Sorry More Technical Problems...

We still have corrupted photo files - which sounds a lot sexier than it is. We'll be back soon!
Until then enjoy this Tea-bot from Kikkerland. He has improved both our lives by 80%.

Thank you for understanding! We'll be back soon!

XO - The Management

A Scene from A Marriage - Part I

Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Scene 1 : A New York Subway Stop. 2 Shannons wait for the train home. 

Shannon A : I think I really want to see the new Transformers movie.

Shannon B : You got all excited about the first one and fell asleep. You didn't even see the second one. You don't even know how the first one ends.

Shannon A : I know but this one has robots...

Shannon B : (cutting off Shannon A) They all have robots. They're transforming robots. That's the movie.

Shannon A : Yes! I want to see the robots transform and then shoot other robots. While those robots transform and drive around. You know you want to see it too. You're just mad that I feel asleep and you had to watch the first one but this time it will be different. There are robots ON THE MOON!

Shannon B : Naa -

Shannon A : (interrupting Shannon B) ON THE MOON!

Shannon B : Noa -

Shannon A : ON. THE. MOON. Robots. Moon.

Shannon B : (Marge Simpson grumble here)

End Scene. 

Note : There is so much hope in this post. 

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.

Adventures in Brooklyn - Food & Friends during the Search for the Perfect Apartment! Episode I

Starting a new life on this side of the East River

So this past week has been the most confusing combination of just wonderful magic and the worst kinda of awful. The kind of awful that will be very funny this time next year when my feet finally stop hurting. See folks, I spent the past 7 days walking around Brooklyn looking for an apartment. Now if you have never looked for an apartment in the New York City area - well you might think these next few blog entries are well a dramatic interpretation with color and hijinks added to increase the entertainment value of this blog. I have to tell you that everything you are about to read is real and that no names were changed because in this story none of us are innocent*. And I also talk a lot about food and places I went to eat and think you should go. It would be completely illogical to not get those names right.

Shall we begin?

The Betty Crocker Project : Corned Beef-less Tips & Cabbage

Ugly? Fair enough.

I recently decided to never watch the movie Short Circuit ever again. I'll give you all a moment to recover.

Now before you all assume that I was afraid of the sentient robot who was originally built to be the ultimate weapon... that's not it. It's because I love this movie and I'm afraid it might not live up to my very kind memories. Also I have come to terms with the fact that Ally Sheedy might not actually be a very good actress and she already ruined WarGames for me last summer.

Now you're probably wondering what this has to do with this pretty traditional Irish American meal that is also known as The New England Dinner in Betty's cookbook. Well, back when I was a little meaty eater, I loved this dinner. This was a Betty recipe I both looked forward to and dreaded because I had such fond memories of this meal - I worried it would be impossible to veganize this recipe in any meaningful way. I mean we're making corned beef - that's salt cured beef if you're not familiar. This could have gone very wrong but it didn't. In fact it was a nice reminder of a dish I haven't had in like 20 years. Does it taste just like the meaty version? I would say 70% - which is enough to capture the spirit of this dish and make it a great dinner this St. Patrick's day. I mean this really made me happy and I'm kinda tough on myself - so that's saying something. I figure I got lucky with this one, why test my luck with a beloved robot movie. I mean didn't Short Circuit 2 do enough damage?*

Before we start marinading some Gardein, I want to make sure you remember to enter the latest Meet The Shannons Contest and check out The Official Shannon Family Desert Island Food List on one of my very favorite blogs : The Laziest Vegans in the World. We put a lot of thought into it and feel pretty good about our choices.What's on your list?

What I want for Hanukkah and something that should never have been invented...

Yeah - I'm still under the weather. There will be some awesome Betty things tomorrow. You have it in writing. Christmas is over a month away but Hanukkah is right around the corner. So I'm going to use this blog entry to shamelessly tell Dan what I want for Hanukkah this year to improve our kitchen gadgetry. I will also be publicly declaring something "gross". So in no particular order Annie's Hanukkah List :

Save Our Animal Planet Travel Mug from Modcloth. I'm had the same stainless steel Starbucks travel mug for years and years. It's time for a change. After lots of research I can say with confidence this is the mug for me. It has bunnies. 

