Super Fast & Easy Soyrizo Pasta Dinner

So I admit it. I burnt myself out. if you know me in person -- you know that me admitting this is a huge deal.

After years of working 40+ hours a week in the animal rights movement and writing this blog and then writing our book and now starting our second book... I'm exhausted. There was also a slight shift in this blog that was unintentional but after taking a little break from posting regularly I can see pretty clearly. See in the beginning this blog was about our mission to make anything and everything vegan but as this blog became more popular and more and more people who I didn't know and who have never eaten any of my food began to read this thing -- well there was this pressure for lack of a better word -- to not have typos and never admit that that I burnt a cookie or that a recipe was anything less than a cruelty-free dream come true.

I neurotically tested and tested recipes for the book and I tried to keep up with all the emails we get and failed. Somewhere in all this I started to feel like a little rock was sitting on my chest. I started to stay up late worrying that people won't like our book and worry that people wouldn't read it and understand that Betty Goes Vegan is full of great weekday standbys, old family favorites and guilt-less pleasures. It's also about helping people use all these great vegan products out there to their full potential. I mean yes a lot of us are DIY types but most people in our society choose their food based on convenience, cost and flavor. I've been doing vegan outreach for over 20 years now and I keep hearing the same reasons why people were reluctant to go vegan : giving up their favorite dishes, weird food and inconvenient. The reasons I keep hearing why people stopped being vegan : giving up their favorite dishes, weird food and inconvenient. That's why Betty Goes Vegan is carefully designed to not just help people go vegan but stay vegan by turning old meaty and cheesy favorites into vegan classics.

Yeah. I've lost a lot of sleep lately over it. It can be scary to put yourself out there and care about things. But there was a few things that have happened lately.

The Tacos  Photo Credit : Hannah Banana Baker

1. I read this post by Bonsai Aphrodite. See after 3 years (just like us) she also was dealing with a serious case of burn out. I related more than I liked to almost every line of this post and after reading it had this moment when I asked myself why something I love as much as this blog wasn't making myself deliriously happy. So I remembered why I fell in love with this blog and vegan outreach to begin with.
2. A vegan bakery named The Hannah Banana Bakery in the UK posted photos of our Thai Lemongrass Tofu Tacos and I started to cry a little. I have no idea why I get so excited when you guys send me pictures but it made me think over my morning tea and inspired me to write this long post and to get back to sharing that joy with all of you!

So here I am sharing with you a dinner we had the other night that is super simple and fast. So you know less time in your hot kitchen. It also features Tofurky's new vegan Chorizo style grounds but you can also use your favorite vegan soyrizo product if you can't find the Tofurky grounds in your area yet. I do recommend enjoying this with a salad. I try to get greens in every meal and this recipe lacks greens. Besides that... It's a pretty much a perfect weekday dinner.

I'm also promising that I'm giving up my little rock of doubt and fear... insecurity and getting back to posting on a regular basis. I'm trading in that rock for hope and not taking myself so seriously... and soyrizo pasta dinners.

OK enough gabbing. Let's eat!

Vegan Meyhane Pilavi (Turkish Bulgur Pilaf)

There is a crazy thing that happens when you're a food blogger who hasn't been able to post reguraly because you're working on a book. You're still writing all the time but you can't decide what to post and then you end up not posting at all. This week we actually had a house guest! So it was double the posting drama.

I know! We actually let someone into our Fortress of Solitude that has become our Brooklyn apartment. Michelle Schwegmann from Herbivore Clothing Company and I stayed up late talking like we were having a slumber party and explored this not so little borough we call home. Including a happy jaunt around Park Slope and an afternoon in uber-hip Williamsburg. We had a vegan Creamsicle shake, vegan Caesar salads and some Buffalo fries with the lovely animal activist Amy Trakinski at Foodswings then took a walk over to see Leanne and her adorable dogs at Vaute Couture. Not a bad week. Not a bad week at all.

But it left little time for cooking and blogging. Then I woke up this morning with the remains of a dream in my head. In this dream, I was talking to people on a bus about how much I love bulgur and all the fun dishes I have made over the years with it. I was speaking with real purpose and passion about my adoration for this grain and at times would turn to people for validation to find that they were either completely captivated or looked like they were being held captive by a crazy person. Yes. It was an odd dream but it reminded me that I had a recipe I had been meaning to share since our return from Istanbul a few months ago.

