The Betty Crocker Project : Siesta Taco Soup

Oh. Steam on the lens. You are my nemesis today.

Some of you have been wondering where the frak we've been, and it's justified. I mean, seriously, it's been a week and we've been completely and unforgivably MIA. It really is a fair question to ask of bloggers who cook and post every day but who, without warning, disappear like magic. It's kind of nice to know that what you put out into the world would be missed.

Well, nothing scandalous happened. We weren't abducted by aliens or trapped under something heavy. We just went to a wedding. A charming and sublime DIY wedding at a breathtaking ranch in San Luis Obispo, CA. A wedding that I will gush about in another post, because last week I posted this photo of our Taco Soup in progress and there were so many messages and emails... well, I feel like you'd rather welcome September with a yummy soup recipe you can make in your slow cooker so you don't have to worry about heating up your home while fall is still more of an idea than an actual weather situation. I mean, I'd rather be eating this soup right now than pretty much doing anything else. So I get it.

If you take a look at Betty's Taco Soup, you'll see we took a lot of liberties... and since we made ours in the slow cooker it only seemed right to throw the 'Siesta' in there - sleepy little soup that it is*. If you're following along in your own copy of Betty's Big Red, you'll notice a few 'Feistas' thrown about from time to time on the Mexican-themed recipes. Which I actually kinda like. Those 'Feistas' are just the prefect level of campy. They remind me of something Mad Men's Betty Draper would serve to her kids during a break in her chain smoking. I'm not sure why that appeals to me, but in a weird way it totally does.

Taco Soup might not sound that good at first, but much like its friend Pizza Soup, it's surprisingly delicious and awesome. You might have to look over the ingredients to be won over. Here's just a hint of how good this soup is - if you slice your onions thin enough, they'll melt in the broth, making an onion soup flavor and texture that I actually described as "gorgeous" like a tween with a crush. Yeah - that really happened.

 So - Here's your rain check for an 'update' blog post about LA, Fashion Week in NYC, and a bunch of other random thoughts, rants and obsessions. Let's get this Soup Party started.

Attack of The Ridiculously Awful Wedding Album! Warning : Never has whismy made you so sad...

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

I have to apologize for the delay posting this. If you haven't noticed we've had some technical problems lately with photos. So without further ado : The so-awful-it's-awesome director's cut wedding album that features the worst pics from our shenanigan-packed photo shoot. Although I'm worried that since this post is so late, your imagination has created ridiculous situations that put these to shame. If you want to be able to see the looks on our friend's faces - which are kinda amazing - click here.

I started to caption the photos but really they speak for themselves. If you are looking for a less-traumatizing write-up of our cruelty-free wedding, you can check out the write up in Offbeat Bride. Special congratulations goes out to Shaun and Aliza-Marie Johnston who had their own completely vegan wedding this past weekend! Good luck you crazy kids!

ALSO - We've been added to VegNew's 2011 Veggie Award Nominations! A huge thank you goes out to everyone who voted or is going to vote for us and wrote us in and all the above! I'm not going to lie... it's been a tough summer for me, and just being nominated is really great. But it would mean a lot to me if you guys voted for us too! So if you haven't voted yet for Meet The Shannons, please do!

A Special Message from The Shannons

Thank You Cards from TinyPrints

So yesterday something kinda strange happened. We got what I am calling "Hate Mail". It's wasn't from the usual Pro-Bacon-Hipsters or Eggy Mayo Loyalists who stumble in from time to time. It was numerous comments from people claiming to be readers who declared that they would stop reading our blog and tell their friends to join their "boycott" because we supported New York State's historic marriage equality bill . The comments were pretty hateful actually and all offensive. Now, I have no idea who posted them. They could have been vegans. They could have been pirates, or vegan pirates, or Pro-Bacon Hipsters & Eggy Mayo Loyalists with a nasty bigoted streak in them... who cares really? I would rather hateful people didn't read our blog. This is a place for celebrating living a cruelty-free life and that includes not being cruel to people as well. So, if you're into being a dick, this is not the right blog for you.

