Yum!East

Thursday, June 4th, 2015
3 – 8 pm

Cost: $45

Yum!East, a food tasting event spotlighting East Nashville restaurants, chefs, food artisans, and specialty purveyors is back for its third year! The admission price gets you unlimited tastings, a souvenir glass, open bar with craft beer and wine plus some live music (it is Nashville after all).

Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’

Sunday, June 14th, 2015
3 – 5 pm

Front Lawn of First Presbyterian Church
4815 Franklin Pike
Nashville, TN 37220

Cost: $10 for adults (goes up to $13 on June 13th)
$8 for children (goes up to $10 on June 13th)

One of the best family friendly activities of the summer is happening in just a couple of weeks– Miss Martha’s Ice Cream Crankin’!

While the nearly 3,000 attendees stroll the lawn tasting, there will be judges hard at work finding winners for 3 categories: chocolate base, vanilla base and “other.” The winner from each category then vies for the “best of show,” which will be produced next year into a new Purity ice cream flavor. How cool is that?

I’ve had the pleasure of serving as a judge in the past, and I’m back at it again this year! So excited to see what the competitors come up with.

For more information on the event, how to enter the contest, or to purchase tickets, click here. Please note, online ticket sales end at 3 pm on June 12th.

Also, a couple of tips for you if you haven’t been to this event before:

• Don’t try to sample every flavor. Only taste the ones that sound really good to you. If you start out sampling every flavor at the first few tables you come to, you’re going to get too full too fast and you may end up missing out on something great because your tummy can’t take any more!
• Take a couple of bottles of water with you. If it’s hot out, make it very COLD water.
• Wet wipes could come in handy. Ice cream = sticky.

A Taste of Music City

Saturday, June 20th, 2015
3 – 8 pm

Public Square Park
Downtown Nashville

Cost: $55 in advance, $65 day of

Held at Public Square Park, Taste of Music City is celebrating it’s 13th year this year, as guests are invited to come sample fabulous food and drinks from local restaurants, purveyors, breweries and beverage companies. For a list of all the eats you’ll find at the festival, click here and to purchase tickets, click here.

Free Ice Cream at Walk of Fame Park

Tuesday, June 30th, 2015
11 am  – 3 pm

Music City Walk of Fame Park
2565 Park Plaza
Nashville, TN 37203

Ice cream, ice cream, you can never get enough ice cream, right? Especially when it’s FREE! Denali Moose Tracks is partnering with Purity Dairy to bring 10,000 scoops of free Purity Moose Tracks ice cream to downtown Nashville on June 30th. For each scoop of ice cream served, Denali Flavors, makers of the legendary Moose Tracks, will donate $1 to Operation Finally Home in an effort to raise $10,000 000 to support its mission of providing custom-made, mortgage-free homes to local wounded and disabled veterans and the widows of the fallen.

During the event ice cream lovers can tweet the hash tag #10KScoops for a chance to win free ice cream for a year from Denali Flavors @Moose_Tracks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Yum!East Giveaway~

Contest Closed

The Winner is….

#22 David

I’ve got 2 tickets to Yum!East to give to one of you lovelies! All you have to do to enter is this:

Mandatory

1. Leave a comment telling me which restaurant you’re most excited to try at Yum!East, or which is your favorite of the bunch on an everyday basis.

Optional

For up to 2 additional entries, you can do any or all of the following. Note: You must leave a separate comment for each optional entry.

2.  Follow me (@betheats) on Twitter and tweet “Yum!East is on June 4th and @betheats has 2 tickets to give away! Enter here: http://bit.ly/1SE2fnY ” then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3.  Like Yum!East on Facebook and come back and tell me you did so (or just tell me you already do if that’s the case!)

Contest ends on Monday, June 1st at noon CT. Once the winner is chosen, I’ll make contact via email and post the name here on the blog. If that person doesn’t respond within 24 hours, I’ll be forced to choose another, so be sure to check your email!

Bonnaroo, a 4-day music festival held on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, TN, began 13 years ago, right around the same time I moved to Nashville. Practically in my backyard for that many years….yet I’ve never been! Almost shameful.

