This was my first time trying any Gardein product, and as soon as I pulled the food out of the package my expectations went from being hopeful to thinking it was going to be terrible. Nevertheless, I pushed on and gave it a try. There are three ways you can prepare this food, you can bake it, boil it or microwave it. The packaging suggests microwaving it as the best method, and that's exactly what I did. I popped a few holes into both the meat alternative and into the sauce and threw it in. The packaging suggests 2-2.5 minutes in the microwave, but I only needed 1.5 minutes in the microwave, and then waited another 2 minutes to let the food cool.
The cooked veggie "meat" looks nothing like the picture on the box, but that's to be expected since no heat and eat food I've ever tried has ever come out resembling anything like the picture on the box. The Santa Fe Good Stuff meat alternative is filled with, but not stuffed with black beans, corn, onions and hints of jalapeno pepper. The meat alternative is a little spicy on it's own, but also comes with a packet of spicy tomato sauce that adds an extra kick for those who are a fan of spicy food.
Looks aside this product tasted pretty good and the company did a good job of trying to make it taste like chicken. The texture was nice, not rubbery and again in this aspect as well you can tell the company was trying to get it as chicken like as possible. The spice factor was a bit too much for me though, I am normally not a fan of spicy food and only used about a 1/4 of the tomato sauce.
This product works as both a diet food and a health food. Overall I think vegetarians would love this and it might cause meat eaters to develop an interest in vegetarian food.
Ingredients:
water, soy protein isolate, vital wheat gluten, expeller pressed/canola oil, organic ancient grain flour (kamut®, amaranth, millet, quinoa), onions, natural flavors (from plant sources), yeast extract, sea salt, potato starch, organic cane sugar, pea protein, carrot fiber, organic beetroot fiber, garlic powder, onion powder, extractives of paprika and tumeric. rub: red bell pepper flakes.stuffing: black bean, corn kernels, jalapeno peppers, expeller pressed canola oil, onion powder, garlic powder, white pepper, parsley flakes, sea salt.sauce: water, tomato paste, onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, organic evaporated cane juice, expeller pressed canola oil, corn starch, sea salt, vinegar, spices, xanthan gum, chili flakes, ground chipotle pepper.
