Veggie Ground Round Options

When I first turned vegetarian, I hit up the vegetarian section of my local grocery store. It was full of veggie dogs, tofu, veggie sandwich meats, and even veggie ground round. I bought a lot of the vegetarian products and really enjoyed them.

The vegetarian ground round was very flavourful, and I even tricked my dad into thinking it was real meat in his spaghetti sauce. The only downfall to this product is the price; it’s about $4-$5 for a 340g package. At that price, I really did feel like I was getting ripped off, but I never realized how much I was getting ripped off until I discovered how inexpensive Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) is.



Veggie ground round is essentially TVP with just some added flavours. So why not buy the inexpensive product and add your own flavour?

HOW TO COOK TVP:

1.     Add equal parts boiling water to TVP

2.   Let sit for about 5 minutes (until it becomes fully hydrated)

Wow, that was easy.

Now it’s time to add your flavour. Here are some of my favourites.

For tacos:

You can buy packs of taco seasoning, or simply add some chili powder, paprika, and salt.

Veggie Burgers:

To make veggie burgers, I usually add some mashed up beans to help the whole burger stick together better. For flavour, I typically open my fridge and add all that seems good. A little bit of ketchup, some bbq sauce, garlic, chili powder- pretty much anything goes.

Shepherd’s pie:

Fry up some onions in a large frying pan, add your cooked TVP. You can add a can of mushroom gravy. Put in some rosemary and/or other herbs. Toss in some frozen corn. Let the flavours blend together, then put it all in an oven safe tin, add your (garlic) mashed potatoes on top and bake on low for a half hour or so, then ENJOY!

These are just a couple of examples. TVP is such a versatile product that’s great to always have in the cupboard.

Also, take a look at the nutritional facts:



Happy cooking!