Nashville VegFest!

I spent the weekend at the second annual Nashville VegFest, where I did a cooking demo and signed copies of my cookbook, Cookin' Crunk. It was loads of fun, and the turnout for the two-day fest was massive. Here's my recap.

When I arrived on Friday night, Paul and I joined Ellen Jaffe Jones (a fellow Book Publishing Company cookbook author) for a Gentle Barn fundraising dinner in nearby Arrington, Tennessee. You can read all about that dinner (and meet Adeline the rescue turkey) in last night's post. Ellen and I were sharing one half of an Air B&B duplex, and our publisher was on the other side. Our publisher — Book Publishing Company — is super-awesome, and they always find us lodging with a full kitchen so we can do any demo prep needed. This year, Ellen was speaking (not demo-ing), so I had the run of the kitchen myself.

I did a little prep on Friday night, since my demo was bright and early on Saturday morning! Here's the line-up of Saturday speakers (my name is misspelled but whatevs!).

I made my BBQ Tempeh & Carrot Sandwich mix with Creamy Poppyseed Coleslaw (served with spoons rather than bread because that's easier for samples), and I made some Tofu Eggless Olive Salad. I didn't get any demo pics since Paul couldn't come to the fest on Saturday (I usually make him play photographer). My cousin Tiffaney lives in Nashville, and she's vegan too. She came out to my demo, which is awesome because it's been a few years since I've seen her!

Here's me and Ellen, pimping our books at the Book Publishing Company table. Ellen's latest book is Vegan Fitness for Mortals. In her talk on Sunday, she held a plank contest, challenging the audience to hold a plank position longer than her. I'm pretty sure she won that contest with a record of more than six minutes!

Speaking of fitness, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke's booth was right next to ours. This guy is so awesome! He was a speaker as well! Sadly, I missed his talk because I needed to stay at the Book Pub Co table for awhile.

After my demo on Saturday, I was starving. There were samples all over the fest, but I needed a solid meal. So I opted for an Ethiopian Platter from Amy's Ethiopian. They were selling these at the fest. SO GOOD. Pretty sure injera and wats are my fave foods.

After lunch, I grabbed some dessert from the Revolution Gelato booth. All-vegan gelato!

I got Cardamom Kiss with Salted Bourbon Caramel. Mmmmmmm.

Adeline was at the fest too! She wandered around greeting people all day Saturday and Sunday.

Since I wasn't speaking on Sunday, my day was much more relaxed. Paul wasn't able to make it to the fest on Saturday because he had to work. But he was there Sunday!

We caught Gene Baur's talk first thing Sunday morning! The Farm Sanctuary founder is such an inspiration. I actually got to chat with Gene for a good couple hours at dinner on Saturday night (but more on that in tomorrow's post!).

Paul and I spent most of Sunday at the Book Pub Co table, where Ellen and I continued to sign books!

I met Victoria Moran of Main Street Vegan at the fest. She was a speaker as well, and she was so very sweet!

Mid-morning snack on Sunday was more gelato! This time, I went with Vanilla Bean Gelato and Hot Fudge.

For lunch on Sunday, I waited in a very long line for tacos from Succulent Vegan Tacos. Sadly, while I was in line, they sold out of seitan tacos and potato tacos.

But they still had Tofu Scramble Tacos and Chipotle Carrot Black Bean Tacos. Both very good! Paul got BBQ Sliders from the Sunflower Cafe booth, and I ate half of one of those too.

We had a great time, and I brought home way too many souvenirs — new tees and stickers from Herbivore and Compassion Co., I Love Tofu running shorts from Action for Animals, plant meats from No Evil Foods, Hempeh from Smiling Hara. Yay for Nashville VegFest! Here are my new running shorts, put to the test last night at an I Love Juice Bar fun run.

Tomorrow, I'll share pics of what I ate outside the festival!

The Gentle Barn Fundraiser Dinner

I had an AMAZING time at Nashville VegFest, and I will share pics and stories from the two-day festival tomorrow! Tonight's post is all about the Gentle Barn fundraiser dinner that was held in Nashville on Friday night, the evening before the festival.

The Gentle Barn is an animal sanctuary with locations in Santa Clarita, California, and Knoxville, Tennessee. The Tennessee location is clear across the state from my home in Memphis, so I've never visited, but it's certainly on my bucket list. Last week, the Gentle Barn folks were transporting a "cuddle turkey" named Adeline from their California facility to their Tennessee place. The Tennessee location was lacking a super-friendly turkey, and since cuddling a turkey is such a magical experience, they wanted to transfer Adeline there. Adeline was rescued from Thanksgiving a few years ago and has been living at the California Gentle Barn ever since.

