Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 28

Vegan Lamb for Spring Equinox!

Ostara (the Spring Equinox) was Sunday, and it's one of my favorite pagan Sabbat holidays! Nothing makes me happier than warm weather, sunshine, and blooming flowers. I love this time of year! Eggs are a traditional Ostara food, and most years, I make some eggy vegan dish, like a tofu scramble or vegan deviled tofu eggs. But this year, I went a different route — I made vegan lamb.

I got the idea from the 2022 Sabbats Almanac, which has non-vegan recipes for all the Sabbats. For Ostara, they included a Greek lamb recipe, and I wanted to veganize it. So I googled "vegan lamb recipes" and found this one from Mouthwatering Vegan. I didn't follow it precisely, but I stuck pretty closely to the recipe. 

The lamb was basically a seitan roast, and I have no idea how authentic it tasted because I've never eaten lamb. Why would anyone even eat such an adorable creature? Speaking of, I actually have a tote bag that says "What kind of asshole eats a lamb?" And here's a similar shirt on Amazon. But I digress. The seitan lamb was delicious — very herby with lots of rosemary and lemon. 

I served it with two other veganized recipes from the Sabbats Almanac — Herbed Mushrooms (with vegan provolone) and Roasted Asparagus (with herbs and lemon).

Happy Spring!

Eating Green for St. Patrick's Day!

As I think you all know by now, I love, love, love holidays. I'm such a nerd that I even slept in green jammies on Wednesday night so I'd wake up wearing green for St. Patrick's Day. After knocking out some morning work, I put on some green running clothes and headed out for some speedwork (Yasso 800s) to my Irish punk playlist. I love running through the park when the morning fog is lifting.

After my run, I had — you guessed it — a Green Smoothie! This one was made with Dole Energize smoothie blend with matcha cubes, banana, mango, and pineapple, and then I added some matcha powder to up the energy boost. Also, it has hemp seeds, Silk 2% Next Milk (my fave thing of the moment), monkfruit, and Complement protein powder.

Before I started back to work (my hours are weird: 4:30 am-6:30 am and then 9:30 am-3:30 pm), I made a second cup of coffee, but this time, it was spiked with Bailey's Almonde in my Irish coffee mugs that I get to use once a year.

Lunch wasn't very green (a tofu and vegan cheese sandwich, but it did have spinach). But dinner was this awesome plate of Vegan Bangers & Mash with Green Peas and Fried Cabbage. Washed down with a Guinness of course.

The banger was just a Beyond Sausage, and I made some onion gravy with sweet onions, veggie broth, and cornstarch. 

My favorite annual pub run — the Breakaway St. Patrick's Day Pub Run — was back this year after a two-year pandemic hiatus. And my friend Megan and I had plans to go, but we were late getting to the running shop for the start. So we ran from her house to one of the stops — Slider Inn. The run stops at three places, but I go to bed super-early to accommodate my early work hours, so I knew one stop would be it for us. We both ordered Jameson Slushies!

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was awesome too! 

Product Review: Bite Society Baskets!

I love a good gift basket. Seriously — is there anything more enjoyable than digging through a basket filled with edible goodies? I also love good packaging; anything well-designed and reusable gets a big thumbs-up from me. Bite Society recently sent me a basket of their vegan products to review. They're all Seattle-made products, and they're packaged in reusable tins and jars with cute Americana flash tattoo art. Bonus: The company is LGBTQ and woman-owned. The day this gift basket arrived was a very good day.

There were a few products on top of the wooden basket filler shaving (which, by the way, we saved to use as kindling for our fire pit), and the rest were tucked safely underneath. I just kept pulling out surprise after surprise!

I was VERY excited to find these Kennebec Potato Truffled Chips. I'm obsessed with truffle everything! Plus, how cute is this tin?

Inside were these beauties. They are so truffle-y, possibly the tastiest chips I've ever had. Bonus: Because they were stored in a tin and not a bag, there were very few broken chips. They were so big and intact. Amazing. All chips should come in tins.

Another cute tin held Bob's Nuts, a curried sweet-and-spicy nut mix with pecans, cashews, filberts, pepitas, and sesame seeds.

This stuff is like crack. Once I dig my grubby little hands in, I cannot stop. 

