The Betty Crocker Project : Vegan Baked Latkes

If anyone had told me there would be so many Latke recipes hitting the internet the first day of Hanukkah - Well let's just say I wouldn't have believed it. I had been looking forward to posting this recipe since I found it hidden in the Vegetable section of Betty's Big Red under the title Potato Pancakes. But in a world of Latke recipes here's what makes this one special :

• Vegan 
• Baked not Fried 
• Super Tasty 
• Um - Like Extra Super Tasty! 

We've been enjoying these this Hanukkah with some Vegan Sour Cream while we watch basketball (How sad was it that Lebron didn't get his butt kicked last night? I'm not even from Cleveland but I don't like selfish people. That Gibson kid played his heart out though) and The Wire ( Can you believe Dan has never seen it? Really one of the best TV shows ever) ... We've also been playing a new game. We still love our Zombies but ya know it's cold and we wanted something we could play while I remain warm snuggled under 3 blankets on the sofa. Enter into our lives : Munchkins.

Yes - This game is as adorable as it sounds and you how I love those adorable things. It is full of inside old school D&D and RPG jokes (Oh yeah - We're going there). It  makes sense since it is put out by Steve Jackson Games - the Milton Bradley of RPGs. Though Munchkins isn't a RPG - just a card game that requires you to be super competitive and turn on those you love the most with curses like Chicken on Your Head and Duck of Doom. So obviously it has become a pretty popular way to spend a quiet night at home for us Shannons.

But enough nerdery for today - here's a song to grate potatoes too.You have to at least enjoy the LARPing by this Jewish Boy Band  if not the tune.  Thank you goes to Rachel S. who sent this song after seeing our Matzo Ball Soup featured on Peta2's blog. Happy 15th Birthday Rachel!

OK that's a lot of chatter. Let's make some Latkes! OH and for you folks who are feeling left out - We're making gingerbread cookies and some other Christmas stuff this weekend!

The Betty Crocker Project : Challah Atcha'!

I have never baked Challah bread so this was a huge thrill for me to find this recipe in Betty's Big Red. Looking at it it seemed easy enough to veganize so that made me even happier because you see tonight at sundown Dan and I will be celebrating our first Hanukkah as old married folks. We're exchanging presents, lighting candles, spinning dreidels and watching basketball - you know you just like Judah & the rest of those bad-ass Maccabees did back in the day.

So for your enjoyment - here's my favorite Hanukkah song! You have to hit "Read More" for the the player to show up. I figure since no one listens to the radio anymore you folks won't be too sick of it. Besides I have to admit this song still makes me smile* everytime. Everytime! It also helps me lead into this :  I dedicate this bread to Captain Kirk and Mr.Spock - both Jewish!



So if your Festival of Lights has been missing this Jewish classic - here's a recipe that might just fill that hole on your holiday table. 

Ah Freilichen Hanukkah Everybody!

The Betty Crocker Project : New York Cheesecake - Pleasecake

I grew up with New York Cheesecake. Big, thick, virtually crust-less slices of dreamy creamy cheesecake. I could never finish a slice alone, and suspect they were always secretly intended to share. I've always had these romantic ideas of this dream date: two people splitting a huge slice of NY Cheesecake in a place like Carnegie's at like 3 am, after seeing a show or a night of wandering the city. I've never done that, but I have walked through NYC at 3 am and seen this scene a dozen times. By the time I was wandering the city with the love of my life, I was vegan. This isn't Carnegie Cheesecake, but to be honest, it's been so long since I've had it that I don't think even Carnegie's is really what I remember it to be.

But this "cheesecake" is better. It's vegan, and I can share with the love of my life anywhere I want. I didn't even realize how much I missed this cheesecake till I took these pictures. Funny... I'm 35, married to the most amazing man, and can finally have my childhood dream date.

The Betty Crocker Project : The 24 Hour Pickle (also known as Refrigerator Pickles)

I still can't believe how many people I know made pickles this weekend. 

