I was recently introduced to Beyond Meat – which is a soy-free, gluten-free beef-free crumble. The crumble comes in two varieties: Beefy & Feisty – I purchased the Feisty.
I decided to try it out on the hubby and see if he would notice that it wasn’t beef. This was not going to be easy – he’s a meat & potatoes kinda guy. So I decided to create a meat & potatoes casserole just for him!
First thing you do is saute the crumbles – I just put a little vegetable oil in my pan and heated it through (from frozen). It cooked up quickly – I tried a bite and yes – I could tell – it has a grain texture – but it wasn’t too bad. For hubby though – he wasn’t tasting yet!
I love love love mushrooms – so I grabbed a can and threw them in as well – and heated them through.
Now if you’re wondering what Beyond Meat is – I’ve got the answer – but it’s more than the ingredients. They wanted to perfectly replace animal protein with plant protein, as well as improve human health, positively impact climate change, conserve natural resources and respect animal welfare.
But with the actual crumbles – firs they took a look at meat. What is meat? It’s amino acids, fats, carbs, minerals and water. Beyond Meat take these inputs from plants and then – through cooking techniques – they combine together like animal protein.
Next up – I added ketchup, Worcestershire, salt & pepper – be sure to TASTE as your cooking. You’re going to know if it needs something or if you like it as is. I ended up adding a bit of garlic powder as well. The ketchup and Worcestershire almost make a barbecue sauce flavor. Once that is cooked through – then spread it into a glass 8×8 baking dish. (Oven preheated to 375.)
I mixed the cheese with hashbrowns (from the refrigerated section) and melted butter – then laid them on top of the Beyond Meat mixture.
After 40 minutes in the oven (at 375) – the hashbrowns were getting crispy and the bbq sauce was bubbling! I was looking forward to digging in!
As I yelled for Larry to come up for dinner – I quickly hid the packaging. #hidetheevidence 🙂 I wanted him to try it without knowing…
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