banana in its skin, and then squeeze into the oats before adding toppings. Perfect!

Morning snack was Baby Carrots & Bell Pepper with Engine 2 Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. I made a batch of Rip's oil-free hummus this week as well, but I wanted to have some other hummus options since that's my main snack all week. This storebought Engine 2 hummus is oil-free but still delicious. And it's way smoother than my homemade version.


Lunch was Rip's Split Pea Potato Soup over quinoa. This was so hearty and filling — a great example of volume versus calorie density. A large portion of this split pea stew served over quinoa made for a big meal, but it was very low-cal since it was prepared without oil. That means I could eat a ton of it!


I also had a Garden Salad with Jane's Dancing Dressing (oil-free vinaigrette with balsamic and maple). I'm supposed to eat greens for lunch and dinner every day on this plan.


Afternoon snack each day will typically be fruit, and yesterday, that was Strawberries and Grapes. Helps combat those afternoon sugar cravings.


Dinner was REALLY GREAT!! This Southwestern Potato Bowl from Rip's 7-day plan was so delicious that it could fool anyone who assumed this contained oil.


I'm eating cooked greens at dinner every night, so last night I had more steamed Turnip Greens with Rip's Sweet Fire Dressing. Salt-free and seasoned only with the dressing, Mrs. Dash, Liquid Smoke, and some balsamic.


The base is raw baby spinach topped with warm, cubed potatoes. I air-fried the potatoes with no oil, but I did use a tad bit of seasoning salt. The plan is low-salt, but minimal amounts are allowed, and I just can't imagine potatoes without a little salt. Atop the potatoes are mashed pinto beans with low-salt rotel, corn, red bell pepper, scallion, and cilantro. The only salt I used in the whole recipe was on those potatoes, and that was enough! I'm amazed by how easy giving up massive amounts of salt has been. I'm typically a salt-aholic.

After dinner each night, I'm drinking my homemade kombucha (current batch is strawberry mint!) with a little sparkling water. The 7-Day plan says we shouldn't drink our calories, so I don't know if booch is really allowed, but I make my own rules sometimes, and I believe booch is magic juice. Plus, it's sort of like a sub for wine when you can't drink that. Ha.

Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue, Day 1

As you may have noticed from my posts as of late, I've been seriously pounding away some junk food. I love junk food. Nothing makes me happier than pizza and tacos and anything smothered in vegan cheese. But I also know that when I consume too much of that stuff, I'm left feeling kinda blah. Too much fatty, processed food makes me sluggish and gassy, and when I start to feel that way all the time, I know it's time for a reboot.

To top it off, I'm pretty sure I'm treating my boredom from not running by shoving in even more junk food than usual. And that's not healthy. I want to feel good! I decided it was time for a little spring cleaning, so I decided to try the Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet. They sent me the book for review last year, but I just wasn't ready to embark on such a big change. And then, earlier this year, I was sent the new Engine 2 Cookbook for review. I wasn't ready for either at the time! But now I am.

In case you're not familiar, Engine 2 is an oil-free, low-salt, low-sugar plan that focuses on whole plant foods (and very little processed foods). It was started by Rip Esselstyn, a former pro triathlete-turned-firefighter who managed to turn the health of his Austin fire station around by converting co-workers to a plant-strong diet. The Seven-Day Rescue is the more intense version of the program with very limited fats. I'm doing that for seven days, and then I'll switch to a couple weeks of regular Engine 2. All recipes this week are from Seven-Day Rescue Diet Cookbook, but you can get the guidelines and some recipes for free here.

I started my 7-day journey yesterday with this bowl of Easy Blueberry Oatmeal — just oats, flax seed, blueberries, and banana.


Since the plan is low-sugar, there was no added sweetener, which isn't typically how I eat my oats. I would have normally drowned this in maple or agave, but you know what? I noticed, while eating this, that oats have a natural sweetness, and they're actually really tasty on their own! Interestingly, the oil-free part of this plan isn't the hard part for me (I don't tend to miss oil on oil-free plans), but I am a little concerned about cutting back on salt and sugar.

Since yesterday was Sunday, I slept in so my breakfast was later in the morning. I skipped a morning snack and had lunch around 1 pm. That was a Hummus & Avocado Rescue Flat.


The rescue flats are the 7-day plan's version of a sandwich. Rip recommends eating them open-faced with only one slice of bread, but that didn't seem like enough food for me, so I had two flats (so basically, I had a sandwich. Ha!). The plan calls for only whole wheat bread or sprouted grain, so I used Silver Hills sprouted grain bread. The flats were topped with oil-free hummus (the Engine 2 "Our Hummus" recipe), which didn't have any tahini or oil, just chickpeas, garlic, lemon, and mustard, which added a nice twang. Atop that is avocado, tomato, cucumber, and romaine, plus a drizzle of balsamic instead of salt. I didn't even miss the salt!

