The Vegan Love Boat Contest

Vegan Italian Sausage Chunky Minestrone made with Tofurky Italian Sausage

Every year around this time there is a excitement that hits The Shannon homestead. We wake up every chilly morning looking forward to dinner. We go to bed looking forward to leftovers for lunch the next day. The leaves begin to change on Brooklyn and we get out our cotton and acrylic sweaters and the whole time we look forward to pre-heating that oven. See folks - It's Tofurky season! 

Now usually we make like 3 or 4 holiday roasts around this time of year to test recipes and because they're awesome but this year Hurricane Sandy hit NYC. After spending a small fortune on subway trips around the city, we haven't been able to find a single holiday roast. Now maybe it's all the shipments being messed up but I'd like to think it's because of the increase in people exploring a meat-free lifestyle. Either way - the bad news is that we don't have a tested recipe to share today but the show must go on! So in the spirit of just going with it - today we're launching our 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Contest! Well this year it's more a vegan all-star contest. You know it's like The Love Boat. All these celebrities in one spot having adventures and stuff. Yes,we're a little late this year but we're giving away a prize pack featuring some of our favorite vegan products that we hope will make up for it! 

• 1 Coupon for one free package of Tofurky Deli Slices, Tempeh OR Sausages
• 1 Coupon for one free package of a Gardein product of your choice
• 1 Coupon for one free package of a Earth Balance product of your choice
• Discount Coupons for Amy's, Sweet & Sara Vegan Marshmallows and more Tofurky
• 1 Vegan Marshmallow Variety Pack from Sweet & Sara

Last year, we asked you to leave a comment below telling us what Vegan Thanksgiving tradition or dish you're the most looking forward to but this year - we'll keep it simple. All you have to do is leave a comment below with link to a cute Autumn themed animal picture - like a kitty playing in leaves, a bulldog in a pumpkin or a Llama in a scarf - and we'll randomly choose ONE MEMBER from the comments below to win!

 

Sorry folks you have to live in the United States to win. You also have to be a member so we can contact you later to send you your prize packet. If you're not already a member, you can find the button to join in the right hand column. We'll be choosing the winner on Thursday Nov. 15th.

So start up your search engines and let's set our course for adventure!*

* That's a line from The Love Boat Theme if you didn't click the link earlier.

It's Dan's Birthday Again!

Photo Credit : V.K.Rees Photography

Once a year we get a chance to celebrate one of my favorite days - The day we got Dan!

I obviously am madly in with love my husband and co-Shannon but that's not why you should be excited. See Dan has been a dedicated and effective activist for over half his life. He has played a part in making the world a better place in real ways that have significantly improved this world for animals, kids, the homeless, the environment... and of course anyone who has every shared a beer with him. Last year I asked you to do something sweet for the animals and take a not-yet-vegan friend out for a veggie burger tonight for Dan... this year I'm asking you to do it again!

We love to travel and eat at vegan restaurants all over the world - so consider it a personal favor for us both to support the local eateries in your area so next time we're there we can eat enjoy them too!

XO

PS - We're launching a super awesome gold pants contest tomorrow. You've been warned.

The Worst

A photo of the Caribbean Ocean from our babymoon to Tulum, Mexico

Last week was supposed to be the week we talked about being a vegan traveling in Mexico. We were going to talk about our babymoon to Tulum, Mexico and what we saw and ate there. We were going to veganize Mexican recipes of what we weren't able to eat there and I even had a little love letter to beans and rice I wanted to share. We were also going to make homemade vegan candy for our friend Susanne's birthday and share a bunch of vegan candy tips and recipes. We have some new recipes for chili, donuts and waffles - featuring a lot of pumpkin that would have shown up this week if we had time. But that's not what happened last week.

Last week, we lost our perfectly healthy baby girl.