Now some of you might remember when we made Vegan Turkish Tempeh Whole Wheat Lahmacun -- we mentioned that we bought a pretty interesting Turkish cook book. Well, we've made a few things out of it since then and everyone has been pretty much awesome. This dish was one of my personal favorites because (obviously) it's a very flavorful bulgur pilaf that gave us an opportunity to use some of the herbs we bought at The Grand Bazaar. The thing about this book is that it's full of inspiration but the recipes are strangely vague. For example the original recipe for this dish in the book calls for 150 grammes meat in small cubes. I guess it doesn't need to be any particular kind of meat and the liquids in the book are measured in "glasses". I'm not kidding.

Needless to say - we took some liberties like usual. Our dish is pretty delicious and makes a lot. You'll have a lot of leftovers to keep your kitchen cool this summer or to take to lunch for work. Whatever you want. That's not my business. What I can tell you -- this recipe will flip you for real!

Raspberry Lemonade Tart with a Rosewater & Coconut Crust

So I admit I've been a little MIA lately. There has been a lot going on and to be honest -- I've fallen behind on basically everything. I mean emails, laundry, cleaning out the fridge... pretty much everything but bills*. But there have been a few really exciting things that have happened lately. To paraphrase:

1. Our book Betty Goes Vegan is finally available for pre-sale! There are all these early bird special discounts available on the amazon page -- which is cool.

2. I was able to share some of my favorite vegan baking substitutions on the kitchn. I love this blog so it was a real honor for me. Plus it was great to be able to share with a not-all-vegan community how easy it is to bake vegan. I focused on substitutions you can find in any old grocery store and was really touched by the over 600 likes!

3. The Seed - Vegan Experience conference is this weekend. I won't be able to make it unfortunately but if you're around NYC -- you should really check it out. They have a pretty impressive speaker line-up. I'm also excited because it means my buddy Michelle Schwegmann from Herbivore Clothing Company will be in town. Love that girl.

Michelle & me at The NYC Vegetarian Food Festival - photo credit : The Village Voice

4. I finally posted our photos from Belgium. We spent a few days there around the end of May and you're going to hearing a lot about this trip. I mean this is a country famous for fries, beer, chocolate and comics. What's not to love? Today's recipe is actually inspired (in part) by a tart I saw in the window of a bakery in Brussels.

We didn't glaze ours and didn't add as many raspberries in the photo so you could see the filling. We also played around a lot with some more Mediterranean summer flavors by adding rosewater to the crust. Last summer we made Rosewater Lemonade Sorbet (shaved ice) and it just wouldn't be summer with out dabbling with the rosewater some more.

I'm curious -- what flavors say "Summer" for you?

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...

Sticky Fingers & The Mini Working Blues

Once there was a vegan bakery hidden in the heart of our nation's capital. This was before this recent Vegan Renaissance of books, bakeries and convenient vegan products. This bakery was nestled in a charming basement with outdoor seating and was quickly becoming a destination spot for vegans all over the world. Of course, I'm talking about Sticky Fingers Bakery.

When I think back to the years I spent living in DC, Sticky Fingers stands out as playing role in most of my fondest memories. Getting soft serve and Little Devils after a day of leafletting with Compassion Over Killing or having a friend bring me one of their remarkable chocolate chip cookies after a long work trip... well, these were the things I remember about DC with a smile. Which is why I am doing something today I almost never do. I goofed off on Sunday and took a break from editing to play but I ultimately it was for a good cause.

It's The Great American Meatout today and dedicated activists are handing out samples and resources to help Americans make eating choices that are better for them, the environment and of course the animals*. Compassion Over Killing (COK) has two enormous subway sandwiches made with Tofurky Deli Slices that they're handing out in downtown DC. I am landlocked at home editing the breakfast chapter of our book and enjoying more than a few of the mini Working Blues Cupcakes (ginger cake with bourbon peach filling and blueberry frosting) I baked from Doron Petersan's new cookbook Sticky Fingers' Sweets.

