OMG Discovery of the Week! TVP! Textured Vegetable Protein!!!

You guys. I am so happy right now. I think I have JUST made the discovery of a lifetime.

Has anyone ever tried TVP? Or textured vegetable protein? It is basically dried soy chunks that can be manipulated to take on the flavor of whatever you’re cooking. Most people use it as meat substitute since it is kind of shaped like ground beef! (For you vegetarians out there, you’re probably already familiar with this…but I am jumping for joy!)

Here’s the revolutionary part though…as I was boiling it, I tasted it plain and it reminded me A LOT of oatmeal. OMG discovery part – I will try to eat this as oatmeal with bananas and berries next time. Don’t judge me yet…haven’t tried it BUT this is REVOLUTIONARY for those of you trying to get more protein in for muscle building.

Anyway! Check out the nutrition stats on this amazing food! 120 cals, 0g fat, 14g carbs, 23g protein.

A 10oz bag of this at Netrition costs $2.49. You may be able to find it at your local Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

I bought this yesterday and couldn’t WAIT to make it for dinner tonight. Neither could 3 other people. Uh oh. Impromptu healthy chef time.

I decided I’d go all Asian Teriyaki style and use my FAVE zero calorie Miracle Noodles in a creative lil healthy stir fry. Can’t go wrong with that right? Not only was this my first time EVER using TVP…I also had to impress non vegetarians!

Take a look at my photo story to see how I did.

INGREDIENTS for Teriyaki TVP Noodle Stir Fry

(serves 4)

*1 onion

*2 large carrots

*3/4-1 cup of dry TVP

*3 bags of fettucine Miracle Noodles

*handful of snap peas

*some teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, chili sauce to taste

*1/2 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

Beautiful ingredients! All out and ready to go!

Whoa. TVP. The star of the show.

Simmer the TVP with water just to cover the top of it. 5-10 min. That looks like an upside down happy face.

Meanwhile, cut the 3 bags of Miracle Noodles and drain them into a sifter. Remember, it smells a little fishy in the beginning but no worries you can rinse it away!

Can’t believe it’s zero cals. That’s because it’s a gel noodle that’s 97% water!

Cuttin’ them veggies.

Check out that TVP!!! Looks like ground meat? YES! I added some soy sauce, chli sauce, and teriyaki sauce to taste here after removing from the pan. This was my first time cooking TVP in my life so I couldn’t wait to taste it. Tasted kinda chewy like meat. It totally took on the flavor of the sauces. Super yum.

Sautee time! Sprayed the bottom with a lil PAM.

Tossed in the rest of the goods. Made sure the onions turned opaque. I also boiled the carrots for a bit before adding in, but if you like em crunchy you don’t have to.

Snappin a pic of the snap peas.

Finally added in the noodles on top. Added in soy sauce, teriyaki, and chili sauce to taste. Then the final touch was a squeeze of a lemon. I added a 1/2 lemon and it added so much zing and zest…mmm delish! Almost show time!

There it is! My first ever TVP creation. Garnished with a lil dill on top.

So how did I do? It was a hit!!! Everyone liked it! I owe it to TVP for being so easy to cook with.

Hope you guys go out and get yourselves a bag of TVP! It is seriously so awesome. I might try it as “oatmeal” tomorrow. This may be a disaster but who knows. Maybe I am a genius ;P

<3 Cassey

You can get Miracle Noodles here and Textured Vegetable protein here!