Now there are going to be those who wonder if this is because I'm vegan or because of the amount of traveling we did. There are also those who follow me on Facebook and Twitter - who know that this pregnancy has been hard on me. I've had to deal with round the clock morning sickness and fatigue. But none of this had anything to do with what happened last week. I can assure you that while this tragedy may have a little to do with my age, really this was caused by a personal medical condition that no one found out about until it was too late. We've been assured that now that they know about this problem, we can try again--that there is no reason we won't be able to have a happy, healthy baby some day.

But to be honest that brings us little comfort right now. The little girl I was carrying was over 5 months along and had become apart of our family in many ways, if mostly in the promise of a child. To say it has been difficult to let her go would be beyond an understatement. It was would just be a lie. It's been the worst and hardest thing either of us have ever had to do

Sometimes I wake up and find comfort in knowing we might still be parents some day, and other days I wake up wishing that time travel was possible. It makes it easier knowing that we have friends and family who will be there to support us. While we would love to hear from you and welcome cards and emails, please know that we live in a tiny apartment and don't have much room for flowers and other gifts. For anyone who's interested, we would welcome donations to the Woodstock Animal Sanctuary--one of our very favorite places on earth--made in memory of our little girl, Piper Shannon.

Thank you in advance for your love and support. We'll be back to posting recipes soon.

The Betty Crocker Project : Baby Olive Oil Garlic Knots

I hate these photos. 

So last night there was a perfect storm in Brooklyn. There was the coming together of a mild autumn night breeze that made it pleasant enough to have the windows open but not so warm the idea of baking wasn't lovely. I had just sent in the final proofs for our book - which required a long journey and in the end was an exhausting adventure. So I was sleepy and excited. The first debate for the 2012 US Presidential Election took place and my loving but dedicated husband had to work so I was left all alone to harass loved ones via Facebook with my observations and Tweet frustrations in short confused sentences. Though I would like to think that it was more like commiseration*. But don't all crazy people think that**?

Before you get scared that I'm going to drag you into this... I won't. I will encourage you to check out all the news coverage today on the misleading statements made by certain Schmitt Schmoney but I'll leave it at that. Promise! Because yesterday while I was adventuring through Brooklyn I was inspired.

See October is official Pizza Month and that encouraged me to veganize a classic New York favorite using olive oil instead of the usual butter and animal-based shortenings used throughout this borough I call home.

There's a stereotype in many people's minds that every corner in Brooklyn has a pizza parlor... which is debatable. There is quite a bit and some neighborhoods are more pizza-ed than others. Of course, most of those spots don't offer much as far as vegan options but they all do offer is a simple treat I grew up adoring when I was a not yet vegan - Garlic Knots.

These simple little buddies are pretty easy and a great vehicle for your favorite marinara sauce. This recipe will make either a dozen regular sized knots or 2 dozen baby knots and is so simple I feel almost guilty calling it a recipe.

For those of you who are wondering where's the promised latest Vegan Rock-toberfest feast - well the photos just didn't turn out very good. I recently moved my photo spot and the lighting just isn't right. Isn't that half the battle of food blogging? You can't just make something delicious - you have have to take alluring photos. But I will say - it was delicious so I won't mind remaking it! 

OK - On to the knots! 

The Pregnant Lady at Pickle Palooza

Horman's New Dills

So you may have noticed that the new website at MeetTheShannnons.com isn't up yet but that VeganMoFo has started. Yes. This is all my fault but it's also something we hope to change soon. I debated dropping out of Vegan MoFo this year because we're going to be traveling a lot this Fall, have all these final little details to work on for our book, have the website I mentioned a sentence ago to wrap up and oh - did I mention we're having a baby? Yep we're almost halfway through the terrifying yet thrilling process of welcoming our first child into the world.

But more about that later - you're here for the food not for the jabber about vegan pregnancy, baby prep and tedious book editing. It just felt wrong to skip Vegan MoFo and we really do think we'll have that website up in like a matter of days. Which brings us to our first post in months - NYC's First Annual Pickle Palooza!