Soy Not?!

As many of you know, the price of meat and dairy has gone up quite a bit.  I had sticker shock last month when I went to the store to buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts and it was seven dollars.  I thought, “Man, are the breasts going to cook themselves?”.

So, I thought I’d get creative and try a substitute for hamburger, since my daughter loves spaghetti, pizza, sloppy joes, tacos, and Hamburger Helper.  I bought soy crumbles.  Over the next couple of weeks I conducted a science experiment on my child.  Would she notice the difference?

Week one began with spaghetti,  I cooked the crumbles in a little olive oil and spiced them with salt, pepper, garlic, and fennel seeds.  The result?  It tasted like sausage and I successfully fooled her.  I also got away with it as a pizza topping.  Of course, I’m sure it didn’t hurt the pizza was loaded with pepperoni.

Next were the sloppy joes and tacos.  Both were also successes, due to the sauces and seasonings. This was so exciting…I was tricking her and saving money!  I’m a brilliant Mama.  I was, that is, until the Hamburger Helper.

Clearly, the name does imply you have to help that specific meat.  I used the soy crumbles and she could sense the difference immediately.  “Mama, why does the cheesy macaroni taste different?”.  I tried to blame it on “a new formula” and “maybe I didn’t use all the seasoning” but to no avail.

I’ve concluded that using soy crumbles is like drowning your vegetables in ranch dressing.  If you put enough crap on it, it’s bound to taste good.  Will I continue to use it?  Yes.  Do I believe there will be a Soy Helper on the store shelves anytime soon?  Hell no.