Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 172

Vegan Meetup's First Potluck!

We have a newish vegan group in Memphis — Vegan Dineouts & Potlucks —that's organized through meetup.com (here's our page!). Memphis vegan Susan Stern started the group when she moved to Memphis last year, right around the time our decade-old meetup group, Food Awareness, was going on an indefinite hiatus (Food Awareness is officially retired now btw). The Universe has a strange way of working like that.

Since Memphis Vegan Dineouts & Potlucks launched, we've been on a ton of dinner, lunch, and brunch outings. But the group held its first potluck this past weekend. Vaughan (the lead organizer of the now-defunct Food Awareness group) and Nicole opened up their lovely Midtown home for the party. When Paul and I arrived, we were greeted by this cute sign in the yard!


I made Spanakopita using the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance (tofu, spinach, scallions, walnuts, and nooch). I'd made it once years ago, and I remember thinking that it was easier than it sounded like it'd be. But on Saturday afternoon, before the potluck, I was cursing my decision. It's not hard to make, but filo dough is a pain to work with. And my oven crapped out on me, so I had to bake these in Cassi's oven down the street.


I had leftover filo after I ran out of the tofu filling, so I opened up a can my Granny's homemade pear pie filling and made some Pear Fruit Pies with cinnamon and agave.


There was sooooo much delicious food at this potluck! So much! I can't remember who brought everything, but I'll do my best. This Veggie Wild Rice came from a girl I hadn't met before, but it was so good.


Somebody made a Garden Salad, which was probably a good call considering all the madness we ate.


Pam's Asian Cabbage Slaw with Tofu and Shiitakes was off the chain. I could have eaten this whole dish full.


Nicole's mom — Beverly — made a really unique and delicious dish with Lima Beans, Tomato, and Vegan Chicken.


Dinesh and his wife, whose name I did not catch, brought some amazing Indian food — Basmati Rice and a Red Bean Curry. Paul probably ate two bowlfuls of this alone.


Steven brought a tasty Kale & Sweet Potato Salad. Sorry for the blurry pic though! The sweet potatoes were mashed and mixed in with the kale.


Vivian's Macaroni Salad so colorful and delicious. I LOVE a good macaroni salad. This got me in the mood for picnic season!


Vivian also brought some soft and sweet Cornbread! Vivian and I share a taste for good country cookin'. YUM!


Susan made this fun White Bean & Quinoa Salad with tomatoes and greens. I love dishes like this at a potluck because I can eat lots and feel good about eating something healthy and tasty.


Susan also brought Potato Salad. It tasted like summer with lots of lemon and dill!


Adam and Emily showed up just in time with this Roasted Vegetable Pizza. The crust was just perfect! I really need to invest in a pizza stone.


A new fellow whose name I cannot remember (was it John?) brought this colorful Potato & Kale Curry with Rice Noodles.


Nic showed up super late with Roasted Veggie Lasagna. By then, I was stuffed, so I packed a slice to take home. I had that for dinner tonight, and it was fan-freaking-tastic.


Wai also showed up late with this Chickpea & Cabbage Saute. I also packed a bit of this to go. Perfect healthy side to my lasagna!


Here's my plate! Well, my first plate. There was a second plate with pizza and curry noodles. And a third plate with dessert (but more on that in a few).


After we ate the main course, we all sat around and chatted, waiting to find room to stuff down dessert. Here's Paul and I.


A posse in this kitchen with our hosts Nicole (in the foreground) and Vaughan (with the eye patch).


Some grown folks and a baby in the living room. That's Adam — the pizza guy — with the baby and Emily is in the floor. Dinesh and his wife are on the couches.


Max, Beverly, and Rita stayed close to the food table. I don't blame them.


And Cassi has a policy now that she'll only make weird faces in pictures. So there ya go.


Speaking of Cassi, of course the vegan cupcake diva brought cupcakes from her bakery, Pink Diva Cupcakery. She brought Sweet Potato Mango, Fruity Pebbles (flecked with Fruity Pebbles, of course), and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I tried the Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and it was delicious. She uses fancy cinnamon, and it makes a big difference.


Susan brought these yummy Raw Truffles! I can't remember what all was in them, but they tasted just like an Almond Joy, so there was definitely coconut in there.


And Karen brought a delightful Maple Brown Sugar Cake. I'm such a sucker for maple everything. I only had room for a sliver of this, but I wish I could have fit in a whole slice.


Well, that's it! We ate sooooo much. And of course there was wine to wash it all down. Memphis vegans knows how to party.

Earth-friendly Solstice Picnic!

