I've been eating out entirely too much, but aside from that I've played with making things using textured vegetable protein, which is actually kinda cool. It's cheap, pretty green (being more or less the leftover from squeezing soybean oil out) and has a kinda ground meat consistency when rehydrated that means it can go in pretty much anything ground meat would.
Honestly, aside from it just lacking any fat or MSG until you add it in, and basically resembling stinky cornflakes when rehydrated, it's pretty flexible and works okay on its own and as a meat extender. Meatless loaf is generally okay with it (albeit not as good as if you use cheap, fatty ground beef in with it,) and pretty easy to make, and I made a meatless shepherd's pie with it that aside from completely lacking any savoriness in it at all was perfectly fine (next run is getting Worcestershire sauce and anchovy paste added to try and make it better.)