Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodle Soup

Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodle Soup, available in two vegetarian and two vegan flavors (the Lemongrass and Chili flavor contains shrimp), is a delicious, flavorful ramen-like noodle soup. The rice noodles, if you haven't had them before, are softer and more absorbent than ramen noodles. Because these soups cook in only 1 cup of liquid instead of 2 like most ramen, the noodles will absorb most of the liquid in the bowl within minutes after you cook it. I actually really like that about this soup. And the little bit of liquid that is usually left in the bowl is really yummy for dipping a toasted sandwich into. :)

The packages contain a block of rice noodles, a packet of powdered seasoning and a packet of flavor oil. It cooks up really fast -- sometimes too fast. The packets can be tricky to open unless you have scissors handy (especially the oil packet, which can get messy if you don't tear it open just right), which means the noodles might be cooked before you can get the seasoning and oil in -- which means the noodles absorb less flavor.

I have tried three of the vegetarian flavors -- Spring Onion, Garlic and Vegetable, and Bangkok Curry -- and all of them are great. Thai Ginger is also vegetarian. The price is higher than some other instant noodle soups (especially since the portion size is smaller), but I think it's worth it. You'll find it in the ethnic/Asian foods section of the grocery store, probably between $.80 to $1.20 per package.

Thai Kitchen offers lots of other food products, many of them vegetarian or vegan. This page is a good reference for figuring out what contains what.

Allergens: See package or website
Veg*n: See package or website

Boca Original Meatless Chik'n Nuggets

This was a surprise -- in more ways than one. I was in a Target today to pick up a few things and not even planning on grocery shopping (except to pick up a loaf of bread), but I decided to peek at the little vegetarian section of the frozen foods to see if there was anything new or interesting. I scanned it from the bottom up (meh, I'm short), not seeing anything I needed, knowing I had still had some burgers, sausage, and bacon at home... I was just about to walk away when the bag of Boca Chik'n Nuggets on the top shelf caught my eye. I have never seen this product since discovering my love of Boca Chik'n Patties, so I just had to try it. I figured it's got to be at least as good as the patties, right?

Um... well... insert confused face and head scratching here.

I was eager to have some of these for dinner, so I cooked up one serving (four nuggets) with some nummy MSF broccoli and cheese bites on the side, piled on a plate with a dollop of barbecue sauce. I wanted to get a pure sampling of the new nuggets, so I tried one first without sauce. It was... weird. I chewed on it, trying to figure out what it tasted like, and couldn't put my finger on it. So I took another bite, and it hit me: it tastes like... FISH? Now you see why I was confused!

As an omnivore, I loved eating fish. The smell, the flavor, the texture... It is still the only meat that I miss (except for the whole used-to-be-a-living-creature part). But there isn't any meatless faux fish that I'm aware of... so finding a vegan product that has a sort-of fish-like flavor -- even if it was supposed to be chicken-like -- is an interesting discovery. I'm still scratching my head over it, though.

Protein source: Soy, wheat
Allergens: Soy, wheat
Vegan

Lightlife Smart Ground Mexican Style

I've been on a Mexican food kick lately -- after making my spinach enchiladas three times in the space of about a week, I picked up some flour tortillas and made some "chicken" quesadillas (one using Boca chicken patty, another using Quorn -- and the Boca one was better!). And after that, I have made several variations of a veggie super-taco. The first super-taco, made with Morningstar Farms Grillers burger strips cooked with taco seasoning, was super-yummy. Then, for something different, I decided to try a new fake ground beef product: Lightlife Smart Ground Mexican Style. It comes pre-seasoned with Mexican seasoning, and all you have to do is heat it up and throw it in your taco, burrito, or whatever.

It has a real ground beef-like appearance and texture, more than the Morningstar Farms crumbles I'm used to. The flavor is very wheat-gluteny, but I'm starting to get used to that, so it didn't bother me much. My only real complaint is that I wish it had just a little more seasoning added, but I can always mix in a little extra when I'm cooking it for myself.

The price (in the store where I usually shop) is about the same as a package of Morningstar Farms Grillers Crumbles, but you actually get 12 oz. of the Smart Ground, while MSF's deceptively larger package only has 8 oz... but either one is plenty for several servings.

Lightlife has many other fake meat products, including plain ground beef and ground sausage. Since I was fairly pleased with this one, I'm looking forward to trying more in the future.

Oh, and it's got 9 grams of vegan protein per serving.

**Edited to add: According to the Morningstar Farms website, the MSF Grillers Recipe Crumbles comes in a 12 oz. package. Even though I distinctly remember comparing the two products in the store and deciding to try the Lightlife product because it had more in it, I thought I should mention this in case the MSF product comes in different sizes... or in the unlikely even that I was wrong. ;) Because I don't have any MSF Crumbles in my freezer at this moment, I cannot say for sure.

Protein Source: Soy, wheat
Allergens: Soy, wheat
Vegan