Before she was the reigning champ of Cupcake Wars and Pinup for Pitbulls, Doron spent years earning her stripes as an advocate for animals and a trailblazer for future vegan bakeries. When I knew her she had one of the most beautiful and sweet rescued greyhounds I'd ever seen. These days she has an adorable rescued pitbull and is a proud new mom. So spending Sunday with my copy of Sticky Fingers' Sweets was a trip down memory lane with an old friend and someone I truly like.

Even if you've never been to Sticky Fingers new sunny location with twice the seating of it's original nook and serves a vegan wonderland of sandwiches, hot dogs, baked goods or whatever -- you'll appreciate this book and should add it to your library. It's more than just swirling cinnamon rolls, orange cranberry scones and peanut butter pies. There is also Seoul Sticky Bread and Key Lime pie. This book captures the fun and creativity that has turned Sticky Fingers into the famous vegan institution that continues to draw compassionate eaters from around the world.

I know you all want me to post this recipe but I'm sorry it's not mine to share. I can tell you that while I am buried in final edits and reviews for our book I found taking a break to bake -- well was pretty much the best thing ever and even if you are just a Meatless Monday type -- this book belongs in your kitchen.  


*Can you think of anything more patriotic than helping your fellow Americans take better care of themselves? Seriously?

The Cupcakes Unofficially Inspired by The Lorax

Like many vegans in my generation - I haven't always felt that I was surrounded by people who truly understood where I was coming from.

I've always found that strange because to be perfectly honest I've never really understood why because I feel like I can trace my origins back like some kind of circuit diagram through 80s popular culture. I learned that vivisection is cruel from The Secret of Nimh and Project X. I learned that animals don't want to be eaten from The Muppet Movie and that hunting was scary and pointlessly sad from The Muppet Show and Bambi. Circuses are indifferent to the wants and needs of the animals in their care from Dumbo and that wearing real animal fur is more than vanity - it's just mean past the point of being a sane person from 101 Dalmatians. As I was learning that being a human being was a privilege, I also learned that it came with a responsibility to protect those who couldn't protect themselves and that included their homes - from The Lorax.

Now it would be really easy right now for me to rant here about how the new Lorax movie is being used to greenwash companies that aren't doing all they really can to live up to the message of this book but others have already done that and to be honest - this is my happy place. Here is where I focus on the positive things - like how this movie will hopefully introduce our friend with the orange mustache to   a new generation and how I hope a handful of them grow up to continue where I will have to leave off someday.

Here is where I share cupcakes made with organic cotton candy. So please enjoy these cupcakes and remember "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better." 

Good News Monday! (Because all bad news all the time leads to burn out! Don't worry there will be a recipe this afternoon.)

So there was a weird thing that happened last week. I posted Good News Monday. I was on some kind of lingering contact high from having finished our book, quitting a job that made me miserable and starting work on revamping our blog... and also starting another book. I guess you could say I was temporarily giddy that I found a way to make a difference for animals by promoting veganism in a positive way.

Green Tequila Enchiladas

So yesterday I made a huge dent in my emails. Funny thing about emails though -- not unlike that mythical beast The Hydra -- once you slay one email, two more pop up in its place. If you're waiting for an email from me, I want today to be your day. Fingers crossed.

But until then, here are two answers to the two most frequently asked questions we've been getting:

1. Now that the book is done, is The Betty Crocker Project over? After some soul searching and thought: no way. I love it too much. Our friend Anjali gave us a big box of Betty Crocker recipe cards (circa 1970), and we got a calendar full of recipes from Betty Crocker in the mail. So there is a lot more BCP left. We will go on!
2. Was it frustrating/fun writing your book? Well, it was a lot of both. I mean there was the night I freaked out because the spinach we just bought was all slimy when I open the package. I may or may not have slightly sobbed on the kitchen floor and yelled "Fuck you baby spinach and all your cute baby friends like corn and kale!" But then there were really great times like the Banana Split Bundt Cake and making heaps of donuts...

