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Vegan Mofo 2016 Day 3: Pumpkin Black Bean Burgers

November 3, 2016

Ever made a recipe and have it be so awful that you had to revisit it again? This happens to me often. A recipe is floating around with some great flavor back bones. You think they should have a perfect flavor combo but it just lacks basic cooking know how. This happened with some pumpkin black bean burgers. The recipe was made by a non-vegan, and clearly didn’t know how to bind together the burgers. In their defense, they were probably also trying to avoid grains.

So when Vegan MOFO did the prompt asking what my “easy cook” meal would be, the answer was frozen burgers. But I know it would of been pretty boring if I pulled out some existing burger from my freezer and slapped it on a bun. So it gave me the chance to make a much better tasting pumpkin black bean burger.

When given the chance I ALWAYS try and bake my burgers. Why? It makes freezing much easier. It also makes grilling much easier. I can just grab a few burgers from my freezer and hand them to a host of a BBQ. People will always ask how to “grill” it, and I just say load up on oil, and heat all the way through. You can also toss these guys back in the oven, or just flip them in a small skillet. Heck sometimes these burgers make their way crumbled on a salad or in a wrap (did you check out my WIAW yesterday?).

This recipe specifically makes A LOT. I mean 8 on the low end if you like big thick burgers, 12 if you like small burgers for those store bought bagged hamburger buns. I am a firm believer that if you are using a food processor, you might as fill that bad boy up since it takes up so much space on the drying rack.

Now that I have baby on the way, these burgers will get eaten for sure. There will be too many nights where I won’t want to or don’t have the time cook.

Curious about some nutritional information? Well I happened to plug the recipe in Cronometer and I am happy to report these burgers are pretty good for the body (and soul). Remember these numbers are for if you divide the recipe up into 11 patties, so if you get 8 patties the numbers per burger will be higher. I got 7 grams of protein in that small patty, 5 grams of fat (with 37% of your omega-3!), and 27 grams of carbs (with 8 grams of fiber.)

I just screencapped the nutritional values for people see. And if you are thinking that isn’t that many, it just gives you more reason to eat a second burger, or make a double stacked pattie! I mean we haven’t even added the nutritional values from the lettuce, tomato, onions, hummus, bun, or whatever your imagination can think of the dress up that burger.

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Posted by Jennifer in Recipe, Vegan Mofo, Vegan Mofo 2016 Tags: black beans, burgers, freezer, pumpkin, recipe, Vegan MOFO, vegan mofo 2016

8 comments

My Vegan Restaurant: b.good Medford & Mount Laurel, NJ

August 31, 2016

mountlaurel

b.good

26 Centerton Rd, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
500 Rte 73 S, The Promenade at Sagemore, Medford NJ 08053
More locations in MA, NH, NY, CT, ME, NC, RI, Canada & Switzerland
website | facebook | instagram | twitter | youtube

I don’t normally like giving updates on restaurants since I know they can change so much. Especially in this case- a chain. New places are going to open, often. But I kind-of felt like I needed an update. One I’ve tried so much more on the menu, and two I really like how this place tries to keep things local. Plus the new location is rather close to where I live, so I find it really nice.

Let’s start with their new locations. If you follow this blog because you like seeing restaurants in the NJ/Philadelphia area, there are two new locations to pay attention to. One is in/near the King of Prussia mall. I never go here, so I know nothing about this location. They have another location in Mount Laurel, which is right across from the new Virtua Health and Wellness Center. I like this since I swear most places surrounding hospitals are fast food joints. They also have started to expand to North Jersey and the NYC area. If you follow this blog for fun and aren’t even in the United States- good news! B.good is expanding out to Canada and Switzerland. Not sure how big the franchise will actually get in those areas though.

mountlaurelinside

What’s vegan? The options are pretty large. Salads, grain bowls, burgers, smoothies, and acai bowls. The grain bowls are their upgrade to the quinoa bowls, as reviewed in the older post. Pretty much you can get any of their bowls with quinoa or their super grains mix, which I thought was a little over cooked, but still tasty. If you aren’t quite full from their salad or grain bowl, you can add grilled tofu, chicken, or a hard boiled egg. What I like is that their tofu is supplied by Philadelphia brand Nature Soy, and is the same price as the chicken.