The Summer Solstice, my favorite seasonal holiday, was Sunday. But Sunday was also Father's Day, which totally takes precedence because dads are awesome. So I put off my Solstice celebration until today. After work, Paul and I packed a picnic and headed to Overton Park — our amazing, massive neighborhood park — for a meal to kick off the summer.


And just our luck, a small company called Repurpose had sent us some renewable, BPA-free, compostable, eco-friendly dinnerware for review!


God, I love a picnic. I'd picnic every day if I could, and knowing that I'm using earth-friendly products makes picnics that much more special. Plus, on this day when we celebrate Father Sun and Mother Earth, it's especially important to be kind to the planet. Here's our spread with Repurpose plates, cups, and utensils!


For the entree, I made some quick Green Goddess Wraps from Cooking By the Seasons. These have romaine, mung bean sprouts (that I grew myself!), black olives, hot peppers and cherry tomatoes from our garden, avocado, vegan provolone, sriracha mustard, and homemade garlic aioli. Yum!! On the side, I had Earth Balance Vegan Sour Cream and Onion Kettle Chips!


We toasted with drinks in Repurpose cups! Paul had orange juice because he's going through an OJ kick. But I had homemade blueberry wine gifted to me last summer (but never opened) from my friends Phorest and Rhiannon from the Farm. Yum!


The eco-friendly dishes stood up just fine to our messy wraps. Paul's wrap totally fell apart, but the salad dressing that fell onto his plate didn't even make his plate soggy. The cups were perfect for our drinks. And the utensils were hard plastic that would have stood up to anything! Paul had to eat the rest of his wrap with a fork. Cheers to that! And cheers to summer!


We didn't have access to a compost pile (and we don't compost at home sadly, after a few miserable attempts that resulted in fruit fly invasions ... ugh!), but we felt good knowing our dinnerware wouldn't sit and rot in a landfill for years and years. This stuff will break down much faster.


Happy Solstice!!

Father's Day "Fish" Fry!

I have the most awesome dad ever. He's a badass. He rides a Harley, loves anything with skulls on it, and drinks his whiskey straight. But deep-down, he's a big ole softie. Just don't tell him I told you. He'd do ANYTHING for me and my mama. And he's already done plenty for us over the years! If it weren't for my daddy, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this blogpost in a house that I own. He helped me make the down-payment on this place a few years ago. And that's just the tip of the iceberg for what all he's done to help me out over the years. Love this dude!


So of course, we had to celebrate Father's Day with him! Paul and I headed over to Jonesboro this afternoon, and when we arrived, my mama was already busy deep-frying stuff in the garage (that keeps the house from smelling like fried food)! We had a good old-fashioned, Southern fish fry!


Everyone else had real fish, but my mama fried me up some Gardein Fishless Filets. And she made all the sides vegan. Daddy tried the Gardein fish and declared it to be delicious and akin to the stuff they serve at Long John Silver's. I've never eaten there, but I do think the Gardein fish is remarkably fish-like.


She even made Vegan Tartar Sauce using Vegenaise, Gold's horseradish, and chopped pickles.


And she also used Vegenaise in the Coleslaw.


The Hush Puppies were probably my fave though. These little fried balls of cornbread were flecked with bits of fresh jalapeno. So delicious!!


We had quite the feast! So afterward, we all took part in daddy's favorite hobby — sitting around and watching TV! Watched a little drag-racing, and then we flipped over to one of those hidden camera reality shows and got stuck in that for about an hour. It was a lovely, delicious, relaxing afternoon!

Happy Father's Day, Papa Crunk!

More Stuff I Ate

As promised yesterday, here's the rest of my massive pile of random food photos. Up until yesterday, it'd been awhile since I'd done a "stuff I ate" post, so I had quite a backlog. I posted half yesterday, and here's the rest!

Mmmmm ... bagels! I was on a huge bagel kick about a month ago. Here's a Breakfast Bagel Sandwich with tofu eggs, vegan Go Veggie American cheese slice, garlic aioli, and spinach. My favorite quick weekday breakfast!


But I also love classic Bagels with Cream Cheeze. This was a Sprouts brand toasted onion & poppyseed sprouted grain bagel with Kite Hill vegan cream cheese (THE BEST CREAM CHEESE EVER!). I usually eat my bagels with spread split into two halves, but I've been seeing my Northeastern blogger friends post cream cheese bagel sandwiches, so I had to try it. It was quite a bit messier this way.


Yummy workday lunch from Havana's Pilon, a downtown Cuban joint. This was the Stewed Eggplant and White Rice.


