A Vegan Sandwich With Tofurky, Daiya, And JUST Mayo

Dave's Killer Bread, JUST Mayo, Daiya cheddar slices, and hickory smoked Tofurky. If this had hydroponic lettuce and non-GMO tomato slices on it this would be a perfect sandwich!

Resources For Plant-based Living

Here's a list of documentaries you may want to see if you're thinking about trying a healthy plant-based lifestyle. I will warn you. The last ones on the list are very disturbing, disgusting, and sad. I almost wish I never saw them, but these do need to be seen. Just to be fair, I will mention that parts of some documentaries seem to use debatable information or include opinions presented as facts. Overall, I believe this list offers a great introduction to the lifestyle, can help people see why people like me eat they way we do, and offers reasons to be more mindful about food and the systems that create it.

Food, Inc.
Veducated
Eating You Alive
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead
What The Health
Secret Ingredients
Genetic Roulette - The Gamble of Our Lives
In Defense of Food
Supersize Me
Forks Over Knives
Fed Up
Food Choices
Hungry For Change
Sugar Coated
Cowspiracy
Speciesism
Meet Your Meat
Earthlings

Vegan Cheese Grits And Gimme Lean Vegan Sausage

I found some Bob's Red Mill organic grits. I cooked that and added Daiya cheddar shreds to make vegan cheese grits. I added two fried slices of Gimme Lean vegan sausage to make this tasty breakfast.

Vegan Rob's Tumeric Chips

Vegan. Gluten-free. Non-GMO. Very crunchy and tasty. A perfect snack!

Lance Toasty Crackers Are Not Vegan

Here's why vegans should always read ingredients lists every time a familiar product will be consumed, even if the product is known to be plant-based or vegan.

The ingredients list on Lance Toasty crackers has changed. In the recent past, these crackers were labeled as being manufactured in a shared facility with milk products, but the list never actually included a milk ingredient. Today I received this bag of non-food from a vending machine. I can't eat this, but my 65 cents will not be a waste. I'll just share these with my canine friends. They love peanut butter.

This is really sad. I know of only 2 other Lance products I can eat. I know this vending machine garbage shouldn't be eaten anyway, but I was in the middle of a hard day of work. I really needed a snack. This is a major disappointment. But look at the other nasty stuff in that ingredients list. I'm better off without it.

Homemade Soyrizo Enchiladas

I used El Burrito Soyrizo, left-over enchilada sauce, Sprouts corn tortillas, Daiya vegan "cheddar", and dehydrated green onions from my garden to make this comfort meal. This was good!

Home-made Bhindi Masala

I used leftovers to make this Bhindi Masala, and I poured it onto Basmati rice. I don't even remember everything I put in this. It did include home-grown okra. I went mild on the heat, heavy on the spice, and light on the sweetness. This was pretty good for leftovers!

Home-made Fried Batter

Back when I was living in poverty in my non-vegan days, one thing I could order from Captain D's was the cracklin. For 25 cents I could get a whole box of fried batter. Yes. Fried batter. That's all it is. It's not healthy, I know. But it's good and it's cheap! So I tried to make some at home. Mine is not nearly as good because it's just flour and water poured into hot oil. My texture and shapes are not right either. I'm sure Captain D's has a nice blend of non-vegan ingredients.

Avocado Sandwich Combo at Which Wich

Which Wich is a very vegan friendly restaurant. They have vegan and vegetarian menu items clearly labeled. The website has plenty of in-your-face vegan information. They have 3 vegan sandwich choices and plenty of vegan toppings and sauces. And the food is great!

This time I got the Avocado Sandwich on white bread (remember, the wheat bread contains honey). I ordered it with lettuce tomato, roasted red peppers, red onions, black olives, spinach, spicy mustard, salt, black pepper, oregano, and of course avocado. I made it a combo with a drink and Which Wich House Chips. This was excellent!

