Beastie Burger: CT Entrepreneur Creates Delicious Plant Based Burgers

This is the story of a plant-based burger patty that began with a wedding invitation. 

Our heroine, Lisa, receives her son’s wedding invitation in the mail one day. Joy! But, oh, on that day, she is feeling that she doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, walking down that aisle as the Mother-of-the-Groom, with everyone staring at her. So, to help counter her depression and anxiety, she soon finds a local fitness trainer. In walks Coach Joe, trainer and owner of JOCfit coach, and Lisa’s life begins to change. Even more changes are to come down the road, including, oddly, a little incident with a meat grinder on Rt.8 on dark and stormy night.

As Lisa Nicholas begins her transformation and changes the way she thinks about nutrition and exercise, Joseph suggests upping her daily intake of protein to build those lean muscles. Problem is, Lisa had tried the vegan lifestyle years before and was hitting a wall with food being interesting and, also, getting enough protein.

One night, while driving along the aforementioned Rt. 8, Lisa recounted that a vision of a meat-grinder (a meat grinder? yes, a meat grinder) *popped* into her head out of seemingly nowhere. Sounds crazy, right? We have all had moments where ideas pop into our brains or some little voice seems to whisper an answer or a direction to us, haven’t we? However, though, are we really paying attention and listening? Well, Lisa was. A meat grinder. Intriguing. While she was a home cook, she had never used a grinder, nor owned one. Enter: a good dose of curiosity and Amazon delivery. 

Before long, the meat grinder had become an experiment, as Lisa was intent on finding new ways to up her plant-based protein intake in interesting and delicious ways. What she eventually hit on was a way of combining ingredients that we all love and have in our own cabinets with a few that might be new to us (vital wheat gluten, tofu) but would aid us in our wellness journeys. This new recipe for an alternative burger patty would change the direction of Lisa’s life and focus.

As she combined ingredients and kept experimenting, these non-meat patties started coming into wild, fabulous being. Stevie, her son, who we might add is a carnivore, gave them the Big Thumbs Up. Lisa’s trainer? He now eats four of them a day. She also owes the name of these lovely, little patties to his credit: he calls Lisa and her workout mates BEASTS. 

Hence, introducing the Beastie Burger. The name signals an attitude towards health. Beasts in the gym! Beasts in the journey to wellness! Each of these plant-based burgers-“Classic”, “Italian” and “Chick’n”- is made and packaged by hand at Lisa’s Shelton, CT store, with Lisa mentioning that, for her, wrapping each one is akin to “wrapping a Christmas present”. She is that proud and that excited about introducing customers to these healthful gifts. Quick to extoll their benefits, she says they are the “most nutritious and most delicious burger on the market”. Being low in calories (hovering around 200 calories each) but high in protein, each burger packs in at least 30 grams of plant protein, which helps you stay satiated and filled but without the bloat (yay!) or heft of a traditional burger. One of the best parts, when you look at the ingredients list, virtually everything on it is something that you will recognize such as lentils, tofu, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, vegetable stock and plenty of spices. 

This Beastie may quite possibly become a bestie before long.

Finally, I asked Lisa what she would consider the best way to serve a Beastie Burger and it goes something like this:

1. Grill your Beastie’s for 5 min per side in a skillet. 

2. Place on UnbelievaBuns, which are high-protein, low-carb bread buns. To toast or not to toast is your preference. www.unbelievabuns.com

3. Add: vegan American Cheese, lettuce, a slice of tomato, a few rings of red onion, “perfectly placed” pickles, and a squirt of Sugar-free ketchup.

And lucky note for you all: Beastie Burgers are NOW available in 3 stores:

• Common Bond, Shelton

• Edge of the Woods, New Haven

• Thyme and Seasoned Hamden

Follow them on Instagram @beastieburgerusa and on FB @BeastieBurger