Photo Credit : Natalie Dee (nataliedee.com)

After all that baking, I'm going to listen to the carrot: we're eating more vegetables! Enter these big enchiladas with a ton of leafy greens, potatoes, black beans, and tons of spicy, tangy, and bright flavors. I love them and they were very popular around here. They're one of those dinners that makes a great lunch the next day.

In other only slightly related news, we updated our Nerdery. So please check that out too! 

OK -- back to these dreamboat enchiladas and emails...

Where we're going we may not need roads but we're going to need these books! (Yes this is a pretty awesome contest)

Don't worry it will all make sense.

I think every vegan hopes that a day will come when people all over the world are willing and able to adopt a cruelty-free lifestyle that's better for them, the environment, and of course, the animals. Until that day comes, it's up to us vegans and veg-curious to help show the world how easy and fun being a compassionate consumer can be. This is the story of one anonymous reader who is doing what she can to help make this hope a reality.

Recently Dan and I got a email from a reader (who wishes to remain anonymous) who wanted to donate some books for a Meet The Shannons contest. She wanted the books to be prizes at a benfit for Farm Sanctuary, but plans had fallen through. Being an awesome activist, she wanted to make sure these books made it out into the world to help inform and educate people about how easy and important a vegan lifestyle is. So she asked that we give them away on our blog. Challenge accepted!

When the box came, it had a lovely note and 4 brand-new never-been-touched books! Four books that any vegan or veg-curious or just plain animal lover would want on their shelf.

We tried to figure out what would be the perfect contest. We wanted to do something really special--but I'll be honest, we're really focused on the Meet The Shannons book right now and the days are a blur of typing and cooking. Type Type Type. Cook Cook Bake Cook. Wash Dishes. Repeat.

But somewhere in all that, I found these beautiful organic carrots (see photo above) at the market around the corner. So here's our contest! Leave a comment below telling us what you would do with these colorful little carrot buddies and we'll randomly choose ONE Comment from a Member to win 4 cruelty-free living classics!

• Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur
• The China Study by T.Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II
• Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
• Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia Simpson

We're choosing randomly so you can be as honest as you want. In other words, if you would just gobble 'em down with a bowl of vegan ranch dressing or if you would feed 'em to your house rabbit - it's all good. Sorry, you have to be a member to enter, so that we can contact you later to send you your brain feast! If you're not already a member, you can find the button to join in the right hand column. We'll be choosing the winner on Friday November 18th.

Special thanks goes out of course to our book donor but also to these authors who are helping make a better future for all of us.

PS - Don't forget to adopt a turkey!

Scenes from the Perfect Birthday... Photos, Food & Gushing.

My birthday began at midnight when Dan gave me the perfect present!

History has remembered a certain handful of men as being "Great Husbands". While only a person's partner can really know if a person really deserves to be called a "Great Husband", there are a few who I think stand out, like John Adams* and Abraham Lincoln. These men may have not been perfect, and had careers that were demanding to say the least, but their devotion to their families and partners have been noted for posterity. There are others like Paul Newman and Paul Child, who stepped beyond the traditional role of "husband" that they grew up with to the definition of "partner". I have been lucky enough to marry one of these exceptional men.

The 35th year of my life has been a pretty notable one. There have been so many ups and downs, and moments in our marriage that have really brought us closer than ever. But don't worry, I won't bore you with the details... instead I'm going to share with you a play-by-play of my perfect birthday that my perfect partner planned for me, and some photos that might inspire you to visit NYC...

Vegan Cherry & Almond Muffins

Now these ones are in wrappers but use the Baking Spray instructions below - Just trust me.

There is quite a bit going on in Ye Olde Shannon House today. First off, Dan is getting his wisdom teeth out. This means I will need to be his chauffeur and nurse for at least the next 24 hours. My payment of course will be in the always valuable and often times transferable "Dan on Painkillers" anecdotes and getting to watch hours of Simpson cartoons*.

I'm also working on our cookbook... GASP! I know. Exciting right?

So I'll keep it short and sweet today, these muffins are wonderful. I mean, in the time it took to bake and eat them, they have become one of my very favorite baked goodies. That's saying a lot. I mean in our Pantheon of Baked Treats, these aren't just some demi-god Achilles or Hercules wanna-bes. They are straight up Apollo muffins. You know the kind of muffins you don't take home to mom because you want to keep them all for yourself. That's right these muffins are so good they will make you turn on your own mother.

