Pesto Burgers with Sanitarium Nutmeat

I grew up hating nuts for some reason even though the rest of my family loved them. I didn’t like them in my cookies, brownies, salads, or any other edible dish for that matter. I suppose it was peanuts and pistachios that really started warming me up to the nut family (and yes I know, peanuts are legumes and tomatoes are fruits and blueberries aren’t berries, who cares). Try as I might, I could not resist the deliciousness of honey roasted peanuts and let’s be honest, watching a movie with a bowl full of pistachios is just a plain ol’ good time. Over time, nuts in general just grew on me. And when I started trying to lose weight before the wedding last spring, they became a pretty key component to my diet.

Nuts are awesome. They should be a part of everyone’s diet, but especially vegetarians. They’re one of the best sources of plant protein, not to mention the fact that they’re full of fiber, unsaturated (read good) fat and even antioxidants. This is probably why someone somewhere got the idea to make veggie meat out of them.

Most of the meat substitutes I buy are made from soy, but the last time I was at the Adventist Book Center (my favorite veggie food emporium), I noticed a nut based veggie meat called Nutmeat, which I had never tried. Not only was the product new to me, the brand was as well.

Sanitarium is an Australian vegetarian and health food company that’s apparently been around for over 100 years. Their most popular items are the Aussie staples Weet-bix and Marmite. Sanitarium has several canned products, but Nutmeat appears to be one of the healthiest with almost 20 grams of protein per serving, as well as some iron, potassium and fiber. It’s also low in carbs and calories and has no cholesterol to speak of. On the other hand, it has more fat than I’m used to in a meat substitute (8.5 grams per serving), and plenty of sodium (310 mg). The serving size isn’t very big either. Eighty-five grams come out to about a ¾ inch slice. It’s worth noting though that there are only five ingredients: water, wheat gluten, peanuts, onions and salt. That’s considerably more natural than your average veggie meat.

Nutmeat pretty much tastes like nuts, but the flavor is sort of earthy as well. It definitely needs some assistance and luckily, it’s mild enough that the peanuttiness won’t really conflict with whatever you decide to add to it. I liked the idea of grinding it up and making burgers, but I really wanted to try something new as well. The jar of pesto languishing in my fridge gave me all the inspiration I needed.

Pesto Burgers with Sanitarium Nutmeat
Serves 6

1 can Sanitarium Nutmeat, ground
1 large tomato, diced
1 Tbls olive oil
½ medium onion, chopped
1 c pesto
1 – 1½ c Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
Olive oil


Saute onions in olive oil over medium heat in until tender.

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix well.


Cover the bottom of a frying pan with additional oil and heat on medium. When oil is hot, use an ice cream scooper to place balls of burger mixture into hot pan. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Lightly press down on burgers with spatula to flatten bit, then flip and cook covered for an additional 5 minutes or until both sides are golden and burger is cooked through.

Tips: If the burgers seem to be falling apart, don’t panic. You could always mix in another egg or just turn the temperature down a bit and cook them longer. It will feel like they’re taking forever, but you must fight the urge to turn the heat up and cook them faster! This will make both sides dark, and will leave the middle uncooked and sloppy. Also, the only thing standing between you and a vegan version of this burger is an egg replacer and a vegan pesto. I used a regular store bought pesto (which has some parmesan) for half the batch, but in the other batch I used Paulette’s vegan pesto. She leaves out the cheese AND the pine nuts (just because she doesn’t like them). It’s super flavorful alternative. Pesto is very forgiving, so you can start with a basic recipe and tweak it anyway you like. Or just buy it…

New URL

Hey friends! Since I'm sure you've been telling everyone you've ever met about my blog, I thought it would be appropriate to let you know that I've changed my URL to match the new blog name. I had hesitated to do this due to an apparently unwarranted fear of losing all my followers (that sounds sacrilegious). I got over it tonight. Anyhow, the URL is now meatyish.blogspot.com. Quick, go tell your friends.

BBQ Chicken with Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik'n Strips

I love getting meat eaters to try veggie meat for the first time. It’s always funny to see their reactions, but truth be told, I’d rather a veggie meat virgin try their first meat substitute in my home since I know how to cook it and I can mentally prepare them for what’s coming. Often, a big issue people have with veggie meat is the texture. It’s squishy or mushy, not at all what real chicken, beef, pork, etc tastes like. This was especially true in the early years of vegetarian meat products, but more recently many replacements have come a lot closer texturally to the real thing.

One of the best, in my opinion, is the Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik’n Strips. They’re quite a bit firmer than other chicken imitations, and they actually have that sinewy consistency. Although I think they’re a bit bland to serve plain, they’re great fried and thrown into a salad or smothered in a tasty sauce, like BBQ sauce for example.

If you’ve never tried Chik’n Strips, it won’t take long to figure out why I love them. Morningstar Farms introduced this chicken analog at the 2006 Natural Foods Expo Anaheim, California (thank you Frozen Food Age). It was chosen as the Best New Veggie Food. Now you’ll just have to try them, won’t you?

Nutritionally, I give Chik’n Strips a B. The serving size of “12 Average Strips” is pretty generous, plenty to top a salad or balance out a baked potato. They’re low in fat (3.5 grams, zero trans) and have only 130 calories and 6 grams of carbohydrates. They’re also packed with protein (23 grams) and have almost a third of your daily value of Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Iron and Zinc. The one and only problem I have with them is the sodium. 510 milligrams! It’s enough to keep me from eating an entire serving. It would help if the strips didn’t come pre-seasoned, which they do, especially since I usually like to add some additional seasoning.

