Soyrizo Stuffed Mushrooms

I know I’ve been talking a lot about my new home life this year, but I still have more to say. This time, I want to talk about living in a (basically) vegan household.

When we decided to move in with John, he said he hadn’t had meat in the house for 12 years. Tony and I decided that it would be ok to only have meat when we went out to eat, but eliminating cheese was a deal breaker, and John compromised. Since we’ve lived here, though, I’ve barely eaten any meat or cheese (even while out), and I’m rarely dissatisfied, which continues to shock me. I’m still technically a meat eater, though I understand how important it is to eat much less of it. I’m interested in it mainly for environmental reasons (what’s best for the overall harmony of the earth is also best for us individuals), but haven’t officially put any labels on myself for several reasons:

1. I never decided to officially take the stance to become a strict vegetarian or vegan for my own reasons. I started by just trying it out to respect my roommates, and it ended up being easier than expected. I don’t want to call myself an official vegetarian or vegan until I have made that big decision myself.
2. I think it is more beneficial to be willing to eat the food that would only be wasted if you were strict about your diet, especially because I think it tastes great (for instance, the leftover pepperoni pizza that a house guest left in the fridge).
3. If I consume sustainable, organic meats and cheeses, the trend of producing better products might just continue. If I completely avoid those things, the industry will still only be catering towards people who don’t care at all about the quality of their food.
4. There are a lot of people in my life that are turned off immediately when you use the buzz words, so even if I never eat meat again, I feel like I could probably get more people to listen to me if I just don’t say the word.

Anyway, the funny thing about my vegan(ish) household is that these boys are very meat and potatoes kinda boys. We have fake meat and fake dairy everything! I’m still a snob about a lot of it, because I know the taste of real meat and dairy. But I have learned that certain things are almost identical. One of those things is Soyrizo, which is a substitute for Chorizo, a Mexican sausage. Ben eats a Soyrizo scramble almost EVERY single day for breakfast. I ate it with him for about a week, and then got totally sick of it. But then one day, he stuffed it into mushrooms. and stuck them on the grill just like that. They are awesome with just these two ingredients, but we also occasionally add leeks to the top, and they would probably be good with cheese or sour cream (real or fake). Soyrizo Stuffed Mushrooms. The easiest, quickest, realest tasting fake meat recipe you could make.

If you’re looking to cut some meat out of your diet, the transition can be easy. Try starting out by learning to make a bunch of vegetarian dishes first before actually committing to vegetarianism. Then you’ll have plenty of dishes in your arsenal and it won’t be hard to think of what to make. This recipe will help you out, because you’ll think you’re eating real sausage, and you won’t even have to deal with all the gross stuff they normally put in sausage- win win!

Chorizo Stuffed Mushrooms

Yield

16 mushrooms

Prep Time / Cook Time

10 minutes / 10 minutes

Activity Guide

Bike Touring, Car Camping

Ingredients

• 12 ounces Soyrizo
• 16 large mushrooms (we used baby portabellas)
• 1 tablespoon canola or olive oil
• (Optional) Leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced

Tools

• Campfire or grill
• Cast iron skillet
• Foil
• Tongs

Method

1. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and reserve for another use.
2. Stuff the mushrooms with soy chorizo.
3. Heat the oil in your pan and arrange the mushrooms in it. After about 5 minutes, lower the heat and cover the pan. Cook for about 5 more minutes or until the mushrooms are soft and the soy chorizo is hot. Another option is to cook the mushrooms on a grill—just be sure that they don’t fall through the grate, either by using a grill pan, or using larger mushrooms. Enjoy!