It's great to be back, and I have a great way to start because last week, I heard some great news!
The lovely men and woman at Quorn have recently announced that they're making a number of their existing products gluten free. Yay! You may be aware, especially if you're a coeliac vegetarian like myself, that Quorn products have mostly been considered unsafe for coeliacs for a very long time. In fact, for some time now, the only safe products I've been aware of have been the Fillets and the Chicken-Style Pieces, so this is very exciting news!
Now, a number of my carnivorous readers might well ask why someone who turns their nose up at meat would want to eat anything that resembles it. And it's a very fair question. Before I went herbivore, I actually loved meat! Roast chicken, chicken nuggets, sausage rolls...all tasty stuff. But one day, when I was 8, I got halfway through a roast dinner with (oddly) a sausage roll, I suddenly couldn't stand to eat dead animals any more. My Dad was MAAAAD!!! I refused to touch anything else on the plate. The switch was flipped and that was it.
Anyway, my point is that, for many of my fellow veggiesaurs, giving up meat is less a case of like/dislike, and more a case of guilt or disgust at eating flesh (not that I have a problem with anyone else doing it, mind). So, given that, and the fact that it's difficult to get a huge variety of vegetarian AND gluten free foods, the announcement from Quorn is a Godsend.
The first thing I tried was pepperoni, or as I call it 'fakeroni'. I tried it on top of a pizza and it was surprisingly good! I never had real pepperoni, so I have no frame of reference, but the texture was soft, yet firm, and a little smokey and spicy. It made a very welcome change to usual veg-loaded pizza and for only £1.75 a pack, it's not too pricey!
Next up, I tried the Quorn Bacon, or as I call it 'fakon'. This stuff was very interesting. You can buy it either as rashers or as slices in the shape of normal bacon. Fried in a small quantity of oil for a couple of minutes, it smells and tastes nothing really like I imagine real bacon smells or tastes BUT it is actually a very nice alternative, and costs just £1.75 for a pack that lasts for a few small meals. I had it with a cooked breakfast...scrambled eggs, baked beans, toast, grilled peppers and fakon. Perfect!
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My latest trial was the Family Roast. Ideal as an alternative to roast chicken, it cooks in just under an hour from frozen and is stunningly moist and chicken-like in texture! But the best bit?! Today, I re-heated slices of it, alongside some of yesterday's gluten free stuffing, and had a faux chicken and stuffing sandwich! I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to do that, and boy was it worth the wait!! Sadly, my husband took the pic on my phone after I'd already started eating and it's not a great one, I'm afraid! But rest assured, it was wonderful!
So, that's it for now but I see a LOT more Quorn in my future!
In the meantime, one of my New Year's resolutions (yes, I do like to keep them) is to work on making my cakes look pretty. I was given a few things to help me 'pretty-up' my cakes, so I hope to show you some of that next time. But for now, if you have any resolutions this year, I'd love to hear them!
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