We love a bit of Mexican heat during the winter months, especially if it’s as delicious and nutritious as Natural Nutritionist Ricki Heller’s Mexican Tofu Mole. Ricki was kind enough to share this recipe with us, so that we could share it with all of you! This recipe is perfect for anyone who suffers from gluten, dairy, egg and meat intolerance or sensitivities. It’s chock full of vibrant veggies and stimulating spices. So start cooking! Thanks Ricki!

Check out Ricki’s Original Recipe HERE

Find recipes, tips and more on Ricki’s site, Diet, Dessert and Dogs

Ingredients:

• 1 block Sol Cuisine Organic Tofu
• 2 Tbsp (30 ml) extra virgin olive oil, preferably organic
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp (30 ml) chili powder
• 1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp (1 ml) ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) chili flakes
• 1 large can (19 oz or 560 ml) diced tomatoes
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, minced
• 1-1/4 cups (300 ml) vegetable broth or stock
• 2 ounces (60 g) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 10-15 drops plain stevia liquid, optional
• cooked brown basmati rice, for serving
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) natural smooth almond butter

Instructions:

1. Cut the tofu into small cubes 1/2-1 inch (1.5-2.5 cm) big.  Heat 1 Tbsp (15 ml) of the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat; add the tofu and cook until the cubes are browned on most sides.  Remove tofu to a bowl.
2. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp oil to the pan along with the onion; sauté until the onion is translucent, 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and spices and continue to cook for a couple more minutes.  Add the tomatoes, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, broth, chocolate and stevia. Stir to combine. When the sauce begins to bubble, lower heat, cover, and simmer for ten minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into a heatproof blender or food processor (in batches if necessary) and purée until smooth. Return to the pot along with the tofu cubes and bring to a simmer over medium heat; lower heat, cover and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick, up to an hour.
4.  Gently stir in the almond butter and continue to cook until heated through, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid scorching. Serve over rice. This is great accompanied by a green salad. Makes 4-6 servings. May be frozen.

It’s that time of year again! Valentine’s day has crept up on us. We’ve whipped up a recipe for Sol searchers to impress their significant others (and significant hopefuls) and for solo-flying Sol searchers who want to indulge themselves without the guilt on a holiday centered around candy and chocolate. We developed a delicious gourmet pizza that will impress both the most intense foodie and the vigilant nutritionista in your life.

This pizza’s star ingredient is our Almond Grain Burger, which is both vegan and also Non-GMO.  We complemented the Almond Grain’s rich, nutty flavour with sweet potatoes, caramelized onions and fresh pineapple.

This pizza is also a great option for a fabulous Friday night dinner in with the girls and also a quick weeknight on the go dinner. So feel free to enjoy it outside of the confines of Valentine’s day!

Happy Valentine’s Sol Searchers May your day be full of love, veggies and positive vibes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium sweet potato (halved, quartered and thinly sliced)
• 1/4 onion thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup Pesto
• 1/2 cup pineapple
• 1 thin crust whole wheat pizza crust
• 2 Sol Cuisine Almond Grain Burgers

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spread Pesto on pre-made pizza crust
3. Top pizza with sweet potato and pineapple
4. Caramelize onions in 1 tbsp butter (or vegan alternative)
5. Lightly cook Almond Grain Burgers for 1 minute per side. Then slice into triangles and spread over pizza.
6. Place pizza into the oven for 14 minutes.
7. Remove from oven & enjoy!

Photo Courtesy of TheBrit_2 | flickr.com

Whether you’re a Giants or Pats fan, you still gotta eat. While we’re particularly fond of Mr. Brady and his Patriots, we’ll forgive you Giants fans and still provide you with a slamming chili recipe that will bring together even the most staunch football rivals. The best part of our chili? You can have all the warm, comforting and hearty goodness of a meat-based chili with less fat, and sans the animal products and gluten. For those who are watching their waistline in preparation for the post season, it’s a great way to stay on track without sacrificing your favourite foods, and for those who aren’t, well, it leaves more room for beer.