There were jars of Pepperish and Salsa Macha. The Pepperish is a pickled mix of bell peppers and onions, and it has been taking my sandwiches to the next level. I added some to a tofu and vegan cheese sammy for lunch today!

The Salsa Macha is magic. Pure and true. It's a mix of chilis, garlic, fried onions, and pepitas, and it belongs on everything. 

Like on hummus crackers! Pepperish is great with hummus too.

And in peanut sauce! I mixed some Salsa Macha with peanut butter and Bragg's to make a tasty peanut sauce for a tofu/kale/farro bowl. It would also be perfect for adding to sauteed kale (or any greens). They also recommend putting it on ice cream, but that's a nope from me. Ha!

The basket also included FOUR JARS of pickles — Fennel, Chile Carrots, Dilly Beans, and Red O's (onions). I am not the biggest fennel fan, but I really liked the pickled fennel. The sweet pickle brine takes away some of that strong anise flavor I don't love. The Red O's have been an awesome addition to salads.

And I've been enjoying the Dilly Beans on their own as a little snack. They're crisp and tangy!

I added the Chile Carrots to some tacos one day, and that was awesome. But I really love them on salads.

There was also Kiyami's Granola, a crunchy handmade granola of oats, pumpkin seeds, millet seeds, and rice krispies. I've been enjoying this with plant milk and as a topping for chopped banana and berries.

I love the Up & At 'Em Tulsi Spice Tea! It's a loose, herbal blend with tulsi, lemon myrtle, peppermint, and ginger, so it's great for an afternoon pick-me-up without caffeine. Love caffeine, but I try to avoid it after noon. They even included a tea ball in the basket!

And look at these fun coasters and sticker!

Bite Society offers gift baskets and subscriptions, or you can purchase products a la carte in their food hall. Not all of the products are vegan, so I'd recommend reading the ingredients, but they do clearly mark when items contain allergens, like milk. I will certainly be re-upping on those truffle chips and nuts when I run out!

Healthy Ramen, Breakfast Tacos, & Thai Curry Salad

I love ramen, as you all know. So I don't know why it took me so long to try the Almost Instant Ramen Noodles from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook. This healthy ramen bowl is loaded with veggies (broccoli, carrots, cabbage, scallions, mushrooms, kimchi), and it has a hearty sesame-miso broth. For the noodles, I used Koyo but left out the spice pack. So good! 

I was inspired recently to make Pinto Breakfast Tacos after watching a vlog on the Yoga with Adriene Find What Feels Good member site where Adriene talked about eating breakfast tacos most every day. She said she usually went with a healthy pinto bean and avocado taco, so I did that too (plus added kale and pickled jalapenos). I'll be doing this more often.

Every Monday, I grab lunch from Raw Girls to take into the office since my new workplace is just down the road from the Raw Girls' downtown location. This Monday, I picked the Thai Curry Salad with cashews, cabbage, bell peppers, and a cashew-coconut curry dressing. Very good!

Monday was National Potato Chip Day, so my dinner was a Gardein Ultimate Chicken Sandwich (those Gardein patties are the BEST) and truffle kettle chips (more on those in tomorrow's post). Not the healthiest meal but definitely the tastiest. 

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Shroomlicious Meals

Last week was Memphis Black Restaurant Week, an annual event highlighting local Black-owned eateries. I visited two vegan restaurants during the week — Plant Based Heat and the all-new Shroomlicious Meals. Shroomlicious Meals started as a meal prep service, but they now offer meal pick-up from the commercial kitchen where they prepare food.

They had a special menu for Black Restaurant Week, and one of the featured items was the Shroomlicious Wings with Fries. I had to try them! These are hand-breaded and deep-fried oyster mushroom wings with avocado crema. And they're served with a sweet and garlicky hot sauce.

WOW! These were just fantastic. The breading reminded me of breading on homemade Southern fried chicken, which I haven't had since, oh, 1994 or so. And that hot sauce was the perfect complement to the creamy avocado sauce. The fries were like those awesome gas station potato wedges that I used to love!

Black Restaurant Week is over, so they're back to their regular menu, but these wings are on that menu! And they have several smash burgers, mushroom birria tacos, shroom quesadillas, and more. And it's all vegan!

You just order online, select your pickup day (they're only open Thursdays and Fridays), and arrive at the pick-up spot (OtherFoods Kitchen) on your day. Follow them on Instagram (and while you're at it, follow its owner at @downwithdaishu too!). And here's a thing I wrote on Shroomlicous for The Daily Memphian.

