I was very excited when Neat Foods asked me if I wanted to sample/review their product. I had never heard of Neat before, but I loved the sound of it.
Neat is derived from nuts, beans, whole grain oats and other natural ingredients. This product is an easy-to-make, great tasting replacement for ground beef.It’s healthy, it’s quick to make, and it tastes awesome! It’s 100% VEGETARIAN — SOY FREE — GLUTEN FREE — GUILT FREE. I absolutely love this stuff and I’m so glad I was able to test it out and share it with you all. It’s definitely going to have a permanent home in my pantry.
Neat comes in three different flavors: Original, Italian and Mexican. We made these awesome stuffed cabbages below with the original mix.
We also enjoyed these perfect tacos with the Mexican mix – SO GOOD!
We made Neatballs with sauce with the Italian mix, but alas I didn’t get any pictures of that, but it was just as incredible as all the other recipes. I will however share with you our favorite recipe that my husband made for us. This was inspired by Food Network’s Diners and Drive-in’s and Dives that my hubby has been watching. He’s been loving this show lately and wanting to veganize everything he sees. Love that. =)
Enjoy this recipe and check out Neat Foods, you will not be disappointed with this product. YUM!
- 1 whole head cabbage
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 package Neat Original Mix
- 1½ cups cooked brown rice
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- ¼ cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-4 hours
- 1 (28) oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove core from cabbage. Place whole head in a large pot filled with boiling, salted water. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. You will need about 12 leaves.
- While cabbage is cooking, prepare tomato sauce. Combine cashews, whole peeled tomatoes, salt and pepper in a blender and puree until smooth. Transfer sauce to medium-sized sauce pot and heat on medium until it simmers.
- When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to cut away the thick center stem from each leaf, without cutting all the way through.
- Chop the remaining cabbage and place it in the bottom of a casserole dish.
- Add the chopped onion to a non-stick skillet. When onions start to stick, add 1 tbsp of vegetable stock or water and stir. Saute onions until translucent, adding small amounts of vegetable stock or water if onions start to stick. While onions are cooking, prepare Neat according to package directions. Add Neat Original Mix to a non-stick skillet and brown on medium, breaking it up as you would meat, for seven minutes or until browned.
- Mix onions with Neat, cooked brown rice, garlic, salt and black pepper until well combined.
- Place about ½ cup of filling on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the filling. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an envelope. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.
- Place the cabbage rolls on top of the chopped cabbage in the casserole dish. Pour vegetable stock over rolls, ladle tomato sauce on top and cover. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes.
- Serve cabbage rolls with pan juices and tomato sauce.
1. Prepare EnerG according to the box to replace 2 eggs: 3 teaspoons EnerG,
4 T warm water
2. Prepare neat according to package: 2T water & Prepared EnerG
3. Then for the vegan prep only, add an additional 3-4T water so the mix becomes moist
4. Cook according to neat instructions: 7 min in a non stick skillet, breaking it up as you cook, as you would ground beef.
Adapted from Polish Golabki Recipe About.com – there are some nice step-by-step instructions there if you need some.
XOXO,
Jen
Well..yum! I’m really loving the tacos too.
And seeing a new post from you is like Christmas!
Hi Tamara =) We love Taco Night over here, it’s one of the kids favorites and so easy to make =) thanks for your sweet comment, it made me smile!
XOXO
Jen
great recipe, I love your site. Some of your recipes have become our family’s favorites. I signed up for your email!
awe! thanks Amanda, it’s comments like this one that make me so happy, please make sure you subscribe to pure thyme, that’s where I am blogging full-time now =) xoxo