We recently had the opportunity to review Harmony Valley Vegetarian Mixes.
They come in two flavors: hamburger or sausage. We tried sausage and would love to try the hamburger version as well.
A little background: my husband spent over a decade as a vegetarian. Which meant many of the meals we cooked at home in the early years of our marriage included vegetarian substitutes for meat. I actually only ordered a non-vegetarian meal when we were dining out and ate almost fully vegetarian at home, so we wouldn’t have to make two versions of the same meal.
But for the most part, the substitutes we ate all came in frozen or refrigerated form.
That’s why I was particularly excited to learn of Harmony Valley, which offers a shelf-stable option! Imagine being able to open your pantry and make your family a healthy, “meat”-y meal at any time. We recently experienced a blackout during Hurricane Irene. I would’ve loved to have this in my pantry then!
We still eat meatless at least once a week and will definitely incorporate Harmony Valley vegetarian mixes into our meals.
We were very pleased with the sausage flavor (yes, even the former vegetarian!) and will be looking for the hamburger version in the future. The consistency and texture are similar to our favorite soy-based brands. Once mixed into a larger dish (i.e. spaghetti sauce, lasagna, taco dishes), my suspicion is that you wouldn’t even be able to distinguish it from other ground meats. (FYI: we rarely eat ground beef, opting instead for ground turkey or soy-based protein, so we’re already used to a slightly different taste and texture in our meals).
We were also happy that the package went quite far. One package made 8 good-sized sausage patties. Since it was only the two of us enjoying breakfast that morning (yay for sleepovers at Grandma’s house!), we froze half of the patties after we formed them (but before we cooked them). They re-heated quite well.
About Harmony Valley: Harmony Valley Foods is a privately owned and operated business in Fort Collins, Colorado since 1984. It creates shelf-stable protein mixes from vegetables to encourage health. The company is dedicated to fully sustainable business practices and is powered by the winds of Northern Colorado. Its products are certified vegan and kosher.
Harmony Valley Mixes are available in natural food grocers. Harmony Valley is found in the dry foods aisle (near pastas and whole grains.)
Disclosure: We received two complimentary packets from Harmony Valley to facilitate our review. As always, all opinions are completely my own.