And of course, I ordered a side of Fried Plantains!


I typically eat leftovers from dinner for work lunches though. But when I'm all out of leftovers, it's either takeout (like the yummy food above) or easy convenience meals. One day, I brought some Tasty Bite Bengal Lentils to work along with some leftover basmati rice. Quick lunch!


Another quick convenience food lunch! Added some Tofurky spinach-pesto sausages and Go Veggie vegan parm to this Near East Roasted Red Pepper & Basil Quinoa Blend. Instant meal!


Been craving burgers a lot lately. I ordered this one from Imagine Vegan Cafe. LOVE their burger! It's so meaty and delicious, and they cram so much into the bun. This was the S.O.B. (South of the Border) Burger with guacamole, jalapenos, onion, tomato, and salsa. As you can see, I had to squish the bun down to make it mouth-sized. On the side was Broccoli & White Cheeze Sauce.


I stocked up on Soy Curls in Austin, so I knew I needed to try JL Fields' Soy Curl Paprikash Sandwich from Vegan For Her. I've wanted to make this sandwich ever since I bought the book right after it came out! These are paprika-coated, chicken-flavored, sour creamy Soy Curls with sauerkraut on multigrain oat bread. YUM! Here's JL's recipe.


Really into salads these days. And one of my new fave salad toppings is Heidi Ho Ne Chevre. My Whole Foods just started carrying it, but it's not always in stock. Sigh. This was the black lava salt cheeze. Also on the salad: baby carrots, blueberries, blood orange-raspberry vinaigrette.


Right after Austin, I went to Whole Foods to get some groceries. And I made a Big Ass Salad from the Whole Foods salad bar! So much stuff in here: balsamic tofu, detox salad, mushrooms, almonds, olives, carrots, brown rice, white beans, red onion, corn, sunflower seeds, oil-free balsamic.


We all got cans of Sophie's Kitchen Vegan Toona in our Vida Vegan Con swag bags this year. And while I was never a big tuna fan, I do love vegan tuna because it's not so fishy. The Sophie's Toona comes plain in a can, just like fish tuna. I mixed mine with Vegenaise, celery, red onion, and pickles and served it with romaine on sprouted grain bread. Made for a nice lunch today with some chips and salsa. I like the meaty texture and appreciate that it doesn't taste too sea veggie-ish.


Well, that's it! I'm all caught up on dumping photos. Now I can go clean out my photo app on my iPhone and made some more storage space before they make me purchase more cloud space.

Stuff I Ate

I have soooo many photos backed up in my "stuff I ate" folder, the random folder of meals that don't warrant a whole post but deserve to be shared. So rather than dump 20-some-odd pics on you in one night, I'm gonna post half tonight and half tomorrow night. I'll go backwards, starting with my most recent meals.

Tonight, I went to a film screening of Forks Over Knives (can you believe I'd never seen it??) at the Quan Am Buddhist Monastery. The event was organized by our local vegan meetup group, and it featured a catered meal by Derae, an awesome Orange Mound-area Ethiopian joint. Of course, I loaded up my plate with all the things! Injera love!


Yesterday's dinner was a quick and easy Hilary's Eat Well Veggie Burger (original flavor) with Go Veggie vegan cheddar, sriracha mustard, pickles, and lettuce on a whole wheat bun. Beets on the side because beets are awesome.


Paul surprised me with a Sweet Potato Mango Cupcake from Pink Diva Cupcakery on Monday night. Cassi had posted her flavors of the day on Facebook, and Paul loves sweet potato and mango, so he went across the street (Yes, I have a vegan cupcake bakery across the street from my house! Danger!) and grabbed a couple. This was stuffed with fresh, chopped mango. The sweet potato was cooked and mashed into the cake batter, which made for a very moist and delicious cupcake!


I'd packed this Sesame Teriyaki Noodle Bowl for Bonnaroo but didn't eat it at the campsite. So I had it for lunch when I went back to work on Monday. I added some frozen, marinated tofu and frozen veggies to make it a meal. I hadn't had time to shop for groceries by Monday, so this simple, convenient meal was perfect.


My brunch bitches and I had our one-year brunchaversary a couple Sundays ago. We started having weekly brunch (most weeks, anyway) at Imagine Vegan Cafe when they reintroduced their brunch menu a year ago. But this was post-Austin and pre-Bonnaroo, so I figured salad was my best choice. This was a Buffalo "Chicken" Salad with Vegan Ranch.