The tour made several stops across the country, including at Imagine Vegan Cafe in Memphis. But that was on the same day as the fundraiser in Nashville, and I was already on the road. Thankfully, I got plenty of Adeline time later that evening at the dinner!

I also got to chat with Ellie Laks, the founder of Gentle Barn, who accompanied Adeline. Ellie was also a speaker at the VegFest, and she went on right before me Saturday morning.

The VegFest folks comped fundraiser dinner tickets (they were amazingly generous!) for the speakers, and Paul purchased a ticket so he could be my date.

The dinner was held in a clubhouse at the gated King's Chapel community in Arrington, a suburb outside Nashville. When we arrived, we were greeted by an awesome appetizer spread of Punk Rawk Labs Cheese and Crackers.

And Vegan Sausage Skewers.

And Spicy Harissa Hummus and Pita.

Paul had fun playing with his food.

There was an open bar, and even though I'm more of a beer/wine girl, I couldn't resist trying Adeline's signature cocktail, the Green Adeline. It had coconut rum and Midori melon liqueur, and it was actually really good. Not too sweet, which is typically my problem with cocktails. After one, though, I switched to beer.

Before dinner, everyone mingled and listened to the band. The whole time, Adeline was wandering around, greeting everyone. She was so friendly, and she made the cutest little turkey noises.

And then it was time to eat! Our first course was a Mixed Green Salad with Craisins, Almonds, & Blueberry-Peach Vinaigrette.

The soup was Chilled Avocado, Pea, & Mint. Very good. Refreshing.

Of course, the entree at a dinner honoring a turkey had to involve Field Roast! We had Celebration Roast with White Wine-Lemon-Thyme Mushrooms, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Tricolored Carrots, Brussels Sprouts, and Haricot Vert. Even Paul, my non-vegan partner, loved this dish! He ate all of his Field Roast and most of his veggies!

Dessert was an Almond Risotto Cake with Grilled Pineapple Coulis & Fresh Berries. I've never had anything like this, but it was very tasty. Not too sweet. It was almost like a pressed cake of rice pudding.

There was a silent auction as well, and Paul loves a good auction. He can't stand to be out-bid, and he'll typically end up spending way too much just for the sake of winning. But it all goes to a good cause so ... Anyway, he bid on this awesome painted horse quilt as a gift for me while I wasn't looking! And he won! It's now hanging in the bedroom.

Okay, I'll be back tomorrow with a VegFest recap!

The First Mess Cookbook

As much as I adore my vegan junk food snacks and processed plant meats, I'm also all about balance. And sometimes, I crave nothing more than hearty, whole foods-based meals that are nourishing and complete. But it's easy to fall into health food ruts that are limited to the same-old bean and grain bowls and salads.

That's why cookbooks like The First Mess Cookbook: Vibrant Plant-Based Recipes to Eat Well Through the Seasons are so important. They help break me out of predictable patterns and make healthy eating more fun! I received a review copy of Laura Wright's new book, inspired by her blog of the same name. And I think I'm in love.

Flipping through this book, I seriously want to make every thing. EVERY. SINGLE. THING. All of her recipes are made with seasonal produce, nuts, and wholesome grains. And they all sound and look very gourmet in the full-color pictures, but the recipe instructions are so simple. Laura makes it clear that you can make delicious, healthy meals that seem very fancy but are actually fairly no-fuss.

One of those meals is these Tandoori-Rubbed Portabellos with Cool Cilantro Sauce. 

I'm not typically one to gravitate toward mushroom recipes in cookbooks. Especially portabellos. As a vegan, I think I've just been burned out on portabellos as stand-ins for burgers at, like, every single non-vegan restaurant ever. But this recipe just sounded so good! Maybe it was the tandoori spice that drew me in. Maybe it was the cool cilantro sauce. Whatever the case, this was delicious and way better than most preparations I've tried with portabellos.

The mushrooms were rubbed with a spicy, Indian-inspired seasoning and then grilled on my indoor, countertop grill. Each bite is dipped into this creamy, garlicky, green cilantro sauce that's made with raw sunflower seeds and fresh herbs. Such a great combo! The cilantro sauce really adds a complex richness to the juicy, charred mushrooms.

I was also drawn to the recipe for Broccoli Caesar with Smoky Tempeh Bits because it just sounded so interesting!

