What are some mock-vegetarian foods that are just as good or better than their meat counterparts.

I am not a vegetarian, but I like vegetarian sausage. Some vegetarian sausage patties are amazingly like their meat counterparts, plus I would much rather eat little bits of tofu than little bits of whatever weird animal parts they put in sausages.

I use Quorn mince a lot, it doesn't have any specific meat flavour (its probably closest to beef) but it does taste very good and meaty none the less.
I like using it because;
a. It takes hardly any time to cook at all, even from frozen, it takes 5 or less minutes to cook in a hot pan with some oil.
b. Its high in protein but has pretty much no fat, so although it is very filling, you don't have to worry about your weight when you eat it. Protein is also a natural hunger supressant so if you are trying to lose weight or just want to cut down on the fat in your diet, its a healthy and good food to eat.
c. Its cheap- you can get a lot of mince out of a single bag.
d. It lasts forever if you freeze it.
e. You can use it in so many dishes- so far i have used it in cottage/shepards pie, pasta and mince, spagetta bolignase (sp?) on toast and in burito's and taco's- the posibilities are endless.
f. Its easy to flavour.
g. You don't have to worry about things like food poisening from undercooking it like you do with meat.


The only thing i would say that is bad with it is that its quite dry as it does not have any animal fats in it to give it any moisture- so you need to add a little water or sauce while you are cooking it to give it some moisture and bulk it out a bit.

My recipe for a great quorn mince is;

1 bag of quorn mince
4-6 diced tomatoes
4-5 thinly sliced spring onions
5 table spoons of tomato pasta sauce (any tomato based pasta sauce is great, from tomato and basil to roasted vegetables or mushrooms or peppers etc)
3 table spoons of soy sauce
1 table spoon of worstershire sauce
1-2 table table spoons of olive or sunflower oil
a dash of water
2 large crushed and chopped cloves of garlic
salt, pepper or mixed spice to taste


1. Heat oil and garlic in pan until they start to fry- add bag of mince.
2. Stir mince a lot and add the worstershire, soy sauce and pasta sauce and a dash of water and continue to fry for a couple more minutes until whole mixture is hot and sizzling.
3. Add tomato, spring onion, salt and spices and continue to cook for around two minutes more.
4. Serve and enjoy- you can either add the mince to other recipe's like pasta or burito's or just eat it on its own etc .


Although i am not a vegetarian, i eat this mince a lot due to the reasons stated above, its also good because my fiance is a vegetarian but he thoroughly enoys the mince and so do i, so its good that we can have the same sort of meals together and enjoy them .

Edit: picture of quorn mince if you are interested to know;

www.quorn.co.uk...

Their main website;

www.quorn.com...




[edit on 8-1-2007 by Tokis Phoenix]

I like Yves' soy products. Their veggie ground round is really nice, tastes good (comes in Mexican, Italian & Plain flavors) and filling. In Canada there's also a "President's Choice" brand of soy protein crumbles, which is also good.

Yves veggie burgers are awesome, as are tempeh patties.

And it's not mock, but you can't forget portobellos!!!!
mmmmmmmm

I pick up stuff from Morningstar Farms quite often, readily available at the grocery stores I frequent. I agree about the veggie sausage patties, and wish to add they are wonderful chopped up and sauteed with some peppers and onions and wrapped up in an omlette.

Morningstar Farms also has these buffalo chicken nuggets that are quite good, and genuinely have a little heat to them; usually I'm bitterly disappointed by things labeled 'spicy' but those are pretty decent.

Veggie Burgers are Yummy
I also make pizzas using veggie pepperoni and mushrooms.

Originally posted by Digitalis_Purpurea
Morningstar Farms also has these buffalo chicken nuggets that are quite good, and genuinely have a little heat to them; usually I'm bitterly disappointed by things labeled 'spicy' but those are pretty decent.

I was looking at those in the grocery store last night, but I opted for the broccoli cheddar bites, which I've heard are really good. have you tried them?
I haven't tried them yet, but they do look good. will probably try them later tonight or tomorrow for lunch; will update here when i do!

Yves also has this "veggie cajun chicken" deli slices, which are really, really tasty. they're also fairly low calorie, 4 slices are 100 calories, and they've got 23 % more protein than roast chicken. they do have a bit of fire to them, which I like, and they go nice on some whole wheat with cheese. yum!

Morningstar Farms parmesan ranch chicken patties. Yummy. I make a sandwich with the patty, a slice of onion, and a slice of lowfat pepperjack cheese.

There are NO mock veg foods that are just as good or better than their meat counterparts.

IMHO.

Originally posted by parrhesia

Originally posted by Digitalis_Purpurea
Morningstar Farms also has these buffalo chicken nuggets that are quite good, and genuinely have a little heat to them; usually I'm bitterly disappointed by things labeled 'spicy' but those are pretty decent.

I was looking at those in the grocery store last night, but I opted for the broccoli cheddar bites, which I've heard are really good. have you tried them?
I haven't tried them yet, but they do look good. will probably try them later tonight or tomorrow for lunch; will update here when i do!

No, haven't tried those actually, how were they?

And . . .

Originally posted by Questor
There are NO mock veg foods that are just as good or better than their meat counterparts.

IMHO.

Ahhh you just haven't had the right stuff

No, haven't tried those actually, how were they?

I actually just got around to trying them tonight, and the verdict?

They are heavenly!
They taste nice and fresh... the cheese isn't processed, the brocolli is tender crisp and they are full of flavor. I loved them!

I made a mistake though, they are actually made by Veggie Patch. I thought Morningstar Farms because of the buffalo chicken ones.

Anyway, try them if you can find them!

Boca-Burger.
Gardenburger.

They don't taste like their counterparts, but they're good. Ground Boca Burger in Spaghetti sauce is really good.