Omg, y'all. This new Daiya Cheezy Mac is the best vegan invention of all time. It has creamy squeeze cheese just like Velveeta Shells & Cheese. And it's gluten-free, which gives the pasta a better texture. Been eating this with salads.


One morning, I had this diner-style breakfast of Runny Tofu Eggs (made with Vegg yolk), Multigrain Toast with Viana Onion Butter (if you haven't tried this stuff, you're missing out), and Field Roast Apple-Maple Sausage.


Had some Caribbean Jerk Chicken Sliders made with Beyond Meat at Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Jonesboro last week while visiting my parents. Detox Greens Smoothie on the side.


Tried this Michele's Granola sample from my Vida Vegan Con swag bag over Vanilla Almond Dream Yogurt with a nectarine and some maca-covered sunflower seeds.


For a quick dinner last week, I combined a jar of Seeds of Change Jalfrezi Curry Sauce with tofu, cauliflower, and squash. Served with basmati rice and a side of sauteed kale.


Mmmm ... just looking at all that stuff makes me want to eat it again! Okay, well, that's it for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with the rest.

Vegan Camping Food!

I just returned from four days and three nights of camping in rural Manchester, Tennessee for the 13th annual Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. I cover the fest every year for the alt-weekly I write for, and it's tons of fun. This year, I saw Against Me!, Deadmau5, Bassnectar, Tears for Fears, Alabama Shakes, and so much more. And I found lots of vegan food for sale within the festival grounds (you can read more about the food I bought at Bonnaroo here).

But festival prices are expensive, and eating out for every meal just isn't feasible. So when I go to Bonnaroo, I always pack some easy instant meals for breakfasts and lunches. I do have a portable gas stove, which I use for heating water for coffee and instant noodles. But I'm not one of those folks who cooks full, hot meals at the campsite, mainly because I'm not sure how one washes the dishes after that without easy access to running water. So I keep it simple. Here are a few meals I packed this year that made camping simple and affordable.

I recently discovered these Go Picnic meals, and a couple of them are vegan. Each meal has some sort of dip or nut butter, maybe a trail mix, and some fruit and/or fruit strips. I had this Sunbutter & Crackers meals in the car on the way to Bonnaroo since we drove through lunch.


Here's what was inside — multigrain crackers with sunbutter, applesauce, a tropical fruit strip, and two Lucy's vegan chocolate chip cookies! It was so much fun to eat! Plus, vegan cookies!!


The next day at the campsite, this Black Bean Dip & Plantain Chips meal made for a healthy and convenient lunch.


Here's what was inside —black bean dip with plantain chips; ginger trail mix with peanuts, banana chips, and cranberries; edamame & pepita trail mix; apricot fruit strip.


This one was definitely my fave of the two because black bean dip! And that Ginger Zip trail mix was amazing. I was pretty sad when I got to the last bite of my bean dip.


For snacks, I brought some apple-mango fruit pouches. You know, the squeezy ones that look like baby food? I failed to take a picture, but these came in handy to fulfilling our fruit needs. I also packed a few Go Macro mini bars. Loved this Sesame Butter + Dates bar even if it was a little soft and melty from the heat. Full review of these bars coming soon.


Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat at the Bonnaroo campsite because I typically wake earlier than everyone else. So I can eat my little instant breakfast in solitude, enjoying the sounds of folks around me waking up, tents unzipping, the birds chirping, even the RV generators humming in the nearby RV lot.

My very favorite Roo breakfast every year are cup o' noodles! I buy these vegan instant ramen bowls in the kosher section at Kroger. THEY ARE SO GOOD!


And of course, you gotta have coffee. Fancy soy lattes are for sale inside Centeroo, the main festival grounds. But it's easier to just go with a little instant Cuban coffee at the campsite.


One morning, before my Yogaroo class, I switched it up and had oats instead of noodles. These Straw Propeller brand oat bowls are filling and delicious. This Strawberry Jungle one came with dried strawberries and evaporated cane juice. Sure, it says "kids," but whatever. I'm kind of a big kid.


And I added a whole squeeze pack of Earth Balance Coconut & Peanut Spread for protein!


I loved my instant meals! But I am glad to be back at home with access to my full kitchen and lots of produce. I've been eating the hell out of some salad since I've been back.

Vegan Food at Bonnaroo!

I'm back from Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, and I can't even tell you how awesome it is to sleep in my own bed (instead of an air mattress in a tent), use a real toilet (instead of a porta potty), and take a proper shower. This was my sixth year attending the massive music fest, and while I love it
every year, I'm always so glad when it's over.


