Home-made Vegan Soul Food Plate

I had the opportunity to cook myself some good home-made soul food, vegan style. I love soul food! Look at this plate of deep south comfort food. I also had sweet iced tea to make the meal as authentically southern as possible.

Here's what I cooked and a brief description of each item.

Kidney Beans
I used canned beans and put jalapeno peppers in them with a sprinkle of sea salt. Simple. Excellent!

Cabbage
I cut steamed the cabbage, then tossed it in olive oil and a generous amount of cracked black pepper. This was excellent! I forgot how good cabbage can be. So simple.

Rosemary Garlic Carrots
I fried sliced baby carrots in canola oil and sprinkled in some rosemary and chopped garlic. I gave it a sprinkle of salt. This was not as good. It was too bitter, possibly under-cooked. I still ate most of it.

Green Peas With Vegan Butter Alternative
I used frozen peas and Earth Balance. The peas tasted freezer burnt. I ate half and shared the other half with my canine friend.

Corn Bread
This is just a mix of corn meal (I prefer non-GMO), water, sea salt, diced garlic, diced red onion, and canola oil heated in a casserole dish until brown on the edges. I topped it with a scoop of Earth Balance butter alternative. This was great! A bit dry and crumbly though. It needed more oil.

The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

Here's another meal at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant. This is not on the menu. It's a daily special plate. This is Jerk Fried Seitan with Jamaican gravy, black beans over organic brown rice, carrot jalapeño slaw, ginger roasted squash and zucchini topped with vegan sour cream, and tomato slices.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Vegan Nachos at Blue Coast Burrito in Florence AL

I ordered nachos at Blue Coast Burrito in Florence, AL and grabbed some salsa from the salsa bar. This meal was very good. There's several salsas from which to choose, and all are very good. My favorites were the salsa verde and pineapple salsa. The nachos would normally include queso, but I easily made a vegan meal with fresh veggie options. This place lets customers choose the toppings, so I just got my usual favorites with extra cilantro. This meal was a bit more expensive than other similar places, but it was good enough to make it worth the price.

Vegan Nachos at Blue Coast Burrito in Florence AL

Blue Coast Burrito has a nice southern California surf shack environment. The decor features surf boards, weathered wood, and a third of a rusted Volkswagen Beetle mounted on the wall. During this visit I noticed an abundance of flies, and it was a bit warm, just like eating at a real beach shack. I would prefer a less authentic experience without the flies. The person who took my order and made the nachos didn't really know about the ingredients or preparation of the food. There's probably other vegan toppings there, but I couldn't get much information from them. I did find a couple pieces of cheese on the tomatoes. That's nasty, but it was easy enough to remove the offensive contaminant without ruining the meal.

 

Since this visit was mostly positive and the food tasted very good, I will most likely go back again when I'm in Florence.

Click here to see the Blue Coast Burrito website

Jackfruit Tacos at Laughing Seed Cafe in Asheville NC

This is the Bahn Mi Jackfruit Tacos. It comes with corn tortillas, Korean style marinated jackfruit, kimchee, spicy aioli, cilantro, and avocado with a side of slaw and blue tortilla chips.

Click here for the Laughing Seed Cafe website

Vegan Reuben Sandwich At Laughing Seed Cafe In Asheville NC

This Reuben is made with grilled pastrami-style tempeh, vegan Swiss cheese, grilled onions, purple kraut, and Thousand Island dressing on grilled marble rye and comes with fries. Yummy!

Click here for the Laughing Seed Cafe website

Home-made Rice Ramen With Peas

I cooked rice ramen noodles and added black bean sauce and peas. This meal only took about 10-15 minutes to make, and it was inexpensive.

Vegetable Sushi from Target Deli

This vegetable sushi was made in the Target deli. It's made with rice, seaweed, carrots, cucumbers, avocados, and sesame seeds and comes with a side of ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Wow. That wasabi really woke me up!

Remember, vegans may want to be careful. The sushi food prep area could be contaminated. I have found non-vegan particles on my sushi. This serving was perfect.

Dr. Praeger's Black Bean Quinoa Burger

I love Dr. Praeger's Black Bean Quinoa Veggie Burger patties. For this meal, I put a patty on Dave's Killer Bread with onion slices, ketchup, and lettuce. After I ate this one, I made another! This does not taste like a beef burger. This tastes better than any beef I've ever had, and there's plenty of flavor in these patties. Eating vegan non-GMO food sure is good!