I’ll be the first to admit that camping on a farm in the heat of summer and forgoing showers for a few days is not exactly my style. But– that doesn’t mean I haven’t thought to myself a few times over the years that I was missing out on something.

After reading my friend Kristin’s article on the elevated food scene at the festival last year, I realized that Bonnaroo needed to be added to my bucket list. And guess what? A little over two weeks from now, I’ll be there!

I’ll be covering it all on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there if you don’t already. As you would expect, I’ll most definitely be focusing on the food offerings ;-)

And speaking of food, last year Bonnaroo introduced BonnaROOTS Community Dinners and they were such a roaring success that they’re bringing them back this year. Locally sourced, four-course feasts allow festival-goers to eat for a cause, as the proceeds from the dinners go directly to Oxfam America and Eat for Equity, two great organizations helping those in need.

All ingredients are sourced from within 200 miles of Bonnaroo’s farm, and the herbs come from Bonnaroo Victory Garden, which is located onsite – how cool is that?

The menu includes:

“Make your own soda bar” with Victory Garden Herbs
Local cheeses and grilled bread with strawberry pepper jam
Greens with Benton’s Aged Country Ham, Pickled Eggs, and Herb Buttermilk Dressing
Fresh vegetables
Parmesan grits
Purple cape beans with fresh herbs
Tomato Gravy
Pulled pork
Lemon Buttermilk Panna Cotta with fresh berries

The dinners will be held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights: June 11th, 12th and 13th at 6 pm. There are two tiers of tickets for the dinners, which are on sale now at www.bonnaroo.com. Top tier tickets are $75 and include a sustainability goody bag. General tickets are $50. Thursday night’s dinner is already sold out so hurry and buy your tickets for Friday or Saturday now before they’re all gone!

I’ve raved about The Sutler in the past, and now I’m here to do it again. It has quickly become one of my favorite places in town to grab a drink and bite to eat with friends in the few short months it has been open.

A while back they launched a late night menu, then a few weeks later, a lunch menu, so now there are even more opportunities to dine and new options to choose from!

Shall I take you through a few of my favorite things from these new menus? Yes, I think I shall.

(Be sure to visit this post to find my favorites on the dinner menu)

Thank the Lord that their Sweet Potato Hummus can be found on ALL the menus, as I pretty much want it every time I visit. Heck, if they served breakfast, I’d even eat it then.

Made up of sweet potato and tahini, and topped with a fabulous pecan sage pesto and marinated cotija, it’s not like anything you imagine when you hear the word hummus. Trust me and order it.

Another spread/jar concoction that is quite addictive is the Queso Spread pictured at the very top of this post. Definitely a perfect late night eat that can help soak up some booze.

And speaking of soaking up booze, their Steak & Biscuit Sliders are probably pretty good at that too! Chicken fried steak is topped with grilled pineapple pico & cascabel honey adding a little sweet surprise to the deep fried goodness.

 Roast Beef #2 at The Sutler

But the one thing that surprised me the most of anything on the menu was the Roast Beef #2.

I know, I know. You’re probably like, “what could be so surprising about a roast beef sandwich?” Well, let me tell you — I don’t really even like sandwiches all that much. I never order them unless it’s absolutely the only option. Before I ate this particular sandwich, I could not tell you the last time I had a sandwich (note: burgers, grilled cheese and anything served on a biscuit don’t count).

Man oh man. It is a great sandwich.

And good news – it is also served on the lunch AND late night menus!

Now, what else on the lunch menu do I suggest? Pictured above:

Fried Squash with chive ranch

Kale Peanut Slaw

Hangar Steak Salad – red chile rubbed steak, grilled veggies, ancho chile aioli

Another pic of the Roast Beeef #2 because I love it so

I also hear that their burger is fan-freakin-tastic, so it’s on my list to devour for lunch very soon!