But that's not really the point of this post. Yesterday, I vented on Twitter about the hatemonger comments. I've been all emotional on Twitter these past few days. I can't explain it. But this stupid thing happened, and then I tweeted about it because I got sick of deleting comments. But then something happened that - in all seriousness - caused me to become verklempt. There's no better way to describe it.

I came home from dinner to find a series of supportive tweets from readers and other vegan bloggers, not only supporting Meet The Shannons and marriage equality, but being real friends. Since we started this blog, one of the best parts has been joining an online community that is doing such a great job promoting compassion for animals and being more environmentally friendly... and just being more amazingly kick ass. So Thank You Girlie Girl Army, Citizen Radio, Vegan Good Things, Erin Red from Vegansaurus, Kitsch & Kitchen, Laughing Samuari, Vegan Verite, and everyone else who tweeted support yesterday and understanding that the "pursuit of happiness" should include all America's citizens. We love you guys.

Vegan Chicken Lettuce Wraps & How We Survived The Heat Dome...

2 years ago today, I married my best friend. Now this might seem like a pretty obvious and trite way to describe a wedding, but it fits. I mean it wasn't like the old-school wedding days, where life as we had known it changed forever. My parents didn't hand me over in exchange for a few cows, and Dan didn't lift my veil with crossed fingers. Our lives slowly began to intertwine long before we ever even kissed. We'd been building a life together for years before I ever put on that off-white dress, and our course didn't really change much from the day we decided to be more than friends in the first place. In fact, the life we had already begun to build together just got a little better... we just dressed up, ate a bunch of cupcakes, and made it legal, is all.

Over the weekend in New York City, numerous same-sex couples (and some not-so-same-sex) finally got to make it legal too. Now, I know a lot of you like to read inside bits about our relationship rather than here me talk about politics. I mean, I get at least 20 emails a week asking about what we fight about and how we move past those bloody battles. But if we were all sitting down to dinner tonight, talking about how proud we are to live in a progressive state would come up. We might also talk about the Pompeii exhibit we saw over the weekend and some thoughts we had about the new Captain America movie... which was freaking incredible*.

And if you were visiting last weekend, we would have have eaten these lettuce wraps that require very little cooking and eased our suffering considerably. See, we were trapped last weekend in The Heat Dome. Now if you're wondering if that is worse than the Thunderdome... it seriously is. We're not big on air conditioning, so a Heat Dome is pretty much a nightmare. Now you would think we were used to heat after years in Virginia. Back then the sadistic humidity gave us an excuse to drive to the beach. On nights when we were feeling kinda fancy-ish, we'd stop by P.F.Chang's on the way back. Their vegan lettuce wrap appetizers are pretty spectacular and always went perfectly with sun burnt shoulders and large lemonades. We made ours with Gardein Crispy Tenders and enjoyed them with some beers from Brooklyn's Sixpoint Brewery**, a game of Civilization, and a giant fan.

And that I guess is why, on the 2nd anniversary of our wedding, we are posting this delicious recipe that helped us do more than just survive the Heat Dome... it was a tiny reminder of how we're not just making it through our lives together. We are, as my husband so eloquently put it, "Living in the Awesome!"

Let us eat lettuce wraps and be awesome! Awesome for all!

All Kneel Before The Great Herbivore Contest of 2011!*

Anyone who has ever planned a wedding has at one point realized the importance of having a good photographer. You look at how much money is being spent, think about all the folks traveling from all over, and it becomes clear that not having legit documentation would be a tragedy.

And anyone who's ever been anywhere near a wedding has experienced what is captured in this video. Now you might be tempted not to watch it, but someday you'll be old and will regret that choice.

When it came to our wedding, my first and most important request was that there would be no campy wedding photographer hijinks. No Easter baskets full of bridesmaids. No pretending we're on a trampoline. No Photoshop shenanigans. No freaking pyramids!

I can tell you this was clearly explained to our photographer, but alas, the day came and I was unprepared for the pure insanity that was inflicted on my loved ones. I mean it was so bad I keep expecting Ashton Kutcher in a trucker hat to pop from a the bushes all like "Dude! Hilarious!" Two years later, I've found a way to laugh at these photos. Many of you have already seen photos from our cruelty-free wedding on Offbeat Bride, but today you're going to see two never before released director's cut photos and get a chance to win a FREE t-shirt from Herbivore Clothing Company!

