I'm not much of a red meat eater, but a girl can get tired of ground-turkey tacos and Boca burgers. Enter Harmony Valley's vegetarian "hamburger-style" mix.

The Fort Collins-based company launched in 2010 with a mission to create a protein-packed, nonfrozen, healthy, vegan meat substitute that would…drum roll…taste delicious. The dehydrated just-add-water mix (packaged in a five-serving pouch) comes with recipes for everything from meat(less) loaf and ultimate nachos to hearty lasagna soup. I chose to make the shiitake-Gruyère burgers, adding a cup each of sautéed mushrooms and cubed cheese plus a splash of Worcestershire sauce. A few minutes later, I had a pan full of savory, sizzling ground "chuck." While too loose to form into burgers (probably more user error than anything else), I folded the mixture into marinara for a just-right vegetarian pasta dinner.

Available at Whole Foods and Sunflower markets or online.