Check out the Sol Cuisine Hearty & Wholesome Veggie Chili using our Organic, Gluten Free and Local Sol Veggie Crumbles! (Canadian product here)

Click here for a printable recipe card.

Angela Liddon is the creator of Oh She Glows, a popular, healthy vegan recipe website that gets over 1.9 million page views a month. Since 2008, Angela has been chronicling her life, favourite vegan recipes, photography, and musings on body-image, career happiness, and self-love. Her work has been featured in magazines such as O, Fitness, Self, Veg News, Chatelaine, Glamour, Glow, and Best Health. Chatelaine Magazine named her as one of Canada’s Hot 20 Under 30 Women of the Year and she was recently selected as Foodbuzz’s Best Overall Blog and Best Veg Blog. Angela’s passion for healthy vegan food is contagious and she’s eager to show others that vegan (and often gluten-free) food can blow your taste buds away.

We chose Angela as our first Blogger of the Month because she combines her sense of humour, her cooking genius, and unmistakably kindhearted writing voice in a way that makes Oh She Glows as irresistible as her delectable creations. We are honoured to have Angela as our first Blogger of the Month, especially since it gives us an excuse to try more of her drool-worthy vegan recipes.

Make sure to check out Angela’s Blog , follow her on Twitter , and like her on Facebook

Check out Angela’s Recipe for Crispy Breaded Tofu Strips & Sweet Potato Fries!

Photo Courtesy of Angela Liddon

Instructions

1. Press tofu (as shown in post). Rinse the tofu with water and place a couple kitchen towels on the counter. Wrap the tofu with another towel and place heavy cookbooks on top. Let sit for at least 20 minutes to soak out the water.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the milk and cornstarch in a shallow dish. In another bowl, mix together the cornmeal, breadcrumbs, salt, and spices. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400F and grease 2 baking sheets with oil. Slice the potato into fries and then coat with 1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cumin, and a couple pinches of salt. Lay out on greased baking sheet.
3. Slice tofu into 8-9 strips, lengthwise, depending on how thick you want it. With one hand dip the tofu strip into the milk mixture and then into the cornmeal/breadcrumb mixture. Use other hand to sprinkle dry mixture all over the tofu. Coat both sides entirely and then place on baking sheet. Repeat with the rest.
4. Bake tofu on middle rack and fries on bottom rack at 400F. Bake for 20 minutes, then flip the tofu and fries, and then bake for another 15-20 minutes until crispy (watch fries carefully!). Remove tofu and broil the fries for a few minutes, watching carefully, until golden and charred in some spots. Remove and serve everything with ketchup!

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Photo Courtesy of Angela Liddon

Make sure to head over to www.ohsheglows.com for daily posts & delicious vegan recipes from Angela and keep your eyes open for her upcoming cookbook!

*Are you a vegan, gluten free or flexitarian food enthusiastic blogger? We’d love for you to send us some information about your blog and enter to be considered for our blogger of the month. If you’re interested (we pay in veggie burgers & tofu!) shoot an email over to lauren(at)solcuisine(dot)com

Ingredients (Salad):

• 1 head of kale, stems removed and leaves broken into bite-size pieces
• A few handfuls of walnuts
• A few small handfuls of pine nuts
• A few handfuls of diced radish
• A few handfuls of diced mushrooms
• Sol Cuisine Mushroom Rice Burger (Canadian product here)

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Ingredients (Dressing):

• 1/2 cup mellow white miso
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1/2 cup tahini (raw is preferable, but roasted is fine, and less costly)
• 3-4 tbsp tamari
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger (or 1/2 tsp dry)
• 1 1/4 cup water

Directions:

Dressing: Blend in food processor or blender until smooth.

Salad: Start by massaging dressing into the kale until the kale is slightly wilted. Then top with other salad ingredients and add more dressing as you please.