More Hummus And Veggies At Mellow Mushroom

The hummus plates have changed a few times over the last few years at Mellow Mushroom. This is what it looked like last time I ordered it, and it was awesome, as usual.

They now have a fixed set of veggies that come with it unless you request something different. In the past I'd have to ask for veggies instead of pita (because the pita had milk in it). Now the pita is vegan, and the veggies option is on the menu. I like the improvements! 

Click here to see the Mellow Mushroom website

Wild Reuben at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

The Wild Reuben Sandwich is another awesome lunch choice at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant!

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Cinnamon Twists At Taco Bell

Yes, they are vegan!

  Click here to see the Taco Bell website

Safie's Sweet Pickled Beets

Ben & Jerry's Non-dairy Peanut Butter Half Baked

This is a wonderful vegan ice cream treat. Ben & Jerry's has another winner here!

Click here to see the Ben & Jerry's website

Cinco de Mayo 2019 at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

To celebrate this Cinco de Mayo I went to Chuy's Tex-Mex. This was my first time at Chuy's. The restaurant was bright, clean, loud, and decorated with an abundance of dog photography and weird dog themed art. There was a slight 1950's vibe created by the nacho bar built from a 1957 Chevy trunk, retro space-age Chuy's logo, mid-century styled seating, and Elvis painting.

I spoke with a very knowledgeable server about vegan options. I will present to you my meal and what I was told about the vegan foods available. First, let's admire this beautiful plate full of plant-based foods.

Veggie Enchiladas at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

This Veggie Enchilada meal included 2 roasted veggie enchiladas with refried beans and green chile rice with a small garnish of spinach, lettuce, pico de gallo, and jalapeno slices. I made it vegan by ordering it without cheese. This food was excellent in every possible way, except for the price. This was the best Tex-Mex food I've had in a while. The enchiladas were flavorful with a nice variety of textures. The ranchero sauce was rich and smooth. The veggies were fresh and slightly firm. The corn tortillas were soft with a slight stretch when pulled. Here's a detail of the enchilada with the top pulled off.

Veggie Enchiladas at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

The mostly blended beans tasted very fresh and clean. The rice was fresh with a nice chile flavor, a hint of lime, and a mild amount of heat.

Refried beans at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

Mexican rice at Chuy's in Huntsville AL

I added a side of salsa just to try it. The salsa tasted very fresh and natural. It was a bit watery with crisp chunks. The serrano pepper made it very hot! But the taste was excellent.

Salsa at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

Of course, I had to get a margarita for Cinco de Mayo. I chose the blackberry frozen margarita. It tasted great with a real fruit taste, but I didn't taste any alcohol in it, and the price was over $9! It was a refreshing drink, but anyone who wanted to get happy on this would only get a smile and would need to spend $30 more to even get a giggle.

Blackberry frozen margarita at Chuy's Tex-Mex in Huntsville AL

Now for the vegan details starting with the bad news. The server told me that all fried foods share the same frying oil. So all crunchy fried items are contaminated with fish, chicken, shrimp, etc. Also, the flour tortillas are made in-house with whey, which is a milk derivative. So burritos, soft tacos on flour tortillas, and fajitas are not vegan.

Here's the really good news. The roasted veggies are vegan because they're cooked with a soy-based margarine, the soft blue and yellow corn tortillas are both vegan, both refried and charro beans are vegan, and both Mexican and Green Chile rices are vegan. That's a pretty good selection of vegan items!

Here's the meal recommendations for a vegan at Chuy's Tex-Mex:

• Vegetarian Soft Taco meal (yellow or blue corn tortillas) without cheese, plus your choice of any beans and any rice
• Veggie Enchilada meal (yellow or blue corn tortillas) without cheese, plus your choice of any beans and any rice
• Soft yellow or blue corn tortillas with salsa, pico de gallo, or guacamole as an appetizer

The quality of this meal was greater than expected. The number of vegan options impressed me, especially with the beans and rice, but I was disappointed that the chips were not something I would want to eat as a strict vegan. This meal did cost more than I would normally want to pay, but the freshness and quality of the food made it worth the price. Next time I'll skip the overpriced slushy and get tea. And there will be a next time. This meal was great!