Are you sold yet? Let's make some.

The Family Album : The Urban Housewife makes Betty Beautiful!

Melisser lives in Europe so her ingredients look cooler than mine.

For The 5th day of Vegan MoFo we had the privilege of  having  Melisser Elliott A.K.A The Urban Housewife  contribute to Our Family Album with a European take on The Betty Crocker Project Oven Pancake and it looks OH so good!  Melisser has been making the world a beautiful place for years with everything from recipes, cruelty-free make-up tips to travel and restaurant guides.  She's taken all her years of kind-living and written a pretty awesome book titled The Vegan Girl's Guide to Life that expands on her webprojects and includes so much more... If you're lucky enough to live on the East Coast - you're going to want to swing by and check out one of these events from her book tour and pick up one of these books for yourself! I can't wait to get my copy! OX - Annie

Here's Melisser!

When you look at the vast selection of dishes on Meet the Shannons,
it's impressive. So impressive that when I was faced with a million
veganized Betty Crocker dishes I could test out, I was shell shocked
and had one hell of a choice to make. After digging through tons of
options, what did I choose? PANCAKE. Yes, I said pancake. You see, I
was so intrigued by the oven baked pancake and it had easy to gather
ingredients in my new home of Vienna, so I went for it.

This dish come together very easily and you start to wonder, is this
going to work? The good news is, it does! One minute you're baking
some batter in a Pyrex pan and 20 minutes later you have a big ol'
pancake to split with friends (or not). It would be a great thing to
make while you're working on a stove top tofu scramble or other dish.
One thing I noted was the lack of sugar in the batter, so I was sure
to top mine with lots of maple syrup and jam, despite the berry and
powdered sugar suggestion. What can I say? I'm a rebel.

Anyway, get out there and make yourself a big, buttery, spongy oven
pancake. What have you got to lose?

I'm Back & Look What Dan Made! Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

I may have gotten a little crazy with the frosting - I swear the roll is in there.

I was MIA. I admit it. I could list my excuses or make up something exciting like ninja training or doing this*. But we're all friends here so I'll come clean. I had an out patient procedure that while not life threatening or anything exciting like that... pretty much kicked my ass and left me stranded on the sofa for about a week drugged and ridiculous. Fable III was launched but I was too deliriously well delirious to even play really or do much of anything really. Most weeks I would find a way to enjoy this. I'm a pretty positive person but this is was pretty much the worst week it could have happened because I missed some really great stuff... in no particular order.

• Halloween! I missed Halloween. I'm not one of those gals who needs to go out every night and drags Dan to dance clubs or parties. But when it comes to Halloween. I'm a party girl. I love it more than anything and this Halloween we played Civilization V and I was asleep by 9pm. 
• The Rally to Restore Sanity. I would have done anything to go. I looked forward to it for months but it was not meant to be. I will forever have to live through the photos and anecdotes of my friends. Soon we'll be living in LA and I can't help but get a little sad thinking about all those times I've marched on Washington. This would have been a really nice high note to end my East Coast Era on. 
• We had to postpone having a food writer and her photographer over for dinner because I just couldn't get off the sofa. It pretty much broke my heart.  

On a positive note though there is a lot to look forward to...

• This morning we got up to have one of our favorite dates - Voting Day Date! Getting up before dawn to beat the rush and take steaming hot travel mugs over to the elementary school to do our our part as good citizens**. Don't forget to vote today! Especially if you are in Missouri. Those puppies need you to support Prop b.
• Yesterday was our first post as part of Vegan MoFo! What's that? It's a clever little project created by the gals over at Post Punk Kitchen where basically we're going to post at least 20 blog entries this month (that's every weekday) about being vegan. Yeah - I know that's what we do around here anyways... but It's OK to belong to something that supports what you do - especially something that is doing so much to help animals by making vegainism cool! 
• Thanksgiving is coming! We love Thanksgiving around here. We have pretend Thanksgiving dinner a few times a year... So yeah... our Thanksgivings are kinda a big deal and this year I'm hoping we can really bring it!
• The much anticipated Vegan Girl's Guide to Life is out! If you live on the East Coast you should check out one of these events! 
• Dan's Birthday! YAY! (if you never click on any of my links - this time make an exception)

There's more but let's just get back to these Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls that Dan made and we'll get to the rest in good time...