Our buddy Josh Hooten over at Herbivore Clothing designed the best wedding invitations ever for our special day, and so it only seems fitting that we'd celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary by sending more Herbivore awesomeness out into the universe!

So here's the contest! VOTE in a comment below for which ridiculous wedding photo you like the most, and we'll randomly choose one follower to win a Free t-shirt from our buddies at Herbivore Clothing Company! If you're not already a follower, you can find the button to follow in the right hand column.

We'll announce the winner on Wednesday, July 27th and release an album of more never before seen wedding photos that will make you laugh and cry. You will feel a wide spectrum of emotions. Shall we begin? Here are the contenders!

A. The Battle Cry (You really should click on this one so you can see the faces better) :

I just want to add that we have the best friends on the planet.

B.The Veil (Please note that this one is a photo of this shot being set up - so it just hints at the insanity you will seeing next week) :

Is this one a teaser? Yep.

So now you know how it works - get out and rock the vote**!



* This title might be only funny if you've seen Superman II and are clicking on the links in this post where I am comparing wedding photographers to General Zod. But even if you are a normal person who has better things to do than remember quotes from amazing 80s superhero movies... this is still an awesome contest!

** Dear 90s - I miss you so much.

The Betty Crocker Project : Spaghetti alla Carbonara

So a funny thing happened the other day. We had been warned for years that a black cloud was rolling in that would shake the foundations of our relationship and destroy our marriage like a lighting bolt from above . I mean we even heard from some folks that the very nation we lived in would be sucked into the ocean this weekend. But a funny thing happened...

We woke up still married and in still love. We had plenty to eat and a roof over our heads. Kittens to pet and give treats. Life as we knew it did not end, or even change at all. There were no locusts at the door or frogs falling from the sky. The only thing of note that actually happened was that we woke up proud to be New Yorkers... and Italian.

To send internet thanks to two Italian gentlemen from the Empire State that did the right thing and played key roles in not legalizing bigotry*... We are posting this Italian classic Spaghetti Carbonara. Yeah, we're looking at you, Governor Andrew Cuomo and State Senator Mark Grisanti **.

Spaghetti Carbonara is one of those dishes that many of heard of, but no one really knows where it came from. I mean, there are some that claim it is a dish passed down from the Romans. But I feel like I can be honest with you... they say that about anything awesome in Italy. There are many who think it has something to do The Carbonari, a 19th century secret society that played a key role in unification of Italy. But really the first documentation of it was found around WWII. While the US occupied Italy, the troops sometimes traded their powdered eggs and bacon with the people. Many returning troops fell in love with Spaghetti. They brought their passion for this pasta with them and Spaghetti Carbonara hit menus everywhere.

OK la lezione di storia sopra! Mangiamo della pasta già!

Owls are cute - FREE Owl Shopping Bags are Really Cute! TODAY ONLY CONTEST!

During our packing I found these adorable shopping bags that were intended to be prizes at a bridal shower... I could keep them for myself but I would rather share them with you! So we're having a little Earth Day Contest!

So today's contest : Please post a link to a cute owl photo in the comment section below and tonight at 9pm EST Dan and I will randomly choose 4 WINNERS!

Remember in order to win - you have to be a follower of Meet The Shannons - So we have your contact info. To become a follower - Just click on the "Follow" box in the right hand column. So start your search engines and let's get all crazy cute!

The Betty Crocker Project : Beer & Cheese Soup with a Popcorn Garnish and a side of Smokey Collard Greens & Bacon

Last night, a small group of weary wooden travelers arrived on our dining room table. They had just completed a long journey to start a new, octagon-shaped life on a little island named Cataan. In the end, there could be only only one to settle this island rich in ore, brick, sheep, wood and wheat; and last night Dan had the dice on his side. That's right Shannon; I'm calling you lucky. Love you.

You may remember our buddy Chris from his previous roles in Pizza Dip and Dan & Annie - The Wedding. Well, last night he took a night off from stacking bills and breaking hearts to come play a board game with us and be the test subject for Beer & Cheese Soup.

