Looking for Tasty Kosher Veggie Burgers

[Bzdhkap]

We're trying to incorporate healthier and lower fat convenience foods into our weight loss plan, and I'm looking for recommendations for your favorite (reliably kosher certified) veggie burgers.
Just tried Dr. Prager's Italian style burgers last night, and they were definitely not to our taste.
Before wasting money on others, I was hoping to narrow the choices based on your recommendations .
Thanks so much!

[websterhall1994]

My husband (a huge carnivore) and I are addicted to Yves Meatless Beef Strips. They are easy to add to any dish (we've been doing steak n' eggs for breakfast) and fully cooked. Very tasty- you don't even have to flavor them. The texture is excellent too. Each serving is just
120 calories, 1g fat, 1 g fiber, equal to 2 points on Weight Watchers.

PS Cheesecake- I'm with you- the Tomato Basil burgers were putrid!

[midasgold]

Berel made a good point; I was simply recommending that people look into the benefits and risks of soy on their own. Though I acknowledge the risks, personally I happen to LOVE the stuff, and here are my favorites:

Parve burgers: Lightlife (parve) burgers, with the "grill" lines. I've found those to be really tasty, especially with melted cheese; on the other hand, I've found the Tivi Valley (parve) vegetarian burgers (also with grill lines) to be way too dry (but for 99 cents per 4-pack at Gourmet Glatt a while ago, it was, as they say, "such a deal").

Parve chicken: Our favorite is the Garden Gourmet drumstix. Gotta love those cornflake-coated drumettes!

Parve sausages: Trader Joe's carries two very different parve sausages; both, I feel, are very tasty and priced well. Surprisingly, the Trader Joe's brand is the more costly (per oz) of the two; it's a breakfast sausage that's out of this world, in my opinion. The other is Tofurkey brand Italian sausages (only the Italian variety of Tofurkey sausage is available at Trader Joe's, and it's priced far less that when I see it in health food stores); it's perfect in pasta sauce, grilled with melted cheese, etc. Two very different flavors.

I'm a cautious realist, not a fanatic. Though I caution against a steady diet of soy, on occasion I - and my family - indulge. We knew a self-proclaimed vegan who dropped dead from cancer at a very young age, though she claimed to always be eating healthfully, she only used organic products, etc. (She did consume large quantities of soy products, by the way).

Enjoy!

[ganeden]

BS"D

Not impressed with your story about the vegan who dropped dead from cancer at a young age. I had a nonsmoking friend who died young of lung cancer. When evaluating such things, we look at populations, not individuals. Aberrant results occur, but on a very small scale at the edges of the bell curves. Statistical data supports only the benefits of soy as a complementary protein.

[Kosher Carnivore]

Craig:
Please don't introduce rationality into such discussions! ;-)

[cheesecake17]

Those burgers were something nasty.. I couldn't bring myself to finish the box of them.

I like seitan strips as well as veggie burgers. You can do a whole lot with them, and they absorb whatever flavor you add to them. The veggie crumbles (in the tube, not Morningstar) are pretty good too and work well in noodles with 'meat' sauce or baked mac with 'meat'

[ferret]

Don't recall the brand but Costco sells burgers (and sometimes "nuggets") in the coolers by the cheese and treyf meat in a clear, divided plastic tray. I recall the ones I had were made with mushrooms, among other ingredients -- and OU certified. Pretty good.

[marissaj]

perhapd you mean lightlife or yves? not as good as the ones i mentioned above imvho.... and i say this as a lifelong vegetarian.

[mcfish]

I thought this was a board to discuss kosher food, not the health benefits or risks of soy.

[berel]

I'm just as concerned about my physical health as I am my with spiritual health.

I don't see a problem about warning people about the soy "problem" and recommending that people look into it

[ferret]

The problem (to me) is how the "warning" is presented. It's one thing to say "I believe soy is unhealthful because ...." Quite another to say "don't buy soy." There's a lot of misinformation out there and it doesn't help anyone to present it all as "fact."

[marissaj]

agreed. morningstar farms original grillers or garden gourmet (tival in israel) is the way to go...

[cheesecake17]

ooh.. i forgot about the garden gourmet ones- those are pretty good

[ravchaz]

I like Morningstar Farms' entire line of products, most all of which are certified. The only ones that aren't are a handful of products which contain cheese. They are all pretty tasty although the veggie burgers don't necessarily taste a lot like meat.

Tivol products from Israel (sold in the States as Garden Gourmet) have a more meaty flavor but I find them to be a bit dry. When I can get them I buy them, because I also like the idea of supporting the Israeli economy.

[cheesecake17]

The Morningstar burgers are pretty good. I used to eat the Grillers chopped up on a salad for lunch. I pretty much like all of their burgers except the tomato basil pizza type. There's usually some kind of coupon for Morningstar products in the Sunday paper or online. While many of the kosher supermarkets have the Morningstar products, I found that large chain supermarkets have the biggest variety (and they usually go on sale often)

If you're up to it, you can make your own with chickpeas, lentils, or beans and veggies. i've made them in the past, and they're soo much better than the store bought type.