Since John is a vegetarian, sometimes protein choices can be tough. There are burger type items out there like Morningstar patties, but they are small and not really like a burger. So, Beyond Burger is trying to fill that void.

These were on sale at the store, so I picked some up on a whim for us to try. The nutrition is as follows: 290 calories, 22 grams of fat, 5 grams saturated fat, 20 grams of protein,
The ingredients include water, pea protein isolate, canola oil, and refined coconut oil. A lot of fat, actually.

They look like hamburgers:

They are supposed to cook for about 4 minutes on each side, but it took a few more minutes than that. You don’t need anything other than a spritz of cooking spray because a lot of oil comes out of these during cooking. The weird part is that they remain pinkish in the middle forever – no matter how much you cook them – so if you like your burgers well done, these might creep you out LOL!

We used a little finishing sauce on these, which is why they are so dark:

It holds it size and shape and really is similar to a hamburger… almost. For John, who hasn’t eaten meat in a few years, he thinks it is pretty much a burger. For me, it is easy to tell it’s not meat. The texture was firm and the flavor was good. Not really beefy tasting per se, but a lot better than other veggie burgers on the market.

For the calorie count, though, I would stick with a regular burger. These are something that we will bring to any cookouts for John to have to be part of the burger bunch, so it’s a great alternative for that. I imagine a lot of vegetarians (and non) would think these were a tasty thing to try as well.

The garden is peeking out more and more now:

We are going to go at the lawn again this year and got serious with a soil test:

John took a sample from the lawn and I took one from the garden bed. They look darker from this angle, but they are pretty much in the normal area. The garden bed is slightly more acidic, but overall pretty good. I just want to get in there digging, but it’s too early.

Those of you following on Facebook saw that Pixie was sick. (This next bit might be TMI for you, so skip down to the x-ray if you want ). I woke up on Monday to find that she had vomited and it has some plant material in it. That’s not unusual. If she gets to a plant and eats it, she vomits it up. I didn’t think that much of it, but then we just found vomit all over the first floor. It was pretty much all water and throughout the day, it seemed a huge amount of water each time since she wasn’t eating or drinking. Plus she got more lethargic as the day went on. So she had a trip to the vet.

Her tummy was really tender and the vet said the amount of watery fluid she was bringing up was a red flag for blockage. I had taken a picture of it to show the vet what was happening. So, she ordered fluids and barium for Pixie and then a morning x-ray. They offered to keep her overnight, but I didn’t want to leave her there. Since the barium coats the stomach and is heavy, it was probably somewhat soothing to her tummy. She was moving around gingerly and in the evening she came and just sat like this with her front paws touching my lap for the longest time:

It was weird, but I was glad she seemed more alert. I think laying on her tummy hurt more than just sitting did.

X-rays came back looking good:

The white is the barium. If that white patch had been to the left on the screen, that would have meant nothing was passing through the stomach. The vet said the weight of the barium might have coated and moved the blockage so it passed. Whatever the reason, she seemed to be feeling a lot better. She started eating again (we are giving her tiny portions periodically) and is a lot perkier. Not back to her normal self yet, but on her way, thank goodness. Thanks for the well wishes for her!