Thai Lemongrass Tofu Tacos with a Lime-Sriracha Aioli & Basil-Cucumber Salsa

These are not the most photogenic tacos in the world but they are damn amazing.

These tacos came into our lives about a week ago when our darling friend and cookbook author Marta Holmberg posted this photo of Vegan Vietnamese Tacos made by The Mandoline Grill in Los Angeles. They had a strange combination of delicious things and being a bit ugly on the eyes. We're friends here. So we can be honest -- pink food can be hard to photograph.

But I really hope that you'll give these messy,spicy, savory and smokey tacos a try because they're more than worth the short amount of time it takes to make them (if you don't count marinading) and that rosy sauce is amazing on veggie burgers *, steamed artichokes, and with carrots sticks and really anything. Yes -- even corn on the cob. It's really a beautiful thing - even if it's pink**.

Now you might be wondering what makes these Thai tacos rather than Vietnamese like the originals.Well I am neither Thai or Vietnamese so my take on these cuisines comes mostly from restaurants and research. Both cuisines do share a lot of the same key ingredients like lemongrass, coconut milk, rice and noodles. Although Sriracha sauce is Vietnamese, my experience is that Vietnamese food is not as spicy as Thai and these tacos are actually really fiery. I mean they're hot.

I also added Thai basil, cucumbers and lime to the salsa recipe to add a freshness and a citrusy bite to keep the Lime-Sriracha Aioli from over powering everything with it's awesomeness. But really does that make it more Thai than Vietnamese? Hard to say.

So I guess -- long story short -- They might be dressed in pink but they kick ass. 

The Betty Crocker Project: Vegan Chicken & Cashew Dinner

Editing a book is a deceptively slow process. It's the kind of thing that seems to go fast and is pretty easy till you realize you've actually gone through several pages and you don't even remember what you've just read. I've heard of similar things happening to truck drivers with great mix tapes on long highways in Kansas. It's not unlike what happens when you start watching Battlestar Galactica or Sons of Anarchy. Except in those cases, you're so amped up, the blur comes from an overdose of awesome.

I've been living lately in this kind of state. I love our book and I think you will too but I hate that I'm a terrible typist*.  I find whole sections of the day disappear in a blur of shortening this and formatting that and then more website stuff and more emails. I take breaks to tweet and post updates on our Facebook page but I've lately come to find an even more sincere appreciation for Betty's Quick and Easy Recipes. In Betty's recipe, she makes the dish more "healthy" by deceasing the number of cashews (fat) but we went another route. We took out the birds and added vegetables and a lot more ginger. It's a fast and flavorful dinner that made our home smell lovely.

No matter what you're busy with right now or what level of chef you are... you can make this. You can do it! 

Now let's high five and go make some dinner...

Hot & Sour Soup with Sesame Garlic Tempeh

Tempeh not pictured... I ate it all too fast. 

Ever have a weekend you needed a weekend to recover from? This past weekend I had the pleasure of helping out at The Herbivore Clothing Company booth at The NYC Vegetarian Food Festival. It was a blur of friendly new and familiar faces, food and lots of fun. I know "fun" is kind of a lazy word to describe a day but I stand behind it. If you missed it - you can see the photos on our Facebook page by clicking on this sentence.

There's something kind of wonderful that happens when you're exhausted and busy though... with the right mindset you can look at the random collection of leftovers from meals past and see something new. This isn't a traditional Hot & Sour Soup - it's more a collection of wonderful that makes up a soup that is hot and sour but we loved it.

It might be March already but it's still cold out and that means soup season is still here! Enjoy it while we still can!

The Betty Crocker Project : Sesame Teriyaki Beef-less Skewers

One would think that resigning from your job would make life simpler. That afternoons would open up and every day would be like Saturday. This isn't the case. I mean at least not for me. Probably not for anyone who has projects they care about and talented friends who are making the world amazing.