We tried their online ordering service, and it was pretty awesome. It is very easy to customize your food, we were able to order the Adopted Luke and Buffalo veganized. The food was ready when I got there, and if you want you can schedule when to pick up your food. The local New Jersey locations also does catering, which is great if your company needs some food for business meeting.

The owners of b.good have expanded into the juice making market. They are debuting their fresh pressed juice under the name 4 Petal Fresh Pressed Juices. There aren’t any grand plans for the juice franchise yet. Their website was a pain to find, and very outdated. The Mount Laurel location had both juices and “agua frescas.” Though the juice is more expensive than what I would spend, they aren’t anymore than other slow press juices on the market.

As always I recommend checking out the website before going to the chain. Why? Each location can vary, since you know, it is suppose to be all local. The location near you might vary differently with the ingredients in the sauces. But below is a quick review of the food that my husband and I have tried to give a quick little sampler of what you can get

ACAI BERRY SMOOTHIE – This was so-so. The smoothie was pretty icey and didn’t seem blended up all the way. The flavor didn’t come through all the way, which is a bummer.
LUCY BLUE – On the other hand this smoothie was full of flavor. It still didn’t get blended up enough, but I did see the guy blend it 1 1/2 cycles to try and get the dates all blended up. But I really liked it, just wished he left the second cycle run all the way
REAL FRIES – These were really thick fries. They brag on the bag that the fries have less fat than normal french fries, which can be great for some people.
SWEET POTATO FRIES – These were super tasty. Sadly we had them to go so they got a little soft and floppy but I think would of been perfect if we ate them there
CRISPY VEGGIES – That’s the description and I was envisioning various veggies cut into long strips and fried. Nope. Just steamed veggies.
SPICY AVOCADO & LIME QUINOA BOWL – I reviewed this my first visit and really loved it. You have to ask for no cheese to make it vegan. But the sauce was super yummy, and it tasted great with the quinoa (though it was the only option at the time)
TOASTED ALMOND & GINGER SUPER GRAIN BOWL – Another bowl with a great tasting sauce. The whole thing was massive and super filling (I think even more than when I got the Spicy Avocado Bowl.) I tried the super grains instead of the quinoa and some of the grains felt over cooked. I think I would stick with the quinoa.
WEST-SIDE VEGGIE BURGER – Wasn’t a fan of the patty, but my husband loved it. Very “chunky” with vegetables and not too many umami flavors. This burger you have to ask no cheese, but it works out well with the spicy sauce and guac.
ADOPTED LUKE VEGGIE BURGER – I think my husband and I agree this is our favorite burger. Since the burger lacks umami flavors, the onions make up for it. Ask for no cheese to make it vegan.
BUFFALO VEGGIE BURGER – I love everything “buffalo” flavored. Sadly, they either nixed the sauce or didn’t put enough! I had this burger to go, so I was home to added my own sauce. The veggies were nice on the burger, though I wish they cut the celery thinner. Ask for no dairy/cheese.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Reviews, Tour NJ, Traveling, Vegan Pitstop Tags: b.good, burgers, food chain, my vegan restaurant, omni restaurant, restaurants, Tour NJ, vegan pitstops

2 comments

My Vegan Restaurant: b.good Medford, NJ

March 25, 2015

storefront

b.good

500 Rte 73 S, The Promenade at Sagemore, Medford NJ 08053
More locations in MA, NH, CT, ME, NC, and RI
website | facebook | instagram | twitter | youtube

I have an unspoken rule that I try to avoid chains when talking about restaurants on this site. There are many blogs that give vegan ordering hacks at major chains like Chipotle and Panera. But I make excepts for budding businesses, or chains that vary drastically for the menu, like Loving Hut.

