Bianca Phillips's Blog, page 45

"Egg" Sandwiches, Red Lentils, & Cheezy Mac!

Ostara (aka Spring Equinox) is just around the corner, and I've been in an eggy mood! This week, I made some Tofu Egg Salad from a e-book called the 4-Week Vegan Meal Plan. It's a little different from the eggy salad in my cookbook, Cookin' Crunk, so I thought I'd give it a try. It has the usual vegan mayo base but no celery or red onion. Instead, there's parsley, green onion, nooch, lemon, and turmeric. It's good! I added some black salt because no tofu egg salad is complete without it.

Earlier this week, I made a Tofu Eggy Breakfast Sandwich with fried vegan tofu egg (seasoned with Vegg) and topped with melted Follow Your Heart shreds. It needed avocado, but I didn't have any.

I'm kind of playing around with a new cookbook project (with a fitness theme). I'm not sure if it'll ever see the light of day or if I'll get bored (which happened last time I tried to write a second book). But I'm having fun in the kitchen for now. Earlier this week, I came up with a red lentil dal that I'm calling Root Charka Red Lentil Coconut Curry. It's more yellow/solar plexus-colored though, thanks to all the turmeric. I also made some Easy Indian Streetbread from the No Meat Athlete book for dipping.

And finally, here's a tasty and fun meal! I bought a box of Daiya Cheezy Mac with bacon bits on a whim. I hadn't had the Daiya mac in a couple years! It was always so good, but I'm cheap, and I just kept telling myself I could make a cheaper, healthier version myself. And that's true. But sometimes, you need a quick, out of box, not-healthy-at-all plate of mac. I had some kale to balance that out. 

Soul in the Raw's Effortlessly Flavorful Vegan Kitchen

Last year, I purchased the No Meat Athlete Health & Fitness Bundle, which included e-cookbooks, cooking courses, workout plans, and all kinds of fun stuff. I've been working my way through the products and just wrapped up Soul in the Raw's Effortlessly Flavorful Vegan Kitchen cooking course. It's a comprehensive course on creating raw (and some cooked) pates, dressings, dips, and sauces, as well as recipes to use some of those sauces.

I'm not a raw foodist, but it's already 80 degrees in Memphis (YAY!), and I love to eat more raw foods in the spring and summer. The key to making raw veggies taste good is a good sauce, and the instructor, Marina, is a master of sauces. 

Marina's virtual cooking class features videos on stocking a vegan pantry, making sauces without a recipe, lots of recipe videos, sprouting, and even a class on digestion (which is a topic I love to nerd out on). She also provides you with three e-cookbooks and meal plans. Here's what I've made from the cookbooks so far! This week, I made a cooked recipe for her Cheesy Broccoli Bowl. The cheesy sauce is made with white and sweet potatoes, and it's served over steamed broccoli and kale, millet, and roasted sweet potato. I love a healthy, simple meal like this!

I also used her cheesy sauce to make her Nacho Cheese Dip with Homemade Corn Chips, which is basically dipping nachos. You layer black beans, her cheesy sauce, cilantro, jalapeno, and green onion and dip away. 

I've also made her Mediterranean Bowl, which I blogged about a while back. This has marinated, raw zucchini, eggplant, and mushrooms with an oil-free edamame hummus. Marina's recipes are all oil-free, and though I do use some oil in cooking, I can get down with oil-free recipes too. 

And finally, I loved her Curry Dill Sauce (with a carrot base!) to top grain/green/bean bowls.

There is a cost for the course, but if you're looking to start eating healthfully or incorporating raw foods, it's definitely worth it! And you can watch the videos over and over. The ebooks are also yours to keep. I'll be using her sauce formula in my kitchen for years to come!

Imagine Vegan Cafe's New Mac & Cheese!

Imagine Vegan Cafe has been branching out beyond the restaurant with new products that are sold in stores for a couple years now. You can buy their vegan ranch, "honey" mustard, spinach dip, and chess bars in Memphis grocery stores, and the dressings are in vegan-friendly shops all over the country! And now they've added a new store product, Mac & Cheese!!!