Mini Donut Maker from Urban Outfitters. Giving this to me for Hanukkah would be a win win for everyone. Who wouldn't want more vegan donuts and mini things in their lives? 

The R2 D2 Peppermill from ThinkGeek. Evryone needs a little buddy in the kitchen especially a  R2-series astromech droid that can put out fires, hack into waste disposal units and project holograms. OK this little guy only makes pepper but he is a Licensed Star Wars collectable from Japan.

Lavishy Fish Wallet from Herbivore. OK I know I have a really adorable vegan wallet from Queen Bee but look how cute these are... I like the green one.

And what we've all been waiting for... White Castle Scented Candles. SERIOUSLY? Seriously. Why anyone would want their home to smell like a White Castle is beyond me. When I was growing up that's where all the old men would go to play chess and drink cheap coffees. To prepare they would marinade themselves in Old Spice to hide the smell like secret smokers. So without further ado... Something that should never have been invented :

The Betty Crocker Project : The Vegan Cheesy Chicken Fingers & Some Long Lost Loves

From time to time it is hard to not get nostalgic for food you enjoyed in childhood. I personally loved those little cheddar cheese goldfish crackers. One of my favorite memories was my grandfather putting them in my soup. I took them to school with me almost everyday in a sandwich bag and when I went vegan I admit I missed them a little. That's why when I found these Eco-Planet Non-Dairy Cheddar Crackers I kinda freaked out a little. I mean they are shaped like little electric cars and windmills and that's not as cute as a smiley fish but they have filled that space in my heart that missed those little crackers. They also make it possible to veganize Betty's cheesy crunchy chicken fingers*. Dan had his fantasy basketball draft last night and cheesy chicken fingers with some waffle fries kinda seemed the perfect meal for such an occasion.

Here's a few other childhood favorites that some of you newly veganed folks might be interested in to help make that transition into cruelty free living : 

• Marshmallows! There are several brands these days that make vegan marshmallows. Sweet & Sara are a favorite of mine and they even have special Halloween marshmallows shaped like bats & ghosts on sale right now. There is also Chicago Soy Dairies' Dandies which are pretty perfect in Hot Cocoa.
• Which brings me to Instant Hot Cocoa! Ah!Laska's Organic Instant Hot Cocoa is a pretty extraordinary treat for those nights when you just want to add water.
• Vegan Corn Dogs by Cedar Lake Foods. That pretty much says all I need to say about that. 
• Memory can be kind to some old friends - like Cheetos and I actually think Tings are much better version of the cheesy snack puffs. I think Tings are actually better than most things. To quote Food Fight Grocery "Better than squirrels and kittens hugging."

OK back to our recipe...

The Betty Crocker Project : The Southwest Pasta Bowl

I know what you're all thinking: that's not a cupcake! Where's my delicious vegan baked treat this week? WTF Annie?!?

Well, this has been a pretty big week for us Shannons. So here's my list of excuses, in no particular order:

• This weekend is our dearest friend Sarah's birthday. I'm making some pretty awesome cupcakes for that and I don't want to spoil the surprise. You all know Sarah as our Facebook group Vegan Foods = Joy poster grrl. I do promise to post the recipe and tons of photos of the cupcakes and DC Vegfest on Monday. Just a reminder, the DC Vegfest is where all the cool kids will be, and it's free. You should swing by if you can!
• Dan & I have full-time jobs on top of this blog, and so sometimes we get super busy with that. We kinda have to do our jobs to pay for all the goodies we are making. The downside of being employed is that sometimes you suck at blogging.
• Season 5 of Supernatural came out on DVD and as many of you might remember, I adore that show. What can I say? I'm a grown woman who loves CW shows. It fills that campy sci-fi nook in my heart where Buffy, Angel, True Blood, X-Files and the classic old school Friday the 13th (the TV show) also live. Hell, I'll admit it: Charmed lives there too. If you're jonesing for something to scratch that nerd itch, I recommend giving Supernatural a try. I had to watch the entire Season 5 back to back for 48 hours and it put a crimp in my kitchen time.
• Dan and I wrapped up Lost. This was actually kinda meaningful for Dan and me, and I'm still kinda wrapping my mind around it. So I'll revisit that.
• We had a pretty big media hit this week. Kinda huge actually. Maclean's magazine (if you're not familiar, they're like 'the Newsweek of Canada') wrote a pretty meaningful piece about our little project that I hope you'll take a minute to check out, and maybe share it with friends or leave a nice comment. You can find it by clicking here. We've been getting even more emails than normal SO I'm even more behind than usual. Sorry 'bout that.
• Robots. They're always messing things up. Example A: Skynet's Cyborgs