I had all these daydreams of posting these and everyone saying "WOW" and "I can't believe how easy those are". But much to my chagrin, when I started dropping teasers for these babies, the response was a round of "Me Too!" I guess I have too many talented and crafty while still remaining fashionable yet remarkably intelligent friends. SIGH. There are worse things I suppose. 

Now, I love pickles. I always have. When I was little my grandfather used to buy me one of those big barrel pickles from the shop on the corner to keep me busy for a few hours after school while I watched cartoons*. When I think of any kind of pickle, garlicy gourmet ones to crappy ball park chips, my mouth begins to water. No joke. I'm not trying to be poetic here. I adore them all. Sweet, Kosher, Tsukemono, Half -Sour, Gherkin - Whatever! They will always be welcome on my plate - Hell - in my hand. 

These pickles are not the traditional wait a month pickle. Anyone who knows me, knows I can't wait a month anyways. It's too hard on me. Some folks just aren't built for traditional pickling. That's why Betty - God bless her - has this recipe for folks like me. They only take 24 hours and are crisp with the old school zayern flavor. So if you weren't one of the many who already have a jar of homemade pickles waiting in their kitchen, you should try these out.  

Es gezunterheyt!

The Betty Crocker Project : Reuben Sandwich with Coleslaw

I'm a simple woman. I love my husband and my cats. I love Patsy Cline and nice tall glasses of iced tea. I love walking through Manhattan in the rain and red shoes. I love Reuben sandwiches. I mean it is a sandwich that includes sauerkraut and rye bread. . . brilliant. But even the happiest cowboy sings a sad song. When it comes to Reuben sandwiches for me it is the 1,000 island dressing. Even when I wasn't vegan that stuff skeeved me out. So needless to say when I made my own using an adapted version of Betty's recipe I was pleasantly surprised when I kinda loved it! I don't think I'll be dumping it on any salads anytime soon but I do promise from this moment on all my Reuben's will include this tasty condiment.

By Popular Demand - Our Pinch of Chutzpah Matzo Ball Soup

Photo Credit : Sarah Posey

So the past 4 springs Dan and I have hosted some of the best Secular Passover Potluck Seders in the fine state of Virgina. We live in Peta-ville. . . also known as Norfolk - The Headquarters for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. . . where we're all mostly transplants from everywhere really. . .  and maybe that is why we all have grown so close. You find yourself within walking distance of 5 or 6 people who share a lot of your view of the world - your ethical compass and understand your dedication to helping those who can't help themselves. . . you find a family - a Mishpocha -  in this home away from home.

This year's Seder was particularly momentous for us because it was going to be the last one we would host in our first apartment in the city where we met and fell in love and of course - our first as a married couple. Next year - we will be living in Los Angeles and have new friends to invite to our home and we won't all be walking distance from each other anymore and some people won't be making the move and well things will change. . . it's hard to not be nostalgic. . . while also being excited for the step.

This year we've had several people write in asking for the Matzo Ball Soup Recipe. . . we get requests every year. . . but maybe it was the number of emails or maybe it was because I know next year - we won't all be together anymore. . . But this seems to be the right time to go public with this little jewel from my box of tricks.

• 1 Cup of Matzo Meal 
• 1/2 Cup of Nutritional Yeast 
• 3/4 Teaspoon Braggs
• 3/4 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper ( The big chunks are key for texture )
• 1 Package of Firm Silken Tofu 
• 1 Half of a Large Red Onion 
• 9 Cups of  Better Than Bouillon - Organic Vegetable Broth (you can also use Faux Chicken Broth - this is just less salty - follow directions on the label on amount of water)  
• 2 Tablespoons White Wine
• 1/2 Cup of Olive Oil 
• 3 Carrots  ( sliced like coins )
• 1/4 Teaspoon Celery Seed 
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley ( chopped )
• 1 Teaspoon Fresh Dill ( chopped )
• 2 Pinches of Onion Powder

Blend the Tofu, 1 Tablespoon of Veg Broth and Oil  in a food processor. In a bowl mix Matzo Meal, Nutritional Yeast, Braggs and Pepper.

