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  • Eggplant for the Win!

    Hi. My name is Melissa, I am 37 years old, and I have never had eggplant. I’d heard so many rumors about a weird texture that I stayed away. What a mistake. Eggplant is just my kind of texture.

    After visiting the Madison, WI farmer’s market, I picked up two varieties of eggplant. Throughout the past week, I have been using them in different ways to develop my eggplant palate. Verdict? They are all winners!

    Check out the delicious ways I enjoyed eggplant.

    • Eggplant Parmesan-The batter was too thick (I think because I used oat milk instead), but otherwise the dish was a winner!
    • BLT-Okay, maybe not really a BLT, but a ELSA (Eggplant, Spinach, Tomato, and Avocado). The marinade for the eggplant gave the sandwich so many complimentary flavors. I can’t say I cooked the eggplant long enough that it was crispy, but I loved it!
    • Unagi-I took my own liberties for this one, but used the idea to make my own poke bowl. I marinated the eggplant in a potsticker sauce and added all of my favorite poke bowl ingredients.

    Lesson from this journey? There is so much that I have been missing out on and no longer will my life be absent of diverse flavors and nutrients!

  • Mushroom Carnitas

    Tacos are a huge part of my love language and I get super excited when I can expand the variety of tacos I am able to enjoy as a vegan. I’d like to introduce you to my newest find, King Oyster Mushroom Carnitas. These mushrooms are pretty cool because they have the ability to mimic pulled meats. Simply cut off the cap and use a fork to strip away pieces of the stem to make your meat. For these mushrooms I decided to go Carnitas style, but you could also use it for pulled pork or Mississippi beef. This is soooo much better than jackfruit.

    Here is what they look like to start.

    Here is the “pulling” phase.

    Here is the final product!

    I use this recipe to create this awesome dish!

  • I Want to Be a Yoga Person

    When you think of someone who does yoga regularly, don’t you picture someone who is youthful, physically healthy, and mentally content? They are mindful and at peace. I want that. When I watch people do yoga, I think about how effortless it seems and then have the misconception that I can easily do the same. In truth, my body is tight, weak, and I lack balance. So, what better to way to remediate that than by making yoga part of my routine.

    After reaching out for recommendations, I landed on Yoga with Adriene as my go-to resource. She has over 12 million subscribers on Youtube and believes in offering her courses to everyone for free. I decided to sign up for her 30 day Yoga Challenge-Center. I’m on Day 1 and I am realizing how far away I am from where I want to be. I’m hoping I can use this challenge as a way to push through my struggles and solidify that this is a way of life I want to embrace. I worry about how I can make this a daily habit, especially as school starts back up, but I really want to do this for myself.

    As I go through this challenge, I’ll pop in to share updates and let you know if I recommend it for others.

    Here we go.

  • BBQ Mushroom Steak

    Who would have thought mushrooms could bring me so much happiness (not the psychedelic kind. ;). My latest experimentation had me using blue oyster mushrooms to make a bbq mushroom steak.

    The brothers at Wicked Kitchen have really nailed the best way to cook mushrooms for a meaty flavor. The process is simple once you’ve tried it out and it could easily be done on a weeknight. Here are the steps to follow:

    1. Heat up a cast iron skillet with oil.
    2. Place mushrooms in hot pan and let sit for a minute or two.
    3. Use a heavy item to press down on the mushrooms and remove moisture (you could use another cast iron skillet, bacon press, brick, etc.).
    4. Season the mushrooms and flip. Add a little more oil. Press again and hold for a couple of minutes.
    5. Repeat this process two more times then transfer to an oven set at 400 degrees for 10 minutes to finish.

    There are so many flavors you could use with this. For today’s dish I used a bbq seasoning and for the small clusters, I also brushed on bbq sauce before placing it in the oven. I’d say definitely brush on the bbq because that was just awesome.

    Here is the video I used for inspiration.

  • Big Bowls

    Creating a Buddha bowl-style dish is so fulfilling and so good for you. There are so many ways you can change up the flavors, and yet have some base items meal-prepped so it is a quick, indulgent meal in minutes.

    Today, I made a buffalo chickpea bowl inspired by this recipe: https://whitneybond.com/buffalo-chickpea-vegan-buddha-bowl/#recipe.

    I started by making a big batch of grains in my pressure cooker. I combined brown rice, couscous, farro, and barley with garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and salt. I will probably rarely just make brown rice on its own again. Adding these other grains provides so much more depth, flavor, and offers different nutrients for the gut. From there, I put on all my toppings and savored my flavorful lunch.

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