These days there are some weird things in my cupboards. I was going to make myself some oatmeal for my breakfast yesterday morning, actually I did. But before I got around to making it, I had one of those "what the #$@#%! this?" moments. I reached into the cabinet to grab hold of the oatmeal container and this package of Textured Vegetable Protein was staring me in the face (actually, it was unopened at the time).

Just bizarre. I asked Jane if we were having other astronaut food as it reminded me of the astronaut food I'd heard of: freeze dried ice cream, tang crystals, etc. Needless to say I was not looking forward to consuming this stuff.

Then we had spaghetti for dinner and I commented to Jane that the ground soy product was good in our pasta sauce. She had an odd look on her face and when I asked her about it she laughed and told me that was the TVP. I don't know how it tastes in other recipes, but it's pretty good with pasta and tomato sauce.

So Jane's been a little reluctant to try to make a vegan burger on her own. We've had a few when we've gone out for dinner, but they tend to be a little crumbly. She's been making Dr. Praegers Tex Mex burgers on occasion at home.

Last night we had Tex Mex burgers, salad with balsamic honey mustard dressing and roasted red peppers, home-made guacamole and chips, and Whole Foods mild salsa. Yum.

I'd recommend these. They also tend to be a bit crumbly, but they have a very good taste to them, and they cook up easily in the toaster oven. I could even make this dinner myself! (I'm kidding Jane, really I am!)

Jane's having a tougher time than I am regarding the transition to vegan "meats." We laugh that she has more discerning taste buds than I do, but in reality, she ate meat longer than I did. We've been "semi-vegetarians" for years, eating only chicken and fish. But every once in a while Jane would have a cheeseburger, or pork chop, especially at her family gatherings. In any event, she held off a bit before trying vegan meat alternatives thinking that the more time she had between "real" meat and vegan meat, the more likely she was to accept it.

She's tried wheat gluten versions of meat at some of the vegan restaurants we've been too. I love them all. She's found them to be hit or miss.

Since it's been brutally hot lately, we've been having salad and sandwiches for dinner a lot. Jane has been pleasantly surprised with both the Yves Vegan Salami and the Vegan Meat (which we think resembles bologna).

We're still holding off on trying the vegan cheeses, although we have some in our fridge (no casein!). Cheese is one of the harder non-vegan things for us to let go of. There's a recipe in one of our vegan cookbooks that claims to have a really good cheddar cheese alternative from scratch, but we're both skeptical. I'll let you know when we've worked up the courage to try that one!

Lane