Anonymous wrote:Do you have to make these rice meatballs by hand for thevegetarian? Why not just buy gardein meatballs for the vegetarian and separate out their soup? That shouldn't take much extra time.

Are you saying this because you feel like gardein meatballs are healthier than impossible or beyond? I would assume that gardein meatballs have a totally different texture and taste, like an Italian meatball. I could see subbing them in spaghetti meatballs, but not here.

Do you have to make these rice meatballs by hand for thevegetarian? Why not just buy gardein meatballs for the vegetarian and separate out their soup? That shouldn't take much extra time.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never tried boiling vegetarian mince before. I’d be a little worried it might fall apart in the broth. In op’s case of Greek meatball soup, I’d probably air fry the meatballs or pan sear them separately and add them to the broth at the end.

Generally, when making both veg and non-veg soups/stews/gumbo/etc, I usually use vegetarian broth for all, and portion out some of it early on for the veg version. Then you can add meatballs/fish/whatever to the ‘normal’ pot per the recipe. With the veg version, I often change the order around so that tender veggies don’t get overcooked.

Given that the meatballs in this case contain uncooked rice that boils along with the meat I don’t think air frying or pan frying is the answer.

But more to the point, what is happening now is that either I am serving the same handful of foods that are vegetarian but all the kids with eat, like a lentil bolognese they all like, or breakfast for dinner; or I am making my regular meals and then also making a vegetarian version (I make homemade chicken nuggets, and home made chickpea nuggets), or I add a second form of protein. The latter two are time consuming and make me feel like a short order cook, plus if the food is complicated it takes a lot longer to make two versions, but the first makes it feel like we are missing out on variety which the kids don’t seem to mind but I do.

I realize the long term solution is to just find a bunch of vegetarian meals everyone will eat but it took me a long time to build up a repertoire of foods that are varied and we all like and I can make kind of efficiently.

I’ve never tried boiling vegetarian mince before. I’d be a little worried it might fall apart in the broth. In op’s case of Greek meatball soup, I’d probably air fry the meatballs or pan sear them separately and add them to the broth at the end.

Generally, when making both veg and non-veg soups/stews/gumbo/etc, I usually use vegetarian broth for all, and portion out some of it early on for the veg version. Then you can add meatballs/fish/whatever to the ‘normal’ pot per the recipe. With the veg version, I often change the order around so that tender veggies don’t get overcooked.

They are highly processed and have a lot of non-food ingredients to look like meat. I don't want to put that in my body. Better to eat a veggie burger.

My kid likes both. I think they are nasty and smelly (I'm vegetarian).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not vegetarian, but eat both regularly and find them interchangeable. Processed or not, the impact on the planet from eating cattle is bigger than then impact from beans, so that helps my decision making.

Can you just sub them? Like if you have a recipe with ground beef can you just use the impossible and do everything tbe same?

Yes, they are just like meat. The bulk amount is a little gross to form into patties (although so is regular meat) but it cooks the same.

In a perfect world, I probably wouldn’t eat them much. In this world, with a vegetarian spouse and two very picky eaters who don’t like much protein, we eat beyond meatballs about once a week and have them in burger form pretty frequently in the summer.

Anonymous wrote:I am not vegetarian, but eat both regularly and find them interchangeable. Processed or not, the impact on the planet from eating cattle is bigger than then impact from beans, so that helps my decision making.

Can you just sub them? Like if you have a recipe with ground beef can you just use the impossible and do everything tbe same?

I am not vegetarian, but eat both regularly and find them interchangeable. Processed or not, the impact on the planet from eating cattle is bigger than then impact from beans, so that helps my decision making.

Anonymous wrote:I think they are ultra processed and extremely bad for you.

My nutritionist says it would be healthier to have a simple hamburger than Beyond/Impossible/fake.

But that's OK! Can you substitute lentils for the fake burger? I make a kind of "sloppy joe" with lentils, and I toast the buns to make them extra firm for this; my family loves it. I think it tastes a lot better than fake burgers... If you google, you can find lots of recipes for lentil sloppy joes. I also make patties with chick peas that you can eat on a hamburger bun.

There is also the possibility of making portobello burgers. You can experiment with stuffing giant portobellos with various fillings, like lentils, cheese, etc., and serving on a burger bun. I think Shake Shake does this in their Portobello Burger, actually.

I want to be able to make things that are more complicated. Today the vegetarian wasn’t here and I made yuvarlakia which was so yummy. It would be nice to be able to make that on a regular day for family dinner.

I think they are ultra processed and extremely bad for you.

My nutritionist says it would be healthier to have a simple hamburger than Beyond/Impossible/fake.

But that's OK! Can you substitute lentils for the fake burger? I make a kind of "sloppy joe" with lentils, and I toast the buns to make them extra firm for this; my family loves it. I think it tastes a lot better than fake burgers... If you google, you can find lots of recipes for lentil sloppy joes. I also make patties with chick peas that you can eat on a hamburger bun.

There is also the possibility of making portobello burgers. You can experiment with stuffing giant portobellos with various fillings, like lentils, cheese, etc., and serving on a burger bun. I think Shake Shake does this in their Portobello Burger, actually.

Anonymous wrote: Vegetarians gotta eat

To be clear, I wasn’t considering “don’t feed them” as the other option.

You can sub them. To me impossible is better. Beyond gives me gas. I don’t view any hyper processed food as super healthy, but there are certainly worse things. Vegetarians gotta eat

We have a vegetarian kid in the household, so I am curious about these, as it would be nice to do some favorite recipes. Can I just sub them directly in a recipe without making other changes?

Also, do you feel comfortable with them or do you feel like they are highly processed and thus not a great choice?