The Sutler Saloon

2600 Franklin Pike #109
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 840-6124

Hours of Operation

Mon-Wed: 11am-Midnight
Thurs-Sat: 11am-2am
Sunday: 5pm-10pm
*Serving the full menu all day until 1 hour before close

Happy Hour

Mon – Fri 3pm-7pm
1/2 Off Signature Cocktails
1/2 Off Draft Beer
1/2 Off All Wines by the Glass

~Giveaway~

Contest Closed

The Winner is….

#32 Shaunie

Now here’s your chance to try out the new lunch menu for FREE! That’s right, I’ve got Sutler lunch for TWO* to give away!

To enter, all you have to do is this:

Mandatory

1. Leave a comment telling me if you’ve visited The Sutler before, and if so, what your favorite dish on the menu is. If you haven’t been yet, then let me know what dishes from the lunch menu you’d be most excited to try!

For up to 2 additional entries, you can do either or both of the following. Note: You must leave a separate comment for each optional entry.

2. Follow The Sutler on Twitter (@thesutler) and tweet “Win a lunch for 2 at @thesutler from @betheats. You want this. Trust me! http://bit.ly/1KkUpwT ”, then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3. Sign up for The Sutler’s email list, then come back and tell me you did so (or just tell me you’re already on the list if that’s the case!)

Contest ends on Tuesday, May 26th at noon CT. Once the winner is chosen, I’ll make contact via email and post the name here on the blog. If they don’t respond within 48 hours, I’ll be forced to choose another, so be sure to check your email!

*Gift card, $50 value

I’ve been to Disney World a few times in my life, both when I was a child and in young adulthood. But the trip we just had a couple of months ago was BY FAR the best yet. The Most Magical Place On Earth with our little guy was certainly magical!

Where do I even begin? My gosh, there is so much I could tell you, but I’ll try to keep it fairly short and sweet.

First things first, a little explanation of what took us to Disney. You might recall that a few years ago, my friends Lindsay, Leah and I planned Food Blog Forum here in Nashville. Well, in the years since, FBF has visited Disney twice. Once was less than a month after Archer was born and the next was just a year later, and while I could have gone and taken my family, visiting with a 1-year-old didn’t really appeal to me. But when I heard that Walt Disney World was hosting Food Blog Forum 2015, there was absolutely no hesitation- I knew we simply MUST go!

Fun in the pool and courtyard at Disney’s Art of Animation hotel

For most of our stay, like other FBF attendees, we were at the beautiful Grand Floridian hotel. We loved everything about this place- the pools, the beach, the proximity to the parks, being on the monorail line, and most of all, the dock right around the corner from our room where we could watch the Electrical Water Pageant at night.

We also added a night to the front end of our trip, and since the Grand Floridian didn’t have any rooms available, I took the opportunity to book us at a place I knew Archer would be tickled with- Disney’s Art of Animation hotel. The suites are themed as Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. Nemo is by far his favorite Disney movie, so it was the Nemo suite for us! The courtyards and pools here were so much fun for him that he actually cried the morning we left to go get on a bus to go to Magic Kingdom, begging to stay at the hotel and play. I think we probably could have spent the entire 4 days playing at just that hotel and he would have been happy!

Excited to meet Donald Duck!

But of course there was no way we were just going to hang out at a hotel all day every day. We had Disney parks to conquer! Day 1 was Magic Kingdom, and despite the overcast and slightly drizzly weather, we had a blast. (In fact, the cooler weather may have been a blessing in disguise) Archer didn’t show much interest in most of the rides, but what he did love were the characters! The face you see above is not terror, it’s actually him screaming with excitement/happiness.

I’m not sure if we got lucky or it’s like this most of the time, but the lines for character meet & greets at Pete’s Silly Sideshow were short and moved super fast, so if you’re planning a visit to MK, keep that in mind.

Archer’s favorite experience of the day seemed to be the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, which absolutely made me the happiest mama, as it was my favorite as a kiddo too! As soon as we finished going through it, he begged to go back again, so we did. And for a few days he talked about moving into that tree house to live forever. Which I kinda wish we could do…

Watch out Mickey, I think Archer may steal your girlfriend!

