Morningstar Farms Grillers

[wendalah]

This is my "ode to Grillers" thread! I think I have discovered the perfect food. For all of you who like ground beef, a bag of Grillers works substituted wherever you need a pound of it. And Grillers taste great, and they are low in fat and cholesterol, AND you don't have to brown them or drain the fat. Awesome!

I just put a mock-lasagna casserole in the oven using penne, marinara sauce, cottage cheese, Grillers, and fresh grated parmesan on top. I also use Grillers in my famous veggie chili recipe; as well as for tacos (just stir a packet of taco seasoning in the skillet plus some browned chopped onions). I think I must use Grillers three times a week!

Anyone else have good recipe ideas for Grillers? (Traditional ground beef recipes will work fine as it's so easy to substitute them.)

[Heidi9771]

I use the grillers all the time- as a vegetarian, I see this as the humane way to get a high protein source as well as somthing tasty! I agree, they subsitute nicely for just about anything where you might use ground beef.

[ee_chick]

I use them in spaghetti and spaghetti pie. mmmmm, tasty. :)

[Katyanne]

I've used the grillers before to make taco salad, and I find when I'm doing something like that I actually add 2 packets of taco seasoning to the meat, it just gives it a bit spicier flavor.
My BIL ate two huge plates full of it one day until I mentioned what it was. Then of course macho man didn't like it :rolleyes:
I think it works great in just about anything.

Katie

[Rose]

I like other Morning Star products but I have never tried the grillers. I'll have to pick some up next time I am at the store.

[SiValleySteph]

What are the Grillers made of?

[emmjay]

I haven't seen the Grillers but I just started using Smart Ground by Litelife:
http://media.westsideorganics.com/wso/product_pictures/big/sgroundoriginal_prod.jpg
I love this stuff! We aren't vegetarians but I try to make 4-5 veg dinners a week and this stuff works perfectly for that.

Actually I have some cooking in my crockpot at home right now, but you can make this recipe in the oven as a casserole too.

1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 lb veggie crumbles
6 zucchini/summer squash (or 3 large eggplant, or any combination), diced
3 red bell peppers, diced
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 little can of tomato paste
3/4 c bread crumbs
1 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is translucent. Mix it with the remaining ingredients and cook in the crock pot 6 hrs on low, or for about 50-60 mins in the oven at 350. Makes 6 servings.

The consistency is like a really thick pasta sauce, but you can eat it by itself. I serve it on spaghetti squash with some parm on top. YUM!

[SiValleySteph]

Okay, I looked up the ingredients:

Textured vegetable protein (wheat gluten, soy protein concentrate, water for hydration), water, and corn oil. Contains 2% or less of chicory root fiber (inulin), autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavors from non-meat sources, black malt powder, salt, corn starch, garlic powder, sugar, onion powder, soy sauce (water, soybeans, salt, wheat), tomato powder, spices, vitamins and minerals [niacinamide, iron (ferrous sulfate), vitamin B1 (thiamin mononitrate), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), and vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)].

So it's made of textured vegtable protein. :p

Is anyone who enjoys this concerned about consuming a highly processed food?

I'm just curious becuase we are thinking of cutting back on meat consumption and I'm interested in trying this, but at the same time am worried about relying on processed foods.

It does sound like they are tasty and convienent! :)

[wendalah]

We do worry about this (well, DH more than me--I love junk food) but in honesty, they are so easy to use, we just try to balance overall with a decent dose of non-processed foods throughout the day.

I'm actually a little more worried about our cheese consumption, if you want the truth. Our veg diet includes way too much cheese (and in DH's case...ice cream...he's an addict), and it's so high in fat and bad stuff. But so good!

[emmjay]

Is anyone who enjoys this concerned about consuming a highly processed food?
I've only used it twice so far but this did cross my mind. I figure if I use it no more than 3-4 times a month it should be OK (I don't even know that I would use it that much b/c I don't have many ground beef recipes!). The rest of our diet is pretty natural and I make virtually everything from scratch so I think in moderation it will be fine.

I'm trying to decide which is better to use, organic ground turkey breast or this stuff. I'll probably just alternate between the two!

[wendalah]

They are, as Heidi mentioned, humane--cruelty free. Which is big to me.

[SiValleySteph]

Thanks for your input! I think I will have to give them a try!

[JamBray]

Mmmm, love the Grillers! I use it to make a lot of different dishes that call for beef and like the versitility of it. The recipe you gave emmjay sounds good, so I'll have to try it. :) I've never used the Smart Ground, but did try Smart Bacon, which was awful! Maybe though I'll give the ground a try.

[emmjay]

JamBray -I've only used the Smart Ground in Italian tomato-based recipes, so the flavor is kind of muted by the garlic and everything. I was thinking I should try the Grillers since everyone here likes them so much! I'll report back if there is a noticeable difference in the taste.

[JamBray]

Sounds good emmjay, as I'm curious to know which one you'll like better, or if they rate pretty much the same.

[wendalah]

I've tried Smart Ground Taco flavor. It's pretty good, but DH prefers the Grillers so he can adjust the seasoning to his taste.

The bacon, I agree, is awful! I have a hard time finding good veggie bacon, so if anyone has a lead on that, I'd be thrilled :)

[December27JJB]

OOoohh I love them! I grew up eating Grillers (my parents are vegetarians)

I've made them with all kinds of stuff, including Empanadas (spanish food) Yum!!!

I've even used 'ground beef grillers' (the chopped up ones) in stuffed mushrooms for protein--yum!!!

ETA: DH and I had them last night!

[Muppetpinchess]

Yum Yum...grillers! I love "fake meat." Morningstar Farms is the best, their corndogs and bacon are so tasty! I know this is a grillers thread but I just had to out in a plug for their other products!

[meganth]

We're huge morningstar fans!!

Has anybody seen their newest product? Steak and chicken strips! We're doing stirfry this week!