Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 38

Last Meals at My Parents' House!

My parents are moving away from Jonesboro, Arkansas! That's my hometown, where I lived the first 21 years of my life. It's only an hour from where I live in Memphis, which has been really awesome. But they're retired now and want to live on a lake, so they found a new house in Cherokee Village, Arkansas, about 2.5 hours from Memphis. It's on a lake, and they're just down the road from Spring River (a prime place to kayak!). So that's exciting!

But I was sad to say goodbye to my childhood home. My parents bought the land their house is on before I was born. They bought a trailer, and we spent the first few years of my life in that trailer. But by 1986, they'd built a house on that land. It was an underground house, which was always such a cool thing to live in as a kid! I went to Jonesboro over the weekend to spend the night in my old bedroom one last time. My dad never let me get on the roof when I was a kid, but I convinced him to let me last Saturday!

I got there on Friday night, just in time for dinner! My mom picked up some pizzas from Uncle Maddio's. I'm gonna miss Uncle Maddio's! They have vegan cheese, so it's always a great option for takeout when I'm visiting Jonesboro.

After dinner, my mom served these little Peach Tarts she'd made with vegan cream cheese, vegan whipping cream, graham crust, fresh peaches, and vegan Reddi Whip. Soooooo good! 

The next day, I went for a 15-mile run at Craighead Forest Park. I always loved that park as a kid, and it was a nice shady place to get some miles in on a hot day.

After my run, my mom had brunch ready! She made Just Egg, Vegan Sausage, Homemade Biscuits, and Hash Browns. And my dad made us some Bloody Marys because brunch!

I spent the rest of the afternoon there, going through old stuff of mine in the attic. And then Sheridan and Drew came over to celebrate Sheridan's birthday. But more on that in tomorrow's post!

I'm happy for my parents, but I sure will miss this house!

Venezuelan Food, Stir-fry, & Loaded Baked Sweet Potato

One day for lunch last week, I stopped by Global Café at Crosstown Concourse (the building where I work) for one of my favorite dishes — the Venezuelan Vegan Platter. This typically comes with white rice, black beans, and plantains, but they added avocado and pico. Yum! I loved it before, but I'm pretty I'll have to request avo and pico forever now.


On my last grocery trip to Kroger, I found a bag of pre-chopped, fresh stir-fry veggies (brussels, snow peas, carrots, etc.) with teriyaki sauce and noodles marked down because it was about to expire. But the veggies still looked fresh, so I bought that and prepared with air-fried tofu. Love an easy weeknight dinner like this! 

Here's a quick week day lunch! Baked sweet potato with lentils, spinach, broccoli sprouts, salsa, Trader Joe's zhoug sauce, Kite Hill sour cream, and banana pepper. I literally just threw what I could find in my fridge on top of a baked potato. Yum!

Minestrone, Omelets, and Donuts!

Last night, I made figure skater Meagan Duhamel's Minestrone from The Plant-Based Athlete. Minestrone is Paul's favorite soup, and he's been doing pretty good on his vegan eating. So I'm trying to keep that up by making things I know he likes. This has lots of veggies and whole wheat pasta (my version), and I made a batch for Paul with white pasta because baby steps. I did make him try the whole wheat pasta, and he admitted it was just as good. So next time, I'm making him eat the whole wheat. I made a Vegan Grilled Cheese with tomato from my garden on the side (Paul just had a slice of bread because he doesn't like vegan cheese. Again, baby steps).

I went to parents' house this weekend (more on that in a post later this week), and my mom had some leftover Just Egg that she sent me home with. I made a quick Veggie Omelet with it this morning! Stuffed with Daiya, tomato (from my garden), spinach, and bell pepper (from my CSA). Fresh, organic berries on the side!

This morning at work, I went downstairs to French Truck Coffee to buy a bag of whole beans for the house, and they had vegan donuts from Darling Donuts! Lily of Darling Donuts has been delivering there most Mondays. I got a Blueberry Fritter, which went perfectly with the free cup of coffee that came with my bagged coffee beans.

Purple Hull Peas, "Fried" Green Tomatoes, & Juice!

I got some Purple Hull Peas in my CSA last week, and even though we had just eaten lady peas the week before, I was excited for more peas! Nothing says summer like a bowl of peas and cornbread. I made these in the Instant Pot with some chopped onion and veggie broth. The cornbread sticks were made with my recipe from Cookin' Crunk.

