[lizababe]

Nelie, thank you for those links! I've got "pepperoni" on the steamer right now (It's a hit with my daughter) and will probably use the ones from you this weekend. Her carnivore friend is visiting us for the weekend and happily eats whatever I cook so I like to throw out new things each visit.

It's nice to have the video on those links so I know I'm doing it right

[sunflowergirl68]

Originally Posted by lizababe

Nelie, thank you for those links! I've got "pepperoni" on the steamer right now (It's a hit with my daughter) and will probably use the ones from you this weekend. Her carnivore friend is visiting us for the weekend and happily eats whatever I cook so I like to throw out new things each visit.

It's nice to have the video on those links so I know I'm doing it right

You know what's really good? Tofurkey italian sausage. I still use it when i make pasta. It's very tasty and is mixed with tomatoes and garlic. It's pricey but worth it.

[lizababe]

Originally Posted by sunflowergirl68

You know what's really good? Tofurkey italian sausage. I still use it when i make pasta. It's very tasty and is mixed with tomatoes and garlic. It's pricey but worth it.

I've tried that one and I do like it better than the Boca sausages. They are good but yes, pricey. I realized I was spending as much on the faux meats as the real ones. I'm hoping to cut the grocery bill down as one of the perks with the dietary change.

I was actually surprised at how easy and quick it is to make my own sausages. This actually tastes better to me than the pre-made ones! Took about 2 minutes to mix everything together into seitan, roll it in foil and plunk it in the steamer. 45 minutes in the steamer and then it was ready to eat. I took the dog for a run and dinner was done.

[lizababe]

I'm so stuffed... and I can't believe how awesome that recipe is!

[nelie]

Originally Posted by sunflowergirl68

You know what's really good? Tofurkey italian sausage. I still use it when i make pasta. It's very tasty and is mixed with tomatoes and garlic. It's pricey but worth it.

My favorite are the lightlife ones although I will say that making your own is pretty quick and fairly cheap! The Everydaydish.tv italian sausages are really yummy and very easy.

[lizababe]

Originally Posted by nelie

My favorite are the lightlife ones although I will say that making your own is pretty quick and fairly cheap! The Everydaydish.tv italian sausages are really yummy and very easy.

I can't believe how easy making seitan is! The only complicated thing for me was finding vital wheat gluten. I searched 3 grocery stores including Whole Foods and couldn't find it. I finally ordered it through a seller on amazon. I got 3.5 lbs for $13 including shipping. 3.5 lbs will make A LOT of meals for us so it really is cheap.

It really fills you up too. That was only a 6 inch pizza and I was stuffed after one slice of it. Of course I had nibbled on the pepperoni a little before making it too

[ringmaster]

Originally Posted by nelie

Unfortunately a lot of meat goes to waste in its production. I was just reading how unsold meat gets burned for energy and it isn't a small number. Also, dairy and egg production also contributes to animal deaths. Factory dairy cows have a fairly short lifespan and then they are sold for meat.

nelie, that's been a question on my mind for awhile "what happens to all the meat that doesn't get bought?" When walking past the meat in the grocery stores I always think it looks so gross, seeing the legs of lambs and other bits and parts of animals, and I think "wow, that's alot, and then there has to be more in each grocery store that's around in this area"...and then I think it's sad, how much of it really gets bought by it's expiration date? Animals just live a horrible life, get killed and die and most not even eaten, just thrown away. Maybe I'm over thinking...

[sunflowergirl68]

Grocery stores usually put it on sale and it gets bought up pretty good.

But it's like other expired food... I think they just throw it away. Which is bad. That's something I'm really trying to avoid, throwing away food.

[sunflowergirl68]

btw, lizababe, that pizza looks delicious. too bad i'm on an anti-pizza mission or i'd totally eat that :-(

[lizababe]

Anti-pizza mission is a good thing. Those are actually very small pizzas and I made it with a whole wheat crust but still. If I have one slice of regular pizza, I see 5 lbs on the scale the next day. I retain water like a sham wow.

[sunflowergirl68]

Ditto to everything you just said. I hate it!

[nelie]

Originally Posted by sunflowergirl68

Grocery stores usually put it on sale and it gets bought up pretty good.

But it's like other expired food... I think they just throw it away. Which is bad. That's something I'm really trying to avoid, throwing away food.

I can't find the article but I was reading something from the LA times talking about how many tons of meat gets burned every day because it isn't used. It is quite astonishing.

As for pizza, I love pizza but I generally like cheeseless pizzas. There is a good cheese substitute on the market but I rather just go without. Less calories, more flavor.

[BerkshireGrl]

Originally Posted by bacilli

...I find it difficult to believe that the ground beef in the grocery today all came from one cow, thus the 2 packages purchased today are more realistically from 2 different animals.

I know this is an old thread, but I just watched "Food, Inc." last night, and one of the astonishing facts presented in it is that 1 hamburger patty may contain meat from up to 400 cows. Wow.

Also, if anyone hasn't seen it, it's an amazing movie that reveals what a heavily monopolized (and weakly overseen) market the US has for food production.