Beer & Cheese Soup may sound a bit odd to some, but in reality it's pretty tasty stuff. We were comparing it to French Onion Soup; the rich "beefy"* and savory flavors, the cheese mixed in and bread for dipping. This soup was amazing! It would be a really great fall dish, so we may have jumped the gun a bit, but I'm ready for the leaves to change and to start baking again.

We paired this with Smokey Collard Greens (a version of Betty's Spicy Collard Greens) and some fresh Limeade. Mostly because now that I have this dreamy Limeade recipe, I want to drink it every night.

The whole dinner was Ore-mazing! Yes, that's a Settlers of Cataan joke, but still totally true.

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 : Bacon Cheeseburger Hash

I recently read an article written by a woman who had been married for five years and worked in the wedding-planning industry. She started with a brief summary of their courtship. Of course, it had the arc of any good love story. There was the lighting bolt "love at first sight", the standard "we broke up once", and the "happy ending" wedding. But that's when she pointed out that, well, obviously that's not the end. She listed off all the things she would never experience again: first kisses, the declaration of romantic interest (that doesn't make it sound very exciting), and all the little humorous anecdotal stuff that comes from getting to know each other. She mourned over the loss of adrenaline rushes and, well, plain-old stupid-ass drama. Can you tell where I'm going here?

(This is where I deleted a whole section about all the first kisses I've been excited about in my past, but now make me shudder... back to our story.)

Last night, I made vegan Bacon Cheeseburger Hash for my husband--and although we had the Hiroshima of epically passionate first kisses, there's another kinda of poetry that comes from our home, and the ongoing love affair that is our life together. One that doesn't make me cry, or stay up till 3 AM watching cartoons and thinking of all the things I did wrong or choices I could have made differently.

Somewhere in this skillet dish that combines two soul mates--bacon cheeseburgers and french fries--I'm finding something pretty special. More special than the "meat cake" Cheeseburger Lasagna, and the mythical Cheeseburger Pie? Hmmmm... hard to say. Everything is special in its own way. I do know that this dish only takes about 20 minutes and makes enough for 2 large portions (or 4 probably-healthier portions). I also know that it was a big hit around the Shannon house last night, and will live on long after The Betty Crocker Project has gone down in history.

The Betty Crocker Project : Huevos Rancheros with Tofu Scramble & BABIES

There comes a point in the life of every relationship when the topic of babies comes up. OK, maybe not every relationship, but these days babies are all the rage around here. Plus, that opening sentence sounded better than: "Sometimes there are a lot of babies."

People are having babies, asking when we're having a baby, there are baby showers, baby food challenges on Top Chef, and I find myself craving baby corn in my salads pretty much daily. This summer will be remembered for this adorable, powder-scented, PJs-with-feet, out-of-control baby wave.

One of my oldest and dearest, Libbe, had a beautiful little girl with the most shockingly wonderful head of hair ever. One of the sassiest people on the planet and my old friend, Amanda, has a darling little girl who dresses better than I do. Fellow vegan foodie Angie's ravishing daughter has been owning my Facebook stalker feed lately. These girls are like the baby versions of Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Claudia Schiffer in the 90s... They're everywhere, but I don't mind, because they're so ridiculously good looking. *

Now, some of you already know my dearest buddy Sarah, perhaps as the cover girl for our Vegan Foods = Joy Facebook page. It wasn't that long ago that Sarah and I were planning our weddings together. I was reading and weeping at her wedding, and she was dancing her ass off at ours in a green dress that I actually wish I had bought for myself. This weekend, Sarah and her husband Shaun (who's also pretty boss; and yeah, I'm bringing that back) had a perfect little girl with big blue eyes named Spencer Hanalei. I'm already dreaming up ways to spoil her, and trying to veganize some of those baby food recipes from Top Chef. I spent most of the weekend checking my phone for new photos of Spencer and updates from Shaun. I have a feeling Spencer is going to be the baby Gisele Bündchen. I'm pretty sure she'll be convincing me to buy a Mac any day now.

