Who Says Vegans Can't Eat Steak?

Yep, that's right. We can have our steak and eat it too. Of course, this isn't a recreation of the nasty, bloody butcher shop steak. These are little soy-based Vegan Black Pepper Steak bites from VegeUSA's Vegetarian Plus line:

I was sent a couple of free coupons to review a few of their products. But my Whole Foods currently only carries their Vegan Black Pepper Steak. So I tossed a box in my cart last time I went to the grocery store.

You can really do all sorts of stuff with these little peppery bites. But since this is a frozen food, I figured I'd keep the whole meal convenient by buying a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies to accompany my steak. In less than 10 minutes, this lovely Black Pepper Steak Stir-fry was on my dinner table:

Well, it would have taken much longer if I hadn't prepped my brown rice the night before. But I did, so the meal was easy-peasy.

As for taste, these little yummers are quite delish. They don't taste like cow steak though. In fact, the taste is very similar to other Asian-inspired Vegetarian Plus meats I've tried (like their Kung Pao Chicken). Sort of a gingery, salty-sweet chewy seitan. They're actually soy-based, not gluten-based. But they have that meaty seitan texture.

Here's what's in 'em: Water, Soybean Fiber, Soybean Oil, Soybean Protein, Carrageenan, Food Starch, Raw Cane Sugar, Sea Salt, Caramel Color, Black Pepper Granule, Yeast Peptone Powder, Enoritake Mushroom Essence, Natural Vegan Flavor, Soy Sauce Paste, Paprika.

Not bad. All pronounceable, real foods. My only qualm with the product is the pricetag. Although I was able to review these for free, one box costs nearly $7 at my Whole Foods! And although the package claims to hold four servings, it's really more like two servings ... unless you eat like a bird (which I do not). If you have money to shell out on convenience foods, give these a try. They're delicious. But if you live paycheck to paycheck like I do, you might just wanna eat tofu instead.