At the restaurant, you can order three kinds of mac — cheddar, white cheese, or mixed mac (that's cheddar and white mixed together) — but this new version sold in stores is a different recipe that's less perishable, so stores can keep it in stock a little longer. Kristie, the owner of Imagine, let me try a free sample, and I AM SOLD, Y'ALL.

This new mac is so creamy! And you get a pretty big portion in a box. It could make two servings as a side, but I ate it all as my main dish with a small salad on the side. It's solid when cold, but after a couple minutes in the microwave, it get super creamy. It reminds me a little of that awesome Amy's frozen vegan mac (probably because of the cute plastic tray), but this version has a cheese sauce based from Violife rather than the Daiya in Amy's mac. And Violife is the best cheese!

I mean, would you just take a look at that? DREAMY.

If you're in Memphis, you can find the mac at Curb Market, Super Lo, High Point Grocery, and Miss Cordelia's or in North Mississippi at Coffee Central and Coffee Central Squared. The dressings are available at small vegan-friendly markets across the country and on Vegan Essentials (or you can order on Imagine's website)!

Bluff City Vegan Eats: Da Guilty Vegan

Memphis has a new vegan food truck! Da Guilty Vegan is a Black-owned food truck specializing in vegan fried chick'n sandwiches. They started serving in mid-February, and I've been trying to catch them ever since! I finally got to try their food last night!

I ordered the Nashville Hot Chick'n Sandwich. This has breaded and fried vegan chick'n topped with coleslaw, pickles, and vegan ranch. Y'all. OH. MY. GAWD. It was every bit as delicious as it looks. The chick'n was so tender, and the breading was light and crispy.

I couldn't decide between fries or a salad on the side, but since the truck is called Da GUILTY Vegan, I figured I should probably just go all in and eat whatever I wanted. You can make it a combo by adding a drink for 50 cents, and they had my favorite Dr. Zevia cola, so I did that!

The concept is super-fun. There's a Guilty Menu and an Innocent Menu. The Guilty Menu has several fried chick'n sandwiches, a Memphis BBQ sandwich, an Impossible burger, a Beyond brat, and vegan chick'n tenders. The Innocent Menu has fried chick'n salads or a classic green salad. I've seen the chick'n salads on their IG page, and they look really good, so I'll try that soon. 

When you order, Chef Derek Richardson asks if you're vegan or not. And if you are, he'll bang the gavel for you!

Da Guilty Vegan moves around town, but they're most often located at the corner of Walnut Grove and Houston Levee in Cordova. That's quite a drive from my Midtown house, so I was lucky to catch them downtown last night in Harbor Town. You can follow their IG to see where they'll be!

Tofu Pho & Bowls, Bowls, Bowls

Paul and I have been craving Pho Binh's Tofu Pho for weeks! Pho Binh (Memphis' BEST Vietnamese restaurant) was closed for a couple months due to COVID, and when they reopened, everyone was so excited that their takeout business was swamped. We tried to order tofu pho a couple weeks ago, but they were fresh out of pho. But then last Saturday, we scored Tofu Pho! 

They were super-busy, and the takeout wait was about an hour. But it was so worth it. We got their pho and an order of Tofu Spring Rolls. When we arrived to pick up the food, they hooked us up with an extra couple orders of spring rolls that someone had called in and never picked up. Lucky day!

Here's a quick and tasty Grain/Green/Bean Bowl with quinoa, white beans, and collards. I like to cook my quinoa in veggie broth for lots of flavor, and then I add the greens and beans when the grains are almost done. One pot meal! 

Last night, I had another kind of grain/green/bean bowl, but this one had brown rice, lentils, roasted acorn squash, and steamed brussels. You know, I had no idea until a few weeks ago that you can buy frozen brussels sprouts? Life-changing! Also, check out this cool bowl holder (under the yellow bowl) that my friend Misti gave me! It's like a potholder, but it's bowl shaped, so you can grab hot bowls without burning your hand. Where has this been all my life?

