Orange Teriyaki "Beef"

I think it is only fitting after a post about Julie & Julia to talk about Meet the Shannons.

Have you heard of them?

Stop what you’re doing (after you read my post) and visit their blog. Their blog was one of my inspirations to start The Chubby Vegan. Meet the Shannons is a blog by Dan and Annie Shannon, two absolutely precious animal rights advocates who decided to veganize the entire Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Yes, veganize the entire thing; including fried eggs and every other thing your Aunt Edna made for summer barbecues.

They got the idea after watching Julie & Julia. Of course, like myself, they hated the disgusting amount of animal products used by Julia Child.

So why not take one of America’s most widely known cookbooks and show people that any of its recipes can be made vegan and totally awesome. Brilliant! I would call them vegan rock stars.

I applaud them and what they do. I would also be super happy to be invited to their house for dinner.  

Dan? Annie? I am waiting by the phone...

I tried my first recipe from Meet the Shannons last week and it was quite delish! It was my first time using Gardein Beef Tips and it was probably the most realistic looking (and tasting) fake meat I have ever used. Even though it has been over eight years since I have had hamburger, it tasted exactly like I remember it. Crazy!

So this recipe is the Shannons vegan version of Orange Teriyaki Beef from Betty Crocker. It was pretty good; give it a try and judge for yourself. Then, visit the Shannons and tell them how awesome they are.

I just did…

More pictures and the recipe after the jump.

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Corn and Edamame Salad

Edamame is such an underused vegetable. I feel like it got really popular a few years ago and seems to be losing its popularity. I am standing by you, edamame!

My favorite thing about them is that they are just fun to eat. Who doesn’t love sucking a bean out of a pod? So fun! I feel like edamame should be an all star kid food. Not that I have children, so I don’t really know. I feel like as an 8 or 9 year old, I would have really enjoyed eating edamame.

*note to self* Find kid, give them edamame, prove theory….

Of course, you don’t need to buy edamame in the pod. They are just as delicious, without any of the work!

I made an edamame and corn salad for my array of vegan Super Bowl yum yums this weekend. It was so simple and easy and was a nice light addition to the table full of heavy party foods.

It’s okay on its own, but would be even better with the addition of some rice noodles, in a stir fry, or as a side with some grilled tofu. There are lots of other recipes for this type of salad online so do your research. If you like the idea of this flavor combo, check out some different recipes and make the one that you think would be best for you.

Recipe and more photos after the jump.

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Bok Choy... What???

Bok Choy 101
According to this chubby vegan....

Picture it.... Pittsburgh, 2011. I make this great recipe using some delicious baked tofu and bok choy- one of my new favorite vegetables. I take all sorts of awesome pictures and BOOM my camera deletes all of them.

*chubby vegan = sad vegan*

Alas, I had leftovers and I was able to snap at least one picture. This picture is not nearly as cool as all my great and super artsy preparation photos, but sometimes technology decides it does not want to be my friend.

So bok choy is a member of the cabbage or turnip family. Some people will call it "Chinese cabbage" and it is widely available in the regular big variety (as pictured above) or a baby bok choy, which is (obviously) much smaller.

After cooking with bok choy a few times now, here are my bok choy lessons...

• It can be a little pricey...
• I paid $7.50 for one hearty stock of bok choy at the regular grocery store. Although it's well worth it, its probably not the best idea to cook with all the time if you are a chubby vegan on a budget.
• The top (green leaves) and the bottom (white stalk) don't cook at the same rate... 
• I didn't know that. Clearly I am not a real chef, I just play one in my dreams. So I will chalk this up to my cooking lesson of the day. So you cut it in half and cook them separately... The white part takes longer.
• I think I like baby bok choy better....
• I doubt in the real world this really matters. It is kind of like when I ate M&M's and I would save all the yellow, red, and orange ones to the end because they were my favorite. They don't taste any different. Why do i care? But they look different, so I just do it because I feel like I should. So baby bok choy is smaller, it must be different... Right? Right....
• Baked tofu steals my heart...

• Tofu can be tough for people. It is one of the questions I probably get the most... "So is all you eat tofu?" No, silly cat! But thanks, Martin Yan, for introducing me to tofu at an early age on PBS. Anyway, baked tofu is essentially pre-pressed tofu. Sometimes it is infused with a spice or something. I usually buy it at the Asian food market. It is pretty much the easiest tofu to use and I L-O-V-E it. 

Like most stir fry recipes, I pretty much eye balled the vegetable measurements. Ehh... Do I really need to use exactly 6 ounces of mushroom? Will the world end if I use 2 carrots instead of one? Nahh!

So try it! The recipe I used is from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen (a rock star and VegNews award winning blog)... You can find it after the jump. (click read more below). Tell me what you think...!


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