Day 2 for my family meant a rainy day at Animal Kingdom while I headed to the Food Blog Forum conference being held at the Contemporary resort.

I’m so glad that Disney has photographers everywhere to capture moments like these, particularly since I was not around when Archer met Mickey and Minnie for the first time. They captured so many cute pics of the meeting that I almost felt like I was there!

While I would have loved to see this magical moment in person, I can’t say that I wasn’t thoroughly enjoying my time with other food bloggers at the conference. There were some awesome speakers, and there really is something to be said about surrounding yourself with so many inspiring people for a day.

After a few years of blogging, there are times when I feel myself barreling toward burnout. Trying to balance a full time job, a family, multiple social media accounts, writing a blog (which is almost like a second job) and just a little bit of leisure time is not easy. There are many times I’ve felt like shutting it down, but then I go to something like FBF and I’m reminded of why I started it in the first place and how much I love it.

Or maybe I’m just reminded of how much I love food ;-)

California Grill – Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Braised Pork Belly with Goat Cheese Polenta and Country Applesauce

Ah yes, the food. Let me just say that Disney knows how to host a food blogging conference. Overall I was blown away by their generosity, and the lunch they prepared for us was pretty much mind-boggling. They brought together a huge group of chefs from all of the top restaurants on property to serve us a feast at the California Grill.

Just take a gander at all of these photos. And yes, I ate every bit of this!

Flying Fish Cafe – Disney’s Boardwalk
Local Ocean Shrimp, Risotto di Carnaroli all Frutti di Mare

Sanaa – Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Fragrant Lamb Potije with Basmati Rice and Minted Lemon Pickle

Trattoria al Forno – Disney’s BoardWalk
Braised Beef “Bolognese” with House-made Cavatelli

Be Our Guest Restaurant – Magic Kingdom Park
Sauteed Shrimp and Scallops with Seasonal Vegetables and Mushrooms served in Puff Pastry and Creamy Lobster Sauce

Le Cellier Steakhouse – Epcot
Roasted Baby Beets with Pear, Goat’s Milk Feta, Toasted Pistachio, and Petite Greens

Sunshine Seasons – Epcot
Power Salad – Kale, Chard, Chicory, Radicchio, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Quinoa, Goat Cheese, Toasted Sliced Almonds, and Dried Sour Cherries with Spiced Honey Vinaigrette

Disney’s Contemporary Resort Bakery – Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Chocolate Pudding Cake with Chocolate-Hazelnut Sauce and Mint Cream

Florida Strawberry-Orange Cake with Champagne Sorbet

Now that is some kind of lunch, wouldn’t you say?!?

The Seas with Nemo and Friends Pavilion at Epcot

Day 3 we headed to Epcot, which was probably our favorite park of them all. Not only was there plenty for Archer to enjoy (the Seas with Nemo and Friends was definitely the favorite), but mommy and daddy got to partake in some adult refreshments as we made our way through all of the countries, and the kiddo slept in his stroller for almost 2 hours while we did so!

Oh, and we had some great meals here too. For lunch we dined at Sunshine Seasons in the Land Pavilion, and they had some wonderful healthy offerings at reasonable prices.

Pastries in Epcot’s France

Of course, a healthy lunch must always be balanced with a decadent dessert…

Avocado Margarita
La Hacienda de San Angel

And then there was the avocado margarita for dinner!!!! Oh man, this was perhaps the best frozen margarita I’ve ever had. The avocado gave it a creamy consistency and I’m now not sure if I can ever drink a regular old margarita again. Will be trying this at home. For sure.

Must not forget to mention the best purchase we made during out trip, which was the Mickey ‘lightsaber’ (as Archer calls it). I’m not sure of the proper terminology- glow stick? Anyway, they were selling them after dark at Epcot and I think we only paid $12 for it. Definitely well worth the money. Not only did he carry it everywhere with him for the rest of the trip, but we’ve had countless number of hours of play time with it once back home.