Foodstirs Snickerdoodle Blondie Mix

This box of Foodstirs Snickerdoodle Blondie Mix was in the clearance area of the grocery store. I didn't even know what a snickerdoodle was, but I was glad to see this because it was clearly labeled as vegan. However the instructions say to add eggs and butter. That doesn't make a bit of sense to me, but whatever. I just used a vegan egg replacement powder and Earth Balance vegan butter alternative.

This turned out to be very good, and it was easy to make. This was very sweet so I cut it into bite-sized pieces. The flavor and texture was great! I should have purchased more boxes while they were discounted. I believe these are worth the full price though. Now I know to look for them when I have a craving.

I really liked this product. The only issue I have with it is the instructions telling me to put disgusting things in my vegan food. This was a nice treat with vegan ingredients!

Bama Q Tamales at Delta Blues Hot Tamales in Birmingham AL

Because my last visit was more than satisfactory, I returned to Delta Blues Hot Tamales in Birmingham AL. This time I got the Bama Q tamales. This was excellent! It was so good it made me wish I had grown an extra stomach.

The Bama Q tamales are vegan if ordered with black bean filling. My black bean tamales were topped with spicy barbecue sauce, tangy slaw, and pickle slices, and they were served on corn husks. My choice of side was the slaw. This was all vegan! While Delta Blues Hot Tamales is not a vegetarian restaurant, they do have some vegan and vegetarian foods. I believe two more visits will conclude my exploration of the vegan options available at Delta Blues. So I'll be back!

Click here to see the Delta Blues Hot Tamales menu

Gas Station Snack; Ritz and Milo's Tea

I was in Huntland TN, which is an old rural town. The only places to find food there is a gas station and a dollar store. I found this at the gas station.

Vegans, you may not like Huntland. This gas station was decorated with animal heads and photos of hunters posing their victims.

A Large Bowl Of Beans And Rice At Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill

I ordered a bowl of beans and rice as usual. But this time they gave me the big bowl. That's much more food for the same price. Nice!

Click here to see the Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill website

Carolina Style Vegan Hot Dog

In the Carolinas, the hot dog often comes with chili and slaw. I made a vegan version. This was really good!

To make this I used Lightlife plant-based hot dogs, some home-made chili, home-made slaw, and a vegan bun. Search my blog if you want details about my home-made chili and slaw. I've posted about those in the past.

Hummus & Veggies At I Love Juice Bar

The Hummus & Veggies box at I Love Juice Bar makes a great plant-based lunch. Check out the company's website to see all the vegan options they have.

Click here to see the I Love Juice Bar website

"Soft Opening" Of Hippea Camper Food Truck At Salty Nut Brewery In Huntsville AL

I went to Salty Nut Brewery in Huntsville AL for the "soft opening" of a new plant-based food truck called Hippea Camper. This opening may have been called soft, but veggie lovers lined up fast and kept going back for more tasty plant-based foods. Huntsville has been waiting for something like this. With a turn-out as strong as this was, I would predict the Hippea Camper will be doing some good business in Huntsville.

This well-organized catering event let us get a taste of what the Hippea Camper will have to offer and also get a peak at the camper before it goes into service.

I met some familiar like-minded people, and we shared and compared the foods. The first thing we tried was the Bread Winner, which is toast with avocado mash and tomato slices with a light sprinkle of red pepper. This was good!

Bread Winner by Hippea Camper

I chose to try the Beats Meatball Sub. It was "meatballs", marinara sauce, and vegan cheese on a potato bread hot dog bun. The hearty Italian style sauce was loaded with flavor. The "meatballs" had a nice texture and mild flavor, but were not meaty enough to make a vegan nervous. The cheese tasted like real cheese, and it did scare me. But they said everything was vegan. This was messy and difficult to eat, but it was clearly a winner! That sauce was really good!

