Advances in Veggie Science

When I first began my vegetarian journey back in high school there were very few veggie options out there.  You could have a Boca burger, a Boca burger on a salad, a Boca burger on pasta, etc.  I’m still amazed to this day how many meat alternatives are available at pretty much every grocery store.  These days it is incredibly easy to make a solid vegetarian/vegan meal that even the most devoted and adamant carnivore can enjoy.

One product I’m super excited about are these Beyond Meat Sausages.  We’ve only tried the Hot Italian version of these but they offer a few other types of sausage and I’m going to assume they are excellent as well.  These sausages are a little pricy (usually around $8 a pack) but I have found they are often on sale, especially at Whole Foods.  They can be grilled and served on a bun with peppers and onions, sliced and simmered in a red sauce to be topped on pasta, the list really goes on.  My brother came over for dinner the other night and I served these with pasta.  That night was a bit of an adventure since we had to run out with the baby and head to the ER (he had croup, he’s fine) and my brother ended up sleeping on Soy Bean’s floor (it was quite a night!).  Had that night not have so…hectic…I would have asked for his solid opinion.  We’re just going to say he loved it.

Another new product we’ve tried recently is Miyoko’s Fresh Vegan Mozz.  I’ve tried Miyoko’s cream cheese before and throughly enjoyed it so I thought I would give this cheese a try.  I was actually looking for Daiya cheese but I couldn’t find it, I’m glad I tried this!

If you’re used to working with Daiya cheese, the Miyoko’s cheese is a very different texture.  I actually grabbed my cheese grater before I opened this but then I realized how soft this cheese was and it could be pulled apart.  I used the whole package to make two pizzas and spread them out in little mozzarella balls.  It looked super authentic in my opinion.  Once it cooked it had a nice bubbling appearance to the cheese.  If you don’t like nuts I wouldn’t recommend this cheese, but luckily we are big fans of the cashew in our house. The second ingredient in this cheese is soaked cashews.  While it had a slightly nutty taste to the cheese it wasn’t overwhelming.  This is the unofficial best pizza I’ve ever made.