howdy

i hope someone can help me out, i found a recipe on this site for hot cereal and one of the ingredients is "TVP" i haven't got a clue what that could be! i am sooo excited about a P1 friendly cereal-ersatz and now i can't use it ;(
thx!

Textured Vegetable Protein. It's made from soy and is usually found in vegetarian products, often in meat replacements. I'm not familiar with tvp cereals. What brand is it?

TVP is texturized vegetable protein. It comes in the form of dry granules that you rehydrate by adding water and letting it sit for 10 minutes or so. It doesn't have much flavor (maybe a mild nuttiness) but it adds protein and texture to recipes. I use it mostly in chili and spaghetti sauce but I can imagine it being really good in a breakfast dish. In fact, can you post that recipe?

You can find it in natural food stores or in the organic section of regular groceries, usually packaged (like Bob's Red Mill brand), sometimes in bulk. Enjoy!

I buy this stuff at healthfood stores and let it soak in water for a few hours. If the recipe is spicy no need for flavouring, TVP tastes of nothing, but in other cases you may want to add chilli powder or herbs. It's very cheap and low cal and high protein. Recommend the stuff for replacing meat in stuff like bolognaise sauce.

thanks so much for the prompt replies ) can't wait to try this one!

here's the recipe as posted by pearshaped:
P1 Hot Cereal
This is yummy and has sort of an oatmeal feel and consistency from the TVP. You can get TVP in health food stores or in larger grocery stores.

1/4 C TVP
1 whole egg, one egg white (or 2 eggs if you prefer)
1/4 C lf ricotta
2 T flax seeds
1/4 + 1 T water
1 T sf caramel syrup
vanilla, cinnamon, splenda to taste

Scramble egg and eggwhite together. Add all other ingredients. Mix very well. Microwave 2 min, stir, mocrowave another 2-3 min. Stir and enjoy. You can also add other sf flavored syrups for variety. One serving. Approx. 260 calories.
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Thanks Janda, that looks yummy!

Yep, they have to be talking about dry, unflavored granules. They look sort of like grapenuts cereal or beige gravel. I usually add a cup (dry) for every lb of ground beef, browning it with garlic powder, onion and celery (I usually use 2 cups of tvp and 2 lbs of beef). Then when the meat is about half browned, I start adding in a cup of hot water or broth. I put the mixture in a freezer bag and keep smushing the bag every 15 minutes or so as it freezes, so that it freezes in little pieces, so I can measure out what I need for recipes like chili, spaghetti sauce, tacos, barbecue....

In our area, bulk tvp is about $2.25 a pound, and one pound of dry tvp is equivalent to about 3 lbs of ground beef. My husband doesn't like it plain (I don't mind it), so I developed the ground meat stretcher technique. Now he actually reminds me when we run out.

Make sure you get the plain tvp though, as it also comes in flavors and shapes (big chunks to simulate chicken and fajita strips that look like bits of jerky). If they only have the chunks and they're unflavored, you can put them in a food processor and chop them into granules or flakes.

A month ago I bought The TVP Cookbook from amazon. Iit's old, but still in print, though I bought a used copy for $1 (plus $4 shipping). It's a great book. Some of the recipes are South Beach and low carb compatible, some would be with some tweaking.

Thanks for that tip. The TVP I have looks like ground beef or ground turkey & I just didn't think that would make a great breakfast cereal! I'll check to see if my natural foods store has the plain variety.