The Betty Crocker Project: Vegan Chili-Lime Chicken

OK - So we had a huge bunch of cilantro and so we got a little crazy with it this week. I think there are worse crimes. If you're one of those who don't love the taste of this leafy green -- you can always skip that part of this recipe.

It's another fast and easy recipe that will get you in and out of the kitchen with little suffering. We had ours with some lemon pepper Israeli couscous from Whole Foods made with peas and had dinner in about 30 minutes. We defrosted our Gardein chick'n scaloppini breasts earlier so that definitely cut back on how long this took.

I know a lot of us might be feeling a little food prepping, dish washing and hostessing burn-out after yesterday's festivities so I thought this might help give you an out for dinner for the rest of the week. I mean making sure that the ice chest stays full while the BBQ coals don't go out and figuring out how to keep bugs away from the pie and Soy Delicious is fun at the time but after the fireworks... it's freaking exhausting.

We celebrated this year with an epic game of Civ5 and season 4 of Sons of Anarchy* because Dan caught some kind of death flu on his work trip to Seattle. Oh and we're total nerds. So there was no read, white and blue flag cakes or BBQ burgers for us this year. But that's what grill pans and liquid smoke are for right?

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!

It takes a village to make Mexican Tater Tot Personal Pizzas...

You maybe be asking yourself why this isn't part of The Betty Crocker Project. It's a fair question since tater tot pizza seems like something right up that red spoon alley. But in truth the inspiration for this over the top awesome dinner came from a Twitter exchange I stumbled into with vegan deity Sarah Kramer and John McDevitt - you know might know him as The Laziest Vegan, cruelty-free cover-girl Melisser Elliot and Julia - The SnarkyVegan*... somewhere towards the end I think The Discerning Brute  Joshua Katcher popped in. It was a tater tot love-fest/brain storm. Which inspired Sarah to create this lovely Poutine Pizza and for us to enjoy these Mexican Tater Tot Personal Pizzas a few days later. 

Now we went Mexican with our tater tot pizzas because we had the avocados, jalapenos and salsas and because it seemed like a good way to work a few vegetables in there but really I hope this concept catches on and that we come to see more of these crispy little buddies on all kinds of pizzas in the future. You owe it the 1st grader inside you to make a tater tot pizza at least once in your life... you never let them color anymore.

 To the tots!

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!

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...

The Betty Crocker Project : Texas Tater Tot Casserole

Little-known fact about me: I didn't know until 9th grade that you could buy tater tots at the grocery store.

I mean, I had eaten them before. I'm not a Martian. But whenever I had seen these modern-day potato wonders, it was always next to corn dogs on a school lunch tray. I assumed they were like those little chocolate milk cartons and tiny ketchup packets. When you're a little eater, you don't always know what's going on. I had no idea what a huge weirdo I apparently was until I was sleeping over at a friend's house and saw their mom pull a bag of these little buddies out of the freezer. For many of us, going vegan meant caring what went into your body, caring about what our food did for the environment, and cutting back on cute vegetable-based foods with sweet little names like 'tater tots'. That's why the second I saw this recipe, I knew that folks were going to love it. It'll give you a chance to make something so incredibly American and campy-fun-awesome-sauce, without being completely and ridiculously bad for you, because we took out the cheese sauce and ground beef.

This recipe is basically a Shepherd's Pie, with a light Tex-Mex Chili and a Tater-Tot top... oh, and there's a layer of Daiya Pepperjack Cheese in there too. When it gets served up, you get a whole bunch of spicy beans and vegetables with a few cheesy crispy tots. So you can enjoy your tater tots again, but in moderation. So ya know, no guilt... especially if you use these organic tots.

Let's get tatered!

The 3 Alarm Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger

Hot.

There is a monster of a heat wave hitting NYC right now* which I have to admit is cramping our style a bit. There are all these great fruits and berries hanging out in our local farmer's markets and grocery stores that I want to bake into pies and various other treats but all my will to turn on that oven has been... well to be honest... punched in the face.

So it would seem ironic that we would post a burger that is "Hot" but these spicy burgers give you room to get creative and take less than 20 minutes to make. They also gave us a chance to combine a bunch of awesome vegan things we've finally been able to locate in our new home :

• Gardein Beefless Burgers - If you haven't had these yet you need to try them! They have to be the best vegan burgers we've had in forever. Sorry Boca - but no one forced you to change your vegan burgers. We still love you Boca and plan on eating you regularly but really I think we are prepared to go on record that The Shannons love Gardein Beefless Burgers more than sunshine (especially right now).
• Lightlife Smart Bacon - It's no secret we love a great fake bacon. We like to mix it up and use smokey tempeh sometimes but sometimes it's nice to have something really crispy and super smokey. That's when you want smart bacon.
• Daiya Pepperjack Cheese - I don't think I need to tell you how awesome Daiya's vegan cheeses are but I feel like I should let you know as a friend that if you haven't tried the pepperjack yet... you're missing out.
• Rick's Pick Hotties (spicy sriracha-habanero pickles) - We found these last weekend at the farmer's market and have fallen in love with them. I mean pickles made with sriracha. Here's some great news for you folks not in NYC - you can order them online!