For some added protein and a bit of hearty substance we topped our salad with our Mushroom Rice Burger, which is vegan, wheat and gluten free and free of any genetically modified organism. This is definitely a great meal for anyone who is looking to go gluten free or vegan, as it’s easy, quick and delicious!

Original Recipe HERE

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The store boasts lots of market-style features, like a massive cheese wall, and has cafe style eateries and seating throughout. Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens is also a hot spot of Sol-ful activity! This location carries the Sol Cuisine Mushroom Rice, Spicy Black Bean and Original burgers. So if you’re in the mood for some delicious and nutritious Sol food and a little bit of hockey history, head over to Loblaws at Maple Leaf Gardens, at 60 Carlton Street in Downtown Toronto.

Photos Courtesy of Blog TO

Our store (or more appropriately, stores) of the week is Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, which includes Raley’s, Nob Hill Foods, and Bel Air Pharmacy. The Raley’s family boasts 73 Sol carrying stores, all carrying our Almond Grain & Mushroom Rice Burgers. Raley’s is a family owned grocery store chain that spans across Northern California and Nevada. The chain ranked amongst the US’s top supermarket chains for customer service in Consumer Reports in 2009. Raley Field in Sacramento California, the home of the Sacramento River Cats, is named after the chain. Sol food, baseball, great service, and California? What isn’t there to love about Raley’s?

Head over to our store locator and find the store nearest to you. Raley’s is a retailer of Sol Cuisine products, all of which are participant products in the Non-GMO project, most of which are certified wheat and gluten free and all of which are vegan!

Our store of the week, Park Natural Foods in Brooklyn, NY embodies one of our key corporate values: that healthy and cruelty free foods should be accessible and financially feasible for everyone, regardless of income level. Park Natural Foods has operated as an independently owned natural foods store for over 20 years in the heart of Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens, and has as its goal: “offering our customers the most carefully selected natural and organic products at surprisingly reasonable prices even compared to the market prices of conventional products”.

Park Natural Foods is one of our New York Sol centers, carrying our Original Burger, Almond Grain Burger, Mushroom Rice Burger, Spicy Black Bean Burger and Veggie Breakfast Patties. All of which are GMO-free and Kosher and Halal certified. All but one of these products, our Almond Grain Burger, are certified wheat and gluten free by the Celiac Sprue Association.

Head over to Park Natural Foods to feed your body, mind and Sol today!

350 Court Street

Brooklyn NY 11231

Store Hours:

Mon-Sat: 8:oo am to 8:00 pm

Sunday 9:00 am to 7:00 pm

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This week’s store of the week would be more appropriately called our chain of the week, as Lassen’s Natural Foods & Vitamins has an impressive 11 locations throughout the state of California. Lassen’s motto, “Live, Learn… Be Healthy”, is exemplified by their commitment to not only providing the highest quality natural foods but also through their commitment to providing their customers with the latest natural health news both on their website and in their stores. Lassen’s, open since 1971, has led the health food movement in Southern California with innovation and a commitment to quality. We honor this commitment to excellence and have made all of Lassen’s 11 stores our store of the week!

Lassen’s carries all of our four burgers: the Almond Grain, Mushroom Rice, Spicy Black Bean and Original, as well as our Organic Falafel and our Vegetarian Breakfast Patties. So head over to your local Lassen’s and pick up some Sol-goodness.

To find the Lassen’s location closest to you head over to their website. Click here.

Who doesn’t love hot weather, football, baseball and Sol food? Arlington Texas has it all as the home of the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers and a Sol-Cuisine-carrying Whole Foods Market! Whole Foods Arlington is committed to providing everyone with a happy and healthy holiday season through its unwavering commitment to the Tarrant Area Food Bank through its Giving Tree program. We think the holidays are a perfect time to remember and support great causes like this!

So if you’re in the mood for some Non-GMO, gluten free and vegan products this holiday season head over to the Whole Foods Arlington location and find yourself some festive Sol food!

Check them out at:

801 East Lamar Blvd.
Arlington, TX
76011 USA
Open 8 am – 10 pm
7 days a week