The Betty Crocker Project: Thanksgiving Day Parade #9 : White & Green Beans

Yes, the rumors are true! We have another contest launching tomorrow! But until then, please accept this healthier take on a Thanksgiving classic: Green Bean Casserole.

I adore Green Bean Casserole. It's one of my very favorite dishes on the planet, but I can completely understand why some folks might want to enjoy a flavorful green bean dish this Thanksgiving not include the flour or the margarine. This recipe is a really delicious substitute. It's a side dish with some character and charm--it's like the Captain Kirk of green bean dishes. Or maybe Jean-Luc Picard, since it has Dijon mustard in it.

Is it exactly the same as the classic green bean casserole of old? Sorry, no, not exactly--but it's damn good, and what's fun about everything being the same all the time?

I wish I had more time today to write a better post to go with it, but we're less than a month away from the deadline for our book and I really need to be typing out the donut section today. See you tomorrow!

Did you know that January is Soup Month?

It might be too hot to eat yet - but a grrl's gotta try!

So I've been posting a lot of soup recipes lately, and realized that I might have forgotten to tell you all that January is Soup Month. OK, I did forget. I do that sometimes. If you know me in person you know - I'm in my head a lot. Maybe too much. I'm shy is all. I'm one of those "socially awkward" people who's often 4 sentences too far into a conversation for some folks to really get how wonderful what I'm saying really is, or halfway through the joke before I start telling it. Sometimes I can't even type fast enough to keep up with myself. So I might have forgotten to mention that on the day I found out January was Soup Month, it seemed like destiny was winking at me from across the party. My handsome and wonderful Dan got me a big beautiful slow cooker for Christmas, and I want to use it everyday to make everything. We eat a lot of soup around here. Not just soup - we eat really good soup. I know I'm not being humble, but I have so few talents, I feel OK celebrating this one.

When I first went vegan, one of my only concerns was what would I do with only cans of tomato soup to keep me warm. But we live in a different world now. Now vegans can have any kind of soup you can dream of. So in celebration of Soup Month here is a list of soups in no particular order that you can enjoy before it's too late... It'll be February before you know it. I want to make a joke about "outlaw soups" here, but it's back to that 'I'm kinda a weirdo' thing and I might be the only one who thinks that would be funny.

• Pizza Soup
• White Chili
• Beef-Less Stew
• Beer & Daiya Cheddar Cheese Soup
• Beef-Less, Barley & Vegetable Soup
• Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
• Double Corn Chowder
• Matzo Ball Soup
• 16 Bean, Leek & Tofurky Kielbasa Soup
• Spicy Split Pea Soup
• Borscht

Happy Soup Month!

The Betty Crocker Project : 16 Bean, Leek & Tofurky Kielbasa Soup

This batch was made with Tofurky Kielbasa but I think Field Roast's Apple & Sage Sausages would be perfect!

Someone needs to say it. SyFy Channel's Vampire & Werewolf movie marathon this weekend was a little too heavy on the werewolves and had a significant lack of vampires. That's not to say it wasn't still completely wonderful! I mean, who doesn't love a good monster movie? But sometimes a gal needs more dialogue during the big bad death scene than most werewolf movies allow...  and less icky spine and muzzle faces.

So what do us Shannons make for dinner when there's this level of distraction? Pretty much what you would expect. We pull out the slow cooker and return to debating which movie has better werewolves; taking into account origin stories, transformation scenes, and CGI cheating, of course. But if werewolves aren't your thing, you might find yourself instead wondering: can I even name 16 different types of beans? And where would I even find them?

Fear not! They sell bags of 15 bean soup in the dry bean or soup aisles in most grocery stores, and that last bean is green beans. So relax. Pull out your largest stew pot or slow cooker, and let's make some soup!

The Betty Crocker Project : Thanksgiving Parade #6 - The Sidekicks

So I bet you saw the title of this blog and were like she's going to talk about Robin today or maybe Bucky
but today was going to talk about one of the Shannon sidekicks Percy but then a funny thing happened... while I was heating my mug of SoyNog - I spotted the not so little spider that lives under our microwave. Whenever I think about him - I can't help but wonder if/when our little radioactive spider friend will some day bite one of us and we'll have to shoulder the great responsibility of being super heroes. SIGH. The thought  already makes me tired. I'm so lazy... 

Today we're going to cover 2 - Yes you read that correctly - 2 classic sides that everyone needs for their Thanksgiving meal : Green Bean Casserole and Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes.

