How to Prepare TVP (Texturized Vegetable Protein), the Basics

I've gone through a few vegetarian phases in my life. I have personally found it hard to stick to a strict vegetarian diet. Being from the south, I enjoy ribs, chicken and steaks etc. So I have eventually settled on just eating what I feel I need at any given time; trying to eat healthy and thoroughly cleansing every few months.

Though I do eat meat products, many vegetarian foods have a special place in my heart. And I often still prefer to have all vegetarian or even all raw meals up to 10 or 15 times a week.

One of the hardest things for me about being a vegetarian was that I often craved meat. Many people would tell me to eat more beans or take vitamins or eat veggie meats. But, none of these things worked when I was depriving myself of meat completely. Eventually, I just gave myself a break. I honestly felt like there were things that my body needed, that I wasn't getting from my vegetarian diet; or that I was not educated enough to know how to get from my vegetarian diet. I am equally open to both possibilities.

As someone who still craved meat, I have found TVP to be a viable option for me quite often. It is a meat like substance that absorbs the flavors of the sauces and foods that surround it or that it's cooked with. It is derived from soy and comes in a dehydrated form. When rehydrated, it takes on a meat like consistency and is very enjoyable if you are interested in a meat substitute. One of the other exciting things about TVP is that unlike most veggie meats, you can buy it in bulk and it is very cheap and cost effective. It also comes in forms that look like chicken breast slices, steak shreds and ground chicken or beef. TVP gives a very meat like flavor to your vegetarian foods. The only downside is that if you want to prepare it so that it tastes meat like, it's not an instant process. It is not a hard process and sometimes there is some trial and error involved. And, it's not an instant dinner like heating up a ready-made veggie patty.

The Basics:

*Grab the TVP you want to prepare
*Boil Water (enough to cover the amount of TVP by 1/2 inch)
*Season the water in the flavor direction you'd like the TVP to go. This is the tricky part. You don't want to flavor the water too heavily. Just slightly. This way you can season the TVP later to taste. The TVP is very absorbent and too much seasoning or sauce in the water can make it too salty. Too little will make it bland. (Lightly use Lawry's Seasoning salt for beef and pork ideas, and Goya with NO MSG for chicken ideas.)
*Soak the TVP in the water for at least an hour. If it's not ground TVP, I prefer to soak it overnight.
*Drain of the water, and saute TVP in the seasoning blend of your choice or sauce of your choice.

TVP makes great, buffalo chicken imitations, barbecue beef, pork and chicken imitations, stew beef imitations, saute beef and chicken imitations, and stir fry meat imitations.

You can also use TVP to stretch out your other meats and save you and your family money. I go into this more in depth in my other article: "Using TVP to Save Money by Stretching Out Your Other Meats."