I have a new favorite cookbook! I've long been a fan of Carleigh Bodrug's Plant You book, but her brand-new book, Scrappy Cooking, has become an instant fave. The book dropped in April, and it's quite a bit thicker than her original book. The focus is on sustainable vegan recipes that help you use up produce and other foods before they go bad. She also includes a number of recipes to utilize the stuff you'd normally throw away, like onion peels and lemon peels. I've already read the full book cover to cover, like a novel. I enjoy reading recipes, but I also loved all of the tips scattered thr ..read more

My mama turned 70 this past Saturday, so I made a quick trip to Arkansas on Thursday/Friday to celebrate. My mom wanted to keep dinner simple, so she grilled some Impossible Burgers while my dad made homemade French Fries in the deep fryer. Can't go wrong with birthday burgers! I spent the night Thursday, so we had a nice brunch on Friday morning after I wrapped up my work (I'm off work at 9:30 a.m. on Fridays). Mama made a Vegan Breakfast Casserole with Just Egg, Impossible sausage, biscuits, and gravy. And she made the best homemade Hash Browns on the side! It's been years since I've those ..read more

A couple weeks ago, some friends from the Memphis Hash House Harriers hosted their annual crawfish boil, and you'd think there wouldn't be much there for me to eat. But there was! The hosts did a separate veggie boil for the vegans with potatoes, brussels, green beans, mushrooms, and pineapple (yes, seems odd mixed with Cajun spices, but it worked!). Plus, the red beans and rice that everyone ate was vegan! Here's a tasty curry from Isa Does It! I made the Bhindi Masala with blackeyed peas, okra, and a thick curry sauce, served over basmati rice and topped with unsweetened yogurt. With every ..read more

Back in December, I posted a sad goodbye to Memphis' most-beloved Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Binh. After 20 years, the family who owned this very vegan-friendly spot decided to call it quits, as the mother was ready to retire. When they posted about their closing, Memphis had a meltdown, and in their last two days — one of which was Christmas Eve — they were slammed with orders. We all thought we were saying goodbye to Pho Binh's famous lemongrass tofu forever. But as customers picked up their last takeout orders, Pho Binh family members assured us that they were sharing their recipes with the ..read more

Slider Inn is one of my favorite places for vegan options, and they've recently added another vegan item to their already-big menu. These Buffalo Chicken Sliders with vegan cheese are SO GOOD. I tried them recently, and since it was brunch time, they offered the option of hash browns on the side instead of fries. It was my first time trying those, and they were really tasty. My hasher friends Will and Grace hosted a backyard barbecue at their house last Friday, and even though they're not vegan, they made sure to have lots of veg options. Grace grilled Beyond Burgers and even had vegan cheese ..read more

Molly's La Casita has been around for ages, and it's long been a favorite spot of mine for a margarita. But I recently discovered their new-ish, massive vegan menu. I say "new-ish," because they added vegan options a couple years ago, but the options have grown. And now there's a full page of vegan items, including these Impossible Enchiladas! I went there a couple weeks ago with some friends and finally explored that big menu. They also have Impossible chalupas, a vegan taco salad with Impossible meat and vegan cheese, a plant-based pork taco dinner, Impossible burritos, veggie-stuffed enchi ..read more

I made another winner from Tabitha Brown's Cooking from the Spirit book last week. These Sweet Potato Avocado Toasts use baked sweet potato slices in place of bread, and they're topped with avocado, pico de gallo, pumpkin seeds, and Kelly's lemon pepper parm. Tab uses Kelly's in a lot of her recipes, and it's always a staple in my pantry. Here's an easy and not-very-pretty Just Egg Omelet. I was out of spray oil, so I used some olive oil instead and it didn't cover the pan quite as well as spray oil. So the veggie and Chao cheese-stuffed omelet came out looking a little like scrambled eggs. S ..read more

The Spring Equinox, also called Ostara, was Tuesday, and it's a holiday traditionally celebrated with eggs. But that's a no-go for me. Thankfully, Just Egg is back on shelves after a brief shortage. So, I made the Blue Cheese & Mushroom Quiche from the Llewelyn's Witches' Datebook Calendar, but I subbed Just Egg for the eggs and Violife Feta for the blue cheese. I have purchased a vegan blue cheese at Sprouts before, but they were out. Still, I think this Violife feta is closer to the crumbly texture of dairy blue cheese, so it was probably better here anyway. I made a homemade pie crust ..read more

I got a Llewelyn's Witches' Datebook Calendar for Christmas, and it has fun and seasonal recipes every month. For February, there was a White Bean & Bacon Soup that wasn't vegan. But it was super-simple to veganize using Lightlife Smart Bacon. I made this soup in the Crock Pot, and it hit the spot on a chilly February night. I also baked a fresh sourdough loaf that day. Nothing beats beans and bread. Speaking of beans, I made these Jerk Kidney Beans from the No Meat Athlete Cookbook last week and served them with brown rice and steamed kale. These were just canned beans cooked with tomato ..read more

Memphis is now home to a fully vegan cheese and wine shop! Vegan cheese-maker Julie Piatt (who is married to ultra-athlete/podcaster Rich Roll) moved her SriMu cheese shop into Crosstown Concourse several months ago, but it took a long time for the space to get its license to serve alcohol. They've been in production for months, and anyone could go in and buy wheels of cashew cheese to take home. But now they're serving vegan charcuterie boards, paired with wines. Some vegan ladies and I met up there on Friday night to check it out! Look at these beautiful boards!  We selected two small ..read more