Tofurky for the win!!!

This is my 2nd time purchasing these deli meats but first time trying them (The first purchase I forgot about and had to throw out unopened due to expiration). Let me say this is a FABULOUS meat free sandwich "meat" substitute. I tasted a pinch before I made my sandwich because I didn't want to waste my bread and other ingredients in case I was disappointed lol. When I tasted the pinch, I was shocked at the close resemblance to deli meat. It truly has a hickory smoked flavor and tasted kind of like turkey. Clearly it's not an exact match but its close enough. I grew a bit tired of strictly vegetable sandwiches and wanted to get more variety and this definitely fit the bill. I highly recommend!

Vegetarian collard greens

As the new year rolls in, I decided to make some veggie collards. They taste even BETTER than collards I've had years ago with meat in them.

Ingredients used
1 bag of collards
2 non-chicken bouillon cubes
2 and 1/2 cups water
1 small onion (chopped)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Dash of liquid smoke
Dash of sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tomato (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Prepare broth in saucepan by combining water and bouillon cubes. Boil water until cubes have dissolved.

Melt butter with olive oil in separate pot. Add onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
After about two minutes, add collards and stir. Allow to cook for 2 minutes. Then add broth and add remaining seasonings. Cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until greens are at the preferred softness.

Dinner

Lentil soup and fried okra

Tofurky beer brats

Yum!!! I was a bit nervous about trying these, as I've tried some terrible meat substitutes before. I prepared a beer brat according to the stovetop instructions. I put a little vegetable oil in a skillet and allowed the oil to warm, then I added the brat. After it was brown on all sides, I added a tablespoon of water and covered the skillet. After a few seconds, it was done. The consistency is very similar to a meat brat and the taste was very close. This will definitely be a brat staple.

One word

Awesome

Lunch today

Salad with Whole Foods mock chicken salad on the side.

Dinner is served

I made sesame noodles with broccoli and Gardein mandarin chicken. I prepared the sesame sauce using a sesame noodles recipe on Allrecipes.com and I prepared the "chicken" while the noodles were cooking.
Bon appetit!

Sesame noodles
1 (16 ounce) package linguine pasta
6 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons safflower oil
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
6 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons chili sauce
6 green onions, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
Directions

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a serving bowl.
Meanwhile, place a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, sugar, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves. Pour sauce over linguine, and toss to coat. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.

Mock chicken:
Fry both sides of the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side. After both sides are cooked, add the sauce from the Gardein packet.

Brocolli:
Steam bag broccoli in microwave. Once the broccoli is done, add sea salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.

Coat noodes with sauce, add in broccoli and mock chicken. Toss and serve!

New sandwich bread my ma bought for me

And I love it!!!
Arnold Sandwich thins 100% whole wheat. All I did was put some lettuce, a couple of slices of tomato, red onion, sharp cheddar and a little ranch and was good to go. A little celery and hummus on the side :)

Dinner

Brown rice, buffalo chickenless wings, and sautéed kale. For the kale, I put a little olive oil in a pan and added minced garlic. I then placed the kale in the pan with about 1/4 a cup of vegetable broth and a few squirts of Bragg's liquid aminos.

Adventures in Mock Meats Vol 3

So I decided to try Trader Joe's chickenless nuggets. They look like chicken nuggets and have a similar consistency but have no seasoning AT ALL. They weren't awful but they definitely were bland. I'm not sure if they can really be doctored up since they're already breaded but they need a lot more than some dipping sauce. Will likely not re-purchase.

Adventures in Mock Meats Vol 2

Which is better? IMO, the Morning Star crumbles are much better. I've done two lasagnas within the past month. One with the Yves crumbles and the other with Morning Star crumbles. To me, the Morning star had a better taste and tasted more like actual ground beef than the Yves. The Yves had a weird aftertaste to me, I'm not sure why. So now I know to stick with MorningStar crumbles. Their mock sausage crumbles are very good as well but are much harder to find. They carried them at the Publix near my old home but that's the only place I've ever seen them. Maybe I should call their corporate office :)

Dinnertime!

I load my salads down! That's with everything except meat of course lol!

Lunch

Spaghetti with "meat"balls: "Meat" balls are Veggie Patch meatless meatballs.
Salad with Trader Joes Vinaigrette
Sweet cherries from Whole Foods
Izze Apple drink

Adventures in Mock Meats Vol 1

So, I saw a recipe using Gardein's Chick'n scallopini online and decided to try them out.


I didn't use the online recipe because frankly too many ingredients were involved and I am being lazy this Sunday. I just wanted to do a simple sauteed "chicken". I unthawed one fillet (4 come in a bag) and added a little onion powder, garlic, pepper, and basil. The fillet's come lightly seasoned but I am well aware that one person's classification of seasoned can be bland to another, so I didn't leave the seasoning up to chance. I added a little olive oil to a pan and sauteed the breast for about 3 minutes on each side. When I say fab, I mean it. I was so pleasantly surprised with the likeness that the scallopini had to actual chicken. The consistency was a little softer but it was very close to that of real chicken. I sauteed it enough to get just a little browning and I think that really added to the flavor. Overall, I give the product a thumbs up and will likely saute another one to take to work for lunch. I didn't want to cook more than one just in case I didn't like it, but fortunately I loved it!

Uncooked


Cooked


Texture shot


Meal

Meatless meatballs

Typically, I'm not a fan of fake meat. The ones I've tried thus far have left much to be desired. So, I had low expectations. The low expectations were replaced with excitement once I tasted my first bite. These meatballs are an EXCELLENT substitute and taste very close to actual meatballs. These are also natural and aren't filled with artificial fillers that many meat substitutes have, which is very important to me. I just baked a few in the oven to get a feel for the taste before I actually used them in a recipe. I will likely make a stroganoff pasta with these. Stay tuned...