Vegetarian Ventures: Gardein's Santa Fe Good Stuff Chik'n

Hooray for a new feature on The EE! Every few weeks, I will be highlighting a new affordable, vegetarian-friendly product/food/ingredient that I've discovered, with my review of it. I think this will be a fun way for the former omnivore in me to share my challenges, successes and discoveries with you all as I transition into a vegetarian lifestyle.

For today's post, I am reviewing one of Gardein's "fresh" products: Santa Fe Good Stuff chik'n.

Courtesy of gardein.com.

I had heard good things about Gardein's products, so I was really excited to give their stuffed chik'n a try. However, once I opened the box I immediately became skeptical. The chik'n, which looked like an egg-shaped blob, was sealed in a plastic bag, waiting to be slit open and microwaved for two and a half minutes. A zesty tomato sauce came with it - thank god - and when I opened the microwave to put the sauce on the chik'n, I was overpowered with the smell of fake. Still willing to give it a shot, I waited for the chik'n to cook, took it to my table, and dug in.

The texture of Gardein's chik'n actually was very similar to actual chicken. But nothing else about this product was similar to chicken. The taste had an overwhelming flavor of soy that was thankfully a little hidden by the tasty sauce and black bean and corn filling. I was happy to discover, though, that this one small piece of chik'n packed 19 grams of protein - especially because I had half a day of snowboarding left to do. 

Overall, Gardein's Santa Fe Good Stuff was not my favorite. I've had other chik'n products that don't taste so...vegetarian. Gardein has a whole slew of products that I'm willing to try, but now I'm just extra skeptical. 

What new foods have you tried recently? 

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