Last month I picked up a case of Soy Curls at Food Fight.Yes, that does mean 12 pounds of them. There’s a big plastic food storage bin down in our pantry filled to the brim with them.

That's right, TWELVE POUNDS!

I don’t make them a lot, but as far as foods that are more processed goes, these are pretty minimally processed. What’s more they’re tasty, versatile and pretty low calorie.

Our main market doesn’t carry them yet and we tend to nearly empty out the bulk bin at Food Fight when we’re there, so last month I decided to just order a case. They’ll keep well down in the cool pantry. I could also put some into the freezer.

Maybe I’m already starting to plan out how we’ll live out in the country on a handful of acres — bulk shopping!

*Just happened to spot that the Arbor Lodge New Seasons, “our” neighborhood market, has started stocking Soy Curls in the same area you find legumes.

In honor of VeganMoFo, and bowing to the need to come up with a whole lot of vegan food to write about, here’s a review of a product I’ve come to love in 2010! I don’t have any ties to Butler Foods and wasn’t given a sample to try out. This review comes purely from my appreciation for a good product (well, and needing stuff to write about).

We don’t eat a lot of faux meats in general, but when we do we try to stick with some of those that are somewhat less processed. Once in a while we get some Tofurky slices and the occasional package of sausages from Field Roast. Aside from those, we stick with tofu, tempeh, and loads of beans.

Given those habits, I resisted falling in love with Soy Curls. At first they were my guilty pleasure when dining out. I particularly liked them on the sopes at Los Gorditos and in the fabulous chicken salad sub at DC Vegetarian. I assumed they were some kind of heavily processed product involving lots of “soy protein isolates” and such stuff. Really, the stuff I generally try to avoid, but the Soy Curls were so delicious that I thought once in a while, as a treat, it wasn’t so bad.

Then one day it happened. We were at Food Fight and there were packages of Soy Curls on the shelf. I stood there stunned at finding out that they are made from whole soybeans. Not an isolate in sight. Not organic, but specifically non-GMO soybeans.

So I bought some and into the pantry they went. Honestly, I kind of forgot about them for a little while. I didn’t try cooking with them until the evening we were in need of dinner after putting in several hours volunteering at VegFest. We were out of lots of our usual ingredients and didn’t have any beans made up. Out came the package of Soy Curls.

I first opted to saute them with some onions in a cast iron skillet. We added some BBQ sauce to the mix, piled the results onto a hunk of a Peace Bomb from Dave’s Killer Bread, and called it dinner. Wow, just wow.

From there we went for fajita style – a saute with bell peppers and onions. Piled the results into a corn tortilla. Wow, again!

Christie has found she likes them right out of the bag. Kind of jerky like.

I’ve started to experiment with soaking them in a quick marinade instead of just water. A recent fave involved a soak in a marinade of water, maple syrup, and a little tamari. Then a quick saute with some onions before serving on a bed of brown rice, peas and BBQ sauce. Giving them a quick, flavored soak just makes them all the more delicious.

If you’re in the Portland Metro area check into the store at Bob’s Red Mill. They carry packages of Soy Curls for a very good price. We picked up 5 packages last time we were there stocking up on 25-pound bags of chickpeas.