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. 

The Betty Crocker Project : Mandarin Chicken Salad

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Betty Crocker Project : Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

I can remember being a little eater and reading recipes on the side of products and cans of vegetables for pretty random things like Cornflake-Covered Pork Chops and Cheezy Corn Wiener Roast made from those mysterious "Cheese Food" substances that never made their way to our kitchen. I never grew up in a home where my mother would allow us to eat food that she said "wasn't really food". So I would read these recipes as if they were a sneak peak into what was on dinner tables all over America being served by Non-Italian mothers that didn't think Ragu tasted like catsup. . . which it does. . . but that's a tangent for another day.

So one of the more exciting parts of this project ( for me anyways - I suspect Dan is being a really good sport ) was making some of the more random, creative and oh so very American - Brand Suggesting - Cross Promotional Concoctions. . . such as this true classic : THE IMPOSSIBLY EASY CHEESEBURGER PIE!

Now - Anyone who has ever been to our house to eat or watch a movie  - whatever - knows I like to research things. I like going into really anything with a little bit of a heads up of what to expect. Surprises are for people who aren't prepared. So I looked into this so called "Cheeseburger Pie". . . and guess what? This is a REAL THING. I found little old ladies sharing their recipes via websites I'm pretty sure their grandkids made and several recipes designed for bachelors and Southern Food Enthusiast with raving reviews from folks filled with cherished childhood memories of making this dish from a recipe on a Bisquick or Velveeta box. AH-HA! I KNEW IT!

It was surprisingly easy to Veganize this recipe and I have to admit it was also pretty good. I would wholeheartedly suggest giving it a try. It would be a great thing to bring to a potluck or BBQ - especially one with meatier guests.

• 4 Vegan Boca Patties 
• 1 Large Red Onion ( chopped )
• 1/2 Teaspoon Braggs
• 6 Slices of Tofutti American Cheese Slices
• 1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
• 1/2 Cup Original Bisquick
• 1 Cup Soy Milk 
• 2 Eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer
• Olive Oil for cooking
• A Few Dashes of Liquid Smoke
• Margarine for greasing the glass pie plate

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
Grease a  9 inch glass pie plate with Margarine - You can also use a cooking spray.

Heat the Olive Oil and Liquid Smoke in a cast iron skillet - add Boca Burgers and Red Onions. Brown the Burgers and Onions. Once the Burgers start to get a to soft - chop them up into bite size clumps with your metal spatula. Stir in Braggs. Cook until the Onion is translucent and Burger clumps have crispy edges ( be sure and scrap up any Burger that is sticking to the skillet - those are the best parts ).

Spread in pie plate. Slice up 4 Tofutti Cheese Slices and sprinkle on Boca Burger pieces.

In a small bowl, stir in the remaining ingredients with a wire whisk until blended.Sprinkle the Nutritional yeast over the Burger pieces and Cheese and then pour the Bisquick mix into pie plate - over Burger pieces and Cheese.

Slice up the remaining 2 Tofutti Cheese Slices and Sprinkle of the top.

Bake about 25 minutes or until you can poke the center with a toothpick and have it come out clean. 

I ate mine with a side of dill pickles. Dan ate his with mustard and catsup. It is a Cheeseburger after all and I have to admit  - it was everything I always knew it would be!

The Betty Crocker Project : Sauteed Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a bit of a taboo subject around here. Dan being staunchly Anti-Fungi and myself being Pro-Yummy Little Cap-Shaped Vehicles for Sauce and Salt. So I have to admit my vast knowledge of mushroom sauteing has gotten a bit rusty these past years. . . BUT I do know this . . . to quote the wise words of Mrs. Kerkovich : "Wine, Wine and more Wine" is key.

So imagine my surprise when Betty had no mention of wine at all in her Sauteed Mushrooms recipe! It lead me to look into this further. . . Apparently everything I ever knew about sauteing mushrooms was probably based on working class Italians choosing to cook with the wine they drank. See the Italian way to cook mushrooms should be done with white wine. . . not red. I guess this would explain why all these years whenever I made mushrooms for people - they would comment on how they had never had mushrooms like that before and follow with compliments - that I am now convinced is some food version of the Emperor 's New Clothes.

There was chatter on Facebook about how I should stay true to Betty and just use the margarine and others who pointed out that you can't drink margarine while you cook and what's fun about that? Leading me to face my own biased ideas about mushrooms and well - A GREAT MUSHROOM SHOWDOWN. 

In one corner ( the left one ) we had Betty and her classic recipe :

• 2 Tablespoons of Margarine
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Garlic ( minced ) 
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Pepper
• 6-8 Small to Medium Sized White Mushrooms ( wipe off the gross stuff - She says slice 'em - but I kept them whole )

Heat all the ingredients except the Mushrooms until the butter melts and then stir the Mushrooms. Cook for about 4-6 minutes.

In the other ( the right one ) a family tradition - perhaps a cover for highly functional alcoholics ( Just kidding Ma - Please don't call and yell at me )   :

• 6-8 Small to Medium Sized White Mushrooms ( make sure you wipe off any icky stuff )
• 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil 
• 1/2 cup of Red Wine - Merlot is good but so is Burgundy ( maybe more ) 
• I Clove of Garlic ( minced )  

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet on Medium heat - till it coats the bottom and throw in the Mushrooms and Wine. Once the Mushrooms begin to brown - well - they actually turn kinda purple - add the garlic. Stir the Mushrooms ever so often to keep them from cooking too much on one side. Eat them once they are soft and kinda spongy like. 

It went fast. . . 2 skillets on medium heat filling our kitchen with savory aromas . . . the whispering sizzle. . . and the result. . . A DRAW!

They both rocked. They both would be good on a burger or in pasta and were different and unique enough to not really compete with each other. It all really depends on preference  - Betty's was a little salty but that can be good too - just saying.

The Betty Crocker Project : Caesar Salad Dressing

This has been the best thing we have made so far.

I know - I know - It isn't a REAL Caesar salad if it doesn't have anchovies. But this blog is about making animal friendly versions of classic and not so classic dishes. There is no reason why we need to go by the traditional foodie definitions - WHEN LIVES ARE ON THE LINE! C'MON FOLKS!

For the salad - We replaced the anchovies with marinated artichoke hearts and tossed in some of the fixings from the Greek Salad : Kalamata Olives, Cucumbers, French Fried Onions, Bacos and a few mushrooms from the Chickn Tetrazzini. The result : we had a salad worth a post all her very own!

A salad that will outlive this project and has convinced us to never again buy a bottle of salad dressing. Sorry Paul Newman. We had a nice run but this was what we have been searching for in your cleverly labeled bottles all these years. We can still be friends. Well - until we find a way to make our own Newman-Os.

Anyways - without further ado . . . the Caesar Salad Dressing that has changed our lives. . .

• 1Tablespoon Garlic ( minced )
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 3 Tablespoon  Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Vegan Worcestershire Sauce ( this gives the fake fishy flavor and is key )
• 1/4 Teaspoon Braggs
• 2 pinches of Ground Mustard
• 1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Pepper ( I know we have been using a lot of Lemon Pepper these days - we got the best little grinder of it from Trader Joe's and we recommend you get one too! )
• 1 Tablespoon Nutritional Yeast

Toss it all in a tight container and shake and eat over a bed of your favorite salad stuff.

be prepared to see this again. . .