Archer and his Mickey lightsaber at Hollywood Studios

Day 4, our last day at the parks, took us (and the lightsaber) to Hollywood Studios for one of the other highlights or our trip, a character lunch with Jake! While most of the rides and shows at HS are meant for an older crowd, we knew we wouldn’t spend too many hours there, but we definitely could not miss meeting Jake of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, A’s favorite show.

The character dining experience at Hollywood and Vine was awesome. The characters were from Disney Junior shows – Sophia, Jake, Handy Manny, Doc McStuffins – and even though Archer doesn’t watch all of those shows consistenly, he knew who they all were and absolutely loved meeting each of them.

Every few minutes, the characters, along with other performers, dance around the room and sing, and kids are encouraged to join in. Great for burning off some of that seemingly endless toddler energy!

 Meeting Jake. Thankfully he didn’t mind that Archer put his hand in his mouth.

The happiness this experience brought him was priceless, and as an added plus for us adults, the food was actually great too. Set up buffet-style, there are a plethora of options for picky palates and adventurous ones. I don’t remember everything I had but I do know some things I thoroughly enjoyed were a roasted beet, apple and goat cheese salad, an antipasti salad, lobster mac & cheese, roasted chicken, and a fantastic bean cassoulet.

It’s hard to put into words what a great time we had, and I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to experience this trip to Disney through Food Blog Forum. We look forward to many more visits in the years to come!

Radish Salad at Salt & Fat: ramp greens, goat cheese, speck, tokyo turnip, horseradish

I feel pretty fortunate that my job takes me to some great cities, even if the majority of my hours in said cities are usually spent working on a trade show floor, in trainings, or in my hotel room on my laptop. No matter how tired I am, there’s always enough energy to hit the town for a great meal or two.

My latest NYC trip wasn’t exactly glamorous, as a majority of my time was spent at Citi Field, home of the Mets. And no, I wasn’t watching baseball. I was attending a food show that was held inside the stadium. For 3 long days. Of course, I can’t complain too much– I mean, it was a food show. There are worse things I could’ve be doing!

The location and long hours of the show required that I stay near Citi Field, in the New York City borough of Queens. Before this trip, with the exception of flights in and out of LGA, I’d never been to Queens. Since I wasn’t exactly familiar with the area, and all of my previous trips to NYC had been spent in Manhattan, I wasn’t sure how time consuming it would be to get over there from my hotel, or if I would have the energy at the end of each day to do it.

Salt & Fat’s Scallops: roasted carrot puree, truffled corn salsa, capers

So, instead of researching restaurant options in Manhattan in advance of my trip, I pretty much did nothing. Luckily my sis-in-law lives on the Upper West Side, and since I wanted to see her while in town, I just let her come up with some options for us. On the day of my arrival. How’s that for last minute planning?

Knowing that I might be exhausted after flights and working at a show, she kindly offered to head my way, over to Queens. She sent me a short list of options, and one stood out from the rest – Salt & Fat. I mean, how could a place with that name not be great?

This is a small neighborhood joint in Sunnyside, a cozy space with friendly staff and some of the best food I’ve had in a while. It was a blessing in disguise that I had to stay outside of Midtown Manhattan on this trip, as I am so happy that I got to experience this place!

Korean BBQ Wraps: marinated hanger steak, pickles, fried onion, ssamjang

Hudson Valley Foie Gras: cinnamon gastrique, brioche, bacon, seasonal fruit

Duck breast: burnet eggplant yogurt, apricot, shiso chimichurri, duck fat crouton

Bacon Panna Cotta with Maple Ice Cream and Whiskey Gastrique at Salt & Fat

If you live in NYC or find yourself in or near Queens at some point in the near future, you should definitely give Salt & Fat a visit. They don’t take reservations, so be prepared to wait, but I promise any wait time is worth it!

Salt & Fat

41-16 Queens Blvd
Sunnyside Gardens, NY 11104
(718) 433-3702

If you’ve been following my blog for a long time, you know that May is pretty much my favorite month of the year. Not only is it my birthday month, but it also brings with it a plethora of fun activities: Cinco de Mayo celebrations, the Kentucky Derby, Steeplechase, Memorial Day cookouts, and Generous Helpings!