Then combine the two mixes in the bowl - till everything is moist. Cover the bowl and put in the fridge over night. You can visit your baby matzo throughout the night and give it a good mix with a spoon a few times. . . but always put it back in the fridge.

It will take about an hour to cook the Matzo Balls. . . So about an hour and half to two hours before you want to serve your soup - fill your pot with the rest of the Veg Broth, White Wine, Carrots, Red Onions, Celery Seed, Parsley, Dill and Onion powder and bring to a boil.

Put some parchment paper in a casserole dish. Remove the Matzo Mix from the fridge. Form VERY tightly packed balls - about the size of a melon ball - and place them on the parchment paper so they don't touch. Then drop in the boiling soup one at a time. Give yourself time - so you don't need to rush. After they are all in there - put the lid on and leave it on for around a half hour. Don't lift the lid. . . I know you will want to. . . but it's OK. . . give them time. . . sometimes you just have to let things do their thing. . . have trust.

After that half hour - lift the lid and watch your Matzo Balls rise to the top.

Now you're ready to Nosh All Night! 

The Betty Crocker Project

I recently saw the movie Julie & Julia - being an armchair chef myself - it was actually surprising it had taken me so long to see a movie about a book about Julia Childs and a normal person finding her way through a classic cookbook in a normal kitchen. . . I love food - movies - books - eating. I was charmed at first. I mean here was a devoted vintage clothing wearing amateur foodie - who wore pearls in the kitchen ( one of my own personal dreams - though my dream pearls would be fake ). I admit I was charmed by finding someone so like myself in so many ways. . . but as you can imagine - she lost me at the Lobster Killer scene. . . and I never really bounced back. But that didn't stop me from picking up her new book Cleaving at the secondhand book store for $1 this weekend. It is all about her love of meat and butchery and how she ruins her marriage by being selfish. I'm 10 pages in. Needless to say -  she has lost her "charm" but I will read it. You can't just fill your life with things you relate to and like. That isn't healthy.

But that's a tangent for another day.

SEE - The Lobster Killer scene planted a little seed in my brain. I kept waiting for her to have a change of heart and save them . . . but she never did. . . and that is just not OK.

THERE NEEDS TO BE A HUMANE ALTERNATIVE TO LOBSTER KILLER

Yes - After years of meeting and knowing literally 1,000s of vegans from all over the world and working at the largest animal advocacy agencies on the planet - I can say with complete confidence - that no one in the world loves food the way a vegan does. We think it about food constantly - we read labels with a Christmas Morning eagerness - searching for those deal breaker words - Whey, Egg Whites, Skim Milk Protein, Casein and sit around talking about food like the gals in Sex in The City talk about orgasms. We send emails to all our friends and family telling them about new products to buy and use with a loyalty and eagerness that can only be compared to Beatle Mania. When I pitched to my dashing husband that we should cook our way through The Joy of Cooking ( considered by many universal eaters to be the bible of cooking) - making every recipe vegan - I might have teared up a little with his overwhelming eagerness to eat my experiments and maybe try out a few himself. He is the best thing to ever happen to me.

He patiently drove me to every secondhand book store in town to find it. See, I had a copy once. My mother had given it to me on my 16th birthday. I think it has taken me 18 years to realize that this is how Sicilian mothers usher their daughters into womanhood. . . making sure they have the skills and resources to feed others. I may have lost it in a roommate divide once or maybe a moving purge. I never used it much and until last week - didn't miss it much. After 4 stores, we both found ourselves wishing I had been more sentimental.