My dear friend Marisa Miller Wolfson is one of those talented and dedicated activists for animals I'm talking about. She's the Esprit Créatif behind Vegucated, a feature-length documentary that follows three meat-loving New Yorkers while they adopt a vegan diet for six weeks. It hasn't just been a hit within our little animal loving community either. At this year's Toronto Independent Film Festival, Vegucated got a standing ovation and took home the award for Best Documentary. Tomorrow night is the NYC Premiere! This event promises to be the vegan event of the year in a city full of some pretty amazing vegans, and is the first of ten stops on The Let's Get America Vegucated! Autumn 2011 Tour. If you don't have your tickets yet, there is still time--but not a lot, so no more lollygagging. And who knows, maybe tomorrow night you'll spot a Shannon or two.

Living in an exciting city with beautiful, accomplished people can make it hard to have lots of time to cook. So I've been burning through a lot of Betty's 20 minutes or less type of recipes. This one is pretty much my favorite thus far, and goes great with some brown rice or on a split baguette. It's also a little fancier than it would seem considering how easy it is.

Even the most novice vegans and chefs are going to love this one. Start your ovens!

The People Have Spoken! Brussels Sprouts in Sriracha Lime Sauce

Today is my last day at a job I've had for 6 years. Don't worry - I'm not going to get all emotional about leaving my job like some drunk 17 year old committing Promicide. I won't freak out and invite you into my anxiety attacks*. And if you're one of those folks hoping I'm going to write a tell-all post about what happens behind the scenes in the animal rights movement, I hope you'll find a way to forgive me. Maybe I'll polish off that bottle of sherry I've been hoarding since we made vegan Chicken Tetrazzini and who knows... I'll get all crazy pants on you. Who knows? History is full of sherry drenched confessions**. But please don't hold your breath.

Last night, I was trying to figure out what to post today. I was inspired by what is happening on Wall Street right now, and went to the social networking streets and asked the folks on Facebook and Twitter to vote. I wanted to know what you wanted. It was no surprise that people love Sriracha sauce. I mean, I love Sriracha, but some of you guys are pretty serious about your Thai hot sauce! It was also kinda touching to hear how many of you have brussels sprouts in your fridge right now. I've always loved these bitty cabbages. Every Fall, it's so exciting to see them show up in the produce section. This time of year they're at their best, and I can't stress enough that if you've only ever had brussels sprouts during any other time of the year... you need to fix that. I'm not a therapist or anything - but that's a problem.

This recipe combines all kinds of delicious stuff like garlic and lemon and kick-ass awesomely-easy. Enjoy!

The Betty Crocker Project : Mini Tempeh Potstickers with Tamari & Sesame Dipping Sauce

The original Betty potstickers used pork and had a different filling; our version is kinder to the little oinkers. Cute little intelligent pigs who want nothing more than to just chill out in some grass or mud if it's hot out--or maybe swim around in The Bahamas. I mean I don't actually speak for pigs or anything - they unfortunately don't have elected representation at the moment - but I'm pretty confident when I say I'm sure they would rather be doing pretty much anything than being potstickers.

You might also start looking through this recipe and think "Wow, that's a lot of steps. What can I skip over to make this go faster?" Sorry to have to be the one to break this to you, but you have to follow all the steps. There are no shortcuts to Mordor, or potstickers. I'm not trying to be mean, but all the steps are pretty key. It should make you feel better to know they actually go very quickly. But that thought might lead you to another : "Hmmm. It is a lot of steps... is this worth it?" To that question I only have one thing to say to that lazy negative voice that would deny you tempeh postickers. "Hell yes! Now go boil some water."

I should warn you though, this recipe makes a lot. It would be perfect for a party or potluck - especially since you serve them at room temperature or chilled and aren't terribly expensive for how cool they are. So basically this recipe makes a ton (not literally) of cheap but delicious vegan food. Yeah. It's that good.

Are you ready to wok?

Vegan Chicken Lettuce Wraps & How We Survived The Heat Dome...

