Why do you have it?  I love burger and sandwich recipes.  I also have previous experience with Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites, so I thought it would be worth plunking down my precious pennies.

Well, why hadn’t you cooked from it yet?  A combination of newness and not thinking I could find anything quick to cook from it (weekends were a bit booked so I didn’t have time that I would spend otherwise on a more complicated meal).

Did you have difficulty deciding on a recipe?  There were several recipes that I wanted to make, but none were within my time budget for a weekday.  Then… I found it!

What did you make? Bean and Nut Burgers.  I was sold on the description:  “We’re proud to present a burger that’s ready in minutes and made of simple ingredients you’re almost guaranteed to have at all times in your fridge and pantry. Not to mention the most important part: it really is a treat to eat!”

How did the cook go?  It was truly a miracle.  I, in fact, had all of the ingredients for the burger in the fridge and pantry.  It was ready in minutes.  I’ve made many a bean burger before, but this was my first experience with putting nuts within, so I didn’t know how that would go.  The recipe was otherwise straight forward and given what went in, I had generally positive feelings.  My favorite thing about this book is that it gives you weights for just about everything.  None of this “2 medium potatoes” malarkey, they give you grams to shoot for.  Further, I did appreciate this particular recipe had an option to use fresh onion and garlic instead of granulated.  This was so quick I had the time to splurge on some super-quick chopping.

Did you modify?  Because we know you can’t help yourself.  I surprised myself.  No modification… at least to the ingredients.  I did a combo of shallow pan-fry (cooking spray) and then bake to finish it off.

How did the eat go?  So good!  This has to be the best veggie burger I’ve made to date.  The nuts give it a little extra richness, they aren’t pulverized (you get some nice chunky bits) and it was bursting with flavor and not entirely too messy to eat.

And The Husband? Again, I didn’t get much of a reaction after the first bite… but my fears were assuaged when he gave his “Mmmmm” of approval after the first bite.  He said it was second only to the Veggie Brothers pioneer burger (which, I must say, isn’t really my thing, but he liked it as it was most reminiscent of the old burgers we used to eat back when).

Will you cook from this book again?  Yes, yes, 100 times yes!  There are so many burger recipes I want to try, including making buns and breads.  I just need the time to do so, but I feel much so inclined to make the time.

So, can vegan sandwiches save the day?  Oh, absolutely.  And certainly not just my day.  I advocate them fully.