Stuff I Ate in Tennessee

Last week I crossed off one of my bucket list destinations: Nashville. I traveled with my friend and assistant Jess to do makeup for three models. My first vegan stop was actually when I decided that if I was THAT close to Sun Studio (where Johnny Cash, Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded) and didn't go, I would regret it forever. So we drove 4 hours in the rain to Memphis.

I had heard that Memphis wasn't very nice, outside of Graceland, but that was seriously wrong. The streets are lined with a mix of 100 year-old and brand-new buildings, everyone is cool, and their vegan food was amazing. We went to Imagine Vegan Cafe, a vegan restaurant built into a house (this reminded me of Minneapolis' only 100% vegan restaurant, Ecopolitan). 

How freeing it was to have an entire menu where I could order ANYTHING. Here's their very cute menu:

I decided since I was in the south, to order the vegan Southern Fried Chicken sandwich. It was Chik-Fil-A style with pickles and vegan mayo on a soft bun. I was dreaming about it that night, that's how amazing it was. Like somebody's vegan grandmother made it. I also ordered a side of vegan macaroni and cheese.

Jess got a vegan eggplant Parmesan sandwich with a side of garlic kale which she called "messy and tastes unbelievable." 

We also shared their spinach artichoke dip and chips which was the only thing we could not finish (we were too full). It was incredible and I ate the rest for breakfast right before our shoot. 

Here's me geeking out: 

We drove back to Nashville exhausted and slept until we woke up early to attend to our call time. One of the models works at a vegan restaurant called Sunflower and when I told her I wanted to try a place she said she wished she had known- she would have brought us some stuff! I had already decided to try The Wild Cow as soon as we were done shooting but hopefully I can revisit Nashville and go to more places (apparently there's also a raw place called Avo). 

The Wild Cow has an all-vegan menu except you can special order some dairy cheese on certain items which I thought was really weird. There was no information on why they chose to do that, or where the cheese comes from (did they decide to offer cheese because it's from an extremely humane farmer up the road or something? No further information was given). One thing I did notice with both restaurants I visited though, was that they both served beer and wine. When I go to a vegan place out of state I always try to observe how it is a success and I think Tennessee vegans understand that they can keep their restaurants busy if they offer alcohol and comfort food, which makes sense. I didn't order any, though.  

I ordered the portabella mushroom burger with vegan chèvre and roasted red peppers. The Wild Cow offered a large selection of sides just like Imagine did, including garlic kale (is this a southern thing?) but I opted for the pineapple cole slaw which was very good. 

Jess (who is not vegetarian) adored her grilled tofu rice and lentil bowl. We were so full we couldn't fathom ordering their sizable selection of homemade desserts (the most intriguing being their vegan lavender-blueberry cheesecake).

 

I was shocked how inexpensive the restaurants were. In fact, after returning to Minneapolis I went to a restaurant with a special vegetarian menu (so, not a vegetarian restaurant) and a vegan hot dog and tater tots was $15. Jess and I ate at both restaurants in Tennessee for $15-20 total and the food was much better. Being outside of Minneapolis I am constantly reminded how much we can improve here, especially since we are a big city with a lot of vegans and we pride ourselves on being a progressive and diverse "food city." 

I am itching to go back again already, and daydreaming of when my hometown will have the same options and variety as other places in the country.

Ooh, Tiny PB S'more Cheesecakes!

I made a dozen of these little guys tonight: peanut butter and chocolate vegan mini cheesecakes with date-walnut crust and topped with a vegan marshmallow. 

I went to Trader Joes to get walnuts for my breakfast (oats with banana, walnuts and almond milk has been a new favorite) and discovered that Trader Joes has vegan (and gluten-free!) marshmallows! They're half the price of the Dandies (from Chicago Foods) brand I have bought before. I knew I had other ingredients to make a yummy dessert at home. You'll need a muffin tin and some cupcake liners 

No-Bake Peanut Butter S'more Mini Cheesecakes

For the crust: 

1 1/2 cups walnuts 

1/2 cup pitted dried dates

1/2 tsp vanilla extract  

For the cheesecake:

1 container Tofutti cream cheese

2 tsp maple syrup 

1 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips 

1/2 cup peanut butter 

12 vegan marshmallows (the big ones) 

Line the cupcake pan with liners. Place the ingredients for the crust in a food processor until it becomes pliable enough to form a ball. Divide the mixture among the cupcake cavities and press down to make the crust of the mini cheesecakes. Place the cupcake pan in the freezer.

Melt the chocolate and peanut butter in a saucepan on low- stir it constantly once it starts to get soft, and until it's completely smooth. Remove it from the heat.

Combine the vegan cream cheese and maple syrup in a food processor (you could also probably use a whisk or a hand mixer). Take the cupcake pan out of the freezer and divide the cream cheese mixture on top of the walnut crusts, then spoon a tablespoon each of the chocolate-peanut butter mixture on top of that. Smooth the chocolate all the way to the edges of the liners (so they look pretty!) and place a vegan marshmallow on top. 

Then throw them in the fridge for about 15 minutes. You'll know they're ready when the chocolate looks set. 

Here's what they look like! 😍