2 years ago today, I married my best friend. Now this might seem like a pretty obvious and trite way to describe a wedding, but it fits. I mean it wasn't like the old-school wedding days, where life as we had known it changed forever. My parents didn't hand me over in exchange for a few cows, and Dan didn't lift my veil with crossed fingers. Our lives slowly began to intertwine long before we ever even kissed. We'd been building a life together for years before I ever put on that off-white dress, and our course didn't really change much from the day we decided to be more than friends in the first place. In fact, the life we had already begun to build together just got a little better... we just dressed up, ate a bunch of cupcakes, and made it legal, is all.

Over the weekend in New York City, numerous same-sex couples (and some not-so-same-sex) finally got to make it legal too. Now, I know a lot of you like to read inside bits about our relationship rather than here me talk about politics. I mean, I get at least 20 emails a week asking about what we fight about and how we move past those bloody battles. But if we were all sitting down to dinner tonight, talking about how proud we are to live in a progressive state would come up. We might also talk about the Pompeii exhibit we saw over the weekend and some thoughts we had about the new Captain America movie... which was freaking incredible*.

And if you were visiting last weekend, we would have have eaten these lettuce wraps that require very little cooking and eased our suffering considerably. See, we were trapped last weekend in The Heat Dome. Now if you're wondering if that is worse than the Thunderdome... it seriously is. We're not big on air conditioning, so a Heat Dome is pretty much a nightmare. Now you would think we were used to heat after years in Virginia. Back then the sadistic humidity gave us an excuse to drive to the beach. On nights when we were feeling kinda fancy-ish, we'd stop by P.F.Chang's on the way back. Their vegan lettuce wrap appetizers are pretty spectacular and always went perfectly with sun burnt shoulders and large lemonades. We made ours with Gardein Crispy Tenders and enjoyed them with some beers from Brooklyn's Sixpoint Brewery**, a game of Civilization, and a giant fan.

And that I guess is why, on the 2nd anniversary of our wedding, we are posting this delicious recipe that helped us do more than just survive the Heat Dome... it was a tiny reminder of how we're not just making it through our lives together. We are, as my husband so eloquently put it, "Living in the Awesome!"

Let us eat lettuce wraps and be awesome! Awesome for all!

The Betty Crocker Project : Vegan Sesame Beef Noodle Salad

As we look out over the wasteland that is the aftermath of St.Patrick's Day, I am compelled to share a story with you about a man and his journey home. Please enjoy this Shannon Family Story...

The Scene : St.Patrick's Day 2007
The Place : Ghent - An adorable little historic neighborhood full of blooming magnolia trees and folks who keep their SUVs shiny in the city of Norfolk, VA. The city where World War II hero General Douglas MacArthur was born and now has a mall named after him. Also the city where People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are headquartered. Coincidence? Yes. 
The Time : One of innocence - I think around 3pm

My husband Dan and I were driving home to our spacious and sunny 2 bedroom apartment in the aforementioned charming neighborhood of Ghent, when we noticed in the distance a man stumbling and obviously struggling down one of the cute little rustically cracked sidewalks. This was a man who had seen some action in his life. A man who you could tell in an instance had begun the day a different person and now was unprepared for the journey ahead of him. He was dressed in a tasteful hunter green blazer and was carrying a napsack of some kind that you could tell he debated abandoning as each step became more labored. He was a man trying to get home from a day that he had begun with a trip to the bars to celebrate St.Patrick's Day. One of us exclaimed "Oh God - That guy needs help."

The other with even more concern said "Oh God - That's XXXX!" (We're not naming names here because c'mon that would be really uncool)

So we pulled up and offered our friend a ride. He was only 3 blocks from his own house but in his condition, that looked like it could take an hour. The relief and joy on his face was apparent in an instance when he smiled a smile that could melt even this guy's heart. So we pulled over and both Dan and I got out to grab his bag and help him into the back seat. Just as we began helping our good friend - who had become disheveled and a bit dirty in his journey - a blond older woman in a red fleece vest with two matching collies came around the corner and froze in what could only be described as horror. I mean she literally covered her mouth - perhaps to muffle a scream and after the 5-6 seconds it took for her to regain her senses she quickly turned and scampered the other way.