One of the best tasting events of the year, Generous Helpings supports Second Harvest Food Bank, so not only is it fun for your tummy, but it’s also a great way to do a little good for our community.

This year there are several exciting new participants plus a brand new venue, City Winery. Check out this list:

55 South, Cork & Cow, Red Pony Restaurant and Red Pony Catering
Amerigo Italian Restaurant
Biscuit Love
Caffe Nonna
Chauhan Ale & Masala House
City House
City Winery
FIDO
Goo Goo Cluster
Hattie B’s Hot Chicken
Kickin’ Coffee & Tea
Kohana Japanese Restaurant
Kroger Chef Shoppe/Murray’s Cheese
Margot Café/Marche Artisan Foods
Martin’s BBQ Joint
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Porter Road Butcher
Puckett’s
Riffs Fine Street Food
Second Harvest Culinary Arts Center
SILO
The Loving Pie Company
The Southern Steak & Oyster
Urban Grub

Generous Helpings

Thursday, May 14th, 2015
6 – 9 pm

City Winery
609 Lafayette St
Nashville, TN 37203

Cost: $50/person in advance here
($60 at the door)

And one of my lovely readers is going to get to attend the event along with a friend, for free!

~Giveaway~

Contest Closed

The Winner is….

#16 Catherine

To enter for your chance to win 2 tickets to Generous Helpings being held on Thursday, May 14th, all you have to do is this:

Mandatory

1. Leave a comment telling me which restaurant you’re most excited to try at Generous Helpings, or what you’ve eaten at past years’ events that you loved the most!

Optional

For up to 3 additional entries, you can do any or all of the following. Note: You must leave a separate comment for each optional entry.

2.  Follow Second Harvest on Twitter and tweet “Generous Helpings is on 5/14 & @betheats has tickets to give away! Enter here: http://bit.ly/1PfTcoD” then leave a comment telling me you’ve done so.

3.  Like Second Harvest on Facebook and come back and tell me you did so (or just tell me you already do if that’s the case!)

4. Sign up for Second Harvest’s Email List and then come back and tell me you did so (or just tell me you’re already on it if that’s the case).

Contest ends on Thursday, May 7th at noon. Once the winner is chosen, I’ll make contact via email and post the name here on the blog. If that person doesn’t respond within 48 hours, I’ll be forced to choose another, so be sure to check your email!

Sophisticakes Open House

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015
Noon – 9 pm

Sophisticakes
707 Porter Rd
Nashville, TN 37206

Cost: FREE

New discovery alert! A little bake shop has opened in East Nashville and you’re going to want to go check it out. Need a birthday cake, wedding cake, or a just-because-I-want-to-eat-cake cake? Sophisticakes is your answer. Self-described as “a custom, bake-to-order, from-scratch cakery”, they use real & natural ingredients whenever possible, and can also accommodate allergy requests.

Not interested in cake? That’s okay, because they can make pretty much any sweet treat you want! Just a few days ago I sampled some of their mini hand pies and WOW. The crust was absolutely perfect, and they’re super cute to boot. In fact, for the last two days, I’ve woken up wishing a bag of coconut cream mini hand pies would magically appear so I could have them with my morning coffee.

But don’t just take my word for it– go see them this weekend for their open house. They’ll have samples and I promise, you’ll be happy you stopped by!

FoodBank:Throwdown

Sunday, May 4th, 2015
4 – 7 pm

Tin Roof
316 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37201

Cost: $40 advanced
$45 advanced (with parking. purchase your ticket with a parking pass, you will receive downtown parking for ONLY $5!)
$50 day of

Generous Helpings

Thursday, May 14th, 2015
6 – 9 pm

City Winery
609 Lafayette St
Nashville, TN 37203

Cost: $50/person in advance here
($60 at the door)

And be sure to stay tuned, as I just might have tickets to give away very soon :-)

Atlanta Food & Wine Festival

Thursday May 28th – Sunday, May 31st, 2015
Midtown Atlanta

Cost: Various pricing levels

Well, it may not be a Nashville food happening, but it is a Southern food happening that’s an easy drive from here, so it’s worth a mention! This will be my 4th year attending/covering/working at the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival, and each year it seems to get better and better. Several other Nashvillians are usually in attendance showcasing their restaurants and brands, so it’s fun to have a weekend away from home to hang with all of them.