Vegan Eats at Native Brew Works

On Saturday, my mom and I met in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for a funeral, which was a sad reason to have to meet up. But since we both live an hour away from our hometown now (my parents moved to a small lake town in Northern Arkansas, and I'm in Memphis), we took the occasion to also visit my Me-maw. And we got an early dinner at Native Brew Works — Jonesboro's new brewpub.

Jonesboro is in a dry county, so the fact that they have a brewery is pretty amazing. But in recent years, they've allowed a lot of exceptions to the dry county rule (thankfully!!!), and the brewery opened last year. Even more amazing is that Native Brew Works offers vegan options!

The Roasted Sweet Potato Tacos with slaw and avocado crema are vegan, and they were SO GOOD. You can choose between corn or flour tortillas, so I ordered one of each. 

I also ordered a side of Black Beans, which were seasoned to perfection and topped with tomato and onion. Best black beans I've had in a while!

And we split an order of Chips & Salsa. All of the food I tried was amazing, but I think the chips and salsa was our fave. The chips were seasoned with some kind of all-purpose seasoning salt, and they were super-thin and crisp, and the salsa was garlicky and so fresh.

As for beers, we both had to drive an hour home, so we opted for lower gravity beers in the 5% range (and only one each!). I had the Give Em Helles, which was a very tasty helles beer. I'm going through a helles phase right now, and I can't get enough of this light German style. My mom got the Neon Moon Lime Wheat, which was light and fresh (perfect for patio drinking!).

Pecan Meat Philly, Raw Girls Salad, & More!

It's Memphis Black Restaurant Week, an annual celebration of Black-owned restaurants, and three vegan places are participating! Yay! One is Plant Based Heat, an awesome comfort food eatery offering burgers, wings, and more. I stopped in last night to show some support and order their Pecan Meat Philly Cheesesteak. It was my first time trying this menu item, and wow! That pecan meat was so good, and it felt healthier than having a meal loaded with plant meat. 

For my side, I went with the Vegan Coleslaw, which had a really tasty dressing. I would have picked fries (theirs are really good!), but I go to bed super early on weeknights and I can't sleep well if I've eaten fried food within a few hours of bedtime.

Speaking of Memphis Black Restaurant Week, here's a story I wrote for The Daily Memphian on Plant Based Heat. I also wrote one on Shroomlicious Meals, which is also participating this week. I'm trying them tomorrow!

Another favorite (although not Black-owned) vegan restaurant is the Raw Girls. I've been stopping by their new downtown location every Monday for lunch. Last Monday, I had this Roasted Cauliflower Salad with a green juice called The Professional.

And here's a meal I made at home. I joined Yoga with Adriene's Find What Feels Good membership site, and they have a series of vegetarian cooking videos. One was for Coconut Curried Collards made with coconut milk, chickpeas, jalapenos, and ginger. I had to make this! It was so perfect. Definitely a keeper!

Post-Little Rock Half-Marathon Tacos & Ice Cream!

On Sunday, I ran a PR at the Little Rock Half-Marathon, shaving four minutes off my last best time (set in that same race in 2018). You can read more about that race in last night's race recap. This post is dedicated to the delicious tacos that I had afterward.

My best friend Sheridan and her partner Drew live in Little Rock, and Sheridan picked me up from the race around 11 am. I went back to her place for a shower, and then we headed to Camp Taco at Lost Forty for lunch. This vegan-friendly eatery is from the same folks who run Lost Forty Brewing (but it's not located inside the brewery). And the whole concept is adorable — wood paneling, retro decor, lots of stained glass lamps, and your server is your "counselor." It's like 1980s summer camp!

Here's Sheridan and I. I picked up that cool tee at the race expo the day before.

And here's Sheridan and Drew.

We started the meal with a round of beers. I had to drive back to Memphis later that day, so I went with a low-alcohol Bottom Bunk Stout (4.2% ABV). This was the lightest stout I've ever had, and it was delicious.

For starters, we ordered the Strange Trip Cheez(ish) Dip, which was the best vegan queso I've ever had! WOW! It was cashew-based, but there was a lot more going on here, and I'm not sure what else was in it. But I can't stop thinking about it.