Beats Meat-ball Sub by Hippea Camper

The Pineapple Express bowl was fried rice with pineapples, onions, cashews, and peas. The No Weenie Beanie Bowl was Spanish rice, Adobo barbecue beans, lettuce, and peach salsa. Both of these bowls were nicely spiced and good enough to convert omnivores. I couldn't pick a favorite. They were both very different.

Pineapple Express and No Weenie Beanie Bowl by Hippea Camper

No Weenie Beanie Bowl with vegan cheese by Hippea Camper

The cute vintage camper looked like it was ready for service. The exterior has the classic styling and the new interior includes modern stainless steel kitchen fixtures. It looks great, and I plan to be standing at that window soon.

The newly built Hippea Camper at the soft opening

 
Since I was there anyway, I also got a Salty Nut Imperial Mustache Red (5.6% ABV). Salty Nut Brewery has good beer, a very comfortable space inside, and a nice courtyard with string lighting and live music.

Click here to see the Hippea Camper website

The Humpty Dance Is Your Chance At Happy Tummy In Huntsville AL

The Humpty Dance Is Your Chance at Happy Tummy is vegan just the way it comes. It's a wrap filled with hummus, cucumber, artichokes, roasted red peppers, tomato, red onion, and spinach. It included my choice of chips (a bag of Garden Veggie Straws not pictured), and I added a Big Ol' Dill Pickle for a dollar more.

The Humpty Dance Is Your Chance at Happy Tummy in Huntsville AL

Happy Tummy satisfied me once again. This was really good! After several visits I still haven't tried all of the vegan options. I will continue to document my experiences. It may be a while. Herbivores have many tasty options at Happy Tummy.

Click here to see the Happy Tummy website

Dr Praeger's Four Potato Hash Browns

This product really filled my immediate environment with the smell of home. And the taste was equally comforting. These hash browns were chunky and crisp. The natural, earthy potato flavor was satisfying enough to make these small patties seem like a full meal. Vegans, be careful. Dr Praeger's has products that look similar to this, but they contain eggs. Always read the ingredients.

This is my first time trying this product. I like these enough to buy them again. I believe these hash browns would go well with Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage to make a vegan breakfast. Also, kids will love these as a snack. Since I'm a grown-up, I served mine with swirls of Huy Fong hot sriracha  sauce.

Pintos and Rotel

I combined a can of Publix pintos (drained) with a can of Rotel Original Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies. I heated it up. There it is. One of the easiest, quickest, cheapest meals on this blog. And it was really good!

Beans, Rice, and Salad at Mexiville in Chattanooga TN

They say it's vegan. It tastes so good it scares me. Is vegan food really this good, or is this a trick?

Del Monte Sweet Corn Cream Style

Dutch Apple Pie At Burger King

Can you believe the Dutch Apple Pie at Burger King is vegan? I read the ingredients. It's vegan! I had mine for breakfast with black coffee. The pie and coffee were both excellent. The very sweet pie went well with the unsweetened coffee.

Nashvillle VegFest 2019

Today I went to VegFest 2019 at the fairgrounds in Nashville TN. VegFest is a vegan and plant-based lifestyle festival.

The entrance of the fairgrounds was blocked by construction and no detour signs were posted. I've never in my life seen so many vegans, herbivores, vegetarians, and animal rights advocates in one place. The turnout was huge and it started up in complete chaos and confusion. The entry line went around the parking lot. It looked like the number of people was much greater than anticipated. Ironically, we were treated like livestock with long disorganized lines and holding areas with no room to move. I felt like one of the chickens in the vegan documentaries. But I made the best of it and found some wonderful treasures to share with you.

The massive crowd at VegFest Nashville 2019

My first stop was at the Core + Rind Cashew Cheesy Sauce table to get free samples. They had three flavors; Spicy Chipotle, Smoky, and Original. Each was fantastic in very different ways, and I could not pick a favorite.

