Showing posts with label vegan products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vegan products. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Fav Vegan MoFo Product: Sunshine Burgers

Even as a kid I wasn't a big fan of burgers.  The texture of ground beef grossed me out, so when I explored  vegetarian burger options, it wasn't necessary for me to find a "burger" that resembled a beef burger.  Actually, the further it is from a beef burger, the better.  


When I discovered Sunshine Burger's Garden Herb in the natural foods store, I found my perfect burger.  The ingredients are very simple and nutritious: Organic Ground Raw Sun-flower Seeds, Organic Brown Rice, Organic Carrots, Organic Herbs and Sea Salt.  
The herbs are understated, but pronounced enough so that the burger isn't bland at all.  You can definitely taste the sunflower seeds, but they are balanced nicely with the rice and carrots, and not overwhelming.  Some people might not like the texture.  It is not firm like a burger, but soft.  I'm guessing that it wouldn't work well on a grill.  However, it is not dry like falafel and doesn't fall apart easily.  The ingredients work together as if egg binds it, even though it is vegan, so it functions like a burger better than some vegan varieties do.  
The burger takes very little time to cook, so it is the perfect meal on the go.  And, it tastes great in wraps and between bread.  I'm still enjoying the tomatoes from my garden, so delicious, ripe tomatoes have accompanied these burgers in a lot of meals the last two weeks.  Here is Saturdays's recipe:

Sunshine Burger w/ Garden Fresh Tomatoes Wrap
  • 1 Garden Herb Sunshine Burger
  • 1/2 medium tomato, chopped
  • handful of mesclun or any young greens
  • 1/3 onion, sliced
  • 1 1/2 T hummous
  • 1 tsp. salsa
  • olive oil or olive oil spray
  • chopped kalamata olives (optional)
  • 1 medium-large size tortilla shell

Spray pan with olive oil spray or add 1 tsp. olive oil to medium sized cast iron skillet or non-stick pan.  On medium-high heat, saute onions for 3 minutes.  Turn heat down to medium and add burger to skillet. Cook burger and onions until burger is gently browned on both sides, adding more olive oil if needed.  When burger is cooked, remove from heat.  Warm shell thoroughly on both sides.  Spread hummous and salsa on shell.  Crumble up burger, add onions, tomato, kalamata olives and green.  Fold and serve.  


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Vegan Mofo Fav Food: Sweet & Sara's Marshmallows

I'm not a big fan of marshmallows, probably because they aren't technically vegetarian AND come out of a plastic bag. Typically, I prefer savory over sweet. My son has a sweet tooth, though, and when I saw Sweet & Sara's vegan Vanilla Marshmallows at Cooperstown Natural Foods, they became my 'impulse' purchase of the day.

What I loved about these: they don't taste as disgustingly unnatural as most marshmallows do. Where some vegan products fail is that they often try to replicate a food item, but the vegan version will end up being way more processed than the meaty counterpart. For example, I can't stomach most vegan cheeses. Taste horrible and the ingredient list is far from natural.
What Soren loved: They taste better than marshmallows.
These are handmade and the texture is so much nicer- a little firmer. They keep for several weeks and need to be refrigerated. I cut them up in bits and add them to my brownies- although Soren and I found that they taste better added the minute the brownies emerge from the oven.