Veggie Meat

In our effort to be responsible consumers and eat only ethically raised meats, we end up eating a lot of vegetarian around here. Which isn't bad. We still get plenty of protein. But one thing that I have desperately been missing is breakfast sausage. We can find free-range chicken and grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs, organic butter, cheese, milk, yogurt, etc...but when it comes to breakfast sausage, I think it has been years since we've enjoyed it here at the McBrayer household.

So we decided to just give this little guy a try. Landon and I do not really do meat substitutes in our meals at all. If we are eating vegetarian, then we made sure to have some protein-rich beans or quinoa or something. We don't toss in meatless chicken and tofu - it just feels weird (nothing against that stuff, though).  So this was a rare whim for us.

One morning we decided that a hot breakfast would hit the spot. So I threw together a family favorite of ours (from when we lived a little more carnivorous), "Jasper County Hash". When I squeezed the "sausage" out of the tube, I was a little surprised, though I"m not sure why. It just looked like refried beans, actually. I had a hard time breaking it apart - the beans were extremely sticky. I threw in about a tsp of butter and turned the heat up a bit and was finally able to break it apart and get it cookin. It's weird that this stuff doesn't really need to cook at all - it's just beans, after all. Then I cracked and scrambled the eggs with it and it looked like it was supposed to. 

The Hash tasted pretty good. Now, I couldn't tell if I was just enjoying it because it sort of smelled like breakfast sausage and I wouldn't know the difference anyway because it's been so long since I've enjoyed some. Or maybe it's actually pretty decent. Landon said that it "tasted weird". It's something that i think we will be willing to try again some time!