Hey Sol-Searchers and Sol-Mates, the time has come to announce our Store of the Week; today, we would like to acknowledge Swarthmore Co-op, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Swarthmore Co-op stands out, not only for being a Sol Cuisine retail location, but as a grocery store that is committed to delivering local, organic and sustainable foods while also developing community outreach programs like The Real Food Festival. During this festival, the co-op joins forces with local farmers and food enthusiasts to discuss industry topics such as farming and the state of our environment and economy.

Swarthmore Co-op will be celebrating their 75^th year of business this October, having pushed through challenging economic times only to re-emerge as an establishment with deep roots that will be a long-standing neighbourhood marketplace. Over the years, the co-op’s membership has vastly grown to over 1000 owners and with such an enormous supportive foundation, Swarthmore Co-op has a bright future ahead – complete with enriched minds and bellies!

Swarthmore Co-op is open to both members and non-members alike and is located at 341 Dartmouth Ave. There you can find Sol Cuisine’s Almond Grain Burger, Mushroom Rice Burger, Spicy Black Bean Burger, Original Burger, Veggie Breakfast Patties, Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs and Organic Veggie Crumbles.

To serve 4, you’ll need:

• 8 Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties (American product here)
• 2 McIntosh apples, sliced
• Cilantro to garnish
• Dash of salt and pepper to taste

For the Gluten-Free Hash Browns:

• 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, grated
• 3 tbsp. of chickpea flour
• ½ cup of grapeseed oil

Roasted Tomatoes:

• 2 large tomatoes, halved
• 2 gloves of garlic, minced
• A drizzle of olive oil

Roasted Red Pepper & Mustard Dip:

• 2 red bell peppers
• ½ cup of whole grain mustard

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F.
2. Place halved tomatoes (face up) and red peppers (face down) on a baking tray, then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Roast tomatoes for approximately 25-35 minutes, checking frequently.
4. Begin preparing the gluten-free hash browns by pressing grated potatoes in a cloth to absorb all the moisture. Mix the dried out potatoes with chickpea flour and grapeseed oil – the potatoes should be very lightly coated.
5. Pack potatoes into palm sized patties and begin frying when tomatoes have 10-15 minutes to go. To fry, add grapeseed oil in a deep pan, wait until sizzling and then dump in potato patties until cooked and golden (about 3 min. a side).
6. Cook your Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties in a separate pan lightly drizzled with grapeseed oil for approximately 3 minutes a side, following package directions.
7. When veggies are roasted, remove peppers from tray and place into blender (skin on) along with mustard and blend until smooth – leave tomatoes in oven (off) to remain hot.
8. Place dip in a saucer with cilantro garnish.
9. Slice apples last to avoid browning.
10. Plate your dish and serve!

Using our Sol Cuisine Almond Grain Burgers that are Non-GMO Project Verified, we’ve created a meatless masterpiece that makes a magical side dish for any meal! Mm-mmm-mmm… just marvelous!

To make our meatless hash (serves 4), you’ll need:

•  2 Sol Cuisine Almond Grain Burgers (American product here)
• 10-20 mini potatoes, cut into 6 or 8 small pieces
• 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• Salt, pepper, paprika and chili powder to taste
• Optional: chopped red peppers, chopped jalapeno peppers, other chopped veggies as desired…

 Directions:

1. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a non-stick pan, add garlic, onions and cook on medium heat until translucent.
2. Add potatoes and stir-fry until cooked. (If potatoes aren’t cooking, try adding a few drops of water to your pan and putting a lid on to steam them).
3. Take potato mixture out of the pan and place in a bowl.
4. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in the pan and add your two Almond Grain burgers, coating both sides in the olive oil. Cook about 2-3 minutes on each side, until golden brown and slightly crispy. Be careful not to overcook!
5. Transfer Almond Grain burgers to a cutting board and chop them up!
6. Combine potato mixture and chopped Almond Grain burgers in the pan and season to taste.
7. Enjoy. We recommend a nice, big bowl!

Usually, we at Sol Cuisine nominate one Store of the Week but hooray for May because today we have several!

Our Store(s) of the Week are the four new Whole Foods Market regions launching our products in May. Now you can buy Sol Cuisine in most Whole Foods  locations across the States and all of them in Canada! In our books, that’s reason to celebrate (well, that the weekend has come is exciting, too)!