And finally, here's a Tofu & Broccoli Stir-fry. I marinated the tofu in tamari and vegan chicken broth, and I made an easy stir-fry sauce with tamari, agave, and cornstarch. 

Who's ready for daylight savings time to end this weekend?! Or as I like to call it "natural light for food photos season"!

Vegan Reubens, Blueberry Scones, & Lady Gaga Oreos!

Last Wednesday, I'd planned to try out a new vegan food truck, but they posted that morning that they would be closed due to an unexpected issue. But I was still craving vegan junk food! So I went to Imagine Vegan Cafe and ordered the Reuben and Garlic Kale to go. This has plant-based salami with their housemade reuben sauce and kraut. The kale was just to make me feel better about myself.

On Friday morning, I made the Blueberry Scones from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook. These are made with whole wheat flour and oats, and they're pretty healthy for scones. I had some for breakfast Friday morning and some before my Saturday run and Sunday trail race.

This morning, I had some Oatly Strawberry Yogurt with fresh berries, locally made granola, and some keto granola that my dad made (it's just nuts and coconut with no oats). 

And finally, check out these Lady Gaga Oreos! My friend Susan left them on my porch as a fun little surprise. They're just vanilla Oreos, but they're way prettier! I'm so glad Oreos are vegan.

Switching to a Vegan (Dog) Diet!

I've finally decided to put our rescued pit bull Maynard on a vegan diet! When we first took him in in 2012, we had another dog (Datsun) and six cats, and I just couldn't afford to feed the dogs a vegan diet. Then, Datsun passed in 2016, and I just kept Maynard on the non-vegan kibble they'd been eating. But in the past year or so, I've noticed his gas gotten much worse. It may just be that, with working from home during the pandemic, I have far more opportunities to smell (and hear!) his farts. But either way, I knew he can't be comfortable with all that gas.
I foolishly decided to try the grain-free, high-protein foods that some swear are best for dogs. Bad idea! Those foods made the gas much worse (and much smellier) and resulted in diarrhea (even after slowly easing him into new food). So then, a few weeks ago, I pulled my Vegan Dog Food book off the shelf and baked Maynard a vegan casserole.

He loved this very unappetizing-looking casserole of barley, lentils, and whole wheat flour! It lasted for a few days of meals, and guess what? No gas! No diarrhea! 

Next, I tried another recipe with beans, brown rice, and pumpkin puree. He loved that too. In fact, rather than running straight to the cat bowls to finish what they left behind (his usual routine), he ran to this bowl first! And again, no digestive issues.

I've been feeding him home-cooked meals for three weeks now, and it's going great! But after reading up on vegan dog diets, I've learned that it's best to either supplement home-cooked meals with vegan dog vitamins (like VegeDog) or include some vegan kibble to make sure they're getting all the necessary nutrients.

I just ordered a small bag of V-Dog to try! He loves it, and so far, so good. I did have Datsun on V-Dog for a while (before Maynard came along), but back then, I just couldn't afford to keep feeding with that.  It's quite a bit more expensive that storebought dog food, and at the time, I just didn't have the funds. Datsun did well on it though! I ordered the small Mini Bites to test with, but if he does well on this food, I'll order a big 30-pound bag of the kibble for big dogs.
It feels good to know that I'm supporting vegan companies now, and I'm not feeding my dog all the gross 4D meat that's in most non-vegan dog food. It's also nice to know that my household is a little more cruelty-free than before. Now I just need to get Paul on a vegan diet. Ha! I don't believe it's safe to put cats on vegan diets though, so unfortunately, our three cats are still contributing to factory farm cruelty. Little carnivores!

Tater Soup, Tacos, & Carrot Pants

Last Friday, I made the Garlicky Rosemary Potato Soup from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook, and I'm happy to report that picky Paul loved it and went back for seconds. When we eat together, which isn't that often since we like very different things, I stick to a few standards I know he'll eat. But this was a new one to add to that list! It's hard to go wrong with potato soup. This also has white beans, cashew cream, rosemary, and garlic.

I topped my bowl with some roasted chickpeas that my dad made, and I had some avocado toast on the side.

