Trader Joe’s has this vegan meatless meat eater’s pizza! Vegan meatless meat eaters!!?? Now ain’t that some royal veganish shizzizits? 😆 Stay with me, my friends. Not willing to let sleeping vegan meatless meat eating dogs lie, I decided to make a sammich (sandwich, if you must) out of this hot mess!
First, this is what the pizza looks like coming out of the oven. Well, half of it. Hubby had already eaten part of it. LOL.
Nutrition PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (PSA) !
Next, let’s get the nutrition PSA out of the way. Unlike what some people will tell you, this isn’t total junk food. It does have some protein, which is generally* good to get.
* Yes, some people have medical conditions which require them to restrict their protein intake. For many people, though, more protein can be helpful. As long as your protein doesn’t come with saturated fat, nitrates, sodium, sugar, and other things which can be harmful in higher doses.
Saturated Fat
Because of the vegan cheese on there, yes it does have some saturated fat, but for half of the pizza (which I think is a reasonable serving size), it’s 5 grams of saturated fat.
Some studies show that limiting saturated fat can help to avoid an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, whereas other studies show conflicting results. Among those who are in favor of limiting saturated fat, the upper maximum varies depending on total calories and/or body weight. For a 2000 calorie daily diet, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 13 grams saturated fat per day, while the Cleveland Clinic recommends no more than 22 grams saturated fat per day. If you bring this down to 1500 calories, that’s a range of about 9-16 grams for upper limits. Either way, at only 5 grams of saturated fat, it looks like one could eat half this pizza without completely wrecking one’s saturated fat budget for the day. 👍
Sodium
For sodium, half the pizza has 855 mg. That’s about 40% of the maximum recommended sodium for an average size person (according to the nutrition label). Yes, that’s a lot of sodium but if this is the only high sodium thing you eat in a day, you could easily still be well under the daily maximum for sodium.
Carbs and Fiber
Calories, fiber, carbs: it’s 375 calories for half the pizza, 58 grams carbs and only 2.5 grams fiber. Some people (example : some diabetics) count carbs to manage blood sugar levels. If someone were going for 1800 calories and 200-2220 grams carbs total for the day, half the pizza would be about 27% of the daily carbs. A pizza with a cauliflower crust might be an option to reduce the carbs.
Regarding fiber, about 25 to 30 grams per day is a good target … half of the pizza provides 2.5 grams, so one would still need to find other sources for the other 22.5 to 27.5 grams of fiber. That is, assuming one is not on a restricted-fiber diet.
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin and mineral wise, the nutrition label shows that half the pizza provides 1.75 mg of iron, which is 10% of your iron needs for the day, and 370 mg of potassium which is 7.5% of your potassium needs for the day. The pizza likely provide other nutrients, but nothing else is listed on the label, other than a small amount of calcium.
Protein
With regards to the protein, I would say 11 grams of protein for 375 calories isn’t dreadful, considering that this is a vegan meat, pepperoni sausage, vegan cheese extravaganza. Hopefully no one is buying this expecting it to be Weight Watchers Delight at Health Club Central. That being said, because at least it does provide some protein, and because the saturated fat and sodium are not off the charts, this food isn’t so bad (as long as the carbs are not an issue for you). Of course, this also assumes that one is not allergic or sensitive to wheat, soy, and coconut.
And Now, Back to My Sammy!
With the nutrition PSA out of the way, let’s get back to my Trader Joe’s vegan meatless meat eater’s pizza sammich / sandwich / sammy!
The vegan pepperoni on the pizza is damn tasty! It’s spicy and not greasy like pork based pepperoni. I wanted to add a bit more nutrition so I sprinkled some hemp seeds on top.
Then I figured, why not add some of my favorite rocket/arugula and maybe fold over the pizza like a New York pizza slice? After that, I got the idea to put some Trader Joe’s vegan creamy dill dressing on top of the rocket/arugula.
See photo above for the creamy dill dressing drizzled (OK, doused!!!) directly on top of the pizza slice, which had hiterhto been smothered in rocket/arugula. 😍 Yes, I love me some arugula! Rocket for our friends in the UK and Down Under!
Once I did that, I remembered how some people like to dip their pizza in ranch dressing. I thought wow, maybe this vegan creamy dill dressing would taste good drizzled directly on the pizza!
Yes! This vegan creamy dill dressing is good on the pizza! Hemp seeds optional. 🤘 Once I did that, I thought wait a minute, I should use this saucy slice of pizza as the top slice of bread and make myself a Trader Joe’s vegan meat lovers pizza sandwich! So that’s what I did and it was awesome. 🥳
If there are any restauranteurs out there who want to hire me for as their veganish fast food concoctions consultant, allow me to put you in touch with my manager. (Does that mean I need to find a manager now? LOL) Enjoy!
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