Skinny Pop Popcorn

I love popcorn! I'm not picky about popcorn, but this brand is great. This Skinny Pop popcorn is vegan and non-GMO. Ingredients: popcorn, sunflower oil, salt.

Annie Chun's Seaweed Snacks

Click here to see the Annie Chun's website

Another Breakfast at Green Sage Cafe in Asheville NC

This is the Everything Avocado Toast at Green Sage Cafe in downtown Asheville NC.

Click here to see the Green Sage Cafe website

Stacy's Fire Roasted Jalapeno Pita Chips with Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus

This is my first time trying Stacy's Fire Roasted Jalapeno flavored pita chips. These are really good. There's enough jalapeno to notice a tingling of the tongue, but they aren't offensively hot. I ate them with my favorite hummus, Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus. I should have paired these chips with guacamole for a greater cooling effect. Both products are non-GMO.

Portobella Tacos at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

Here's the Portobella Tacos at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant. This includes a corn tortilla, portobella mushrooms sun-dried tomatoes, sauteed kale, quinoa, almonds, and Caesar dressing. This meal also has a side of pinto beans and vegan sour cream.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Jason's Deli Potato and Soup

This is a small Plain Jane Potato with "nothing on it at all, just a potato" and a cup of Vegetarian Vegetable Soup. I went to the salad bar for the sunflower seeds.

Breakfast at Green Sage Cafe in Asheville NC

This is the Green Sage Plate (vegan option) from Green Sage Cafe in downtown Asheville NC.

Click here to see the Green Sage Cafe website

Daiya Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac

Daiya Cheezy Mac is the cheesiest vegan macaroni and cheese product I've found. This is a regular food for me. It's great with a sprinkle of cracked pepper. I didn't drain the noodles very well this time. It's usually not this runny.

Roasted Veggie Pizza at Spazio in Huntsville AL

This is another Spazio pizza. This one is from the pizza buffet. It's has vegan cheese and roasted veggies. 

Roasted Veggie Pizza at Spazio in Huntsville AL

Rhythm Superfoods Zesty Nacho Kale Chips

Zesty Nacho Kale Chips by Rhythm Superfoods are very addictive! I can sit here and empty the whole bag, but I won't. I'd rather wait and enjoy them again later. The name gives a clue about the taste. This really does taste like kale and nacho cheese, but there's no cheese here. These are vegan! This product is expensive. Good things do cost more. I love this stuff! This is an excellent product! And this is another great non-GMO snack.

Click here to see the Rhythm Superfoods website

Footlong Veggie Sub Combo At Subway

This was a really good Subway veggie sub combo. This is white bread, spinach, lettuce, black olives, pickles, green peppers, onions, yellow mustard, oil, vinegar, and oregano. I added non-GMO potato chips and sweet tea. The bread was "toasted with no cheese". I should have saved half for later but I was really hungry. I ate everything except the cup and wrappers.

Vegans, watch out for the final cut knife. The Subway crew often uses a filthy knife to cut the sandwich in half. Or they'll jab the ingredients into the bread with that. Do you want mayonnaise and tuna salad on your veggie sub? Yuck!  I usually get my foot-longs uncut or I'll ask them to wipe the knife. The napkins are right there at the end of the line, so it's no big deal unless the person making the food just has a rotten attitude. Also remember the white bread is the only vegan bread. the others contain milk or honey.

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookie From Whole Foods

Baby Carrots

PB&J Sandwich With Dave's Killer Bread And Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter

Dave's Killer Bread, 21 Whole Grains and Seeds
This is one of my favorite breads. The 21 whole grains and seeds bread is loaded with tiny nuggets of nature. This is a heavier bread with plenty of flavor and texture. Very good!

Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter
This stuff is great! I usually get the chunky, but I wanted to also use this on crackers later. This is a great product. The ingredients win me over.

"INGREDIENTS: PEANUTS, CONTAINS 1% OR LESS OF SALT." You see that ingredients list? That's the way peanut butter should be! 2 ingredients! No sugar. No corn syrup. No garbage added just to get us fat and addicted to trash. Smucker's Natural is real food! And it tastes like real food.

