What We Ate: A Hot July Weekend in Nashville
Last Friday, Charlotte and I decided to meet some friends for dinner at an awesome local vegan restaurant. Graze is one of our favorite places. The food is incredibly flavorful, beautiful, and creative. From chickpea bay cakes to loaded potatoes, citrus Caesar salad to seitan steak (from locally made BE Hive seitan), their signature hot tempeh biscuit and beyond, they've got something to satisfy every palette. They also have an extensive drink menu, featuring green juices, smoothies, a full bar, and specialty cocktails. (You can also get vodka IN your green juice, just so you know.) Charlotte is a huge fan of their house-made cupcakes. I prefer their cheesecake, myself. I've tried many items on the menu, but not everything yet. Friday, I decided on my current favorite dish, the crispy Brussels sprouts and mushrooms sandwich.
The menu describes it as "crispy brussels sprouts, roasted oyster mushrooms, pesto aioli, spinach, tomato and cashew parmesan. served on a fresh baguette." It's such a beautiful blend of textures and flavors. The bread is crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. The sandwich fillings are soft, chewy, creamy, crunchy. And the flavor is mind-blowing! The aioli and cashew parmesan take an already delicious sandwich to the next level. I definitely recommend this sandwich as your first thing to try, although the loaded potatoes are pretty close in their level of awesomeness. You also can't go wrong with the side of roasted seasonal veggies. Charlotte had the cashew dip plate, which is on the "small plates" section of the menu.
She loves that she can play with her food and make little sandwiches with all of the mix of items on her plate. This would include "two house made cashew dips served with cranberry-pepper relish, fruit, crostinis & veggies." She also had sprouts on her plate Friday night, so that was a bonus for my tiny sprout-loving munchkin. She made a huge mess, and I'm not even sure how much made it into her mouth, but she had fun and said it was "yummy." After dinner, she got to pick a cupcake from the three flavors they had that day. She chose vanilla chocolate chip. I'd say she enjoyed it thoroughly.
Graze is always consistent, and this past weekend was no exception. If you're in Nashville, it's a must-try spot. We both left with "happy tummies," as Charlotte says.
This past weekend was the hottest of the year so far. Of course, I figured that made it a great weekend to help some friends move into their new third floor apartment. Ha! Obviously, they didn't expect it to be 100 degrees when they scheduled their move-in date. It was miserable, humid, and exhausting, but we got it done and managed to have a little fun while we did it. They even fed me and our other friends vegan snacks. It was literally an ALL vegan moving crew. Plant power, baby!! We had 3 flavors of hummus, Mary's Gone Crackers, carrots, fruit, Lenny & Larry's Complete Cookies, and a couple of varieties of gluten-free vegan cookies. Hey, we had to replace the calories we were burning. ;-) We also managed to down 3 whole gallons of alkaline water while we were working. It was THAT hot. We ended our work with a toast of Santa Julia Malbec.
While I was sweating it out and climbing stairs with heavy loads, Char was with one of my best friends having a fairytale photo shoot. This doesn't involve food, but just look at how precious my baby is...
After all of the moving festivities, I picked up my little water fairy and took her home to make some dinner. She wanted macaroni noodles "with avocado oil and parmesan." Her actual request. This kid. I was ravenous after my busy day, so noodles weren't gonna do it for me. I made myself some green tacos and Gardein 7-grain Chick'n Tenders, which are my newest addiction. They're so crispy! The flavor and texture is amazing. I love them dipped in hot sauce.
These tacos feature my newest recipe (which you can find here), along with potatoes, black beans, mushrooms, onion, kale, fresh avocado, and lime. They were delicious. Oh! And I also ate some macaroni. I said I was starving, guys.
We ate our dinners and crashed out. We were already planning to go hiking Sunday, so we needed some good rest. Also, I had a surprise in-store for my little fairy princess.
Sunday morning, we got up fairly early and went grocery shopping. It's amazing how quickly you can get through Sprouts at 8am. Once we returned home to put away our haul, we loaded the dogs in the car and headed off to Nashville for the day.