But let's not focus on the cupcakes that are coming. Let's enjoy this dish that will make enough for two pretty ambitious eaters to have for lunch for a week. That's not too shabby for something that isn't a cupcake.

The Future is Here! The Herbivore Meets The Shannons Contest Results!

About a lifetime ago, Lisa Simpson (one of our favorite animated vegans) traveled into the future and almost married a yellow floppy-haired Hugh Grant British type. The date of that never-to-be wedding was... YESTERDAY! GASP! Yes folks, the future is here! Where's my flying car and robot dog/vacuum cleaner*?

Well, while I wait for technology to catch up, let's anounce the winners of The Herbivore Meets The Shannons Contest.

The winner of our voting contest: Italia! I've already sent her a message and hopefully we'll get that $25 Gift Certificate and a stash of Buttons and Stickers from Herbivore Clothing in the mail to her soon. Hopefully she'll send me a photo of what she buys so we can all shop vicariously through her.

The dish we are making this week from The Dan and Annie Wedding Reception Menu : Italian Wedding Soup! I just need to hunt down a few things and should be getting that recipe to you in a few days.

Don't worry: if you didn't win this time, we have another contest being launched tomorrow! GASP!

(I'll leave it like this for one of those cliffhanger endings that make all the bloggers go into caffeinated frenzies and starts one of those so-called "buzzes" all the kids are talking about.)

*Yes - I know that Muffit is technically from the past, but he represents that Future Vacuum Dog we all dream of.

The Betty Crocker Project : The Vegan Pudding-palooza!

Butterscotch & Chocolate Breakfast, with a side of Love for one of our favorite Vegan Bloggers: QuarryGirl.

I learned something new about my marriage recently: one of Dan's favorite desserts is pudding, and I can make some pretty tasty vegan puddings! YAY! +10 Soul Mate points!*

We recently asked folks on Facebook and Twitter what flavor of vegan pudding they wanted a recipe for. The response was a little overwhelming! We not only had a lot of comments and tweets, but there were write-ins, and someone even wrote me a poem. Which was thoughtful. Everyone likes presents.

The thing was, the answers were all over the place! We had everything from Tapioca to Lavender Vanilla Bean (Which sounds pretty heavenly to me! I adore flower-flavored foods; They're my very very very favorite.) There were a few strong contenders, and few random ones (Bacon &Peanut Butter?) but they all (or almost all) sounded pretty fabulous... and my inability to deny the world of any flavor of vegan pudding lead us to the obvious: We needed a Pudding-palooza.

Our Pudding-palooza will be playing on 3 stages over the next few weeks, and hopefully will include your favorite flavor. This week, we're featuring the classic trio: Vanilla, Chocolate and Butterscotch! And the crowd goes wild!

OK, before you guys rush the stage... here's your first batch of vegan pudding! But don't wander too far. Coming up next: Tapioca, Coconut and Banana.

The Betty Crocker Project : Italian White Beans with Chicken

It has been brought to our attention that people prefer blog entries that are "more personal." This is a pretty personal entry for me.

When I was little, around kindergarden, I had a deep clandestine love for My Little Ponies and was running an extortion scam to get them. See, I didn't get the school thing at first. There's a family anecdote about my father sitting me down to talk about my first report card and my my teacher's remarks. My response, was "Who is that lady? Why do I care what she thinks?" As you can see, I've changed a lot.

