A veggie burger made from "Nature's Burger" by Fantastic, on a wholegrain sprout bun with a slice of Tofutti cheese. Organic green grapes, baby carrots with some cannellini bean hummus, and some pretzels. Verdict: I'm happy with these burger patties. They come in a dry mix that you add boiling water to. The main ingredients are brown rice and mixed dried vegetables, which I feel better about than the usual processed soy patties. They stay tender and don't get rubbery when cold like the Bocas, and best of all Little shmoo liked them, too! He ate well over half the burger, all the grapes and carrots with dip. He didn't touch the pretzels, which is probably healthier than eating them! 4 stars.
27 comments:
did u find the whole wheat sprout buns in the local supermarket or is that from a health food store?
Hi, anonymous -- they were from my local health food store.
Cannellini bean hummus - same as regular chickpea hummus except cannellini beans instead of chickpeas? Great idea - definitely one I'd like to try making.
tofutti cheese slices have casein (animal protein) in them :[
if you'd like an alternative to tofutti, check out the 'uncheese cookbook.' it has lots of great recipes for creating your own cheese :]
Hi, stephanie -- perhaps the Tofutti slices have casein where you are, but here they are 100% vegan, no casein. I ran and double-checked just to make sure. I love the "Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook", too.
Hello I am Carson, I am 7 I look at your website every friday and saturday. I really like your website. Today for my lunch I had carrots and dip and pretzels too. I have a lunchbox like yours
run, don't walk, to eathufu.com - it's a vegan human flesh alternative. heh.
I thought that Tofutti cheese slices were vegan everywhere? I never heard that they weren't.
From the Tofutti website:
"6. Do any Tofutti products contain dairy?
All of our products are certified Kosher Parve, which means that none of our products ever contain any dairy whatsoever. This means no milk byproducts either, such as casein, whey, or skim milk powder. In order to make certain that there is no dairy in a product, always look for a Kosher Parve symbol. That symbol certifies that the product is completely dairy/casein free."
totally unrelated but i just wanted to say, Carson, your comment here was so cute, and I think it'd be awesome if more kids like you checked out Jennifer's blog!
also, jennifer, i'm obsessed and cannot stop reading. i'm addicted.
-shae
About the kosher symbol, I seem to remember reading some time back that they were allowing foods to be labelled kosher if they were "almost" okay. Sort of like labelling things organic when they are xx% organic. So I am not sure how much this can be depended upon.
Jennifer,
If you like the Uncheese Cookbook, have you ever tried Joanne Stepaniak's recipe for Better Burgers (Vegan Vittles, Nutritional Yeast Ckbk)? They're made from TVP and are incredibly simple. We think they taste quite a bit like Amy's Burgers, which we love.
Another thing my friend Katie at frugalveggiemama.blogspot.com and I discovered is how to make leftovers into veggie patties by adding a binder. For example, adding a little breadcrumbs or flax-, corn-, or oatmeal to a leftover bean or bean and rice dish and forming into patties and baking or pan frying. Just a thought! :)
Ruthie
hi :)
i love the fantastic food burgers :) if you make them as the directions say and then crumble them they're really good mixed with homemade taco seasoning in tacos, i use the mix to make "meatballs" for pasta dishes, and i like to crumble it into lasagnas and sloppy joe recipes :)
-deva
libellula03@gmail.com
I understand what you mean about the kosher thing. However, casien isn't "almost ok". (I'm Jewish, btw, although I don't keep kosher myself.) The fact that there may be some dairy contamination due to the machines being used to make dairy products is "almost ok".
Anyway, even if they were letting the casein slide, they still have to cater to the "allergic to dairy" customers, of which they have many, and including casein in something labeled "vegan" would be lining themselves up for quite a few lawsuits.
I love the Nature's burger mix, too. I can get it in bulk in my local grocery store. I like to add other things to it, as well. One of my kid's favorites is adding beans and rice to the mix before cooking. Yum!
Hi! I am a brand new reader, and I just wanted to say that I am officially hooked! These are incredible lunches; I'd love to take every single one of them to work with me! You are quite a mama and a huge inspiration!
Seems you forgot the lettuce and tomato on that burger!
Yes, they get mushy on the burger. If I wanted to pack lettuce and tomato I would place them in a seperate ziplock bag to be put on the burger just before eating. But really, my child would wail in agony at the sight of raw tomato and lettuce anywhere near his burger.
Pickles can add interest to a burger. I use the thin sliced bread and butter pickles. I don't know why they call them that. Does little schmoo despise tomato and lettuce altogether?
I love Fantastic Foods! This looks wonderful - as always!
What will you be doing for Thanksgiving?
I baggie my lettuce and tomato as well. I'm surprised he doesn't like them on his burger. I always found/find the plain 'ole burger/bun/cheese combo to be too dry.
We love Nature Burger at our house!
I've always liked lettuce and tomato, too. Little shmoo has just now started eating shredded lettuce as a salad, but he will not go *near* a raw tomato.
Has Little Shmoo tasted a garden-grown tomato?
I like sliced tomatoes with either a little salt and papper or a little sugar on them.
Or a tomato sandwich, made with the otherwise despised white bread and a little mayonnaise (I'm ovo lacto, but I assume there is a vegan mayonnaise alternative.) The delicate flavor of thinly sliced tomatoes can't stand up to other types of breads.
Or, a lettuce sandwich with white bread, lots of crunchy iceberg lettuce, yum.
Thanks, Tamara!
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OMG, I just listened to Erik's Diner! I can't believe he said all those wonderful things about my blog!!! I am dying.
I too just heard about you from Erik.
Can't wait to pass it on to my mommy friends.
Lucky Shmoo!
This is a fabulous site! I don't have kids yet, but these ideas are inspiring.
A note on Boca burgers: in addition to getting "rubbery when cold," as you mentioned, Boca is now owned by Oscar Mayer and most Boca burgers are made with genetically-modified soy, ick.
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