I also got green tomatoes in my CSA, and I wanted to do some classic fried green tomatoes. But Paul has been nervous about eating fried food due to his diverticulitis. So we made Air-fried Green Tomatoes instead! I used my recipe from Cookin' Crunk, which calls fro frying in oil, but instead, I sprayed them with a little non-stick spray oil and cooked in the air fryer for about 6 minutes per side. I mixed up some mayo and ketchup for comeback sauce for dipping.

I had some leftover air-fried green tomatoes, so I made a Fried Green Tomato BLT  for lunch the next day using Smart Bacon and leftover comeback sauce. Really tasty!

And here's a fresh Pitaya Juice from Juice Bar at Crosstown Concourse! Juice Bar closed at the start of the pandemic, and they JUST reopened last week — conveniently a couple weeks after we went back to the office. So I can get fresh juices and smoothies at work again! Yay!

Vegan Bolognese, Avo Sourdough, & More!

Late last week, I discovered half a loaf of LuLu's country sourdough bread in my freezer! I must have frozen it and forgotten all about it. So on Friday morning, I used some for Avocado Toast. Avocado is great on any bread, but it's especially great on locally made sourdough.

That evening, I had some more sourdough with my carb-loading meal of Vegan Bolognese with vegan meatballs. I picked up a jar of Trader Joe's Vegan Bolognese Sauce, and it was awesome! Definitely stocking up on this when I go back there. It has tiny meaty crumbles, and the flavor reminds me of Beyond burger. The meatballs were some Farm Rich balls that were on clearance at Kroger. Perfect Friday night meal before Saturday's long run.

Here's the sauce! Would definitely recommend!

And here's a not-so-great picture of a simple Grain/Green/Bean Bowl that I had for a quick week night dinner last week. It has pinto beans sauteed with spinach and garlic over brown rice. I am currently reading Dr. Will B's Fiber Fueled and learning all about the microbiome. It's fascinating stuff, and I think it'll help me tailor Paul's diet to deal with his GI issues! We'll hopefully be doing the 4-week meal plan from this book soon. 

Lammas Eats: Part 2!

Yesterday, I blogged about what I ate on Lammas (or Lughnasadh), the traditional Gaelic harvest festival. It's typically celebrated on August 1, and that night (Sunday), I made grilled brats with potato salad and grilled corn to enjoy outdoors as the sun sank in the summer sky. But Lammas, which also stands for Loaf Mass, is traditionally celebrated with bread. So late Sunday night, I baked a loaf of beer bread to enjoy throughout the week. I used a recipe from the 2021 Sabbats Almanac, and I thought it turned out really great! It has a full can of beer, as well as fast-acting yeast, so it rose well.

On Monday morning, I enjoyed a couple slices for breakfast with some Blueberry Apricot Lavender Jam that my friend Stephanie gifted me for Lammas. This was so delicious!

And then on Monday night, I put together a little salad bar for Paul and I to enjoy for dinner (he's still eating mostly vegetarian, y'all! YAY!). Since salad bars are a thing of the past, it was nice to pretend we were at a salad bar again. 

We each had more of the Lammas bread with our salad, and I topped my slice with Trader Joe's Zhuong Sauce (a spicy cilantro sauce that is just magical).

Happy Harvest, y'all!

Lammas Eats: Part 1!

Lammas, or Lughnasadh, is the traditional first harvest celebration on August 1 (or August 2, depending on whom you ask!). It's a time to celebrate nature's bounty and soak up the midsummer sun! It's also a time to enjoy bread. Back in the day when Christians were taking over the pagan holidays, Lughnasadh (the Gaelic harvest festival) became Lammas (aka Loaf Mass), and bread was served because what better way to celebrate the harvest than with bread? Honestly, what better way is there to celebrate anything than with bread, am I right?

I decided to drag Lammas out for two days this year because y'all know I love a holiday! On Sunday, I made a few recipes from Llewelyn Sabbats Almanac that were recommended for Lammas. They went with a picnic theme this year, so I made these recipes to enjoy outside on an unusually cool summer evening (it was in the 80s, which felt chilly after we experienced a heat index of 109 on Saturday!). 

We grilled vegan brats for Angels on Horseback (hot dogs stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and topped with caramelized onions). For the cheese part, I cut slits in our brats and shoved some Daiya shreds inside! 