One can only imagine what she thought was taking place : White Slavery. Serial Killers. Perhaps she thought we were do-gooders collecting the homeless from the street. Maybe it was just her response to someone as visually intoxicated as our friend*. We may never know.

But I will tell you this : This dish we're sharing today has some nice green vegetables and a unique Sesame & Beefy flavor without being heavy or overly oily which in my opinion makes it a perfect lunch either before or after a night of merriment and self-abuse. So be nice to yourself and make this. Also know that at Meet The Shannons we are always here to help without judgement!

Moment of Silence for the Bowl of Steamed Edamame with Sea Salt

It only took 25 minutes of steaming for you to capture my heart. Thank you for being such a great friend. Hope we can do lunch again sometime soon!

The Betty Crocker Project : Easy Asian Beefless Noodle Bowl

Today is Groundhog Day*, tomorrow is Chinese New Year and Valentine's day is right around the corner... so we're dealing with a lot right now. We decided to multitask and try to tie it all together. Did we succeed? Well... Today's recipe is super easy and is one of those special dishes that reheats well so you can enjoy it again and again. Which brings us to today's Vegan Valentine's Day suggestion :

Pack your sweetheart a special vegan lunch! Valentine's Day this year is on a Monday and that might make it a little hard to make this it an all-day love-fest. But you can make this dish in less than 20 minutes the night before or maybe that morning, pack it up , toss in something from The Pantheon of Baked Treats and a mini love letter and send a little love with your loved one that day... or even show a little love for yourself! I know I'll be saving some for myself. I adore noodles. I especially adore Asian noodle dishes. So really this is kinda a treat for me too.

So let's make some noodles!

The Betty Crocker Project : Crunchy Vegan Asian Chicken Salad

I woke up this morning with the echo of a dream and a lingering wisdom : "Don't let your boat turn into Charlie Brown." What does it mean? I have no idea.

But I do know that this salad is a quick lunch that has sunny mandarin oranges, crunchy ramen bits and is salty and sweet all at the same time. In less than 15 minutes you can be eating this and doing any of the millions of things that I should be doing. Why is this week so busy?

PS - Tonight is a big night for us -- more details to come. Wish us luck! Another thing you can do while you enjoy this salad.

Postcard from Boston! They may call it Beantown - but Vegans have way more options...

So you've probably guessed we've been away for Thanksgiving... well in Boston to be exact... Going to Celtic's games, visiting the Museum of Fine Arts and of course enjoying The Shannon Family vegan Thanksgiving! But when it comes to Boston they have a lot to offer as far as good vegan food besides what you find in the Shannon  kitchen...

The night before The Celtics beat The Raptors 110 to 101 in The Garden, we literally feasted at My Thai Vegan Cafe. We may have been a little too excited when we ordered because we got an appetizer, bowls of soups, 2 entrees and a beloved pot of green tea (that night was freezing) - which may sound like a normal meal but the serving sizes are so generous we had didn't have any room left for the gorgeous carrot cake they had in their bakery cases. Oh well - Guess we have to go back!

We started with Golden Triangles - which are medium sized fried won tons filled with a spiced fake chicken that came with a peanut sauce to dip them in. Dan was smart and got the Sweet & Sour Soup. This was some of the best Sweet & Sour Soups I've had since I moved from the Puget Sound area. It made me regret my Coconut Tofu Soup - which was also good but not a rock star like the Sweet & Sour. We both got entrees to share but really I'm not a great sharer when it comes to food. Dan's lucky I love him so much.