But I did add some jelly (which is loaded with sugary garbage) and made a delicious sandwich. I went easy on the jelly.

Nature's Earthly Choice Seven Grain Organic Grain Blend With Mock Duck

Here you see Nature's Earthly Choice Seven Grain Organic Grain Blend. This takes 90 seconds to cook in the microwave (in the pouch). This has a nice earthy flavor and hearty texture. The package says it contains brown rice, barley, millet, flax seeds, wheat, red quinoa,and wild rice.

Here you see a mock duck product I found at the Asian market. This was made in Taiwan. It's just wheat gluten. I don't really like that it's called mock duck. I'm sure duck doesn't taste like this (I have no idea what duck tastes like!). I don't buy this as a meat replacement. To me it's just another plant food. Describing this is difficult. It's not good at all when eaten alone. I always add a sauce and rice. It's bland, rubbery, chewy, spongy, and a bit salty with a slightly metallic taste. Does that sound appetizing? No. But it's good when mixed with other products. 

Here's what I did for this meal. I mixed the grain product with the wheat gluten product and added a splash of soy sauce. This is really good. Nice overall flavor and variety of textures.

Sukhi's Potato Samosas

Wow. Serious flavor. These are really good, but the spice and oil quickly gets to me. This is a good snack to share at parties.

Dr. McDougall's Vegan Pad Thai Noodle Soup

Baked Tofu

For this meal, I cut firm tofu into tiny bricks and baked them in soy sauce, turning them as needed during the cooking process. This is a nice mild snack.

Barbecue Lunch at Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe In Chattanooga TN

I went to lunch at Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe in Chattanooga TN. This is my first visit to Cashew, and it probably will not be the last. This was a pretty good lunch. I ordered the Jackfruit BBQ Sandwich with a side of Chips and Cashew Cheese.

It's been decades since I've eaten a barbecue sandwich, so I didn't really know what to expect with this vegan barbecue. I do have vague memories of beef barbecue, but it seems like it was more like a Sloppy Joe with messy tomato sauce. I know each region has its own way of doing it, and of course being a vegan I have no idea what each region does with it. This was my brave adventure for the day.

This was very good. The jackfruit filling had a mild flavor with a little hint of sweet and tart, possibly pineapple. I like that it didn't taste like meat, because fake meat freaks me out. This was a little bit messy but only because it had a generous amount of filling. A crunchy toasted bun would be an improvement. The whole sandwich was very soft throughout with the coleslaw being the crunchiest part. The coleslaw really surprised me. I forgot how good coleslaw is (because coleslaw is almost never vegan). This coleslaw would be great just as a side item. It really worked well with the jackfruit. I would have liked a bit more flavor in the jackfruit sauce, but I would definitely order this again.

The shining star of this meal was that amazing cashew cheese! That cheese is as good as the vegan cheese at Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville, although it doesn't have the exact same flavor. There's a seasoning in this that I just can't identify. It has a slight tang to it like traditional cheese and without the sweetness of other vegan cheeses. Now I know why they sell this stuff in tubs at the counter. I will add this to any future orders. Absolutely wonderful cashew cheese!

I also bought a chocolate coconut doughnut and took it up on the historic Walnut Street Bridge. I enjoyed the view with a silent stranger wrapped in a blanket and sitting beside a vintage Pepsi bottle filled with urine. The doughnuts are clearly vegan. These aren't as firm and solid as non-vegan doughnuts. This one held it's shape just fine, and the taste was excellent. It was sweet, but not too sweet.

I also bought a chocolate doughnut. I should have saved it for later, but the first one was so good. The sugar caught up with me on this second one. I can eat one, but two makes me hypoglycemic. The chocolate on this was was just a little bit messy, but the taste was just as good as the one with coconut.

This is what Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe looks like from the outside.

This restaurant is located on River St. near the historic Walnut Street Bridge on the north side of the Tennessee River. This appears to be a basement room of an old building that was abandoned or neglected for many years then fixed up in recent years. This side of town had a really rough history and it shows in the existing details with grime, old graffiti, and crumbling walls. This was a hard labor community that's now transitioning into an interesting, creative, historic place with weird people like me. I do prefer clean and modern, but this was about the food, and the food was great. When I return to Chattanooga, I will be back for more wonderful cashew cheese.


Click here for the Cashew Plant Based Vegan Cafe website