Chik’n Strips also work great with a marinade or sauce. I used them with my favorite BBQ sauce recipe last week. The strips soaked up a lot of flavor and really hit the spot paired with some boiled red potatoes and a fresh salad. If you try this and happen to have some left over (I sure didn’t, but you never know), they’d be great in a sandwich the next day. If you’re feeling lazy, you could always just slather the strips in your favorite store bought BBQ sauce and throw it all in the oven, but I promise, this recipe is worth the extra work. I adapted it from a Bobby Flay grill recipe in Sunset Magazine.


BBQ Chicken
Serves 6

Brine
2 tbsp kosher salt
¼ c firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp thyme
24 oz Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Chik’n Strips (3 bags)

Barbecue Sauce
1 imitation bacon strip, finely chopped
1Tbls thyme
2 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil
½ onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 c ketchup
¼ c light brown sugar
¼ c molasses
2 Tbls red or white wine vinegar
1 Tbls dry mustard
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix brine ingredients with 2 quarts of hot water in a 2-gal. resealable plastic bag. Add Chik’n Strips, seal and chill for 15 minutes to 2 hours.

To make sauce, heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add imitation bacon, thyme, onion and garlic and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook over low heat, covered for 20 minutes.

Remove Chik’n Strips from brine and combine with sauce in large bowl and until all strips are evenly coated. Place in a large casserole dish, cover with foil and cook for 25-30 minutes.

Tips: Brining is really more effective with real meat, but it does a fair job of adding some extra flavor to certain veggie meats as well. I’d say it’s worth the extra three minutes it will take. This sauce is actually designed for grilling, so definitely try it this summer with some veggie burgers on the grill.

Shepherds Pie with Swiss Stake

I’ve been told that the words “vegetarian” and “meat free” can be unappealing to some people. That they’ll be more likely to try a veggie meat if you don’t call it vegetarian even if they know it’s not real meat. Maybe that’s why a lot of veggie meat companies choose to misspell meat names as opposed preceding them with the “V” word. I’m fairly certain that Worthington and Loma Linda (pioneers in the mass production of veggie meat and now merged as one company) were the forerunners of this trend. Swiss Stake is a prime example.

I grew up eating Swiss Stake on weeknights when Mom only had time to cook some carrots and maybe throw a salad together, but according to Soyinfocenter.com (yup, someone cared enough) Swiss Stakes were introduced by Loma Linda Foods way back in 1978. It actually was sold in both a canned and frozen version, but the frozen stuff must have been a dud.

For a long time, I thought that these “stakes” were a complete invention. I had never seen a swiss steak on a menu or heard of a meat-eating friend consuming it. Swiss stake is definitely not a popular beef dish, but it has probably seen it’s day in more resourceful times. The “swiss” in swiss steak actually has nothing to do with Switzerland (even though my spell check doesn’t realize this). It actually refers to the process of swissing, which is a method of tenderizing tough or cheap pieces of meat. Who knows, maybe your grandma swissed a steak or two in her day.

I have no idea what the real thing tastes like, but the meatless version is pretty palatable. It’s super tender, salty and savory and comes packed in an ugly yet delicious gravy.

The nutrition breakdown is surprising in some areas and typical in others. Like many veggie meats, Swiss Stakes are high in sodium. For a one serving patty (most dudes will eat at least two), you get a substantial 430 mg of sodium. You’ll also get a gram of saturated fat, but that’s not so bad when you see the other 5 grams of fat are composed of healthier mono and polyunsaturated fats. On the other hand, these stakes are pretty low in carbohydrates (9 grams, if you care about that sort of thing) and high in protein (9 grams as well). Worthington Loma Linda was also nice enough to throw in a good portion of a few of your daily vitamins (90% of your B12 among others). Although the ingredient list for the gravy is a little scary, the main ingredients for the patties are actually pretty simple: textured soy protein, rolled oats, corn oil, etc.

A Swiss Stake is not the healthiest of veggie meats, but it definitely won’t break the bank if you don’t go nuts and eat all four patties in the can. One way to use it moderately is to throw it into a recipe that calls for steak pieces, like the shepherds pie I made the other day. It was my first time cooking with this classic veggie meat, and I have to say, it worked really well.


Shepherds Pie
Serves 6

6 medium red potatoes, washed with eyes removed, cubed
2 Tbls light olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 shallots or one medium onion, finely chopped
3-4 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cans of Worthington Loma Linda Swiss Stake with Gravy, cubed
2 tsp dried dill
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large pot, cover potatoes with water and place on high heat to boil.

While potatoes are cooking, heat oil in a pan. Sauté garlic with shallots for 2-3 minutes in oil.

Add carrots, celery, dill and Swiss Stake. Be sure to scrape gravy from cans into pan. Cover and cook until carrots begin to get tender. If needed, add a bit of water or vegetable broth to speed the process along.
When potatoes are tender, mash and prepare to your liking. For vegan mashed potatoes try some plain soymilk, olive oil, salt and garlic. For regular mashed potatoes add butter, milk, sour cream, salt and garlic.

When vegetable-meat mixture is done, spread in a casserole dish and cover with mashed potatoes. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until edges turn golden.

Tips: I know I’ve been vague with the mashed potatoes, but it really just depends on how you like them. I never use a recipe when I make them, I just keep adding and tasting. When I made this, I did the potatoes dairy free by using some cashew cream (courtesy of our healthy cook Paulette), some Smart Balance and some Veganaise along with some salt and garlic. They were really good! Add whatever you want to the potatoes; just make sure they’re smooth enough to spread over the mixture. When you cook the pie, put a cookie sheet on the rack below since the juices from the vegetables may bubble over. Also, this is basically a dump recipe. The veggies I used were the ones in my fridge. You can try all sorts of combinations.