I LOVE most things about being Vegan. I love that my heart doesn't pound when I lay down at night to go to bed. I love that I sweat less! I love that I have much more energy than I ever did/do when I eat meat, or dairy. But, I do miss good cheese and I definitely miss a good burger.
Years ago, when I first went gluten and sugar free, my Dr. recommended at the time that I also go dairy free. While I valued how much better I felt from those food restrictions due to reduced inflammation, my heart (emotional version) just could not handle giving up dairy. I told her I didn't become a Chef to cut out whole huge sections of food from my diet. I knew I would go into a full-blown depression if I had to give up my precious cheese...and IF I cooked anything that required butter, it was REAL butter, organic and from grass-fed cows.
After about a year, when I was adjusted to my new dietary restrictions, I decided to try going without dairy, just to see if it helped me to feel even better. While I cut it out completely for about a year, I really didn't notice a significant change in my overall health, so I added it back in, but sparingly.
Fast forward to today and we are, by choice, mostly vegan. On rare occasions I do eat meat and cheese. As an example, for Thanksgiving we had a real genuine turkey but all of my sides were 100% vegan and delicious. On the rare occasion I eat cheese, that splurge is reserved for a good parmesan for my vegan pastas!
Therefore, I have been on the hunt for a good veggie burger that would satisfy my occasional cravings. Most have disappointed. They can be a pain to make, with less than desirable results. Textures can be weird, and they often fall apart. If you are reading this and have an amazing tried and true vegan burger recipe, please send it over!
Anyway - I was happy to have found this new recipe and with reviews was excited to give it a try. Relatively easy to make. It definitely tasted good, but not like a burger. It had an interesting crunch in every bite. Guessing that is from the ground beans! It did stay together better than most burgers I've tried, but it also kind of mushed out the bottom of the bun as I was eating it, and kind of squished the more I ate. One kiddo has tried it thus far and he gave it a thumbs up as doable, but also reiterated that it didn't taste like a burger to him. I made enough for us to have burgers for lunch everyday this week, and that's OK! As I type this, I wonder if adding a tad bit of Just Egg, my Vegan Egg substitute would help bind it together just a little bit better.
Anyway, here is a link to the recipe if you'd like to give it a try. I made it EXACTLY as written, with no adaptations.