We gave in and went to Barnes and Noble. . . and that's when it happened. . . We looked through The Joy of Cooking. After seeing multiple recipes for "Liver Mousse" and "Lamb Shoulders" - Seriously people out there eat that - apparently - I found myself drawn to a bright red binder decorated like some Bavarian gingerbread. It was the reprinting of the original 1950s edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. It was laminated. This book that had been reprinted for someone like me - in saddle-shoes and thick black rimmed glasses. . . had been sealed up so I guess less ethical versions of myself wouldn't steal pages from it. After some debate over if we would really feel any "Joy" eating vegan "Oyster Cakes" and what could possibly be inside this MARVELOUS cookbook that had been reprinted just for us - as well as the Top Chef cookbooks and various other amazing journeys through the art of mastering food art book things. . . you know the ones. . . we agreed on The Betty Crocker Cookbook . . . it is in a binder so we can add pages, large margins to write in and a wide variety of recipes to make vegan over this next year. Going off nothing besides my vast knowledge of Better Housekeeping circa 1950s - we decided to go for the one that we could look though and we suspected had more than just Pork Chops and Meatloafs.

AND THE BETTY CROCKER PROJECT WAS BORN. 

For as long as it takes - Dan & I will be veganizing every recipe in The Betty Crocker Cookbook and sharing our tips and secrets with you - our lurking readers who never officially "follow" for whatever reason. We have been searching for a project we could share but have struggled coming up with something we could prioritize with the Los Angeles Exodus and all these weddings and babies. . . but we have always said we can make ANYTHING Vegan and Fat . . . now we are putting this claim to the test! Thank you Lobster Killer for inspiring a project that I suspect you would hate. . .

Old School Vegan Sweet Potato Kugel

( I mean REALLY OLD SCHOOL )

• 6 small sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
• 3 apples, peeled and grated
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup matzo meal
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Use a food processor to grate the sweet potatoes and apples. Combine all ingredients together.
Gently press into a baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until lightly crisp on top.

A Robotic History of Passover

Many are not aware there is a unique relationship that robots share with the Jewish high holiday Passover. . . It seems problematic . . . since most of the more stricter Jews don't use electricity during the holidays. . . BUT maybe because robots would also survive the 10 plagues they feel a need to share a night of wine and food . . . drinking toasts to the end of oppression in the world and hopes that someday their home appliance and construction brothers and sisters will know freedom.

( Please excuse the obnoxious Israeli pop music - that I can only imagine was added to make this video "hipper" - yet sorta reminds me of the soundtrack to those "This is How Your Food is Made" videos they showed on Sesame Street )

What will not be attending Dan & Annie's 4th Annual Secular Passover Seder Potluck :

1. Traditional Hebrew Readings and Prayers

2. Mass Bread Burnings

3. Jewverine can't make it.

4. Neither can The Hebrew Hammer

5. I guess these guys won't be able to make it till 2080 :

OX

Matzah Wars

Re-posted from : Frost Street

PS - Don't forget to read labels to make sure your Matzah is Vegan & Kosher for Passover

Matzah may be the least palatable food ever devised by man. But for a week, we must eat it, or tempt the wrath of God. So I've taken it upon myself to find the least offensive matzah on the market today. I've collected all the varieties of matzah I could find in various supermarkets (21 total) and conducted a taste test to identify the tastiest matzah of them all. (That's Frost Street: Eating all the crap so you don't have to). Before getting into the tasting notes, I should explain the categories of matzah listed below. If you lack patience for all this detail, you can skip right to my recommendations.

Traditional Matzah: This is your garden-variety bread of haste, made from special Passover wheat flour and water (more on what makes the flour special in a second). Sometimes egg is added for flavor and body. The point is that these matzahs are perfectly suitable for the Passover table, and are mass produced so as to be widely available.

Shmura Matzah: This is the pascal equivalent of artisinal bread. The word "shmura" means "watched", a reference to the requirement that a rabbi watch every stage of production, from the harvesting of the wheat, through its threshing and milling, on to mixing and baking, to ensure that no water is introduced before its proper time. Shmura matzah is made in small batches, often of whole grain flour, and typically in hand-formed round wafers (distinguishable from the square shape of mass-produced varieties). Most shmura matzah is made in areas with large Jewish populations, and sold to the local community (the most notable exception being shmura matza made in Israel for sale in the United States). I have included in my tasting only one example of shmura matzah, found in a grocery store.