I got the Lemongrass Vegan Chicken and loved that I could actually taste the lemongrass. I adore the flavor and am often disappointed when it is over powered by salt or ginger. This was perfect. Dan took a chance and got the Tamarind Vegan Duck. I was worried it would be too sweet - a lot of times folks use jellies rather than fruit for the glazes and the sugar just kind of takes over. But the glaze was just the right amount of sweetness and savory and the vegan duck was firm and flavorful. The dish came on a huge plate surrounded by vegetables and was a meal on it's own. Man - I'm a getting a bit nostalgic just thinking about it.

But that's just one spot you should check out if you find yourself looking for vegan food in Boston...

The Betty Crocker Project : Spicy Thai Wings

Are they messy to eat? Yeah, a little bit. Are they hard to make? Not at all. Are they super spicy? Yeah, they have a kick to them. Are they amazing? Oh yes!

Some of you might remember a few weeks ago when I shamelessly gushed over Pad Thai. I mean, if I could have left a red lipstick kiss on that blog post, I would have. It's going to be hard for me not to write another love letter to this recipe. Not just because Thai food is a favorite in The Shannon Household, but because this was a really good dinner and really added a few fireworks to regular old Tuesday. Yes, there were a lot of substitutions and changes made to veganize this one but I have to thank Betty for the inspiration. I know I'll be re-using this recipe for years, and to be fair, I have The Betty Crocker Project to thank for expanding our recipe oeuvre if you will.

But that's ultimately the point of Betty Crocker, isn't it? I mean, she wasn't a real person. She was a icon developed to market products to housewives and aspiring housewives. Because let's be honest; even in those glamorized Leave to Beaver 1950s, many women worked outside the home, still faced the same societal expectations, and were expected to come home and do the work of their "stay at home" peers. This was even more true in the late 1930s, when Betty was invented. OK, my Women's Studies major is showing a bit, but back to my point: Betty Crocker, not unlike Julia Child, brought tips, easy-to-follow recipes, and a little affordable flare to American kitchens. She made it easier for Tuesday night to be more than the same old pot roast and mashed potatoes. Betty is that big sister who slips you her famous cake chocolate cake recipe right before the potluck, or walks you through how to make Thanksgiving dinner from scratch. Yeah, she's pretend, but to me that's what makes her great... sorta like Santa Claus.

So Merry Food Christmas to us all! Here's some kick-ass vegan Thai chicken wings for your stocking!

The Betty Crocker Project : Kung Pao Pork

I could type up a whole thing here about how even though Betty made this a pork recipe, the most common version of this is dish made with chicken; or about the political strife that lead to this dish being renamed for about a hundred years because of its association with Ding Baozhen. I could even go into the fact that this is an Americanized version of a classic Sichuan dish that was developed because from 1968 until 2005 it was illegal to import Sichuan peppercorns into the United States. But when I woke up today, I just wasn't feeling it.

Instead, I'm going to give you a list of my 5 favorite onomatopoeias from Batman--it is Kung POW Pork, after all. Please leave a comment to share your favorites as well.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system, let's enjoy some vegan Kung Pao Pork!

The Betty Crocker Project : Pad Thai

I still remember the first time I had Pad Thai. I was going to school in Olympia, WA and I was out to dinner with my friend Amanda from San Francisco. I can still remember how hilarious she found it that I had never had Pad Thai before. I mean, I had eaten Chinese and Japanese food before. I had enjoyed years of eating smelly Kim Chi, and even had Vegan Mongolian Stew once; it was made with tempeh to replace the goat meat. Although I still applaud the creativity, I think we all agreed that night that it was not the best stew ever made... but I'm on a tangent.

I never had Thai food until I was around 21, and had no idea that the Pad Thai I thoroughly enjoyed that night wasn't even very good. Over the years I have come to love Thai food; all that basil, coconut milk, peanuts, and spice. To me, Thai food has become that special someone. I adore you, Thai food. That's how I know that Pad Thai comes in many forms and guises. From spicy seafood with rice noodles to catsup-y sauce over linguine, I've seen them all. That's just one reason why when I read through Betty's Pad Thai recipe I had to nod my head and just smile. This is the good stuff*.

