I know I got *massively* behind on blogging...the holidays, eating healthy and working hard will do that to you!
I'd like to offer some advice on "exotic" fake meats, per my palate.
First off, I probably should let you know that I bring Light Life bologna to work for lunch almost every day. Light Life is my friend.
Secondly, I ordered several products off Veganessentials.com to try and they came in evenly down the line.
We'll start with the bad:
I did not want Field Roast deli slices to be vile, sinc
e Field Roast tends to strike me as a little healthier (I can pronounce and understand what all ingredients are). Unfortunately, they are VILE. I ordered the Lentil Sage and Smoked Tomato flavors.I really wanted to like these but they were inedible. You don't have to take my word for it, but they're pretty pricey, and you'll be happier just making a hummus sandwich. I know I was.
However, there is a company out there that's worth its price tag. That company is Viana's Holzfaller Farms. The products are supposed to look like the image to the right, but they actually look more like large tear drops. Having been a vegan for a while, amorphous, unidentifiable fake meats don't really scare me. I ordered the cowgirl steaks and the chicken fillets.
The steaks are really good, solid seitan. They taste a lot like Field Roast celebration roast, but less salty and without the somewhat peculiar filling. They work very well with greens and mashed potat
oes. More than the steaks though, I found the chicken fillets to be worthwhile. The breadding is light (I definitely reccommend baking, not microwaving or pan frying) and the flavor of the meat is also mild. This made it excellent both on its own and used in a dish. I'm very big on garlicky greens at the moment (thanks to my CSA) so I made a little Chicken Parmasean with Collards. It's pictured at right. I just used some of Mom's Brand Spaghetti Sauce and leftover Mozarella Tease, put it in a dish and baked on 350 for about 20 minutes. Picture of it at left. I ate that all up and it was delicious. More to come, soon!
3 comments:
I love the Viana stuff but it's pretty hard to come by here. The gyros that they do are a bit too salty for my liking but the steak was awesome!
I've yet to find the chicken fillets though, I wish I could!
Aw Becks--
Since you're in the UK I don't know how much help I can be. I had to order my stuff off veganessentials, but since I love them, it's worth it to buy them in the winter for me. Do keep an eye out for the chicken-- it's very different from the steak, and in a way, more pleasant (probably because it's less outright salty). I know they have them in Germany, because I'm pretty sure I used to eat them at yellow sunshine. =)
i was so close to buying the field roast slices yesterday - glad i didn't!
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