The Betty Crocker Project : Crab and Corn Quesadillas

I don't really buy into the concept of "Guilty Pleasures". I don't save cupcakes for special occasions and I love bad TV. Give me a day of Lifetime made-for-TV movies, full of Tori Spelling, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Richard Greico, and I'm a happy gal. I freely admit I'll read almost any book with a vampire in it, no matter how pulpy or melodramatic or just down right dirty. Believe me, some of those vampire books get pretty perv-y. But hey, that's what it is, and I shamelessly admit I read them.

I love quesadillas because they're fast, you can stuff a ton of things in there, and pile a ton of stuff on top--and yet they remain strangely simple. I like to call this The Quesadilla Paradox.

Now, you would think that anything that's mostly melted "cheese" would be considered a "guilty pleasure"; yet I rarely hear anyone talking about a late night quesadilla binge, or having to hit the gym because they overdid it on the quesadillas this weekend. Hmmmm. It's almost suspicious really. Why have we accepted these wonderful "cheese" vehicles as being in any way healthy?

Betty's Corn and Crab Quesadillas are not healthy, but DAMN are they good. We used the Match Vegan Meats Crab, Tofutti Cream Cheese and Daiya Cheddar to replace all the animal products, which I think should lessen the blow. The recipe made five quesadillas, but next time we'd add more vegetables--like spinach, broccoli, or maybe kale--and the mix may make more like eight.

So here's a guilty pleasure you don't need to feel guilty about. No one was hurt in the making of these quesadillas.

IOU : 1 Vegan Cupcake Recipe

Image by Klas Fahlén

I owe you one cupcake recipe. Please expect this over the weekend.

See, I was going to bake them last night, but yesterday was a pretty big day for me. IDA rescued 55 long-tailed macaque monkeys from a research lab in New Jersey, and I was working until after 10pm. Then I sat down to find the recipe in Big Red and instead found Army of Darkness on TV. I did a little happy dance and exclaimed "sweet" to myself... maybe the cats heard... who knows really. That pretty much covers the most interesting parts of the story.

But let's not focus on the cupcakes that are to come. I'm going to take this opportunity to answer 3 Questions about The Shannon Household I get a lot. See, there are a lot of you loyal lurkers and bold subscribers/followers out there reading this blog (over 17,000) and I get a lot of emails. So much so that I admit I have a problem keeping up with them all sometimes. I apologize for that. But I hope today's post will answer 3 of the questions I get the most, and hopefully those of you out there who are waiting for a response to your email will read this and forgive me.

Herbivore Meets The Shannons Contest!

It's been almost a year since Dan and I invited a handful of friends and family to Lynch Park to witness us make a public, lifelong commitment to each other. I could rattle on about the how the dresses, shoes, ties, suits, whatever were all cruelty-free. No wool or silk in anything, and my dress was second hand. I made my veil myself, to look like one I saw Sophia Loren in. I also won't bore you with the details that went into flowers and wine bottle centerpieces. I won't brag too much about the spreadsheets and budgeting and other nerdotechnics* that went into planning a wedding in Massachusetts from Virginia. I'll also skip over how excited I was to marry my best friend, and how much fun we had dancing at the wedding to old school Chuck Berry and rockabilly music. You probably don't even want to hear about how our buddy Josh Hooten over at Herbivore Clothing designed the best wedding invitations ever for us. You guys aren't here for any of that.

What you want to know is how you can win a $25 Gift Certificate and a stash of buttons and stickers from Herbivore Clothing**. I know how you guys think.

So here's the contest! Our wedding had exceptional food - I mean really good stuff. Since Dan and I are both half Italian, the food at our reception was a 100%-vegan take on classic Italian dishes. Some the dishes were a bit harder to make than others, but they are all worthy recipes to add to a vegan resume. So please VOTE below in a comment for which menu item from our wedding reception you want to see featured as a Meet The Shannons recipe. We'll randomly choose one follower (sorry to be so strict, but we have to have a way to contact you) to win a $25 Gift Certificate and some awesome stickers and buttons from Herbivore.
We'll announce the winner and recipe on Monday, August 2nd.