WE WELCOME:

The Rocky Mountain Region, where you can find our Almond Grain Burger, Mushroom Rice Burger, Original Burger and Veggie Breakfast Patties.

The Southern Region, where you can find our Almond Grain Burger, Original Burger, Spicy Black Bean Burger and Veggie Breakfast Patties.

The Mid-Atlantic Region, where you can find our Veggie Breakfast Patties.

&

The Pacific Northwest Region, where you can find our Veggie Breakfast Patties.

Specializing in high quality, organic and natural foods, Whole Foods’ many locations are great places to find our delicious, non-GMO, gluten-free and vegan options. If you need further information on where to find Sol Cuisine, send us an email at info (at) solcuisine (dot)(com) or visit the store finder on our website.

We have to acknowledge Cadry for her remarkable site, her collection of whimsical and instructional videos she creates with her husband and driving an hour and a half to pick up Sol Cuisine items for review! For her candid evaluation, and inspiration on how to top your Sol burger, click here (we love the way our Almond Grain Burger is featured).

For an elegant spin on tofu, try her Grilled Lemon Rosemary Tofu recipe (she even has a how-to video for this one!):

You’ll need:

• 1 package of Sol Cuisine Organic Tofu, pressed and sliced into 3 wide slices (or 6 short slices)

Marinade:

• Juice of 1 large lemon (about ¼ cup)
• 1 tbsp. tamari soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
• 2 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced (or 1 tsp dried)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• A few shakes (or grinds) black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a shallow pie dish or small baking dish.
2. Soak the tofu slices in marinade for 1 hour, flipping once halfway through.
3. Set the grill to a medium heat and grill slices for about ten minutes on each side or until they have nice, brown grill marks.
4. Serve with a salad, grilled vegetable skewers, barley, or on a sandwich.
5. Enjoy!

Today’s Meatless Monday recipe comes from Michael, the master behind www.mvegetarianrecipes.ca, whose hobby and passion is to develop creative vegetarian recipes. Michael runs a successful marketing communications agency, the adlib group, has been a vegetarian for 30 years and credits Sol Cuisine’s tofu as his absolute favourite! “My cooking goal has never been to prove meat and seafood eaters wrong… I simply want to prove to them that vegetarian cooking is way more delicious and equally satisfying.” The fruits of his culinary expertise can be found on his blog and here today, as we feature his Grilled Indonesian Style Tofu with Peanut Mango Salsa recipe. Art, flavour and absolute satisfaction!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 tbsp. ground coriander
• 1-1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil – more for the grill
• 1 tbsp. Sambal Oelek (Asian chile paste)
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 cakes of fresh Sol Cuisine Organic Tofu

Salsa

• 2 cups of fresh mango (small dice)
• 1 roasted red pepper (small dice)
• 1/2 cup of coarsely chopped roasted peanuts
• 1/2 cup of thinly sliced green onions
• 3 tbsp. chopped basil
• 1 tbsp. chopped mint
• 1 tbsp.  minced jalapeño
• 2 tbsp.  lime juice

Directions:

1. Heat 2 tbsp. of oil in a small frying pan over low heat. When hot, remove from heat and add ginger, coriander, turmeric and garlic powder. Mix together well.
2. Mix together Sambal Oelek, brown sugar and salt. Add spice mixture and stir well. Mixture will be a thick paste.
3. Cut Sol Cuisine Organic Tofu into 1/2 inch planks. Coat tofu with a smooth layer of the paste and let rest at room temperature to marinate for an hour.
4. Mix together salsa ingredients including the remaining 1 tbsp. of oil.
5. Prepare a counter-top or stovetop grill and oil well. Set to medium high. When hot, grill tofu planks until nicely grill-marked – about 4-5 minutes per side.
6. Serve hot or at room temperature with salsa.
7. Dig in!

Opening their doors in 1977, Down to Earth has grown over the years to become Hawaii’s largest and locally operated natural food store chain. In fact, next month, Down to Earth will be celebrating their 35^th anniversary – and with a vegetarian and health food focus, this is a remarkable accomplishment! “We remain a community-based business whose mission is to promote healthy living among our island communities, respect for the environment, sustainable organic farming, and a vegetarian lifestyle.” Appropriately, Down to Earth has won countless awards as the best health food store in the state, with the most recent from Honolulu Magazine (2012) and The Star-Advertiser (2010 and 2011).