Rather than use the traditional romaine lettuce, this caesar has lightly steamed broccoli florets. They're tossed with a cashew-based caesar dressing and tempeh bits that are made bacony with smoked paprika and other spices. It's so simple, and yet the flavor is so unique. The creaminess of the dressing coats all the little broccoli flowers, and it's just perfect. This would make a great side salad, but I had a big ole bowl on its own for dinner.

I'll be making more recipes from this book soon for sure! I've bookmarked about a million things, especially from the breakfast chapter. There's a recipe for a homemade Vanilla Coconut Coffee Creamer using coconut milk and dates and a Miso/Turmeric Tofu Scramble on my list. From the soup chapter, the Bloody Caesar Gazpacho (inspired by the Canadian Bloody Caesar brunch drink, like our Bloody Mary) with tomatoes, hot sauce, vegan Worcestershire, and soaked raw almonds (for creaminess).

You won't find any boring old green salads in the salad chapter. Instead, you'll find the Caramelized Onion Potato Salad, the Brussels Sprouts Salad with Lime and Miso, and the Pepperoncini Lentil Crunch Salad. Other meals I can't wait to try: BBQ Mushroom Toasts, Crispy Avocado Tacos, and Burrito-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.

The dessert recipes are made with wholesome ingredients, so they're healthy but yet still decadent and inspired. I've got my eye on the No-Bake Salted Peanut Butter Cookies (made with almonds, peanut butter, and dates) and the Beet Velvet Slice with Tangy Citrus Frosting (a raw cake made with almond meal, dates, and coconut oil).

Stuff I Ate

It's only been a week since my last random meal round-up, but y'all, I have eaten a LOT of stuff this week. So here goes!

We'll start with breakfast! The best-ever breakfast award goes to this FitQuick Breakfast Pizza Waffle! I had planned to have one of these gluten-free FitQuick pizza protein waffles with marinara after a run a couple days ago. That's how I typically eat them, but while on my run, I had a vision of breakfast pizza. So that happened. Pizza-flavored waffle topped with scrambled Follow Your Heart Vegan Egg, Daiya cheddar, and salsa. Perfection.

I'm still on my Dave's Bagels kick! LOVE these Memphis-made bagels. This morning, I had an Everything Bagel with Crumbled Tofu, Flax Oil, and Ketchup. This sounds weird as hell, but it's an idea based off the Brown Rice Breakfast recipe from the How It All Vegan cookbook. In that recipe, you mix plain, crumbled tofu with brown rice and use it as a toast topping. And then you spray it with Bragg's and drizzle with flax oil and ketchup. I did the same thing here minus the rice because I figured the bagel was carby enough. I'll be eating it this new way from now on! Because bagels.

One day last week, I had a Plain Bagel with Fresh Herb Cream Cheese. I picked some basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley from my front porch herb garden and mixed it into Daiya plain cream cheese with a little grated raw garlic. Very springy!

The awesome folks at Vegan Proteins always throw in a small treat with your order! They included a Badass Power Cookie in my last FitQuick order. This healthy spirulina cookie has 11 grams of protein! I enjoyed it on Saturday after my 6-mile run. On the side - glass of almond-cashew milk in an adorable Hello Kitty cup that I've had since I was a kid.

I've been dining out a lot lately. But I did make this quick meal at home — Gardein Chipotle Lime Vegan Chicken, Mashed Garlic Potatoes with Gravy, & Steamed Asparagus. I prepared the Gardein in my air fryer, and it was all crispy just like it'd been deep-fried! Also, the gravy was from a packet of Road's End Organics (got a bunch of this gravy on clearance at Kroger). That asparagus was on sale for 99 cents a bunch. Yay Spring! Fun fact: The Hampton Creek Chipotle Just Mayo on those strips expired a year ago! And it's still good!

I had a BOGO coupon for Zaka Bowl, so I grabbed two bowls last Thursday — one for dinner to enjoy there and the other for lunch the next day. My dinner bowl had zoodles, baked tofu, chickpeas, roasted broccoli and carrots, corn, cherry tomatoes, and guac. Dressed with ginger lime vinaigrette and a teensy bit of sriracha BBQ sauce.

My lunch bowl — eaten at my desk the next day — had brown rice, baked tofu, roasted brussels, cinnamon sweet potatoes, roasted beets, cherry tomatoes, edamame, and Zaka sauce (like a sriracha aioli). I love these build-your-own bowls from Zaka Bowl!