Now this Green Bean Casserole has been a favorite of me and mine for years and you may have seen it last week on the IDA blog but this sweet potato recipe is brand new to our house. We usually like a savory sweet potato around these parts but because we trust Betty, we need to bang out these out to complete our mission of veganizing everything Betty and because this is a classic dish that I never got to enjoy as a kid - I really got into making these potatoes and loved them. (We weren't big on Thanksgiving at my house. To quote my mom - "Do we look like we came from Pilgrims?" - insert a Sicilian shrug in there - so candied sweet potatoes is huge for me!)

 So let's go eat already!

The Betty Crocker Project : Tuna Casserole

The world is big and wonderful place. It is full of so many possibilities - some a little weirder than others - this is true of mock fish as well.

After years and years of food scientists all over the world slaving away over hot plates in laboratories and spaceship kitchens, vegans now have numerous mock and faux fish choices* and many of them don't even come close to resembling fish. Keeping this in mind, Dan and I invited several brave friends over to sample Betty's Tuna Casserole made with Fish Ham - a surprisingly delicious faux fish from May Wah. Our good buddy, Kim (IDA's Vegan All-Star for March) brought over vegan Caesar Salad. She made it using the Post Punk Kitchen Recipe and it was perhaps the fastest Caesar Salad this side of the Mississippi. We drank a few bottles white wine - since we were kinda eating seafood and talked for hours about Dune, casted super hero movies if qualifications, the space-time continuum and salary were no object and other such nerdery. Scott was allowed to leave with our beloved Red Son after signing over his soul. We told a few anecdotes from our younger years. I admitted that for several years, I had thought Dr.Pepper was only available at Mexican restaurants and we all had a good laugh . . . but seriously though - nothing goes better with Mexican food than Dr. Pepper.

We ate maybe WAY more than we should have. . . even Marta (cookbook author and adamant faux seafood dissenter) ate a big plate of it and LIKED IT! There a few things I might have done differently and I'll note those below but all and all this was a really good casserole that you could make with almost any kinda of mock meat or marinated tofu and feed a lot of people!

We really hope you like it too. We also encourage anyone who reads this to have their own Fake Tuna Casserole Party! We think they are the new wine tasting.

The Betty Crocker Project : Mandarin Chicken Salad

So I have to admit we didn't make it to 8 glasses of wine at Passover this weekend - BUT we sure tried.

So the next morning - around 7 a.m. when Percy started scratching on our bedroom door - banging really - I mean he had to really put his little shoulder in it - my day died a little. The little guy had been accidentally locked out all night and had reached his breaking point. I woke up in a terrible mood with a black cloud of hazy Kosher wine abuse following me around and then 2 hungry attention starved cats joined the parade. I walked out into our blessed home which had been the scene of an unrivaled Seder. One of the best we've ever hosted. I found my pink slippers ( actual photo of what I look like when I wake up in the morning ) and ate a leftover vegan hamantaschen. . . and made a real effort to do more than just survive.

Dan handles these things so much better than I do. He can poison himself and just keep on ticking. He didn't flinch at the tower of dishes, scattered haystacks of dirty linens and sticky little splatters everywhere. It really was an exceptional night. 3 tables of loved ones, wine and vegan food. Elijah stood us up again  - but that happens. The afterglow was helping a bit but after hours of cleaning the kitchen - we didn't really want to mess it up again with a casserole or something saucy. It was - literally - not in a Cleopatra way - a Salad Day.

I have to admit from the beginning - I was giving Betty a hard time with her ALREADY VEGAN Mandarin Salad Recipe. I'm not sure why really - I blame the black cloud. The very first step - Sugaring the Almonds - seemed unnecessary. Just extra flavor and calories . . . for people who drink too much soda to enjoy a good raw almond. But I was wrong. It took very little time and it really did make a nice extra detail to the salad. Though I think next time I would leave out the sugar and just roast the almond slices. . . PLUS it made our kitchen smell really good.

• 1/4 Cup Sliced Almonds
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Sugar

In a saucepan, cook  Almonds and Sugar over low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly, until Sugar is melted and Almonds are cool and a little roasty looking.

We also didn't love the Sweet & Sour Dressing. . . but I am willing to admit we may have been playing favorites. I mean we just made the Caesar dressing - which is an ambrosia and this just isn't ambrosia - not everything can be ambrosia. . . but it was the right choice for this salad. . . we tweaked it a little ( maybe a lot ) but this was pretty much the recipe :

• 1/4 Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
• 3 Tablespoons copped Fresh Parsley
• 3/4 Teaspoon Braggs
• 1/4 Teaspoon Texas Pete Hot Sauce
• Dash of ground Black Pepper

Put it all together in a tight container and shake - refrigerate till serving. 

Now Betty had a little side recipe for Crunchy Chicken Mandarin Salad - really you just add Chow Mein Noodles and some grilled Chicken Breasts. We were going for a meal so we upgraded.