As the company supports local organic farmers and environmental sustainability, Down to Earth provides customers with an abundance of organic produce, grown without using most conventional pesticides, fertilizers, ionizing radiation, or GMOs.

With such great values, we truly support Down to Earth’s focus and we are so proud to have Down to Earth support Sol Cuisine. Find Sol Cuisine in Down to Earth’s Kailua location at 201 Hamakua Drive:

Check out their website for more details; in addition to providing your grocery needs, they offer enriching events like block parties, information sessions and cooking courses! In honour of their upcoming anniversary, you can win a number of prizes so be sure to enter!

We’ve just declared – oh so proudly and oh so happily – that Sol Cuisine products can now be purchased online and delivered right to your doorstep! We’ve entered into the vast world of digital shopping thanks to Pangea, The Vegan Store. So, it is only appropriate to declare Pangea as Sol Cuisine’s Store of the Week (kudos to them for bringing us up to speed with these modern times)!

Pangea is your “one-stop-vegan-shop” that offers an extensive online catalogue where you can find a wide-range of basic and specialty vegan needs. From vegan foods, to animal-free outerwear, to cruelty-free make-up and cleaning products, to… well, you get our point! Pangea has an impressive list of goods and we’re honoured that Sol Cuisine is included in their collection.

Visit Pangea at 2381 Lewis Avenue in Rockville, Maryland, or visit their website by clicking on their store logo above. You can also find Pangea on:

Although already posted below in our previous entry, we’re so excited we’ll repeat ourselves:

CLICK HERE for a direct link to Pangea’s Sol Cuisine line, which includes:

Sol Cuisine Spicy Black Bean Burger

Sol Cuisine Mushroom Rice Burger

Sol Cuisine Almond Grain Burger

Sol Cuisine Original Burger

Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties

Sol Cuisine Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs

Sol Cuisine Organic Veggie Crumbles

We have a short, sweet and VERY EXCITING announcement: Searching for “Sol-Food” just became easier!

Pangea Vegan Products, a store based in Rockville, Maryland, sells Sol Cuisine products ONLINE! How amazing is having Sol Cuisine delivered to your door?

**Shipping costs vary by location, and please note that most of our products are frozen. Ensure to take appropriate precautions and recommendations before confirming shipment. Not to worry, however, Pangea does offer cold packs and insulated cartons for perishable goods.**

CLICK HERE for a direct link to Pangea’s Sol Cuisine line, which includes:

Sol Cuisine Spicy Black Bean Burger

Sol Cuisine Mushroom Rice Burger

Sol Cuisine Almond Grain Burger

Sol Cuisine Original Burger

Sol Cuisine Veggie Breakfast Patties

Sol Cuisine Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs

Sol Cuisine Organic Veggie Crumbles

Happy Shopping!

(Click store logo to visit their general website)

Are you familiar with a particular “ribwich” offered by a certain fast-food franchise, which has developed a bit of a cult following over the years? Well, we thought we’d give that ribwich a Sol-ful vegan spin that’s all flavour and considerably less fat!

This recipe uses our fabulous gluten-free, organic and certified vegan Sol Cuisine Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs, which we’re SO proud to announce are certified non-GMO by The Non-GMO Project!

We paired the “ribs”‘ BBQ sauce marinade with tart dill pickles and some onion slivers. This is a quick and simple meal that doesn’t neglect taste or nutrition. For a great side dish option, cut up and bake a handful of sweet potato wedges with just a drizzle of oil. If you’re living gluten-free, make sure to go for a tasty gluten-free bun. This is truly comfort food that won’t make you feel guilty after you indulge, so dive in!

Ingredients:

• 6 Sol Cuisine Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs, Canadian product here.
• 1 dill pickle, thinly sliced.
• 2 tbsp of onions, slivered.
• 1 fresh baguette style bun

Instructions:

1. Place Sol Cuisine Organic BBQ Tofu Ribs in warm skillet and cook for 3 minutes per side, following package directions.
2. Once cooked, layer baguette with “ribs”, pickles, and onions.
3. Serve and indulge!