So, my mother started bribing me with Little Ponies, Charmkins and GI Joes. Good report cards and spelling tests got me points towards my next pony. My very favorite was an orange gal with freckles and yellow hair named Applejack. She slept in my bed and traveled in my backpack. But for reasons I still don't really get, I would hide all my ponies. I would brush their hair and feed them sequins every night. Then I'd line them up under my bed skirt, where no one could see them. Eventually my family moved, and my parents started purging. There was this moment when they asked me if I ever played with the ponies - and I failed them. They were boxed up for Goodwill; even Applejack*. Is it weird that still makes me sad?

What does this have to do with beans? When I was growing up, my mother made this dish, but she called it "fagioli": a term she used pretty loosely for any dish with beans. I grew up eating this on nights when no one really wanted to cook. I loved it - especially with a big piece of garlic toast.

When I found Betty's recipe, my guilt reminded me of poor Applejack and her friends (this is Moonstone - my 2nd favorite). Then the most amazing thing happened; I found these ponies. I nearly fainted. And like any recovering addict, my head began swimming through memories of little purple lashed eyes and ridiculously long manes and that powdery fragrance of the plastic. I want them all. I want to let them boldly run free on my desk and book cases. I know my public declaration has come too late for poor Applejack, but I hope someday I'll be able to give these nerd ponies the forever home they deserve. Until then, I'll enjoy this "fagioli."

PS - This recipe takes about 10 minutes and tastes like home.

The Betty Crocker Project : The Cream Cheese Brownie Pie

I keep starting and deleting blog posts on the following topics:

• Why I'm happy Dan isn't a vampire. Vampire/human romantic relationships always seem so dramatic and dysfunctional.
• How robots are cool because they're vegan, but how a misplaced affection for them may someday lead to our destruction in a robo-apocalypse.
• What superheroes I suspect would go vegan if there were a way to get these brownies into the Marvel Universe; but Dan already wrote something like that like a billion years ago.
• How every vegan has their own favorite brownie recipe that they think is the second coming, and how they're all pretty good in different ways. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had a bad vegan brownie.
• Why I think my cats are Russian Spies.

But none of them ever really come together. I mean, in theory they made me giggle--and I am sincerely glad Dan isn't a vampire--but I think instead I'll stick to the subject. These brownies are pretty good if you like a dark chocolatey fudgey chewy brownie, but if you have your own favorite vegan brownie you can always substitute it, because the real star of this recipe is the cream cheesecake layer. I drizzled some of the caramel sauce from the Caramel Sticky Rolls over them, because that's how we roll around here. Of course, I've heard from some of you that you prefer the caramel sauce on the Turtle Cheesecake... so follow your heart. I won't judge.

OK - let's do this.

The Betty Crocker Project : Butterscotch Brownies

We had big plans for this weekend. . . plans that included Free Comic Book Day at Local Heroes, watching the Celtics beat the Cavaliers, a Ben Peterson visit and homemade Cinnamon Rolls. If you saw the basketball game Saturday night - you know the weekend didn't go as planned. 

We did spend WAY too much on comic nerdery Saturday morning. . . as planned*. . . taking advantage of that sale like she was a hayseed right off the bus (please take some time to check out the updates on our Nerdery page). We got in some good Old Fashioned Ben Peterson Time. . . though the bar we were at had a music selection suited for an unoriginal 11 yr old girl. I mean I can handle some Lady GaGa but Mylie Cyrus at a bar? That's just not OK.  On a side note - for those who didn't know - Mylie Cyrus and Hannah Montana are the same person. I know I'm not the only one.

That is where our list of victories ends. See Betty's cinnamon rolls are real works of art and by the time Sunday morning came around, well I had made a mistake that would follow me around till this very moment. 

I had picked up the second season of the American Gothic epic Supernatural. I thought I could watch Sam & Dean fight demons and ride around the back roads of America in their black Impala while I baked. But I put that first DVD in and I was hooked. Our dreams of cinnamon rolls would have to wait till another day. These brownies take around 5 minutes to mix. . . I made them during the credits of No Exit. They were quick and pretty much amazing with vanilla soy ice cream (not pictured above so you could see more brownie). . . maybe too good. Next thing I knew - I was here typing this and thinking about how much I loved this weekend, these brownies and of course - My old man.

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 )

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!