I was absolutely starving tonight, so I decided to make something fast and cheap. Hamburger Helper! One problem, no hamburger, and I’m on a diet anyway. No problemo, I have some veggie “beef” crumbles I can use in place of the real meat! I cook it up, taste it…and…ICK!!! I love the fake chicken nuggets and the fake corndogs but no one can make a good beef substitute. So now I am still really hungry and I have a bowl full of stuff I won’t eat! I feel terrible just throwing it all away though, what a waste. Any hungry veggies out there want it?
Maybe I can just pick the “meat” out and eat the rest…
Michi
[Randy Quaid redneck voice]
“Don’t know why they call it Hamburger Helper – it does just fine all by itself!”
[/Randy Quaid redneck voice]
Damn. Now I’m contemplating that box of Cheeseburger Macaroni in the cupboard – and I do have a pound of ground beef in the freezer . . .
Yuck…it’s awful…I guess I am gonna have to throw it out. Hey, Veggies, I tried, I really did. But I guess some things just aren’t meant to change. I’ll always be a meat eater! (no bad jokes, please)
mmmm… just because it doesn’t have meat in it doesn’t mean that vegetarians will eat it.
i can’t stand eggplant. :rolleyes:
Rather than a beef substitute you might try just putting plain firm tofu in instead (assuming you had some and how could any respectable kitchen not).
A vegetarian might be more open to eating this stuff than a hardcore meat lover.
And as for plain tofu…I have experimented with that before…not a good thing.
But, hamburger helper – ick.
I love eggplant. 
I’ve tried Hamburger Helper by itself, and it really sucks. I had foolishly began cooking the noodles before checking to make sure I had ground beef. Without meat (or something), the seasoning mix won’t dissolve completely and it congeals into nasty chunks.
Hey, the Stroganoff flavor of Hamburger Helper really does work just fine by itself. It is a rather common side dish in our household.
Of course, I add some garlic, onions and Worcestershire to it while cooking and extra sour cream at the end but it is really good. You should try it.
However, the Stroganoff is the only HH flavor I have ever had without meat that actually tasted good!
**evilbeth **-- Oh, definitely! My parents gave me a strange look when I told them that it was good. They’re missing out!
Cheeseburger Macaroni is the ne plus ultra, the alpha and omega, the one true flavor of Hamburger Helper. Mmm! I did try substituting turkey for hamburger once, just in the interest of healthiness. I love turkey, but I do not love it in Cheeseburger Macaroni.
I’m the opposite of a vegetarian. I’m a carnivore.
Vege-bibbles do not pass these lips.
Come, Michi, let us dine.
I just recently had the mexican hamburger helper with morning star farms veggie crumbles and it was awesome. I also use the same crumbles for sloppy joes. Good stuff. Another subsitute that you may want to check out is TVP. I think it stands for ‘textured vegetable protein’. It’s EXTREMELY cheap. Just add water to the dry crumbs and viola… meat subsitute.
Are the fake corndogs good? I tried them awhile back and they tasted like cardboard. Morningstar also makes buffalo wings. They are good and spicy.
Boca Burgers are far and away the most meat like non-meaI’ve come across. And I suppose you can crumble them up in you hamburer helper…
“meat-like non-meat I’ve come across”
I dunno – I thought my original reading of this as “meat-like non-meal” was rather accurate . . . 
I’ve used TVP for Hamburger Helper before, and I give it a big thumbs DOWN. I believe it was with the Cheeseburger Macaroni flavor. The TVP came out tasting almost sweet. YUK!
From now on, if I make HH, I’m just usin’ Hamburger. No sense messing up a good thing.
Not really keen on HH anymore, but I know lots of tricks for dealing with substitutes and replacement products. Beef is a hard flavor to replace and as long as you still have a good frame of reference (i.e. you’ve eaten the real thing recently) its hard to fake at all.
Okay, so one trick I use with tofu is to crumble it and sautee it with onion (maybe garlic too) and a little soy sauce before adding it if its a replacement for ground beef.
Side Note: Just fyi Worchestershire sauce has made using anchovies so it is not vegetarian, that’s why I choose soy sauce–although there are some veg-worchestershire sauces on the market if you can find them.
Let’s see…maybe a better vegetarian substitute (than faux products) in HH would be lentils. They have an almost sausage like flavor to them and a consistency sort of similar to ground meats. I think the rule is 1:2 (lentils:liquid) but I’d have to check a book at home.
Oh, don’t get discouraged so easily. If you’re really interested in the veg-lifestyle, I’m HAPPY to help–just let me know. I whole-heartedly recommend a book called “The Gradual Vegetarian” and I’ve got tons of tricks I can share (and I have lots of tricks for easy-fast too!). Visit my website recipe page and my Thanksgiving page currently has links to lots of recipes. Also, there’s a great website http://www.fatfree.com – lots of resources.
OK…I’m giving the fake meat ONE more chance. I went to the store today and I bought a whole bunch of new things to try: organic veggie bowl(szechuan rice), organic Cajun vegetarian meal, Smart Cutlets(a new type of fake chicken), and Smart Ground (beef substitute). The Smart brand stuff comes in see through packages, and from what I can tell, this stuff at least LOOKS more like beef than the other stuff I have tried. We’ll see how it goes!
Check out the Veggieburgers that Hard Rock Cafe makes (and I assume they’re the same all over?). Obviously it’s possible to make a good 'un, I believe the trick is to go for any good flavor, rather than imitating beef flavour!
I’ve made a couple of DISGUSTING veggieburgers my self though, so I can feel your pain! Most of the ready-made stuff has disapointed me.
If you’re looking for something REALLY tastes like meat though, you can’t go wrong with Linda McCartney’s brand. I can’t even eat them 'cause they remind me too much of meat.
I juuust don’t like the flavour of decaying, dead animal flesh, it’s not all about not eating your friends!
— Gunnar Raven