On Sunday, Dan and I had brunch with some friends and their entertaining and freaking lovable son Isaiah. I guess he's not really a baby anymore. He walks, feeds peanut butter to the dogs and says "oh man!". But I don't think I have ever had so much fun watching a person smaller than me eat and stack things. Sarah (different Sarah) baked these Strawberry Coconut Scones that tasted great, and were like the supermodel of baked goods. If these scones were a movie star they'd be Audrey Hepburn: all sweet and charming. We'll make them for you guys some time. We brought over our version of Betty's Huevos Rancheros.

When I was first planning this out in my head, I wanted to make a vegan fried egg using a version of The Vegan Poached Egg. But the food needed to make the trip to the Kings' house, and I was distracted with baby updates. So Tofu Scramble it is! This recipe was a big hit, though, and an easy yet impressive spread for Sunday Brunch. I know we'll be making it again with a vegan fried egg... but until then, enjoy this version, and share with friends. This recipe makes enough to feed 4 to 4 1/2 people.

The Betty Crocker Project : Cornbread & Bacon-Stuffed Pork Chops

Dan and I are a pretty normal American married couple*. Kinda textbook, really.

We watch Top Chef. We talk about taking trips to sunny-beachy places, and on the weekends take road trips to American historical landmarks. We listen to NPR in the morning and recycle. Last night, we played a board game about escaping zombie hoards and ate vegan pork chops.

Maybe this weekend we might hit up Target and Trader Joe's... I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time.

These pork chops didn't actually take much time at all. I think they look kinda fancy, and I have to admit I'm really grateful that Match Vegan Meats exists so we could make these. I'd say they took about 20 minutes and were seriously good news. According to Top Chef, things this good are called "Da Biznus."

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 Family Album : The Blueberry Banana Muffins by Katie Willheim

4th of July Red & Blueberry Banana Muffins by Katie Willheim

We've reached that stage where we need to "test" our recipes. Even though we're making them and like them, there might be something in the way the recipe communicates the steps, or different ovens bake differently, or whatever. So we've started the Family Album!

The Family Album is going to be a reoccurring segment on Meet The Shannons for your feedback and photos of your "tests" of a Meet The Shannons recipe. If you'd like to test one of our recipes, please send an email to Shannons@MeetTheShannons.net telling us a little bit about yourself and what recipe you want to test. The Blueberry Banana Muffins have been taken already, but there are a lot to choose from, and many more to come! We'll email you back and let you know if that recipe is taken. Once you send us your photo and your thoughts on the recipe--like it took you 5 minutes to bake, not 10; or you added soy sauce instead of Braggs; whatever-- we'll post them! We hope to post one or two a month. Please know that we will photo credit and acknowledge all images and tips sent us, but that we won't pay for them, and by submitting a photo and tips you are consenting to those photos and tips being reposted and used by Meet The Shannons.

Here's a little bit about our first photo in The Family Album. Katie Willheim was one of the danciest dancey-pants at our wedding. That's saying a lot. We had a really fun wedding. She sent us this photo of her patriotic take on our Blueberry Banana Muffins all the way from California. Katie added some red berries to some of the muffins making these little guys perfectly adorable and welcome at a 4th of July potluck!

Thanks Katie for kicking this off and being a baking bad-ass!

The Danannie Wedding

It has only been a few weeks and though they say things don't really change all that much after you get married . . . things are different . . . just the slightest bit better.

Not to brag or anything - BUT we had a pretty beautiful wedding that was actually fun and full of dancing, wine, lots of flowers, gnocchi, Tofurky, tattoos, smooth suits and cupcakes and it had a distinct lack of drama or real mishap. There was no unwanted crashers and just a slight threat of rain. And although we didn't have any of the hilarious disasters or heartbreaking mishaps that are so common amongst wedding themed cinema - At one point during the reception - I said to P.T. "I feel like this is the end of a movie. All these old friends from all over the world coming together on this one weekend and now we are all dancing and hugging . . . I feel like any minute now - we're ready for the camera to pull away into the credits . . . I'm ready for our happy ending now."

Or was it just the beginning. . . . DUHDUHDUH!