Beyond Brat for Breakfast

Last night, I bought some Beyond Meat products at the grocery store.

They’re not cheap, and the whole debate about them being healthy is, to me, rather beside the point. I wanted to see how good Beyond could get pea protein to taste.

Four links of Beyond Meat’s Beyond Sausage Brat Original (100 grams each, uncooked) ran me $9. That’s $2.25 per link retail. Each link has 16 grams of protein to 12 grams of fat. (No trans fat, no cholesterol, 500 mg sodium, 5g carbs). 5 grams of that 12 are saturated fats, which is, according to the packaging, 38% less saturated fat than a pork link of the same size.

I grilled up one link, which, as promised, sizzled while it cooked. When it was done, I cut it in half and placed each half on a small Stonefire Nan round and added mustard and half a pickle spear to each round. I ate the finished product like two small nan-wrapped brats.

They were very, very good. I grilled the brat on a Foreman grill, so I could go about my morning while it cooked. It took less than a minute to assemble my nan-brat wraps. It was an efficient, delicious experience.

To try this at home, you’ll need:

  • Beyond Meat Sausage Brat Original (one link)
  • Stonefire Nan Rounds (2)
  • Pickle (1 spear)
  • Mustard

(And, for supreme convenience, a George Foreman grill).

If I were making this for lunch or dinner, a side of slaw or kimchi would have been a perfect compliment. At the moment, I’m still hungry, but that’s my fault for being too lazy to fry an egg or two. And yes, I have fried eggs on a Foreman. Once you account for the tilt, it’s a pretty straightforward process.

The bottom line on Beyond brats: If you’re looking for something that tastes like meat but isn’t, this is a pretty great option. Again, I can’t speak to the health side of it, because everyone has different nutritional needs and restrictions. I’ll be finishing my four pack (just not all in one day).

Literary pairing: Animal Farm (because The Jungle is too obvious and pigs really are smart).

Mission: Impossible Burger

A lifelong carnivore, I have, in recent years, moved to a more plant-based diet (chicken is a plant, right?) I’ve even flirted with vegetarianism and veganism to see, in part, how those approaches impacted my personal health. I’ve found what I think works best for my body and metabolism, but I’m always interested in increasing my plant-based protein intake, and I’m fascinated by the efforts some companies are making to produce plant-based meat that’s indistinguishable from the real thing. And, as someone in the food industry, I think this area of the sector is on to something big.

With the recent news that Impossible patties will soon be available at Burger King, I decided to review their current plant-based offering. You can watch that here:

I also found out that White Castle already has Impossible Sliders. Check that out here:

I had my first fast casual Impossible Burger a few days after hitting White Castle. It was absolutely the best of the bunch, though I haven’t reviewed it yet. I went back recently for another, and the establishment was sold out. Even with an up-charge, they’re in high demand.

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong – The Huffington Post


This is a really long read by Michael Hobbes, and there are many quotes I could pull in the hopes that you’ll read it.  I’m going with this one, because the issue with our food supply is, in my opinion, the biggest public health crisis we talk the least about:

“Since 1980, the obesity rate has doubled in 73 countries and increased in 113 others. And in all that time, no nation has reduced its obesity rate. Not one.The problem is that in America, like everywhere else, our institutions of public health have become so obsessed with body weight that they have overlooked what is really killing us: our food supply. Diet is the leading cause of death in the United States, responsible for more than five times the fatalities of gun violence and car accidents combined. But it’s not how much we’re eating—Americans actually consume fewer calories now than we did in 2003. It’s what we’re eating.”

Fructose is killing us, and, through subsidies to Big Ag, we’re actually paying it to.  Then, when we buy this shit, we’re doing it again.  If you’ve never seen “A Place at the Table,” watch it to see just how this works.  Meanwhile, foods that make us healthy (fresh produce) remain out of reach for so many, and institutions (the medical community, the political establishment) act like there’s a free market, efficient market with people simply making informed choices based on preference.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Source: Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong – The Huffington Post

Confession: I Don’t Do the Seven Fishes

I’m going to be honest. I’ve never, in my life, done the Feast of the Seven Fishes. I know my dad’s family did when he was growing up, but it’s one tradition that the Boomers in my family seem not to have kept up with.

Another confession: I stopped eating fish all together a few years ago, because I’m fairly certain we have outright poisoned the ocean with plastic and radiation.

I’m sad to have never done this, and unless things drastically change, knowing that I never will.

 

 

Source: 2nd Day of Christmas: Feast of Seven Fishes Recipe | Italian Sons and Daughters of America

Oh, Kashi, Only 8 People Believe You

Not sure when Kashi launched their new page/PR campaign to quell the backlash over their use of a bunch of crap they say they don’t use, but if you Google “kashi” the first thing that comes up in the sponsored results in a link to this page:

Really, guys, they mean it this time.

Wait, What? (Avocado Edition)

Avocados (Persea americana) Français : Avocats...
Avocados (Persea americana) Français : Avocats (Persea americana) (Photo credit: Wikipedia). They're freakin' berries!

I love avocados.  They’re a savory, wonderful fruit great in soup, dip, or as an edible base for delicious mango salsa.

But did you know that specifically, avocados are berries?

Wait, what?

Exactly.  And I think I just got a new angle for the next video blog series.

Posts I Liked This Week

I may have liked more, but these are the ones for which I pressed the WordPress Like Button this week:

What We Saw: Cars (Bridgetown Blog)

Urban Colours (Cropping Reality)

New Zealand 2010 (broken blabs and blurbs)

Find Rest (Vintage Pages)

Don’t Tell Me What To Think! (Lakia Gordon)

Appreciate to Ignite the Flame (Seasoned With Youth)

Love (Cropping Reality)

Are Blackberries Really Black? (Sister Earth Organics)

Heavenbound and No Earthly Good (Sweetie Pie)

The king, his speech, and why I’m going to rule the world (My Business Addiction)

Me myself I (singlemaltmonkey)

What We Saw – VW Beetles (Bridgetown Blog)

Minicards in 4 Colors! (tchem)

State of the Union (Sweetie Pie)

Pictured: A Random Day in This Writer’s Life (Sherri Phillips: The Power of 26)

I subscribe to all of these blogs.  You should, too.