I had some great experiences though! I got to see anarcho-punk band Against Me! with lead singer Laura Jane Grace post-transition. When I saw them last, she had not yet come out as trans. Since I attend Bonnaroo for work, I get to photograph the artists from the photo pit, so I get a great view of the shows.


I saw Corey Feldman's weird band, Corey Feldman and the Angels. And I was introduced to the post-dubstep sound of SBTRKT. I danced and hula-hooped late into the night to the sounds of Deadmau5 and Bassnectar. Good times. I finally took a yoga class at Roo, something I've been meaning to do for years. Practicing under the early morning sky with hundreds of other fest-goers was a magical experience, especially knowing that most people at Roo were still asleep in their tents or nursing their hangovers.


But you're here for the food, and luckily, Bonnaroo is sooooo vegan-friendly. Most vendors have a vegan option, and some are entirely vegan or vegetarian. This year, I tried to branch out and sample new stuff that I hadn't tried in previous years. But I did eventually go with some old standards, like this Vegetable Noodle Bowl. I had this dish Thursday night, our first night there, when I was having a super-craving for noodles. Tried this last year and just loved it. It didn't disappoint. Carb-heavy, saucy goodness.


I ate a fair amount of food at the campsite — just stuff I brought — to save money since most meals purchased inside the festival grounds cost about $10. And I'll do a full post tomorrow on camping food. But each night, I made it a point to buy a dish from a vendor for dinner. On Friday evening, I headed straight for the Food Truck Oasis, where trucks from all over the South park and sell meals. I'd heard there was a truck peddling vegan poutine called — and this is the best name ever — Poutine Your Mouth. Ha!


Poutine Your Mouth sells all kinds of poutine, but they offered a vegan version. I went with Magic Mushroom Poutine — fries, gravy, vegan cashew cheese, mushrooms, and kale sauteed in truffle oil. OMG! Best thing I ate at Bonnaroo this year.


On Saturday, I decided to buy lunch and dinner from the vendors so I could try more things. I sort of just wanted to order poutine all weekend, but I knew I should sample variety so I'd have more to blog about. I ventured out for lunch, seeking something light since it was extremely hot outside. I was wearing a unicorn dress and a unicorn horn headband, like you do. And when I walked past a taco stand, dude complimented my unicorns, and then we got into a discussion about unicorn action figures. And before I knew it, I was ordering his Black Bean Tacos with Cabbage Slaw. These were tasty, but they were a tad small for the $10 price tag. These were my first post-Austin tacos by the way.


I had to shoot photos of Hozier and The War on Drugs on Saturday afternoon, and once that was done, I went back out in search of food. I noticed a pizza vendor's menu offered something called "secret garden vegan" pizza. So I stopped by and asked for the vegan slice. The guy working said, "Um, we have vegetable pizzas," and he pointed to one covered in cheese. I said, "Your menu says you have a vegan one, too." And he said, "Oh, like cheese pizza?" And I said, "Vegan means no cheese." He looked puzzled and turned to ask another worker. She pointed at the last slice of a veggie-heavy pizza that appeared to be cheeseless and said, "That one's vegan. No cheese." And he said, "Oh, I had no idea that vegans didn't eat cheese! I learned something." He was apparently new, but I was glad to educate. And this slice of Secret Garden Pizza was delicious! It had big chunks of roasted garlic, zucchini, spinach, onion, banana pepper, tomato, and marinara.


I stayed up until 3 a.m. on Saturday because I couldn't miss a moment of Bassnecter's set, which started at 1 a.m. So I knew I'd need some late-night fuel. And the samosas at Bonnaroo are sort of a tradition for me. So I got a couple of Vegetable Samosas. Perfect fuel for dancing late into the night.


There were tons of other vegan options to choose from. But this is all I had money and room in my belly for. But I'll check back in tomorrow with a post on my favorite instant camping meals.

Three-Day High-Raw Cleanse & Juice Fast

On my recent trip to Austin for Vida Vegan Con, I ate SO. MUCH. FOOD. Omg. We ate meals followed by big snacks followed by dessert followed by more meals with only a couple hours in between. And I didn't stop when I was full. No, I cleaned my plate. Wasting vegan bac'n cheezeburgers or breakfast tacos is a sin.

But when I returned home, I was feeling pretty gross. I need a whole foods detox right away! So I decided to do a three-day cleanse with one day of high-raw food, a one-day juice fast, and another day of high-raw meals. This plan of solids-liquids-solids seems to work best for me. I'm not cut out for a 3- or 7-day juice fast. I like to chew, and one day of only liquids is enough for me. But I like to buffer my juice day with days of mostly raw/some cooked whole foods goodness.

