Miss Rachel's Pantry

Prices vary by dish, starting at $16 for a 24 oz. portion of a meal like edamame potato ravioli and heading up to $35 a person or more for a three-plus course dinner party cooked in your home. Make sure to plan ahead if ordering: Rachel says that "for individual meals and casseroles, three-days notice is preferred. I like to have bigger events (like weddings/large parties) booked two to three months in advance." A sample list of dishes is available on the Miss Rachel's Pantry website, and you can email her at missracheslpantry@gmail.com to make an order. Or if you want to grab a dish on your own, Miss Rachel's soups are available at South Philly's Green Aisle Grocery.

I tried three meals from Miss Rachel, home-delivered in plastic containers and ready to heat-and-eat:

Soy ham, mashed potatoes and spinach: This was by far my favorite dish, thanks largely to the soy ham (or as Miss Rachel calls it, "hammie"), which I would list as one of the best meat substitutes I've tried recently. The golden-brown half-discs were tender, not tough or chewy, and had a wonderful taste of maple. These were paired with rich-tasting wilted spinach and mashed potatoes. The potatoes were creamy, whipped with rosemary and the potato skins. There were also, somewhat inexplicably, a couple of corn kernels in the potatoes. The corn didn't taste bad in the potatoes, but it was distracting — it was there, but not in a large enough amount to really add corn flavor.

"Chicken" salad: Comprised of tofu mixed with bits of carrots and broccoli, this salad had a nice texture and the rich mayo taste you'd expect from a good chicken salad. The best part by far was the smoky chunks of tempeh "bacon" that dotted the top, which I would have welcomed more of. This was served on a mixture crisp-fresh spinach and lettuce.

Lasagna: Oh, the never-ending vegan fake-cheese battle. Even though I eat a fair amount of vegetarian and vegan cuisine, cheese is always tough (literally and figuratively). Previous tastes of vegan cheese-substitutes have left me with a grudge against the rubbery, oily stuff that masquerades as "cheddar" at the supermarket. The cashew-based cheese on Miss Rachel's lasagna was a welcome departure, paired with soft noodles and tomato sauce. While this was delicious, though, I did wish there was a little more going on with it. If I had it again, I would probably request the Loaded Lasagna listed on Miss Rachel's website, which includes "homegrown basil, tofu ricotta, cheesy cashew sauce and ground meatie, layered with lasagna noodles, veggies and marinara."