We had to tweak it a bit here and there to replace things like Fish Sauce (gag) and Beef Broth, but this recipe is really one of the best dishes we've made thus far. I also got to use one of my very favorite tricks for replacing the fried egg bits in fried rice, chow mein and egg drop soup, which I always look forward to.

So: ทานอาหารกันเถอะ!

The Betty Crocker Project : Beer Batter-Fried Fish (Marinated Tofu) & Tartar Sauce

Sometimes you just get what you need.

The other morning I woke up and thought: "I'd love to watch a detective story that has something to do with submarines while I drink my coffee today."

And you know what? I stumbled across a random episode of a CSI-type of show with Mark Harmon as a Navy FBI/police-type-person (?) that... guess what? Solved The Mystery of the Sailor Swap on a submarine!

This morning I woke up and thought: "I think I need more Richard Dreyfuss movies in my life."

And Jaws was on! Yes, I know, it's like an X-file.

Last night, I needed to come up with a new plan for dinner because my Match Vegan Chicken wasn't defrosted... and there she was. A little, forgotten package of extra-firm tofu. She waved and said "Remember me? You were going to make me into vegan fish sticks!"

I smiled and thought, "I can do better than, that my little friend*."

The Betty Crocker Project : Thai Chicken with Basil & Lemonade

This weekend we had a Shannon invasion!

Dan's parents and little sister came down from Boston and NYC to hang out at the beach, watch some soccer, and celebrate his dad's birthday/retirement/belated Father's Day--a perfect-storm celebration with the Virginia Shannons.

Yes, the US team is out of the World Cup, and that was a bummer. But you have to admit Ghana's keeper is talented. I mean, it would be really hard to think of another man dressed in head-to-toe periwinkle who kicks that much ass.

Saturday in Virginia was hot. Not really living on the Sun hot; more like Mercury, or that binary star they thought was a moon around Mercury until the 70s. So I thought it would be a good idea to skip the oven. We pulled out the rice cooker and scanned the "20 minutes or less" section of Betty's Big Red for something kinda light and healthy. The thing I didn't expect was the steam from the wok.

Yeah, I kinda cooked myself making this, but it was so worth it! We paired it with Betty's Lemonade recipe and it had a lovely dinner with some loved ones... after I drank about 4 glasses of icy lemonade. Sigh - what a world.

The Betty Crocker Project: Orange Teriyaki Beef with Noodles

Fact: I went to a pro wrestling match with my buddy Holbein on Sunday.

Fact: It wasn’t some sort of hipster irony thing (I‘m against irony in general).
Fact: I am 30 years old.

People say that pro wrestling is no fun because it’s pretend. First of all, these are the same people who got off telling their friends’ little sister that Santa Claus wasn’t real. Second of all, of course pro wrestling is pretend—that’s WHY it’s fun. Imagine if I'd spent Sunday afternoon in a building full of 10,000 people screaming their heads off while three-hundred-pound men REALLY threw each other onto the concrete floor from ten feet off the ground, smashed each other over the head repeatedly with steel folding chains, and just generally beat one other senseless like a chimpanzees on a movie set. It would be grotesque; it would be human dog fighting. And it wouldn’t be fun AT ALL. Professional wrestling is fun because it’s pretend. Otherwise it’d just be violence.

I thought of this while cooking this recipe, watching Gardein Beefless Tips sizzle and brown in a thin layer of sesame oil in our trusty wok, weighing the promise of a mid-preparation snack against the inevitability of singed fingertips. “It looks so real,” I thought—and for a moment I had the slightest little twinge of vegan guilt. But here’s the thing… if it had been real, it would have been disgusting. I know this. And lo: professional wrestling. Fake meat is delicious and wonderful and all that is good in the world precisely BECAUSE it’s pretend. Otherwise it’d just be violence.