On the first day, here's what I ate.


I started the morning with a Green Smoothie (banana, pineapple, coconut water, vanilla hemp protein powder, kale). And I had a Big Ass Salad for lunch (radish, mushroom, cucumber, pepper, olive, peppadew, roasted garlic, dried cranberries, sprouts, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, whole grain bacony bits, baby carrots, and ginger-miso dressing). Dinner was a Baked Sweet Potato topped with Brown Rice, Black Beans, Baby Spinach, Avocado, and Hot Sauce.

It was a solid day of whole solid food. And god, it felt good to eat something green. Lots of green!

The next day was juice fast day. I started the morning with a giant glass of lemon-cayenne water, while I prepared five veggie-fruit juices and one raw cashew milk (for dinner). They say it's best to juice as you go, but I'm a busy girl. So it was easier for me to bottle them up all at once.


Breakfast was Green Day Juice (apple, celery, cucumber, ginger root, kale, lemon), which I drank around 8 a.m. And that kept me satisfied until about 9:30 a.m. But I had lunchtime yoga class in the park at 11:30 a.m., so I made myself wait until 11 for my morning snack juice. I didn't want to get hungry again during yoga, so I took my juice with me. It was Beet It Juice (apple, beet, carrot, cucumber).



Wow! It felt so lovely to do yoga in the park on a nice spring day with a tall jar of beet juice! And then after yoga, I went back to the office and drank Salad In a Glass (tomato, sprouts, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, cucumber, jalapeno, romaine, parsley, garlic) for lunch. That was my favorite juice! Love the savory veggie juices! And garlic!

I was pretty satisfied after lunch, but I started to get a tad hungry around 3-ish. I had an afternoon snack juice ready to go, but for some reason, I wanted tea. I'd brought a few herbal teas to work with me. So I opted for Peach Detox.



And then just before I was ready to leave the office, I grabbed my Orange You Glad I Said Carrot Juice (carrot, orange, cucumber, kale) from the breakroom fridge. I walked to the car and cracked it open, took a few sips, and then I got soooo nauseous. I was nauseous all the way home, and a few times, I considered pulling over to vomit. But I made it home and threw up in the driveaway. Then I went in and laid down for awhile. I'm not sure what happened, maybe it was the detox tea and juice detoxing me. That doesn't sound very scientific, but I believe in some weird new age-y stuff, so I'm going with that.

Anyway, I thought I was gonna have to throw in the towel and stop fasting. But I went ahead and took a few sips of my dinner — Raw Cashew Horchata (1/2 cup raw cashews soaked overnight, 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. cinnamon). It was creamy and dreamy and delicious and just what the doctor ordered. Suddenly, I felt great! On top of the world even. No hunger. And I had amazing mental clarity all of a sudden. I reached a zen-like state! I've done juice fasts before, but I've never experienced that.


So the night went on, and I never stopped feeling great. Never even got hungry again. That's a first on a juice fast for me. But I had my Bedtime Greens Juice (cucumber, kale, romaine, lemon, ginger) anyway.

The next day, I woke up feeling pretty awesome. I wasn't starving, but I had a workout planned. So I had some Two Moms in the Raw Granola, did my workout, and then followed that with a Raspberry Avocado Smoothie (raspberries, avocado, banana).


Lunch was another Big Ass Salad (same stuff as before but with added chickpeas for protein). And dinner was the Temple Rice Bowl from Thrive Foods (brown rice, hummus, stewed bok choy & tomatoes, sprouts, hemp seeds, red onion, and lemon juice). Very good!

After my cleanse, I'm back to eating what I want. But I've still been doing mostly whole foods. There has been a cupcake in my life since then and some vegan gummies. It's all about balance!

Last Day In Austin ...

We all woke up last Monday morning (Sheridan & Drew and Paul & I shared a hotel room on the last night), and Vida Vegan Con was truly over. Sigh. It was time to make the long trek home, and normally, I'd have been down for a leisurely morning with one last breakfast out for the four of us or maybe a last morning meet-up with the vegan folks still in town.

But I had places to be. You see (and this is that announcement I mentioned last night), I was asked to film a segment for Vegan Mash-Up! The public access vegan cooking show's producer Betsy Carson was attending VVC this year, and she wanted to catch some vegans to film for guest spots on the show while she had us in one place.


