My Food on Fridays - May 8th - TVP Cooking

Can we say things like- "whoa mom, have you lost it?" or "I want my momma back!" Or even "what were you thinking?" These are the words I hear or are mumbled around my house when I start that thinking thing. Remember I told you it was dangerous when I think.

So it all started with ideas from you, fellow Bloggers, but there is no blame being cast, only thanks! I love to get ideas and share ideas. So I thank you for giving me ideas.

Now as to why those infamous sentences were being produced in my home again! It all began when I went shopping and found ground pork at a ridiculous price and I bought some. I also picked up some ground turkey for under a dollar a pound, which I hope is a good price, but I know it is much less than hamburger- even the fatty stuff. I brought it home and stuck it in the fridge.

Then went Surfing on the Internet. I wasn't looking for anything special, just a quick surf. I started seeing TVP- textured vegetable protein everywhere I went. So I had this radical idea to pull out some of our food storage and save a little 'beef' money. Hubby got me a can of the tvp beef granules and I went to work.

I rehydrated the tvp. Easy Peasy. Then I browned the ground pork and turkey and at the end I threw in the now moist tvp. They mixed together and I added a bit of Itailian seasoning and let the water cook off from the mix. It was a huge pan full- about 4-5 pounds worth. When it was done, I cooled it a bit and put it in a big bowl in the fridge.

At dinnertime, we mixed BBQ sauce in with some of the meat and heated it up. We had Bbq Joes- of what Angel didn't like the sauce, said the meat was fine. Pilot loved the Q sauce, but then he puts Q on everything!! I am not joking. He can drink it like soda pop!!! So next time I will make my own sauce like I usually do, then I believe Angel will be happy. I thought the sandwiches were fine, I like my sauce better too, but it was fine.

Too bad Hubby wasn't home to try it. When Pilot told him we were having BBQ Joes, he said, "Oh, I like those." Well maybe next time. (He's in Colorado for work, will be home soon.)

The meat mixture is good by the spoonfuls out of the fridge, cold even! So for lunch today, I took a hamburger bun and put some ketchup and mustard and sliced pickles on it. Then I spooned some cold meat on top and had a mock hamburger. It was tasty. Pilot just added Q sauce to his, warmed it up and put it on a bun. We were both happy. (Hubby is still gone. Angel was at a birthday party.)

So tonight I have just made meatballs. Yes, I know you typically make meatballs with raw meat, but I didn't have raw- I had cooked! So I mixed some of my meat mixture, an egg, breadcrumbs (from my Buttermilk Bread), sour cream (from my half & half pint I made), and some more Italian seasoning. I balled them up and cooked them in the frying pan because I wanted to use them for dinner and it was faster in the frying pan than the oven. (This is the leftovers that I saved to snack on while I was making dinner.)

So now dinner is almost done. It is a pizza pie, they call it something else, but pie works for me. A new recipe from Fleishmans Yeast. You mix it in one pan and put it in the oven cold and it rises as the temperature heats up the oven. It is almost done and it looks awesome. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

It was good. Pilot says he loved it. I thought it was good too. I will make it again, but a little different next time, like not using quite as much dough. I did make it a bit different from the recipe because I did not have any Rapid Rise Yeast. So I pre-rose the dough a bit and did not start from a cold oven.


I still have a bit of meat mixture left and will be coming up with ideas for that. Actally it will be topping for pizza, added to spaghetti sauce and I am sure Pilot will keep making his Q sandwiches.

Then I will make more and maybe up the tvp. I want to gradually add the tvp to our diets. I don't know if we would have gastro problems (yes, such as gas) or not. But a gradual build up is a good idea. I think I will try using tvp alone in tacos one night just for the experience. If it goes well, I might make some changes to my future food planning. But for now, I like the idea of mixing it with pork and turkey, or just turkey if pork doesn't stay reasonable. But in the case of necessity, I am willing to go all tvp and all food storage any time.

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