You won’t believe it’s not beef!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Beyond Meat.  All opinions are my own. 

I am a meat eater.  I am, but I love a challenge, and when I was asked to take the Beyond Meat challenge I couldn’t resist.  I felt like an undercover agent in my own  kitchen, and it was so fun.  The challenge was to substitute a Beyond Meat product for meat in one of my family meals and serve it to the family without telling them.  I decided to make my chili.  This is a dish I make often all year round.  I love my Texas Beer Chili. 

I substituted two packages of Beyond Meat Crumbles for the two pounds of ground beef.  I’ll be honest with you.  I was a little worried.  I actually opened the packaged cautiously and smelled the crumbles.  Mmm!  It smelled so good!  I fried a chopped onion with the Beef-Free Crumbles and Wow it’s so hard to believe it’s not beef!  It looks just like ground beef. 

Using protein from plants Beyond Beef creates delicious products ranging from chicken strips & tenders to meatballs to beef crumbles.

In about 30 minutes my meatless chili was ready.  And you know just like real life, the life of a spy doesn’t always pan out either.  Just before time to eat my husband called and said his brother from out of town was there and he was going out to supper with him.  Darn!  I really wanted to pull this one off on him, but the kids would have to do.  They are of course my pickiest eaters anyway. 

I served our meal like I do on most quick family nights, right from the stove and carried the bowls to the table.  I didn’t want to tip any of them off that I was doing anything special.  We all sat down to eat and I tried not to be too conspicuous as I watched them devour their chili.  When they were about half way through I could stand it no longer, “Do you like the chili?” I asked.  They all said they did. 

The empty bowls proved it!  When they all finished their chili, I cleared my throat to get their attention.  “I have something to tell you about today’s chili recipe,” I said, “There was no meat in it!”  They looked at me really strange. 

That’s when I pulled the package out and showed them.  They couldn’t believe it!

All the kids said they liked the chili and that it was, “Really good!”  Faith said she thought it did taste different from my usual recipe, but wouldn’t have thought there was no meat in it.  It looks, and chews like real meat! 

When Jason came home that night I had him try it, and he too couldn’t believe it wasn’t beef!  The next day he had a big bowl and said it was, “So good!”