One thing to note: The regular Engine 2 diet does allow for avocados, olives, nuts, and nut butters, but the 7-day plan only uses small amounts of avocado, no nuts (except walnuts), and no olives or nut butters. It's really designed for people who have serious health conditions and need some strict guidelines to get on track, but I figured it be good for me to try this for a week before adding back in those more fatty (albeit good fatty) foods.

For my afternoon snack, I had an Anjou Pear. Snacks on the rescue diet are just whole fruits or veggies with hummus.


Dinner was awesome! The Brown Rice Bowl from the 7-day book has a base of romaine topped with seasoned black beans, brown rice, cherry tomato, salsa, cilantro, and green onion. It tasted like a burrito bowl, and thanks to all the chili powder and other spices in the beans, it was fine without salt.


The rescue diet recommends greens at every meal, and I will definitely make sure I do that at lunch and dinner (breakfast would be a little hard since salad for breakfast sounds weird, and I don't have time to prep that many cooked greens daily). But I will be sure and do salads at lunch and cooked greens at dinner. Last night, I steamed some Turnip Greens and topped them with Rip's Sweet Fire Dressing (almond milk, cayenne, smoked paprika, and balsamic). I also bought some salt-free Mrs. Dash to add extra flavor, and it really helped!

That's it for day one! I'm feeling great so far. Will post my meals daily over the seven days!

Happy 7th Anniversary, Imagine Vegan Cafe!

My favorite vegan restaurant/home away from home — Imagine Vegan Cafe — celebrated 7 years at the end of April! I can't believe it's been so long. I was there on day one, and I've eaten there at least once every 2 weeks (usually once a week) since. I've met a number of my closest friends there, and it's served as a meeting spot for so many lunches, dinners, and brunches, I couldn't even begin to count. Hell, my friend Mike's baby was born because of Imagine! He met his baby mama/ex-gf Shay there about seven years ago when we held weekly Wednesday night Imagine get-togethers.


Owners Kristie and Adam (and their four daughters) are the kindest, gentlest people on the planet. They're in it for the animals, 100%. They have a ton of rescue/foster dogs on their farm in Mississippi, and they even have a rescued pig and donkey! Plus, they feed vegan food to some of Memphis' homeless population regularly.


I'm so happy they've made it this far! And I hope they'll be around for many more years to come (otherwise, I don't know what I'll do with myself). Anyway, they held their annual anniversary buffet party last week (over two days, Monday and Tuesday). I went on Monday, along with Pam, Megan, and Mike.

As always when Imagine holds a buffet party, the options were INSANE. Here are a few shots from the buffet, like this build-your-own chili cheese dog bar.


A build-your-own black bean taco bar.


Two kinds of vegan mac & cheese!


Spaghetti, beefless tips, and garlic knots.


Plus, there was Imagine's famous spinach dip & chips, vegan hot wings, vegan chicken tenders, and pigs in blankets.

And you can't celebrate a birthday without cake! There was a giant chocolate cake.


And a couple funfetti cakes, plus peanut butter fudge.


And a chocolate fountain with Dandies, berries, and pretzels.


I had one of EVERYTHING because I don't play at a buffet. Here's plate number one.


And plate number two.


And my dessert plate!


In case you're wondering, yes I ate everything. And yes, I was miserably full afterward (like food coma full), but it was so worth it.

That said, because I've been eating like this a little too often since I've been unable to run, I've been feeling the need for a little spring cleaning diet reboot. So starting today (Sunday), I'm doing the Engine 2 7-Day Rescue Diet (no oil, low salt, low sugar, limited processed food). I'll be blogging about it daily starting tomorrow!

Veggie Burger Atelier

Burgers are one of my all-time favorite foods, falling somewhere after pizza and maybe before tacos. And while I'm totally in love with the available plant-based burgers on the market (I'm looking at you Impossible and Beyond Meat), I also appreciate a nice, handcrafted burger. Those tend to be healthier anyway!

The Veggie Burger Atelier by Nina Olsson is filled with recipes for homemade burgers inspired by cuisines from around the world.

They're organized by global regions, so you can choose whether you want to make a Northern European-style burger, like the Dutch Seaport Burger (a cauliflower-based patty with fresh herbs and brown rice) or an Asian-inspired BBQ Eggplant Noodle Burger (an eggplant-portabella patty topped with noodle slaw).

I chose a burger from the Asia chapter — the Tempeh Burger.


This is a tempeh patty (a simple slab of tempeh marinated and fried in a skillet) topped with wasabi-mayo, carrot miso cream, avocado, and sweet potato crisps. All the components come together to create a flavor explosion that's heavy on ginger and sesame.

The marinade has sesame oil, and the carrot miso cream has fresh ginger. I also loved the crunchy sweet potato crisps, which you're supposed to bake in the oven but I made in the air fryer. I used white sweet potatoes for this, so that's what those little white-ish chips atop the burger patty are.

Other must-trys on my list include are the Nicoise Burger (the patty is made from beets and it's served on French bread), the falafel (because why not?), the Pulled Jackfruit Sliders (from the American chapter, of course), and the Sushi Burger (the bun is made from pressed-together rice!).