For my entree, I got the Shrooms and Sauce Birria Tacos, which were more like little quesadillas. They had shrooms and more of that tasty cheeze dip, plus a chili-lime dipping sauce. You get two sides, so I went with Frijoles Mixtos (mixed white, red, and black beans with green lentils) and the Rice Medley. These tacos were so good!! And filling!

When they bring your check, it comes in an old 80s kids' book! Mine came in this copy of the The Babysitters Club Karen's Kittens, which I'm sure I actually read as a kid.

After dinner, we were stuffed. But Sheridan suggested we get ice cream at Loblolly Creamery, so we did! They have several vegan flavors, and I went with the PB Crunch Chip in a vegan waffle cone. Such a perfect day!

Little Rock Half-Marathon! A New PR!

On Sunday, I ran the Little Rock Half-Marathon, my very favorite race! I try to run Little Rock every year — partly because the medals are amazing, but also because it's a chance to visit my BFF Sheridan and her partner Drew.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon and stopped in at the race expo for my bib and race shirt. Then I headed to Sheridan and Drew's house just in time for dinner. We have an annual pre-race pasta night tradition, so Sheridan whipped up some tasty Vegan Pasta Bolognese, while I worked on Garlic Bread.

I enjoyed an alcohol-free Wellbeing Intentional IPA with dinner. I've learned that I sleep better when I have NA beer, so I've traded my one pre-race beer tradition for a one pre-race NA beer.

I tucked in around 9:30, and then we got up bright and early so Sheridan could drive me down to the race. She doesn't run, but she always wakes up early and drives me downtown so I don't have to worry with parking. Sheridan is the best! Of course, I had my coffee and pre-race bagel with nut butter first, but then we headed to the race.

The race was SO GREAT, y'all! After running two 50Ks and a full marathon in the fall, I decided to scale back in 2022 and focus on speed with shorter distances. So I trained for three months with a PR plan for my half-marathon. And guess what? I took four minutes off my last best time, which was set at this same race in 2018! It was tough, but I did it! And of course, I took the free Fireball and beer shots offered on the course ... you know, for speed ;-) 

Look at the medal! The medals are massive, especially the full marathon ones (I have two of those from past races), but this year, they even expanded the size of the half medal. It was the 20th anniversary of the race, so they put all the past race logos on the medal. 

Another reason I love this race is because they always have a vegan pasta marinara option post-race. And of course, I had to have my post-race beer!

I also had a vegan protein shake that I brought from home. That held me over until I could get back to Sheridan and Drew's place for a shower and an outing for lunch. I'll save that post-race meal for tomorrow's post because I have a lot of pics from that delicious and fun lunch!

Fat Tuesday Food & Fun!

Memphis is only a short drive from New Orleans, so we like to get in on the Fat Tuesday fun here. And I'm such a nerd for holidays, so I was all over Mardi Gras yesterday! I started my morning with a 6-mile run, followed by this layered Mardi Gras-themed smoothie. I made three tiny smoothies, and I'd hoped they would layer better. But it turned out okay! The bottom was banana-kale-flax-hemp; the middle was mango-turmeric; and the top was blueberry banana. Each layer had a tablespoon of Complement protein as well.

On Sunday night, I made my annual King Cake to enjoy on Tuesday (but I had some Monday too!). This year, I used Isa's king cake recipe from The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook. It was stuffed with apples, cinnamon, and raisins, which is not traditional. But hey, she's from Brooklyn. It was tasty though! I brought a slice to my friend Susan, and the baby was in her piece.

I also picked up some of French Truck Coffee's special Big Chief Mardi Gras Blend. French Truck is roasted in my own neighborhood!

For dinner, I turned again to the The Superfun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook. I made the Eggplant Po'boy, but rather than fry the breaded eggplant in oil, I air-fried the slices. They turned out perfectly! The sandwich has mayo, tomato, and a red cabbage-carrot slaw, and I used a locally baked Lulu's baguette.

I had a work function in the evening (a coworker's going-away party), but before that, I stopped by Crosstown Brewing to pick up their limited Virtual Baby King Cake Stout. Each can has a QR code that you can scan to enter a contest for the virtual baby. The winner gets Crosstown Brewing merch and prizes. We won't know if we won until Friday, but fingers crossed! Also, this beer was fantastic — it really tasted like king cake!