About now, your elementary schooling has kicked in and you're saying "Um, that's only 2 alarms."

You are correct my learned friend. We decided to use sliced jalapenos for our 3rd alarm but really that is the beauty of this burger... you can add as many alarms as you want and make them whatever you want! Here are just a few suggestions for other alarms you might want to try :

• Pepperoncinis
• Spicy Kim-Chi
• Any of the millions of Hot Sauces out there including the beloved Sriracha
• Chipotle Peppers
• Hot Salsa (obviously)
• Wasabi
• Smart Deli Pepperoni
• Spicy Mustard
• Jerk Sauce made with Red Scotch Bonnet Pepper

If you have any more suggestions - Please share! We'd love to hear about hour favorites.

So ask yourself... Are you ready see how many alarms you can handle?

* Seriously everyday the cats look at me and ask : "Mommy why did you bring us to this bad place? I'm melting." - with their little gestures of course - not vocally. I haven't been driven insane by the heat yet.

An Informal Letter to A Vegan Stuffed Crust Mexican Pizza (recipe included)

Dear Vegan Stuffed Crust Mexican Pizza :

I want to thank you for combining two of our very favorite meals - tacos and pizzas in an enchanting,  seamless and ingenious way that also gave us an opportunity to eat avocados and who doesn't love that? I also want to thank you for being so easy that we could enjoy how delicious you were in less than an hour and not have a huge stack of dishes left to do afterwards. This increased our enjoyment of the night by a factor of at least 10*. Mostly I just want to thank you for taking our minds off the fact that the night we had you for dinner at 8:11 PM, the artificially intelligent Skynet global digital defense network was suppose to have become self-aware, trigger a worldwide nuclear holocaust and then deploys legions of robot killers to wage genocide on the surviving humans. Having a spicy vegan stuffed crust Mexican pizza completely distracted us from the evil robot apocalypse and when we partnered it with a Dr.Pepper**- it ended up being quite a lovely night.

XO- Annie

PS - I forgot to thank you for being vegan and therefore only making the world a better place.

Click Read More for the Recipe.

The Betty Crocker Project : 5 Bean Chili & Spicy Southern Style Cheddar Corn Bread (all vegan of course)

Now if you're flipping through Betty, you won't find 5 Bean Chili and Spicy Southern Style Cheddar Corn Bread. What you will find is recipes titled : Family Favorite Chili and Cheesy Mexican Corn Bread made Southern Style. Why'd we change it?

Well, because this is the recipe for our family favorite chili and this corn bread (like many Betty recipes) is kinda more Mexican themed American food. I love Mexican themed things but I know that some of you are reading this actually in Mexico. So I figured I wouldn't confuse you with a claim that wasn't really spot on. See what we call Mexican corn bread in the US was actually invented in Texas by soldiers in the 1800s as a way to doll up a fairly cheap food. Corn bread was really popular during the Civil War in the South because it was so cheap to make, filling and didn't get stale as quickly as white or wheat breads. Since then it has earned a distinguished spot in Southern cuisine and reinvented numerous times into fritters, hushpuppies and what have you*.

Now the technique of baking your corn bread in a cast iron skillet is a Southern tradition and according to my copy of Betty's Big Red has not been through The Betty Crocker Test Kitchens. Also - we loved it. The crust it creates is actually my favorite part and the presentation is pretty cool too.

Question : Am I the only one out there that dreams of being invited to The Betty Crocker Test Kitchen - all Willy Wonka style? Like one day I'll open a box of Bisquick and find a red ticket! Dan will jump out of bed in his old timey nightshirt and dance around the room**. Then we'll head out to  Minneapolis, MN where Betty Gnomes are hard at work creating the American dishes that inspire our little project using 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple. 

SIGH. Well, a grrl can dream can't she? Until my ticket comes in, let's eat some chili! 

The Betty Crocker Project : Southwestern Sausages with Spicy Corn

I really just don’t like real-time strategy games; they’re way too hectic for me. “Oh no! His axemen are attacking my fort! Better go click on these archers and send them over. Oh wait crap, those are the cavalry. Are cavalry strong against axemen? I forget. Oh crap they’re not, they’re getting slaughtered. Better send them into the fort to heal. Ack, I had the archers selected; now they’re not firing on the axemen anymore. What happened to those cavalry? Oh great, they’re dead.” No thanks.

The thing is, I THINK that I like RTS games. Or maybe I just want to like them. I don’t know. But despite years of playing these games and not really enjoying any of them (Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, Age of Empires, etc etc etc) every time some flashy new one comes out I think “Ooh, that game looks good!”

This weekend, there was a King Arthur game on sale for like 75% off on Steam. I LOVE King Arthur. Had this old bound illustrated storybook when I was a kid and everything. “I’ll have to try this game out,” I thought to myself. “Oh, look though, it’s an RTS. But it’s such a good deal… I’ll just try it.” Two hours later, I had a pile of dead cavalry and was thoroughly annoyed with myself for yet again falling into the trap of forgetting my own personal preferences.

