Gardein is a company that makes wonderful, high-protein, plant-based convenient foods. I have been enjoying Gardein products since 2009. Their name is a combination of two words: Garden and Protein- protein from garden. They make several meat alternatives in fresh (refrigerated) and frozen forms. Over the years I have had a chance to try most of them. Most companies that make fake meat products for vegans and vegetarians use soy or wheat, or the combination of both as the main ingredients. Gardein is very unique when it comes to main ingredients, on top of soy and wheat they use pea protein, vegetables and ancient grains, such as quinoa, kamut, millet and amaranth. Quinoa is amazing, it contains all essential amino acids which makes it a complete protein. I like the combination of different proteins in Gardein products. Their products have meaty texture and flavor. I like that many of them are very versatile and can be used in many recipes that would call for chicken or beef. I have used the "Beefless Tips" in most of my stew and goulash recipes with a great success. Here is a link to my goulash recipe.
Gardein works closely with a vegan celebrity chef Tal Ronnen who is helping them with developing different textures, flavors and variations. He also creates tasty recipes that you can find on Gardein's website.
Gardein products are tasty, very easy to prepare, they are versatile in recipes and most of them are prepared quickly, too.
Here are some of my meals using Gardein products over the years. I haven't had any that I didn't like. I do have my favorite though: Beefless Tips, BBQ Skewers and Buffalo Wings.
Have you tried Gardein products yet?
*Breaded Chick'n stuffed with marinara sauce and vegan cheese, grilled asparagus and salad
*Czech goulash made with juicy, beefy Beefless Tips, and bread dumplings
*Thanksgiving breaded stuffed Turk'y with gravy. The savory stuffing was made with celery, onions and cranberries and it was soooo good. It was very festive and I served it with baked sweet potato that I smothered in the gravy (which was included with the Turk'y). The only downside was that there was not enough gravy for two people, even though there were two pieces of Turk'y.
*Chick'n Filets with black pepper sauce, asian veggies and rice 
*Grilled Chick'n Filets and french fries
*BBQ Skewers and baked potato wedges
*BBQ Pulled Shreds sandwich. I used the BBQ Pulled Shreds in other sandwiches and on top of baked beans and it was pretty good. 
*Tuscan Breasts, mushroom couscous and lingonberry jam
*Buffalo Wings and salad
*BBQ Skewers and french fries again :-)
A lot of your plates look really good, even though I'm not a huge fan of fake-meat products. It's actually probably a good thing for you, but I'm more drawn to your sides! The goulash with bread dumplings looks especially interesting, as does the mushroom couscous with lingonberry jam!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't eat fake meat everyday, I usually have some tempeh, tofu, quinoa, or beans as my main protein. However, I really like that Gardein uses all these cool grains and veggies in their products and that it is more nutritious, healthier and more natural.
ReplyDeleteI also use gardein from time to time in my Prazsky gulas. I've found that my favourite though, is a smoked tomato "wheat meat" from a local company here in Seattle. I have a recipe lying around somewhere, been meaning to post it on my blog, it's great to see other Czech vegans!!
ReplyDeleteI don't eat much fake meat either, but I did try one of their items once and it was awesome! Also expensive...so I rarely buy it. But most people seem to like their stuff :)
ReplyDelete@Ruby June- Thank you for checking out my blog. It it nice to see another Czech vegan living in USA :-) Are you from Prague? I am following your blog now and I am looking forward to see your goulash recipe.
ReplyDelete@Tanya- I usually buy Gardein when it is on sale and I stock up, Kroger's has them on sale a lot, Publix sometimes as well. I remember few years ago when Publix had the frozen ones for $2.99 when they first started selling them near by.
My parents are both from Prague (my dad is technically Moravian) but immigrated to the US just before I born. I did live there for a while though after the velvet revolution, and still visit family a lot(I was raised Czech too, english is my second language).
ReplyDeleteI am also following your blog :) where from Czech are you? Your recipes all look tasty!
I was born and raised in Prague, but I also lived in Hungary with my dad for a while as a child.
ReplyDeleteThat beefless goulash looks delicious!! I'm a fan of the buffalo chik'n myself...am definitely thankful for Gardein!
ReplyDeleteI eat fake meat a lot and Gardein is always making it's way through the rotation of processed proteins. I just wanted to say that whichever side of the eat/not eat processed vegan foods you come down on the pictures I thought were very well done, bright, clear and depicted the food very nicely.
ReplyDeleteMarty
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