Here are the contenders:

• Italian Wedding Soup with Focaccia Bread
• Fig & Apple Summer Salad
• Tofurky Sausage & Peppers
• Gnocchi with Marinara
• Pesto with Bowtie Pasta & Vegetables
• Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes
• Chocolate Mint Cupcakes
• Almond Biscotti

So let's get this vote on!

*Yeah that is a made up word.
**We were trying to think of a prize that we'd want to win, and this was at the top of the list. I mean, besides the clothes, there's a wide variety of cookbooks and other cool stuff you can get from Herbivore. You want to win this.

The Betty Crocker Project : New Style Pork Chops

For weeks, I've been talking about making vegan New Style Pork Chops. I tried to research why they're called that, and spent a lot of time looking into what would be the best mock meat to use. I wrote a blog post in my head about this time a few years back when Dan and I were both in New York for work, and I took him to the Algonquin Hotel for dinner. Now if you aren't big history nerds like us, you might not know that the dinning room in that hotel is famous for hosting The Algonquin Round Table in the 1920s.

It was pretty cool to sit in The Rose Room, inches from the table where Dorthy Parker, Robert Benchley, George S. Kaufman, Harold Ross, Tallulah Bankhead, Harpo Marx, and numerous other authors, intellectuals, and various other talents met daily for lunch, conversation and harassment of the waitstaff. What wasn't cool was the menu that left us eating a dinner of roasted vegetable sides and some dry bow tie pasta. We weren't actually there for the food, and now we can say we had gin & tonics at The Algonquin. But in a dream world, a dish made just like this would have been on the menu, and just because it isn't actually called "New York Style Pork Chops" doesn't make that any less true.

I think we've taken this dish to a new level of "New Style" by making it vegan. This is a classy dish that would be perfect for any special occasion, but can also doll up a boring Wednesday.

New Style Pork Chops

• 1 Cup of Match Vegan Meats Pork (Separate it into "chops", each about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup. Form the "pork" with your hands into patties smaller than your hand. There are several May Wah products you could also use, and of course you can always make this with your favorite Fake Chicken. I guess that would make it New Style Chicken, but still pretty tasty!)
• 1 Cup of Better than Bouillon vegetable broth (prepared using instructions on the jar)
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Agave Nectar
• 1/4 Cup White Wine
• 1 Tablespoon Braggs
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 3 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Red Onion (chopped)
• 2 Cloves Garlic ( minced)
• 1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Thyme Leaves
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley (chopped)
• Rice Pilaf to serve with the Chops

Make Rice Pilaf per instructions on the box/bag. We used a Wild Rice Mix from Trader Joe's, but there are a lot to choose from.

In a shallow bowl, mix Broth, Lemon Juice, Braggs and Agave Nectar. Dip your Chops into the Broth Mix and count to 20. Place the dipped Chops onto a dish and set them aside.

In your handy cast iron skillet, heat Olive Oil at a medium heat. Place your Chops in the heated Oil and brown on both sides. Once you start to have a crispy "skin" on your Chops, pour the rest of the Broth Mix over the Chop and add Red Onions, Garlic, Black Pepper, and White Wine. Continue to flip the Chops and mix the other ingredients. Let the Chops simmer for around 15 minutes, or until the Onions are tender. Toss in the Kalamta Olives, Thyme and Parsley. Let simmer another 5 minutes.

Serve over Rice Pilaf with a lovely cocktail and some witty remarks.

The Betty Crocker Project : Chicken Cacciatore

So, last night Dan walked in on something that was kinda awkward... one of those things that you eventually end up sharing with the one you love. And of course the 10,000 people who read this blog. (No joke. I checked the numbers; over 10,000 people read this blog last month.)

Back to my story. We had a very honest moment in our marriage last night. Dan walked in while I was watching New Moon. Yes. The second Twilight movie.