The other day I was trying to find a good vegan friendly restaurant near by that would be good for a lunch, maybe a smoothie. And I stumbled on the website for b.good foods. They opened a location in Medford in a shopping plaza known for their higher end shopping, including a Mac store, Anthropology, LLBean, and Pottery Barn Kids.

locations

The chain’s goals are pretty simple- fresh and local foods. It is hard to promise that with a chain, even when it is still fairly small. But they don’t kid around. When entering the store there is a big chalk board with local farmers and bakers that they get their food from. Although it seems like all stores have the same core menu, each location does have some specialized foods. There were even some baked goods to buy from Wild Flour Bakery inside, even with a vegan option.

Although they boast healthy food, I would say it is hit or miss on how healthy your meal can be. There are lots of combo options, which can quickly add up in calories. But if you keep it simple, a burger, salad, or bowl, you are looking for a reasonable meal- ranging on average from 400-600 calories. The lowest calories is in a salad, 284 calories, and the highest calories is in a burger, 710 calories. Neither are vegan so who cares?

cashier

So if the menu isn’t 100% vegan, what can you get? Answer: A Lot.

The menu had cute little v’s written next to vegan items. But realistically, almost anything can be made vegan. Most the salads and the kale and quinoa bowls are vegetarian and have cheese added which can be taken out (lemon-caesar ving, lemon-mint ving, jalapeno ranch, and croutons not vegan though). They have a vegan burger pattie and vegan buns! Again, you might have to ask for some modifications for their specialty burgers, like no cheese or bacon. So you can come into the store craving a light salad, protein packed kale & quinoa bowl, or super filling burger, with options in each category.

Some of the sides are vegan, though these change the most during seasons so always ask if they are vegan. But even in this category you have a lot to choose from, including fries, veggie chips, and some smoothies. I am sure you could request modifications to make a non-vegan smoothies to be vegan as the only non-vegan ingredients are honey and yogurt. There are no soy options for milk shakes though, bummer.

shake

So hows the food? Well I got a acai berry smoothie to drink right away and the spicy avocado and lime kale and quinoa bowl to take home. I wasn’t blown away by acai berry smoothie, but this might just be a reflection of my changing opinions on smoothies. This one wasn’t too sweet which I liked, but was really icy thick. It was so thick that it probably prevented it from blending all the way. Truthfully, I don’t think smoothies are their main focus since most people don’t get smoothies to accompany their meals.

After about an hour of running errands I got home and dug into my bowl. Even sitting around for an hour it still tasted great. Because let’s face it guys, if you are taking out your lunch or dinner, you might not get to it right away. Everything tasted fresh and flavorful, I could tell the corn and green beans weren’t frozen, and cherry tomatoes tasted like they weren’t refrigerated. Just to point out, the spicy avocado and lime kale and quinoa bowl technically isn’t vegan, I asked for it to not come with cheese.

kalequin

I am a little bummed that I didn’t grab a burger during my visit, but before visiting I did my research. The website said that the local bakery they used didn’t make vegan buns for the burgers. Bummed out I emailed the company to share my disappointment. Guess what? After I got home with my food, I got an email back saying they changed the recipe to be vegan awhile ago and never updated the site! How awesome is that? I am not putting it against them that they didn’t update their website since they are trying to keep track of several different locations. It is hard to have each and every ingredient correct for so many different foods with several locations. But one of biggest pet peeves is when restaurants have vegan burgers but no vegan buns. No Zinburger, I don’t want a salad, if I wanted to ’86’ the bun I would of been reading the salad section. End rant. Point is this place has great customer service and has lots of options for vegans.

Overall this is a nice place to dine with a vegan or non-vegan friend. There is something for everyone. And if you aren’t vegan a lot of the salads and kale & quinoa bowls can have chicken added to it for an additional price. There are also lots of sauces and vinaigrettes that are dairy and egg free which is a plus for vegans and allergy sensitive people.

Posted by Jennifer in Food Review, Reviews, Tour NJ, Vegan Pitstop Tags: b.good, burgers, chain, food chain, kale and quinoa bowls, my vegan restaurant, omni restaurant, restaurant, salads, smoothies, Tour NJ, vegan pitstops

Tag Archives: burgers

Vegan Mofo 2016 Day 3: Pumpkin Black Bean Burgers

My Vegan Restaurant: b.good Medford & Mount Laurel, NJ

b.good

My Vegan Restaurant: b.good Medford, NJ

b.good

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