Product Plug: Yves Veggie Dogs

The first time I was a vegetarian was when I was 13. For about six months, I stayed away from chicken, beef and pork. For two months after that, I ate some chicken. Then, at camp, I crumbled into a million pieces after smelling the bacon everyone else was eating for breakfast. Ka boom.

Anyway. One of the things that my mom picked up for me was some tofu-ground meat stuff and some tofu dogs. Holy hell, were they ever gross. Texture, taste...yuck. Just...yuck. The ground tofu stuff was put in a casserole in an attempt to disguise it. EPIC FAIL. The tofu dogs were even worse. I think I ate part of one, and chucked the rest.

Understandably, I've been leery of the various meat replacement products I've seen in my local produce department. There's also so much choice! Cajun, cheese flavour, tofu, veggie, help! Last week I picked up some tofu to play with (and figured out that bits of fried tofu, plain or on salad, and strips of fried, garlic salted tofu dipped in tzatziki are darned tasty) but hadn't quite gotten up the nerve to try the meat replacement products. Today, I did.

I tried Yves veggie dogs. They smelled like real hot dogs coming out of the package...a good sign. I zapped them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, still smelled good. I tried them, and they were AWESOME. They weren't as salty as beef hot dogs and had a slightly different texture (a teeny bit spongy) and squeaked a bit in my teeth (which I found rather charming). All in all, an excellent purchase.

Incidentally...mental note to self: when walking to the grocery store to purchase a bit of stuff (fruit, wild rice, veggies, yogurt, oatmeal) DON'T WIND UP BUYING 35 POUNDS OF STUFF. Half a mile isn't that far, but now your fingers are tingling with pre-blisters and your back hurts like a bitch. SAVE THE QUANTITY PURCHASES FOR WHEN YOU'VE DRIVEN OR GONE WITH SOMEONE. Thank you...your disgruntled body.

On a totally related note, I'm off to take a hot, HOT bath.