Without further ado… this recipe is scheduled for one fall!

The Betty Crocker Project : Asian Tuna with Wasabi Aioli and Sesame Buttered Broccoli

You know those nights. . . the ones where everything just kinda works out? The nights when you're a little worried The Cleveland Cavilers may live up to their reputation and beat The Celtics but instead Kevin Garnett goes Berserker on them with his metal face and all.* The nights when you're a little unsure what dinner is going to turn out like and you were kinda grumpy all day so you're worried you may unknowingly stumble into a fight with your significant other but you don't and dinner turns out actually kinda amazing. You eat a dinner at home that you would pay to eat at a restaurant except this dinner is even better because you get to eat it in your slippers and a comfortable chair trying to keep kittens off the table. I really like those nights. Sigh. Thank you Betty for your role in this lovely evening.

OK enough gushing . . . more eating. . .

The Betty Crocker Project : Chicken Chow Mein

So I was working on this joke that went something like this: You don't like Fake Chicken Chow Mein? What are you a Commie?

But I just couldn't really get it to come together and it seemed somewhat insensitive to people who are being exploited in China as well as people with a irrational phobia leftover from The Cold War. I'll get back to you if something inspired happens.

This recipe makes a lot of food and there's none of the MSG you get from those FABULOUS Chinese take-out spots that fry their tofu "chicken" into little nuggets. You know the ones that also have disgusting bags of chicken wings and Mexican sodas. I love those places. They are usually really sweet about leaving out the fish and oyster sauces, you can watch them make your food and are eager to make vegan spring rolls and serve mock meat as long as you promise to tell your friends. Alas - without the MSG there is a bit of blandness that is easy to fix with some Braggs Amino Acids. 

• 10 Pieces of Fake Chicken (We are still using these from May Wah but really any vegan chicken - Seitan, Morningstar Chick'n Strips or Gardein will do)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil for cooking
• 1 Cup of Carrots (cut into coins)
• 1 Cup of Celery (chopped into large pieces)
• 1/2 of 1 Red Onion (chopped)
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Can (8oz) of Sliced Water Chestnuts (drained)
• 1/2 Cup of Cashews
• 1/2 Cup of Baby Corn 
• 1 Can of Bamboo Shoots
• 1 Cup of Better Than Bouillon (Vegetable Broth - prepared using the directions on the package)
• 4 Tablespoons of Braggs ( you may want to add 2 at fist and then add more till you like the flavor)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Minced Ginger (you may want to add 1/4 a teaspoon first and then add another if you want more flavor)
• 2 Tablespoon Corn Starch
• 1 Cup of White Mushrooms (halved)
• 1 Cup of Pea Pods
• Chow Mein Noodles 
• Rice (optional)

In a wok heat, Olive Oil at a medium heat. Add the Fake Chicken and cook until both sides are brown and crispy. Remove Fake Chicken and set aside on a plate with a paper towel to soak up extra oil. 

Throw Carrots, Celery, Onion, Garlic, Water Chestnuts, Mushrooms, Cashews, Baby Corn and Bamboo Shoots, Pea Pods to the oil and cook. Keep turning the vegetables so they cook evenly. 

In a bowl mix Vegetable Broth, Soy Sauce, Corn Starch and Ginger. Whisk the mix until smooth. Add Fake Chicken to the bowl and mix till the Fake Chicken is covered. Then add to the cooking vegetables. Be sure and pour all the Soy Sauce mix into the vegetables. Keep turning to make sure everything gets covered.

This is when you will want to test the flavor to see if you want more Ginger or Braggs. . . if the sauce has gotten too think during the cooking - because you wok has gotten too hot or whatever - you can add 1 or 2 Teaspoons of water. . . I didn't do this - but I am assuming that if you add more water you will want more Ginger and Braggs. 

Serve over Rice and Chow Mein Noodles.