Tuesday, November 13, 2007

VeganMoFo: Faux Meatball Review

Sunday night, I decided to FINALLY try Trader Joe's faux meatballs. As mentioned previously, I hate onions (and anything that tastes like an onion, which includes leeks, shallots, scallions, and chives...did I leave anything out?). I'm sure you're thinking that I can't possibly hate onions so much that their mere presence in a faux meatball would stop me from trying said meatball, but you'd be wrong.* Onions are very low on the ingredients list and, yet, I still avoided the faux meatballs due to the onion factor. In honor of VeganMoFo, I decided to give them a shot. I cooked up a batch of my favorite pizza/marinara sauce, which is the one that accompanies the Pita Pizza recipe in Foods That Cause You to Lose Weight and baked up a serving size of faux meatballs. They were good as long as they were drenched in sauce. Otherwise, they were just ok. I don't think I'd buy them again, but it was a good experiment. :)

P.S. Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan and The Joy of Vegan Baking arrived yesterday!

*Let the record show that I will pick onions out of anything...pasta sauce, soup, rice dishes, ANYTHING...and I won't begin eating until I've successfully rid my food of the offending veggie. If I'm ordering off a menu and the chef isn't able to leave the onions out, I won't order that dish. It's true; I'm hard core on the onion issue.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is pretty hardcore. I agree with your meatball assessment, but they are one of our convenience food standbys none the less. Good texture. Okay flavor.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

no, no, no - you NEED to try the Nate's brand of meatless "meatballs" - they're FAR superior!!

you can read about 'em here: http://elenasfoods.com/meatballs.html

Shananigans said...

I like them ok in sub sandwiches and with pasta, not the best things ever.

Wow, that is some hardcore onion hate. I thought I hated pickles (and I do) but Mesquite Lime flavor Primal Strips contains diced pickles and I like those. They are the only exception I have ever found to my "no pickles" rule.

Veggie Cookster said...

The sauce I like to use for "meat" balls is a mixture of grape jelly and chili sauce.... mmm, mmm, good! :)

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I'm glad to know I'm not missing much (we don't have a Trader Joe's around here, so I've never bought those "meat"balls).

I looove onions haha. I'll gladly go out to eat with you and take all your onions!

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Trina: You're right, the texture of the "meat"balls is very good.

VeggieGirl: Maybe, but Nate's contain onions, too!

Shananigans: I totally agree that they're ok, but not the best things ever.

Veggie Cookster: That sounds like a fun sweet & spicy sauce!

ChocolateCoveredVegan: You can have 'em!

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

That is a sizable sacrifice for VeganMoFo trying the meatball with onion! I admire that. I'm the same way with mushrooms.

Anonymous said...

Down with onions! When I am president I shall make them illegal...

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

Vicki: Thank you for the admiration...it was a very big deal. I will be supportive the next time you try something containing mushrooms. :)

Foodeater: I KNEW you'd understand! My fellow vegan in onion hate. Are you only aiming for President, though? I was thinking you'd make a good Empress of the World.

Anonymous said...

I don't dislike any particular food (meat, dairy, and eggs aside) so I don't really understand it when people complain about onions or mushrooms or anything else like that. I will agree that there are combinations of food that don't work and recipes that turn out disgusting (like this carrot/orange juice soup I made one time).

As a hostess, however, I am always sensitive to people's dislikes and try to do my best to accomodate.