In this first vegan food photograph you see my first snack of the event. I got a jackfruit slider with potato salad from the Sunflower Cafe table. It was excellent in every way!

Barbecue Jackfruit Slider and potato salad by Sunflower Cafe

I tried to make my way around to see everything, but the crowd was massive. I could barely see the vending tables right in front of me. After squeezing my way though the crowd I found peace in the lecture area and stayed a while.

I caught the interesting and enlightening talk by JL Fields (culinary instructor/cookbook author) and Andy Tabor (Compassion Company/The Bearded Vegans) about body shaming and food shaming within the vegan community and in general public. This was an important message that should be heard by more people. I hope they continue discussing those topics to create greater understanding and unity.

I went back out for another snack. This time I found The Wild Muffin and bought a lemon poppy muffin. It was light, fluffy, delicious, and not too sweet. Perfect!

Lemon Poppy muffin by The Wild Muffin

Lemon Poppy muffin by The Wild Muffin

I couldn't end it there. I wanted to experience more plant-based pleasures. I tried to get vegan tacos at Succulent Vegan Tacos, but the menu was too small to see and I got stuck in the long pick-up line instead of the long order line. I gave up.

Before I knew it, much of the food was gone. The Wild Cow's table would have been my next stop, but they completely sold out of the vegan lobster hoagies they were serving.

My only good option at that point was to try the barbecue jackfruit sandwich and potato salad at Avo. I really didn't want to eat the same thing again, but I'm glad I did. It was awesome! It was slightly better than the Sunflower Cafe slider combo, mostly because of the tastier bun and the heavier herbs in the potato salad.

Jackfruit Barbecue Slider and potato salad by Avo

This was a good event but the location was not right. It would have been better in the parking lot of the football stadium. If the event is in the same place next year, I will surely not attend. The fairgrounds building is primitive and still smells like farm animals when the air conditioning comes on. The building's floor plan is like a Halloween corn maze or haunted house. The number of participants was too great for the narrow side aisles. The dining area was too small. However, I wish not to leave you with negative comments. I did enjoy the food, I gathered some good product coupons, and I shared an experience with good people. I hope to attend other similarly themed events in the near future.

Vegan Nachos At Work

We had a nacho lunch party at work to celebrate our company's recent success. I was very surprised to see several vegan options. This is not exactly the way I would do nachos, but this sure is better than sitting there hungry while other people eat. I worked for that reward too, and this time I got to enjoy a little bit of something with the others.

Check out the black beans. They got the good kind, which is plain black beans with nothing else in them. This was pretty good coming from a company that has huge meat parties all the time. Of course they did have plenty of meat available.

Bohemian Barbecue Hippeas

The first 2 bites of the Bohemian Barbecue Hippeas tasted just a bit strange. Then my mouth understood where this was going. I ended up eating the whole bag, non stop! A small snack turned into a lunch. I have been very pleased with the Hippeas products. Very good!

Salad Made From Leftovers

I had some leftover hydroponic lettuce and slaw shreds. I dumped those in a bowl and poured some Daiya Non-dairy Creamy Caesar dressing on top, which was also a leftover. Instead of throwing food away, I try to eat every bit of it before it goes bad. It helps me stay creative with food combinations.

Fermented Rose Bean Curd

I really had no idea what to expect with this product I found at my local Asian market. It appeared to be vegan so I tried it. This is Fermented Rose Bean Curd. After buying it I discovered it's used as a condiment or seasoning.

I put some on rice crackers thinking I would make a nice snack of it. I was in for a big surprise!

The amount of flavor in the small chunk would flavor an entire pot of food! The texture was very smooth and soft like thick cake icing. The flavor was out of this world. I got an overwhelming alcohol flavor with a salty soy sauce flavor and rich hints of what almost tasted like coffee and chocolate. The flavor was good, but there was just too much of it. Once my mouth understood what was going on, it was strangely addictive in tiny amounts.

I then tried this product with a pot of noodles. This was it! Putting it in noodles is the way to go. This was really good!