If you're not familiar, Vegan Mash-Up is a cooking show that features Terry Hope Romero, Miyoko Schinner, and Toni Fiore on every episode. And then there's usually a guest or two per episode, and Betsy graciously asked me if I'd like to be one of those guests! Of course I would! So I downed an energy bar in the hotel, got dressed, and headed to the Austin makeshift kitchen studio. I can't divulge any more about what I'm making or what the episode's theme is, but the show should air on your local public access channel (WKNO in Memphis) in October. 

Once we were done, we had to hit the road if we were going to make it home before midnight. But since we hadn't eaten a proper breakfast, we had to make a stop for food first. Remember our first day in Austin when we tried to go to the Biscuits & Groovy food truck, but they were out of vegan biscuits? Well, while I was filming, Sheridan and Drew stopped by the biscuit truck. And they reported that there were vegan biscuits! Hurray! So we swung by.


I went with the Gloria Gayor — three of the world's most amazing, fluffiest biscuits topped with tofu scramble, white gravy, vegan bacon, vegan sausage, Daiya, jalapenos, and chives. OMG! What a perfect last meal in Austin.


Wheatsville Co-op was just down the street, so we made a stop there for road snacks since we knew there'd be no time to stop for dinner. Wheatsville has legendary Buffalo Popcorn Tofu, and after reading everyone's blog recaps of VVC, it seems that nearly all of us stopped at Wheatsville for popcorn tofu for the ride or flight home. I even ran into a Anika from Vegan Score at Wheatsville while I was looking at the tofu! 


Anyway, it was awesome. We ate this around dinner time in the car. I got buffalo and Paul got plain, and then we split them. I must figure out the secret to this and recreate it at home.

I also picked up some Vegan Salad Rolls from Wheatsville because salad rolls.


I had quite a scare while eating these salad rolls though. I was happily munching away in the passenger seat, watching out the window as we whizzed by trees. And then boom — I saw a dead guy! Okay, well, I THOUGHT I saw a dead guy. His body was limp, and he was hanging from a power line. I dropped my salad roll and told Paul to turn around. Paul thought it sounded crazy, but he obliged. We found the nearest turnaround spot, where the police vehicles make turns on the highway, and went back. 

As we were heading back toward the spot, we passed a giant zip line adventure course. Hmmmm. How did I not notice that? And then a mile or so down the road, I saw my "dead guy." He was right next to a billboard advertising the zip line. Obviously a dummy zip-liner. But I failed to notice that billboard (or the nearby adventure course) the first time! But seriously. Doesn't this look freaky? It's tiny, but look at the left side of the pic.


We found other weird stuff on the highway too. Earlier, before the dead body experience, Paul found this abandoned movie and games store in the shape of a spaceship. It was right off the interstate, near a gas station parking lot. Of course Paul had to climb it.

Later on down the road, there was a whole dome farm with lots of abandoned dome-like structures. We didn't stop, but it looked pretty spooky.
Anyway, I spent lots of time in the car snacking. I was so glad I bought all this popcorn from Cornucopia in Austin — Texas BBQ, Chile Lime, and Garlic & Herb Popcorn!

We finally made it home late, late at night! My parents had come by earlier and dropped off my pets that they'd been babysitting. They were all happy to see me. And my mom left half a vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake that she'd made. I certainly didn't need any more sweets after Austin, but this was so good!

Okay, that's it for Austin, folks! Tomorrow, I'll be back with a recap of my post-Austin cleanse. After all the biscuits and doughnuts and tacos and cake, I needed a juice fast. More on that tomorrow!

Vida Vegan Con Takes Texas: Day Two!

I'm back with MORE Vida Vegan Con pics! Will the updates ever end? I promise tomorrow will wrap up this series, but Vida Vegan Con — all three conventions — has been such an important part of my life. I'd say that a good chunk of my fondest memories of all time stem from some VVC moments at conferences past. And I do believe that this last one (sadly, the last ever) was the best one.

Sunday was a bittersweet day for all of us at VVC. It was Day Two of the conference, the last day. And since there will be no more VVCs, we all knew that it may be the last time all us blogger buds will get to see one another in real life. Sure, we'll see each other on our blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Instagram. But it's not the same. Anyway, we made the most of the last day though, as you'll see in this photo recap.

Breakfast was another Taco Buffet! But this time, the ingredients were different. I wanted to eat a little lighter on Sunday since my talk was in the afternoon, so I just made two tacos. One had tofu scramble, Sweet Earth bacon, Daiya, nooch, and sriracha, and the other had soy chorizo, hash browns, jalapenos, Daiya, nooch, and sriracha. Yum!