My dad's birthday was Saturday, and he wanted to eat at Pancho's in West Memphis. My parents and I have been eating there since I was a kid, and we'd make the hour drive there from my hometown. It's just down the road from me now, but they still have an hour drive. We met up there. The menu isn't very vegan-friendly, but I've found one thing I can get. It doesn't look great here, but I promise it's delicious. Mexican Pizza with Spinach, hold the cheese, add guac and salsa. The flour tortillas on this pizza are deep-fried and magical.

Paul and I grabbed takeout from Crazy Noodle on Sunday night. I got the Vegetarian Crazy Bibim Noodle. This is basically a bibimbap with noodles instead of rice. It has tofu, mushrooms, kimchi, iceberg lettuce, turnip, zucchini, bean sprouts, and carrots. I love the combination of hot and cold toppings!

And Paul and I got dinner at Mama Gaia on Monday night. That's the new vegetarian, all-organic restaurant in Crosstown Concourse. I got the Cena Pita (with quinoa patties, sauteed mushrooms, and asparagus).

And a bowl of Vegetable Soup! So good! I always feel so healthy and light when I eat at Mama Gaia. So glad this place is a block from my office and my home.

Speaking of Crosstown Concourse, the Church Health YMCA just opened there last week. I'm not a member (YET), but they were having some test classes this week, so I popped by last night with a guest pass for a Les Mills BODYPUMP class. Wow! That was tough. I'm sore today, and I'm sure it will be worse tomorrow. Afterward, I knew I needed lots of protein for muscle recovery, so I stopped by Imagine Vegan Cafe for a takeout order of Red Beans & Rice with Vegan Sausage. 

Come See Me at Nashville VegFest! Plus a Wunderbar Announcement!

I'm so stoked to have been invited to demo at the second annual Nashville VegFest this weekend! I know many Vegan Crunk readers live nowhere near Nashville, but if you're in Tennessee, come see me! If you're not local, just scroll down for an announcement (and special offer!) about my new fave bars by Wunderbar.

As for Nashville, I'm so honored to be included on a speaker lineup that also includes Gene Baur of Farm Sanctuary, Victoria Moran of Main Street Vegan, vegan bodybuilder Robert Cheeke, fellow cookbook author/vegan fitness warrior Ellen Jaffe Jones, Gentle Barn founder Ellie Lakes, and so many rad others.

I didn't make it to their inaugural festival last year (Nashville is about 3 1/2 hours away from Memphis), but I heard it was a great success. And this one looks to be even bigger and better. There are so many local and regional food vendors and retail vendors lined up (full list here). Plus, there are yoga classes all day Saturday and Sunday! I'll be spending most of my days at the Book Publishing Company table signing books, but I hope to sneak into a few talks and check out the vendors. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, April 8th and 9th at the Nashville Fairgrounds. Tickets are $10 for a day, and you can find more info here. Of course, I'll be taking lots of pics, and I'll share them all when I return!

I'll be demo-ing three recipes from Cookin' Crunk, and I always practice a few days before the event (even though I've made these same recipes a million times). I made this BBQ Tempeh & Carrot Sandwich for lunch yesterday since I'll be showing and sampling both the BBQ and slaw recipes. I'll also be making some Tofu Eggless Olive Salad.

There's also a Gentle Barn animal sanctuary fund-raiser in Arrington, just outside Nashville, on Friday night. Gentle Barn turkey Adeline will make an appearance, and there's a gourmet vegan dinner, cocktails, and live music. I'll be there as well!

Finally, I wanted to let y'all know about a Kickstarter for Wunderbar. I blogged about these awesome fruit and nut bars a couple weeks back. They're lovingly handmade by Jen Liang using farm-fresh, real food ingredients, and they're totally free of additives. And they're hands-down the best bars I've had. Also, they're gorgeous. Would you just look these? I mean, just look at them!

From Wunderbar

Anyway, Jen just launched her Kickstarter campaign to fund her use of a commercial kitchen space to grow her business. She currently sells the bars on her website, but she's in talks with a few retailers and needs to use the kitchen more often, and that costs more money. If you back the campaign at $15 or more, you'll get a box of Wunderbars as a reward (how many depends on the amount you pledge). AND, as a BONUS for awesome Vegan Crunk readers, Jen is offering 2 bonus free bars added on to your reward if you message Jen on Kickstarter and mention Vegan Crunk!

Sunup Green Coffee

I'm a BIG coffee drinker. Like I cannot function without it. Once, I tried a 28-day cleanse that required giving up coffee (as well as booze, sugar, gluten, and processed food). I was fine without the alcohol, bread, and sweets (okay, maybe not fine, but I could deal). But I had a number of emotional breakdowns from the lack of coffee. At that point, I vowed NEVER AGAIN. Since then, when I've done cleanses or reset plans, I've always included coffee in my plan.