Until Sunday, Char had never been to The Southern V. Crazy, right? If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I go every so often, but Char is always at the lake or camping with her daddy when I go. I couldn't wait to introduce her to the wonders of vegan fried chick'n! The Southern V is a small building with a walk-up window and outdoor seating only. Everything is made fresh and comes in to-go packaging so you can either stay and eat at one of the two picnic tables or bench seats, or take it home. The menu is very limited, but no one cares because the few things they do, they do amazingly well.
She was stoked. Can you tell?
We arrived to find a very long line, which is pretty standard because the place is incredibly popular, and they're only open for limited hours and only on weekends. I was fine with this, but Charlotte was having none of it. She took off to sit in the shade. (There's no shade unless you're on the tiny porch actually placing your order.) It took a while, and I was dripping with sweat, but we finally ordered our food: an original chick'n biscuit for Char and a hot chick'n biscuit for me. Both with potato casserole on the side, and a lemonade to split. We were going to get the veggie scramble, but they had sold out. Bummer. The scramble is the best I've ever had! The potato casserole is delicious, as well, though.
Shenanigans.
When we got our food, Char was super excited about it. She also had to make sure it was vegan. This has been her recent habit. No matter who gives her something, she asks, "Are you sure this is vegan?" I kinda love it, but I can't figure out why she thinks she needs to ask me. LOL! Once she was convinced that no actual chickens were harmed in the making of her brunch, she dug in and made sounds of pure joy. "Mmm!! Mommy, this is gooooood!" She took the route of picking pieces of her biscuit or chick'n up with her fingers but not eating it as a sandwich. She's four. Whatever, kid. She proceeded to pick the seitan chick'n out of the breading and refused to touch anything else. You do you, baby. More biscuit for me. Meanwhile, I was sniffling as I downed my hot chick'n bicuit. It's so tasty, but so spicy. My mouth was on fire, but I couldn't stop eating. It's my favorite form of torture. If you love hot chicken, The Southern V will definitely hit the spot. They also offer donuts, chick'n and waffles, and a weekly lunch/dinner menu that changes, so check their Facebook page for info on what they'll be serving. I hear that the jackfruit BBQ is insane.
I forgot to save my IG story pic of my food from Sunday, so this is from another trip. The hot chick'n biscuit with a biscuit and gravy, and lemonade. So freaking fantastic!
After eating and letting our food settle a bit, we hit the trails at Percy Warner Park. We parked at the Belle Meade trailhead and climbed the stone steps to the 2.5 mile trail, although we ended up not doing the entire thing, and took two smaller loops. My male dog, Riley, has two bum legs from being hit by a car in 2010, so he doesn't have the same stamina as Abby. We have to keep an eye on how tired he is so we don't overwork him, since he sure won't stop going. He does take advantage of every time we stop to lay down, but gets right back up to go whenever we're ready. I don't think he realizes he's any different or that he's over 9 years old. I hope he never realizes it. With the heat this weekend, though, he began tiring out pretty quickly.
This was my first time at this part of the park, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Once you get into the woods, it definitely doesn't feel like you're in the middle of a large city. It was quiet and lush, and I kinda felt like Char should've had her fairy costume on again. We had such a nice time, although we were all exhausted. I, for one, was drenched in sweat. It was a pretty awesome day with my girl. We soon ventured home to get things ready for the new week and make some dinner.
Charlotte fell asleep in the car on the way home. When we arrived, she opened her eyes and immediately proclaimed "I'm SO hungry, mom." She said she was "Too sleepy to eat, but too hungry to sleep." Who doesn't know that feeling? She requested more macaroni with my homemade parmesan and had some avocado and carrots with it. I settled for MORE tacos. I will always eat tacos. If you're ever going to feed me and wonder "Hmm, would she want tacos?" The answer will always be "yes."
Refried beans, lettuce, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, avocado, lime, tomatillo salsa.
We turned on Captain America: Civil War (again), enjoyed our dinner, and snuggled for a little while before heading off to bed. It was a perfect ending for a busy, exhausting, but rewarding weekend with my favorite little girl.