Designer Matzah: Much of the matzah on the market today is not kosher for Passover. Nine of the 21 matzahs I found fell into this category (six of them carrying the Manischewitz name). These matzahs usually contain added flavors -- some of them are even flavored with malt, a definite Passover no-no due to the fermentation taboo. No observant Jew may eat these products during Passover, and no rational creature would eat them if not compelled by religion or starvation to do so. Their raison d'être escapes me, but my guess is that there are many Jews who like to obey religious imperatives in spirit rather than in letter, so I have evaluated them all the same.

Traditional Matzah

Streit's This is the grand old matzah of the Lower East Side, manufactured here by five generations of the Streit family for almost a century. Light and neutral in flavor, not too brittle nor too grainy in texture, this is the benchmark against which I'll judge all the other traditional matzahs.

Manischewitz Sodium Free Manischewitz (pronounced man-uh-SHEV-its) is the Wonder Bread of matzah. You can find it just about anywhere matzah is sold. I was unable to find a kosher-for-Passover Manischewitz matzah that had any sodium; presumably this is the standard product. It is a bit darker than Streit's, with a more burnt, carbony flavor. Some may find this to be a welcome alternative to the utter blandness of other matzahs; I do not. There is also a faint musty aftertaste to the Manischewitz; this may be a result of improper storage, but improper storage may be an inevitable consequence of Manischewitz's massive volume. This comes in a bigger box (16 oz. instead of 10 oz. for most other matzahs).

The Vegan Passover Sedar! The Remix.

We all know the classic movie with Charlton Heston and the lyrics to Swing Low Sweet Chariot - But you may not know that those things have anything to do with Passover. See Passover is the Jewish celebration of when God spared the Jews from the curse of the first born and freed them from slavery in Egypt. The traditions behind this 7 day celebration of unleavened bread and freedom have gone on for literally thousands of years and are there to remind Jews that God doesn't approve of oppression and exploitation. So it's about time we celebrated new school style!

So let's break it down . . .

Can you really celebrate the end of slavery with eggs and meat on your plate?

The traditional Sedar plate includes an egg (Beitzah) - some say this represents a sacrifice others say it represents a new beginning.No matter why you have on it on there - there is no disputing that that egg laying hens suffer unthinkable cruelty - including intense confinement, debeaking and a short life lived in ammonia filled sheds. I like to replace the Beitzah with an avocado. Not only does it replace the egg aesthetically - the seed inside reflects the sentiment behind this place on the plate without contributing to an industry that is completely indifferent to the suffering they profit from.

Of course there is also the roasted shank bone ( Z'roa ) - to represent the lamb that was sacrificed and eaten at the Temple of Jerusalem and also the blood that was used to mark the doors of the Israelites . . . but just like Jews have come to embrace technology like airplanes and running water . . . embracing advancements like more compassionate alternatives to meat truly reflects the spirit behind Passover. I used a piece of TVP for my plate. . . but I've heard of people using a beet ( which gets a big thumbs up from the Talmud ). Whatever you use - the facts are that today's factory farms are hell on Earth for animals and even certified Kosher slaughterhouses have been exposed as being careless and wantonly inhumane and their by-products are about as far as you can get from a celebration of freedom.

With so many recipe sites that offer vegan alternatives to traditional Passover favorites - it is easier than ever to have a Sedar that reflects the true spirit behind this celebration and what makes this one of my favorite Holidays!

I hope you'll consider making your Sedar vegan this year and to help - Here's just a few of my favorite recipe sites to help :

Passover Recipes
Post Punk Kitchen Forum
heebnvegan
Veg Source Passover Menu

Shalom!

Challah at your Goys!

SO - Admittedly we have sucked at keeping up with this thing. . . BUT NOW WE'RE BACK!

With Passover right around the corner we using this page as a resource for recipes, Sedar tips and of course the annual "Will Not Be Attending" List. . . All coming soon!

Until then - Here's an educational film where 50 cent and a Robot help a hip Rabbi tell us a little but about plagues and the reason for the season. . .

Next year in Jerusalem - Mutta F#@*as!