That said, sometimes, on the weekends — especially after a long run — it can be 1 or 2 p.m. before I'm getting around to my morning coffee. I don't drink coffee before runs because I fear I'll have to stop and pee. Anyway, a hot cup of coffee seems less appealing to me later in the day. I need the caffeine, but I'd rather have something cold.

Sure, I could just make iced coffee. But lately, I've been digging this Sunup Green Coffee, enjoyed cold over ice or straight from the bottle.

Sunup sent me a box of sample bottles of their tea-style drink made from unroasted coffee beans. I'd had green coffee extract in foods before, but I'd never drank straight green coffee. I'll admit that it was a little weird at first.

The drink is sweetened with cane sugar, so it's sufficiently sweet. But the unroasted flavor is quite different from how my usual roasted morning joe tastes. It's hard to explain the flavor, but I'd say it has a brightness, almost an unripe flavor. And it's slightly bitter. I know those descriptors don't make it sound appealing, but it works. The sweetness from the cane sugar ties it all together, and you end up with a drink that tastes more like iced tea than smoky, roasted coffee. It goes down smoothly and feels a little lighter on the tummy.

Why green coffee? Well, the Sunup folks tout the natural antioxidants (called polyphenols) and the lower acidity. And since it's unroasted, there's no need to add preservatives or additives. As for the caffeine content (that's what REALLY matters to me), they say each bottle has the same caffeine as a large iced, roasted coffee.

It looks like you can only buy the bottles in stores in the New York City area, but you can order six-packs and 12-packs on the Sunup website. If you're a coffee drinker who sometimes likes to mix it up, I'd recommend giving it a try!

The Neat Egg

As a long-time vegan, I'm often surprised when non-vegans ask, "So what do you sub for eggs in baking?" It's easy to forget that eggs are such a staple in non-vegan cooking and baking. But they still are, and most people don't realize that eggs are completely unnecessary! There are about a million ways to sub for eggs — flaxseed, silken tofu, bananas, applesauce, the vinegar/baking soda trick, powdered egg replacers, aquafaba. 

The powdered egg replacers are all slightly different, and they work in different ways. But in my experience, they all work pretty well. Same goes for The Neat Egg, a powdered replacer made from chia seeds and garbanzo beans. 

Neat sent me a couple of their products to review (their vegan meat substitute and their egg replacer). I tried the egg replacer this weekend, and I'll be sampling the meat sub later. So I'll review these in two different posts. My dad's 63rd birthday is Monday, so I used The Neat Egg this weekend in some birthday cupcakes! He requested Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes, so that's what he got!

I typically use the chocolate cupcake recipe in Isa's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It's a no-fail recipe that uses the vinegar/baking soda egg trick. But since I wanted to see how The Neat Egg would work, I picked a non-vegan cupcake recipe online and subbed it out. I went with this recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes on Gimme Some Oven.

The base is a simple chocolate cupcake, and the frosting is made with a ton of peanut butter, a little vegan butter, and some powdered sugar. The Gimme Some Oven recipe suggests adding mini peanut butter cups inside the cakes, but my last experience with added chopped candy bars to cupcakes didn't turn out so well. The candy sunk to the bottom, and the cakes were all droopy. So instead, I chopped up some Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (yes, they're vegan despite what the package says) and sprinkled those on top.

The Neat Egg is a fine powder that looks like this.

One tablespoon of The Neat Egg mixed with two tablespoons of water equals one egg. It gets thick and eggy, just like flax eggs. And it worked beautifully in the cakes. They rose well, had a moist texture, and held together. But I do have one small complaint. Because The Neat Egg is made with garbanzos, it gave the cake the slightest gluten-free flavor despite the fact that this wasn't gluten-free. You know that chickpea flour taste? It's there.

Anyway, it was only noticeable before the cake was frosted. Once the sweet peanut butter was spread atop the cakes, that overpowered any beany-ness. I'd definitely recommend using this in something that will either be frosted or in a baked good that should taste a little wholesome, like a banana bread or a bran muffin.

If you want to make this recipe using The Neat Egg, here's the link. My vegan substitutions included using The Neat Egg equal to 2 eggs, using almond milk with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in place of the buttermilk, and using Earth Balance and almond milk in place of the butter and heavy cream in the frosting. Also, I didn't use mini PB cups inside the cakes, but Justin's does make a vegan mini cup if you want to try it!