What? I like vampires and werewolves and movie monsters. Correction: I LOVE movie monsters! If you've ever watched the real classics--The Blob (seriously Steve McQueen can't do wrong), Dr.Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (the one from 1931 that won 2 much deserved Academy Awards), Godzilla vs. Mothra (the best of the series in my opinion)--you have to agree that monsters and melodrama go hand in hand. Yes, the relationship stuff was exhaustively annoying, but the Twilight movies have a really high production value and I like the soundtracks. Yes, they cost an obscene amount of money to make, and maybe I'm just waxing a little nostalgic because they're filmed in the Pacific Northwest and I get homesick for Seattle and Olympia pretty much once a week... But whatever. I admit, I like these movies. I don't love them. The books are another subject, and make me sad, because trees died to make them.

What's my point?

A very long time ago, one of my beautiful and wise Italian aunts gave me some advice: "One of the most important things a woman can know is how to make a good cutlet."

Now at the time I was thinking "Really? More important than say... how to use a computer... fix a flat tire... do your taxes?"

But last night, as Dan walked into the living room and half-smirked when he realized what was on the TV, I had to laugh, because all he said "How's the Twilight?" and then "Dinner was great!"
Whatever the magic of the good cutlet is apparently extends to vegan cutlets as well, and saved me from a good-natured teasing.

Thank you, vegan cutlet magic!

The Betty Crocker Project : Three Bean Salad

Is there anything more fun than a Shannon road trip? Really, who doesn't like sing-a-longs to The Beastie Boys in the family truckster and hitting the road with your best friend. We attended a co-ed baby shower near Lexington, VA last weekend, so we made the most of it and crossed a few American landmarks off our life list. First, we stopped at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, where we had the best tour guide we've ever had at one of these historically touristy spots. He told us all the dirt on Ol' Tom and even made a few jokes about Tom's black market book collection. Apparently, America's 3rd president was really into the Colonial version of Napster, and after the Library of Congress was destroyed by the British during The War of 1812, Jefferson replaced it with bootlegged copies from Ireland. If you ever go - make sure your tour guide is a younger dude classy enough to wear a full suit and tie in VA humidity. He was hilarious and odd - great tour guide material. Yes - We've done enough of these History Hot Spots to be experts on a good tour guide: Colonial Williamsburg, Freedom Trail in Boston, Notre Dame in Paris (the tour in English was surprisingly similar to its American peers) and various other adventures.

So when we were planning the food for our trip, it seemed only right to bring some traditional American favorites. Of course, Betty has more of these than you can imagine. Pages and pages of them actually… and then EUREKA! Three Bean Salad! Who doesn't love that?

So we hit the road with Tofurky sandwiches, brownies, potato chips, and three bean salad. To be fair, Betty's was already vegan - but I couldn't help but tweak it. 

The Betty Crocker Project : Caramel Sticky Rolls

The other day I posted on Facebook that I was eating "Vegan Shrimp Scampi and watching Desperately Seeking Susan starring 80's dreamboat Aidan Quinn". 

I was in the middle of reliving some bad perms I had back in the day, when my friend and fellow food blogger Anjali pointed out that Dan looks just like 80's Aidan Quinn and that I got to marry the '80s heartthrob of my dreams. I can't believe I had never noticed this before. SIGH - Oh those blue eyed Irish boys. . . I'm such a lucky girl - I got the best one.

Seriously - I did and not just because Dan is such a looker. 

We both work some pretty long hours. So Dan started getting up really early so he could make us breakfast everyday.  We get a good half hour around dawn to drink coffee and talk about what was just on NPR or what we're making next out of Ol' Big Red. It is one of the best parts of my day and it just got a little better. 

I've been working on the Caramel Sauce and I'm happy to tell you it has been improved. . . I mean seriously. . . this sauce is no joke. This is the sauce you will think about when you fall asleep tonight. This sauce will be dancing through your head like a Caramel Sauce Revolution. OK - So that clip I just linked to really had nothing to do anything BUT I'd like to think if these Caramel Sticky Rolls could dance. . . they'd stop traffic like that guy in the tiny green shorts. 

A special thank you goes out to another friend and professional Cinnaholic Shannon Radke for her expert cinnamon roll tips that have helped make these beauties so pretty. 

OK - Grab your mitts - Let's BAKE!