Last night was Taco Tuesday! I've been really into whole food, plant-based tacos lately, so these have red beans, corn, and kale, plus some avocado and tomatillo salsa. Oh, and there's Follow Your Heart vegan shreds under the veggies. I find that the FYH cheese doesn't melt well on tacos, so I put the hot toppings on top of the cheese to help it melt.

Last night at Sprouts, I found two pair of carrot pants! One appears to be male. HA! I stuck them both in my cart because I didn't have the heart to separate them. 
I also found these Goldenberries at Sprouts! They were 99 cents for a container (the price sign said that was $4 off the regular price), so I had to try them. I've never seen goldenberries, but they come in husks like little tomatillos. They're tasty but kind of weird. Like a very sweet and slightly sour tomato that's more fruity.

Dumplings, Hamantash, & Gas Station Indian Food

Last Saturday, LuLu's at the Cooper-Young Farmer's Market was selling handmade Cabbage & Carrot Dumplings. They were sold five to a container, so I just bought one serving. I had them for dinner last night, and WOW! These were stuffed with locally grown cabbage, carrots, and onions. I steamed them and then pan-fried and topped with a little Dijon-agave-tamari sauce. I had some kale on the side. I didn't want this meal to end.

LuLu's was also selling Hamantash since Purim just passed. I am not Jewish, but I love a good holiday! One was stuffed with chocolate sesame paste, and the other was stuffed with apricot jam. Both were delicious, but I think the chocolate was my fave.

Speaking of dumplings, I ordered the Mandu Guk from Crazy Noodle on Saturday night. Paul and I really wanted tofu pho from Pho Binh, but they were OUT OF PHO! Must have been a busy day for them. Luckily, Crazy Noodle was open, so I ordered my usual there. This soup has Korean rice cakes and veggie-stuffed dumplings, and it's the best.

And finally, here's some Indian food from a gas station! Paul sold his second car to a friend here in Memphis, but he needed to get back to Nashville on Sunday night for work on Monday. So his dad and I met halfway, so Paul could get home. Halfway between Memphis and Nashville is Cedar Grove, TN, home of Punjabi Dhaba (an Indian restaurant in a truck stop at exit 101). I got Aloo Gobi and Samosa and ate half in my car in the truck stop lot. And then I had the rest the next day for lunch. Beats my usual road trip meals from Burger King, Taco Bell, or Subway!

Injera, Granola, & Power Pancakes!

I've been craving Ethiopian food for several weeks, and I finally satisfied that craving last Thursday with some takeout from Abyssinia. I got the Veggie Combo Platter, which has enough food for 2-3 meals. And I added extra injera to my order because I love the stuff so much! Here's half of what was in the takeout box — several wats (Ethiopian lentil stews), sauteed cabbage, potatoes with carrots, collards, lentil salad, beet salad, potato salad, and green salad. 

Last time I ordered takeout from Abyssinia, I divided the order into three meals, which was a better idea. It was really too much food for two meals, and I was more stuffed than I wanted to be after eating all this. But it was sooooo good.

I had two pieces of injera leftover, so on Saturday, I whipped up a quick pre-run breakfast of Injera Fitfit from Teff Love. This simple Ethiopian breakfast dish is made with bits of torn injera and cooked onions soaked in a spicy berbere-infused sauce. Did it make me run fast like the Ethiopian elite runners? No, but it was sure was tasty. 

My dad made me some Keto Granola (pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut), and I mixed that with some locally made Gin Lot non-keto granola (made with oats), plus blueberries and oatmilk. This was a nice change for breakfast! It's been awhile since I've had granola with milk.

On Sunday, my friend Megan and I ran a very muddy 10K trail race at Shelby Farms. It was a noon race, so I wanted something a little heavier than my usual pre-race bagel. I made the Buckwheat & Pinole Chia Pancakes from the original No Meat Athlete book (not the cookbook) with a side of Beyond Sausage. These pancakes were inspired by the Tarahumara people of Mexico, who eat pinole before their long-distance runs. They're really good and super-healthy with buckwheat flour, cornmeal, chia seeds, and maple.