On the side, I made the Better Potato Salad from the Sabbats Almanac, which was a basic version with mayo, mustard, celery, onion, and dried dill. It was very similar to the recipe I typically make. And I grilled some Ambrosia corn on the cob that I picked up from the farmer's market on Saturday.

I also made some Ants on a Log for us to snack on while I cooked. The book suggested having these as an appetizer since ants are commonly a guest at summer picnics.

And finally, I washed my meal down with Summer Sangria from the book! This has rose, brandy, cranberry juice, and chopped fruits (strawberries, plums, and cherries!).

Tonight, we're having fresh bread! So I'll share some more Lammas eats tomorrow!

Hot Bar Summer! Plus, Teriyaki "Chicken," Lady Peas, & Noodles!

Now that I'm back in the office at Crosstown Concourse, it's officially hot bar summer! Curb Market's hot bar always has a few vegan options, and it makes an easy and quick lunch on the days that I'm too busy to leave the building. Yesterday, I got the Veggie Pasta, Buffalo Cauliflower, and Teriyaki Brussels. I can never manage to spend less than $13 on hot bar food though! Those pounds add up!

Paul ordered the Crazy Noodle Vegetarian Soup with tofu from Crazy Noodle on Sunday, but he thought the noodles were too soggy, so he took two bites and told me I could have the rest. I thought the noodles were just fine! So I had this for lunch on Monday.

Paul has been having some health issues lately. He's got perforated diverticulitis, which is caused by a low-fiber, high-fat diet. He's always eaten terribly, despite living with a vegan partner who loves to cook. But at the moment, he seems interested in doing better, so he's eaten what I've cooked for the past two nights! Yay! On Tuesday night, that was Teriyaki Chicken Stir-fry with local green beans and Gardein teriyaki chicken. Paul even ate his brown rice! 

And last night, that was Lady Peas with Cornbread. Paul had never had lady peas before, and he didn't think he'd like them. But he loves black-eyed peas, so I made him try these. And this was a winner too! 

Focaccia, Cookies, & Pickle Beer!

Last Saturday, LuLu's vegan bakery at the Cooper-Young Farmer's Market was selling three kinds of vegan focaccia! I can't remember all three, but I had a tough choice between the chanterelle focaccia or the smoked squash focaccia. The chanterelles were freshly foraged, so I couldn't resist. This was a perfect treat after my 18-mile trail run in the super-hot summer heat!

LuLu's was also selling their amazing Chocolate Chunk Cookies, made with ethically sourced chocolate. I always love these fat cookies! They're so big!

Later that day, after my run, I cooled off by sitting in our wading pool and sipping this Spicy Pickle Monster Sour beer. I love sour beers in the summer, and this may be my favorite sour of all time. PICKLE EVERYTHING!

Here's a random healthy meal from last week! I had made some cashew mac & cheese with broccoli and had some leftover, so I enjoyed it for lunch one day with a side of chickpeas sauteed with garlic and spinach.

Vegan Chicken Review!

A while back, Like Meat and Fry's Family Foods sent me a bunch of vegan plant meats to try, and I've been slowly working my way through them. This review will focus on three types of vegan chicken — Fry's Family Foods Chick'n Patties, Like Meat Chicken Pieces, and Like Meat Chicken Nuggets. 

Let's start with the patties: The are breaded chicken patties, similar to the classic vegan Boca chicken patties. But unlike Boca (which I've always liked), the Fry's patties seem even more chicken-y. The texture is more meat-like, and I think these would fool any omnivore. I love a chicken sandwich with vegan mayo and sweet pickles, so that's how I've been enjoying these tucked between LuLu's sourdough potato buns. Yum!!

The Like Meat Chicken Pieces are small, seasoned chicken-y strips that very closely resemble the taste and texture of chopped chicken. The seasoning is really basic, so they're versatile. But the box showed them used in tacos, so that's what I did. I sauteed these with onion and bell pepper and seasoned with chili powder and garlic. Then I stuffed them into tacos with vegan sour cream, vegan cheese, and guac. Perfection! The pieces really do taste like meat!


And finally, I tried the Like Meat Chicken Nuggets last week, and they were equally awesome. My only complaint would be that there were only 10 nuggets in a package (two servings), and I wanted more! I prepared these in the air fryer, and they got perfectly crisp. When you bit into them, they had a nice stringy chicken texture. I served these with BBQ sauce for dipping, plus some cashew mac (with broccoli in it) and sauteed garlic kale.


All of these products are 10/10/would eat again and again!