For an idea of what to expect, just take a look at some posts of my previous experiences. You’ll find them here, here and here.

If you’re planning to make the trip to Atlanta to partake in all of the deliciousness, be sure to visit the Goo Goo table in the tasting tents and say hi to me!

Nashville Street Food Month

Entire month of May
All over town!

The Nashville Food Truck Association will celebrate its 3rd annual Nashville Street Food Month in May. The kickoff will be TODAY (4/30) at “Street Food Thursdays” where 18 trucks will serve lunch on Deaderick Street in downtown Nashville.

Trucks scheduled for “Street Food Thursdays” include Bacon Nation, The Confeastador, Crankee’s Pizzeria, Dan’s Gourmet Mac Attack, Deg Thai, Grilled Cheeserie, Hoss’ Loaded Burgers, Julia’s Bakery, King Tut’s, Maggie Moo’s, Moovers and Shakers, Music City Pie Co., Pig N Pit, Pita Pit, Riffs Fine Street Food, Smoke Et Al, Smoothie King, and Yayo’s OMG.

All members of the NFTA will donate a portion of proceeds from May sales to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and Musicians Corner Nashville. Daily events will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, so be sure to follow along to find your favorite trucks!

A while back Green BEAN Delivery offered me a trial bin so I could check out their new-to-Nashville grocery delivery service. I didn’t respond right away because I’m one of those people that actually enjoys going to the grocery. I wasn’t really sure I had any use for a delivery service. Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I find grocery shopping sort of therapeutic.

However, there are certainly weeks that it’s more of a stress than it is a therapy session. When I’m traveling or have a schedule full of evening and weekend events, it’s hard to find the time to shop. While I knew I wouldn’t be interested in using the service every week, I decided it might be worth checking out to see if it was something I could use from time to time. So, right before we went on vacation back in late February/early March, I set up my account to take advantage of the free bin they had offered.

Once you sign up with your credit card info, you’ll get an email on Thursday reminding you to choose what you want for the upcoming week. Your selections have to be chosen by noon on Monday for delivery on Wednesday. The timing on my first order was perfect, as we left for vacation on a Thursday and were back home the following Tuesday. While I was in Orlando, I chose my groceries, then had fresh produce on my doorstep just a day after we returned!

I chose a combo bin (mix of produce and groceries), and there is a $35 minimum,$28 of which needs to be produce. All of the products are all natural and free of additives and preservatives, and are primarily sourced from area farmers and artisans. Since that first trial bin I received, I’ve ordered twice more on my own dime, and I’ve been really happy with the service so far. My travel schedule has picked up lately, so it’s been great knowing that I don’t have to worry about getting to the grocery, and instead the grocery will come to me!

Want to know more?

For more information, visit their “How it Works”  section of their website.

Want to try Green BEAN for yourself?

Great news! I have a code that you can use to get $15 off of your first order. This code is good for 3 months after this post, so be sure to use it before July 28th, 2015.

Code: bc6edsm (good for new members and re-activations only)

Were you a former Plumgood customer?

For those of you that don’t know, Plumgood Food was a grocery delivery service that used to be here in Nashville, and I know several people that were heartbroken when it closed. Now those former Plumgood customers in Nashville have something to be happy about. Green BEAN  is offering them a discount!

Prior Plumgood Food customers who are within the service area of Green BEAN Delivery can register for the service and get the discount by visiting www.greenbeandelivery.com/plumgood.

Love creating new recipes?

You’re in luck! Green BEAN recently launched a recipe contest, Plate Proud. Each participant is asked to submit their favorite original recipe in one—or all—of 5 categories for a chance to win some awesome prizes. Give it a try!