In the past couple years, I’ve been working on cleaning up my diet. It’ll never be perfect (that’s hard … and no fun!), but day to day, I do what I can to make sure I’m fueling my body with healthy foods.
I’ve greatly limited the amount of processed foods I’m eating, and make sure the ones I still do contain ingredients I recognize and trust. I’ve really missed the convenience of veggie burgers. Once a staple in my diet, most have been nixed due to their science-experiment ingredient lists.
I was happy and excited when I got the opportunity to review Sunshine Burgers — organic, vegan and gluten-free burgers that come in a variety of flavors.
They are perfect when I’m in the need of a quick mini dinner after en evening workout, or when I don’t have time to cook a complicated meal.
I was sent samples of six (!) varieties of Sunshine Burgers to try. The first one I dug into was Garden Herb. I tried it plain — just cooked in the toaster oven. It came out crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and I loved the taste. I actually didn’t come up with anything creative to do with this flavor, but the next time I wanted one, I added some stone ground mustard. Delicious! And the ingredient list? Nothing to complain about here: organic cooked brown rice, organic ground raw sunflower seeds, organic carrots, organic spices, sea salt.
I took a suggestion off the box and made “meatballs” out of the Shiitake Mushroom flavor. No, they didn’t taste like meatballs … but they held up nicely and were delicious served with zucchini “pasta” on a particularly healthy-eating day. I just heated up a burger part way, rolled into balls, and cooked for a few minutes in the toaster oven to firm them up.
I liked this idea so much that I did it again with the Hemp & Sage Breakfast flavor.
I also went the breakfast route with the Hemp & Sage burger. I crumbled it into pieces and put into a scramble with kale and eggs. It may not look all that appetizing in this photo (sorry!), but it was wonderful!
I added a Loco Chipotle burger to some leftover chili, a natural match. Once again, not the most appetizing photo … but it was really good!
My chili is pretty simple. I roasted two poblano peppers and a small onion. Then I combined the peppers and onion in a pot with two cans of beans (I used pinto and white beans this time around), a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. Add chili powder, cayenne, salt, cumin and garlic powder to taste. I stirred in some cooked quinoa when it was ready to serve. That Loco Chipotle burger was a nice addition when I didn’t quite have enough left for lunch!
Similar to the Loco Chipotle is the Black Bean Southwest burger. I enjoyed that one by itself, too, but that could work in tacos and burritos. I also got to try the Falafel burger. Tasty, but it needed a little something. I’m thinking a tahini sauce would do the trick!
My local Whole Foods carries Sunshine Burgers, as do some of the Safeway stores in the area. If you want to find them in your area, they have a handy store locator.
Disclaimer: I received Sunshine Burgers for free through my involvement with the Sweat Pink Ambassador Program. I was not compensated any other way. Opinions are my own.
Hi Lauren, it’s Tasha from Sunshine Burger. I really like your meatball and zucchini “pasta” idea. It looks delish! There are lots of ideas for Sunshine Burger recipes on the Sunny Seed up blog, this one has a recipe for creamy Tahini sauce that goes great with the falafel 🙂 http://sunnyseedup.com/?p=822