I do the opposite of this with fresh salsa. Annie always gets it at Trader Joes, and I always think to myself “Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t really like fresh salsa.” And then we get home at eat it, and I’m always like “Oh damn, this is really good! Note to self for next time: you like fresh salsa.” And then the next time we’re at Trader Joes, and Annie puts it in the cart, I go “Hmm, I don’t know…” And the circle is complete.

Today we’re going to hopefully hammer this message into my feeble little brain once and for all, by making our own fresh salsa. It’ll be the perfect condiment for our sausages, prepared with Betty’s delicious Southwestern Rub. Future self, if you’re reading this post, please listen to me: you really like fresh salsa. And you don’t like real-time strategy games. Really.

The Betty Crocker Project : Bean & Cheese Enchiladas with Strawberry Margaritas

Oh, Friday night. Would you still be my favorite night of the week if there were no Mexican food or video games? Would I still think of you as fondly at 2pm on Tuesday, when the work week has no end in sight, if there weren't the promise of spicy salsa and freshly-squeezed limes in distance? Who's to say? I hope we never find out.

Dan and I have had a strange weekend. I'm dying to talk about how many questions have been answered and all the happily-ever-afters we've found. But if there's anything I've learned from watching Lost, it's that you have to draw things out to the point where everyone is pretty much dying to know the answers and will stay up till 3AM to see the season finale and still be on the edge of their seat a year later when the next season comes out on DVD. Not that I would do that. I have self control and can stop whenever I want. (Yes, that last sentence is to be read as sarcastic, and in the voice of a dead-end addict with little hope of ever overcoming her addiction to JJ Abrams projects,* no matter how bad they end up getting.**)

So, I have to admit my blog posts this week won't be as exciting as a smoke monster or time travel. I mean, let's be fair. But I can tell you this... Betty has a pretty interesting take on margaritas. They are super-sweet and only slightly alcoholic. Probably perfect for a bridal shower, when you want to be giggly-but-not-drunk in front of your future in-laws and the chick who works in the cubical next to yours. They would be great for a 4th of July picnic, when you really shouldn't be too drunk while handling small, colorfully-decorated tubes of gunpowder. Yeah, once you find the right time and place for these margaritas, they really are quite lovely, and helped give us a big sugar rush to complement how totally filling and delicious these enchiladas are. It's almost a shame that these enchiladas are so filling, because they're damn good, and I wanted to eat way more than I could.

In an odd way, this meal works perfectly for an indulgent night of video games and hanging out with your true love. Funny how everything comes together in the end.

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 : Mexi Shells

Easter was very inconvenient this year.

We had big plans for organic Cuban beans and whole wheat shells from Trader Joe's and Daiya soy cheese . . . but apparently corporate America is not as heartless as one would think and store after store was closed. Tapping into an another aspect of American spirit  - we made it through or as our our good friend The Rev would say we "Git 'er Done". . . I might be using that term incorrectly. We're Northerners. 

We made more than a few tweaks and substitutions to Betty's Mexi Shell Recipe. There was a general pleasant blandness to her recipe that I could see being beneficial in a big family setting. Where everyone can add their own salt, pepper and Tabasco to taste. But there are only 2 of us and I can't really handle bland. I just feel like it is unfinished or lazy or something. Our food has wine, liquid smoke, soy sauce . . . when our food hits the table - it is just right. . . for us. So having said that - you'll notice a lot of "tweaks" to this recipe and also a glimpse to how we roll over here. 

• 1 Package Jumbo Pasta Shells ( uncooked )
• 2 8oz Cans of Organic Tomatoes ( Mexican Flavor )
• 2 8oz Cans of Organic Tomato Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
• 1 Teaspoon Chili Powder ( we used a Chipotle version ) 
• 4 Dashes of Texas Pete Hot Sauce
• 1/2 Teaspoon Onion Powder
• 2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin 
• 1 Package Gimme Lean - Beef
• 1/2 1 Large Red Onion ( diced )
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
  1/2 Cup Fresh Cilantro
• 1 Can Chopped Green Chilies
• 1 Can Organic Black Beans ( drained )
• 1 Tablespoon of Braggs
• 1 Cup Shredded Follow Your Heart Soy Cheese - Mozzarella
• 1/2 Cup Nutritional Yeast
• Olive Oil for cooking

Preheat oven to 350. 

Cook Pasta Shells - using instructions on Box. 

In a bowl, mix Tomatoes, Sauce, Flour, Nutritional Yeast, Chili Powder, Onion Powder, Texas Pete and 2 teaspoons of Cumin. Set aside. 

Unwrap Gimme Lean and roll into balls that would fit into the shells. In a cast iron skillet on medium heat, heat oil and cook the Gimme Lean and Onions till they start to brown. Then add the can of Black Beans, Braggs and Green Chilies. Continue to cook till the onion have carmelized and the Gimme Lean is completely cooked. 

In an ungreased 13x9 inch glass baking dish, spread one cup of the Tomato Sauce mix. Fill each shell with the Gimme Lean & Beans mix and place in the dish with the filled side up. With a ladle pour about half the remaining Tomato sauce mix over the shells. Sprinkle with Nutritional Yeast and Follow Your Heart Cheese and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes - till cheese gets to the level of melting you like.