Nina also includes recipes for condiments and sides, like her Dutch Fritje Oorlog (fries!) with Curry Ketchup. My partner's family is Dutch, and he grew up eating fries and curry ketchup, so we'll have to make those together!

And there are even dessert burgers, like her Sweet Date and Raspberry Treat (a date and nut cookie "bun" with a raspberry cream).

Nashville Vegan Eats: Five Daughters Bakery

It's the last post in my (almost) week-long series dedicated to Nashville's vegan options. I spent the weekend in Music City (about 3 hours away from my home in Memphis) and ate my way through all the new-to-me vegan options.

As I mentioned yesterday, if you're planning a trip to Nashville, you can find posts on The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club, The Southern V and The BE Hive from earlier this week, and check out my older posts on vegan standards, The Wild Cow, Graze, Vegan Vee, Sunflower Cafe, and Avo.

Tonight, we're talking doughnuts. VEGAN DOUGHNUTS. Where I'm from, vegan doughnuts are like unicorns. They're pretty much impossible to find, except on the rare Sunday when Imagine Vegan Cafe offers them at brunch. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Five Daughters Bakery in East Nashville serves vegan yeasted doughnuts daily!


Five Daughters isn't new, and I don't know how long they've been selling vegan doughnuts, but I've walked past this place a million times on past trips to Nashville and had no idea there were treasures inside. Five Daughters is in the same retail space as vegan restaurants Wild Cow and Graze, and I eat at one or both of those places on every Nashville trip.


I feel so sad for all the missed doughnut opportunities, but I'm so glad I know now! Paul and I went to brunch at Graze on Sunday, and of course, I had to stop in and grab some doughnuts while I was in the area. The flavors change, but on Sunday, they had the Purist (plain, glazed), Strawberry Glazed, and Lemon Blueberry. The little "v" on the label indicates vegan items. Not everything at Five Daughters is vegan.


I got a Purist and a Blueberry Lemon.


Plain, glazed doughnuts have always been my fave, so I dug into this one while we waited for a table at Graze. I think I died and went straight to vegan doughnut heaven during the five minutes it took me to savor every bite. These doughnuts were soft and fluffy and yeasted to perfection. Paul, a doughnut hater, did not understand my happiness at all. He was just like, "yea, cool that you found doughnuts or whatever." Psssssh.


I had the blueberry lemon one on the long drive back to Memphis and managed to get frosting all over my fingers, steering wheel, and seats, but it was worth every sticky bite.

Nashville Vegan Eats: The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club

I'm back again with another installment of Nashville Vegan Eats — my series on new vegan options in Nashville. I was there last weekend to volunteer for the Nashville Rock & Roll Marathon, and since I wasn't able to run the marathon this year (due to injury), I decided to do a marathon of eating! I worked my way through quite a few new (and new to me) vegan restaurants, delis, and bars, and I'm dedicating this week's blog posts to my finds.

You can find posts on The Southern V and The BE Hive from earlier this week, and if you're planning a Nashville trip, be sure and check out my older posts on vegan standards, The Wild Cow, Graze, Vegan Vee, Sunflower Cafe, and Avo.

Tonight, we're focusing on The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club, a vegan-friendly bar in East Nashville serving craft cocktails and VEGAN CHARCUTERIE! That's right — vegan charcuterie! The Fox isn't entirely vegan, but they offer quite a few options, and they're mega-impressive. Paul and I ordered a Vegan Charcuterie plate to share! We chose Capricola, Pastrami, and Pepperoni for the meats and Double Cream Chive for the cheese, plus it came with green olives, marcona almonds, jam, mustard, and crostini.


The meats are sourced from The Herbivorous Butcher (!!!!!) out of Minneapolis and The BE Hive (Nashville's local seitan maker), and the cheeses are from Miyoko's Kitchen (except for The Fox's house-made vegan pimiento cheese). This was my first time trying the Herbivorous Butcher meats and OMG SO GOOD. I was stoked to try them! Even Paul impressed with all the vegan meats and even Miyoko's cheese, which he was always afraid to try at home.


The Fox also serves a Vegan Pulled Pork Sandwich (made with Herbivorous Butcher pulled pork) and Vegan Date Caramel Ice Cream!

The cocktail list is really impressive, and I'd read amazing reviews of their drinks online. But I'm not a fan of sweet cocktails (except for the occasional margarita), so I opted for a basic Vodka Martini (extra dirty). It was a solid martini. Good stuff.


Paul stuck with beer, a Gansett Lager, which was pretty tasty. I switched to that for my second drink because at heart, I'm really a beer gal.


The interior of the bar was dim with a Great Gatsby-meets-speakeasy vibe. There were succulents everywhere and vintage books. Lovely place! Here are pics of the interior from their website. The staff were super nice and accommodating, and if I lived here, this would be MY bar. We'll definitely be making this a regular stop on every Nashville visit in the future! Plus, it's right next door to Paul's favorite bar, Mickey's Tavern (where we went for pool and more beer after The Fox).