After breakfast, Sheridan, Drew, and I all went to Gena Hamshaw's (of Choosing Raw) talk on starting a vegan health career. Mind you, I've no interest in actually starting a healthcare career. But I'd not seen Gena much at the con yet, and I wanted to see her lovely face. After that, we hit up the Vegan Athletes Panel, which really inspired Sheridan and I to start working on our muscles. I still can't run distance with my injury, but I can lift weights!

Next, it was lunch time. And guess what we had? TACOS! One thing I learned in Austin: There is no such thing as too many tacos. This time, they had some suggestions posted at the buffet for how to build specific tacos. I followed those loosely and created a Korean BBQ Taco with baked tofu, lettuce, garlic aioli, and Korean BBQ sauce; a Mac & Cheese Taco (!!!!) with mac, Sweet Earth bacon, coconut bacon, Daiya, and queso. Also made a Taco Salad on the side with pinto beans, guac, salsa, queso, and hemp seeds.


After lunch, I went to Hannah Kaminsky's (BitterSweet) On-Location Photography class with tips for shooting food in low-lit restaurants. Hannah's photography is beautiful, and it was great to get tips from a pro. And then Amey Matthews (Vegan Eats & Treats) had a pop-up talk on compassion and her fave yoga sutras. LOVE me some Amey! There was a short break after that, and they fed us more treats! Giant Sugar Cookies from Capital City Bakery!


My talk was next though, and I didn't want to have sprinkles all up in my teeth. So I saved this cookie for Monday's ride home. Here's the sign that was outside my talk! I was in the last block of the day, which was kind of nerve-wracking because I just wanted to get it over with.


But it went great!


I led a lively discussion about the ethics of dining and boozing — Do you pepper your server with a million questions? Are you a "don't ask, don't tell" vegan? Does asking a bunch of questions help or hinder veganism? Do we benefit more from making veganism seem easy and approachable by not asking too many questions? Or is it better to let our vegan needs be known to normalize veganism? There were strong opinions on both sides, and the discussion went a few minutes past the end of class time!

After my talk, it was time for the official Vida Vegan Con goodbye talk from organizers Jess, Janessa, and Michelle. These three ladies have worked so hard for these past six years to put VVC together, and they'd announced before the con that the third would be the last. They have full-time jobs, and they need a break. But there's hope that something else will spring up. I believe it will. Anyway, there were tears and hugs and lots of Dandies.

Sher, Drew, and I grabbed a quick shot by the VVC banner before the event closed up.


But hey, this party wasn't quite over yet! There was an after-party at this ADORABLE little gay bar called Cheer Up Charlie's, and we headed right over.


Of course, we immediately hit up the bar. This place serves awesome vegan cocktails! I got the Vegan Yeti, which is basically a White Russian.


They had a photo booth all set up for us inside! So we played a bit.




Then we went outside to mingle with our VVC friends. Here's VVC organizers Janessa and Michelle. God, I love these ladies! I remember years ago, not long after I started this blog, thinking, "Wouldn't it be so cool if all the vegan bloggers could meet in real life?" And then, these ladies (and Jess!!) made it happen. Three times!


I spotted Susan (Kittens Gone Lentil), Jojo (Vegan in Brighton), Erika (Sews Before Bros) sitting at a table of VVC folks!


By this time, we were finally starting to get hungry again. And thank the vegan gods, Arlo's food truck is stationed outside Cheer Up Charlie's. Hey look — Amey is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!


Arlo's is home to these famous Vegan Bac'n Cheezeburgers. OH. MY. GAWD.


And if that wasn't amazing enough, Arlo's also has Tots with Chipotle Mayo. I cannot express how much love I have in my heart for tots.


That was a lot of food. And I was full about mid-way through, but one does not abandon one's tots. Or one's bac'n cheezeburger. I conquered that meal like a pro. Every last bite. Granted, a couple of tall-boy beers later, I was regretting that decision because I felt as if I might pop. But whatevs. I would have had more regret if I'd left a tot uneaten.


After dinner, we made our rounds and chatted with all the buds that we didn't get to spend enough time with during the conference. I was super happy that I finally got spend a few moments with Miss Katie of Vegan Noms and Brit!


And I stole this pic as someone else was taking it for their own camera! Look at all these VVC ladies in one place!


Sadly, we made our way out of Cheer Up Charlie's and headed back to the hotel. I'm gonna miss my VVC buds SOOOOO MUCH! And I hope we get to all meet again someday in a big group setting. I really hope some enterprising vegan take up the reigns and gets something like this together. Until then, at least we have the internet.

Alright, well, that's it for tonight. I'll have my final wrap-up post tomorrow with a very special (to me anyway) announcement and pics of our final meals in Austin!