Tag Archives: summer food

Sol Cuisine Mushroom and Wild Rice Burger Review

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If you’ve been around for a while – or even if you just happened to catch my Beyond Burger review – you’ll know I’m not that big of a fan of vegan burgers that taste overtly meaty.

Maybe it’s because I wasn’t that big a fan of beef before going vegan, maybe it’s a psychological thing – I don’t know. All I do know, is that given the choice between a meaty burger or one that tastes like vegetables, I’m more likely to grab the veggie burger.

And these Sol Cuisine burgers are a great one to reach for!

There’s actually not much to be said about these burgers that you can’t figure out based on the name. Their taste is a great blend of mushrooms and rice and they have a great texture. They’re not too soft but aren’t too hard, either. You could pull them apart with your fingers if you so desired, but also definitely need to use your teeth to bite through them.

Four burgers come in one box and one thing I like that the company actually changed was before, the burgers used to come individually wrapped in plastic bags inside the box. The upside of this was obvious – you wouldn’t need to open all the burgers to just get one – but the downside was, of course, it meant they were using more plastic.

I’m not sure exactly when they changed, but I’m so glad they did! Less plastic is obviously always a win. That said, I do hope the company isn’t calling this a one and done deal – there’s still other steps they could take to reduce or even eliminate the plastic in their products! I’ve seen great things from other companies that use things like plant-based faux plastics, having products just be loose in cardboard, or even recycled plastic bags.

Another great thing about these burgers is that they aren’t one of those exclusive specialty vegan products, which means most ‘normal’ stores carry them! I’ve found these bad boys all over the place: Loblaws, Wal-Mart, Metro, Sobey’s – hell, one time I even found them at a No Frills!

Their price also makes them a great addition to your shopping list. At the time of writing (24.07.11) these burgers are listed at $6.99 and $7.29 at Wal-Mart and Metro, respectively.

These burgers are definitely a staple in my home, and I hope you take the time to try them out! I’ve never actually cooked them on a BBQ, but I bet they’d make a great addition to your summer meals!


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Surprising Vegan: Frozen Treats

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This article was written 20.05.06, please excuse any reference/comment made about the corona virus lock down that is no longer relevant.


Just because we’re still stuck inside, doesn’t mean you can’t buy yourself some treats. And what to treat yourself with during these hot summer days than something refreshing and on a stick?

That’s right, I’m talking about surprising vegan treats.

Now, I know over the last few years there’s been a whole whack of vegan ice creams coming out from various companies, but, sometimes you don’t want ice cream, or you may not be able to find them where you are. Then what are you supposed to do? Sit in the corner and cry?

No!

You can head on over to your local store website (since y’know, we can’t exactly peruse in person), and check them out to see if they have any of the (much easier to find) products below.

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Starting in the top left-corner, going clockwise:

  • Chapman’s Lolly Fruity
  • Chapman’s Banana Lolly*
  • Chapman’s Orange, Grape, Cherry and Fruit Punch Lolly
  • Chapman’s Soda Pop Lolly*
  • Chapman’s Triple Treat Lolly
  • Chapman’s Fruit Juice Twist Twister
  • Chapman’s Fruit Twist Twisters*
  • Chapman’s Stacked and Twisted Twister*
  • Chapman’s Mango Sorbet*
  • Chapman’s Rainbow Sorbet*
  • Kisko’s Mr. Freeze Jumbo Freezies
  • Kikso’s Welch’s Lemonade Freezies
  • Kikso’s Electro-Ice Sport Freezies
  • Kikso’s Tropics Freezies
  • Chapman’s Tropical Wave Sorbet
  • Chapman’s Triple Berry Sorbet
  • Popsicle Orange, Cherry, Grape Pops
  • Popsicle Tropical Paradise Pops*
  • Popsicle Firecracker Pops*
  • Popsicle Cyclone*
  • Maynard’s Fuzzy Peach Ice Pops*
  • Kikso’s Kids Sour Freezies*

There are also a few other treats that are vegan that I wasn’t able to find good pictures of. So, the other products I found that aren’t included in the above picture are:

  • Kisko’s Crush Giant Freezies
  • Kisko’s Welch’s Premium Juice Bars
  • Popsicle Jelly Belly

*As I said in my Surprising Vegan Candy (and a few other) posts in this series, the above items that are starred (*) are made with those food dyes that aren’t vegan.

I e-mailed Chapman’s and Popsicle to ask them about their products (Kisko actually says which select products use the food dyes on their website!), and the following is what I received as feedback:


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Chapman’s

Their website says ‘Whenever possible natural flavours and colours are used in production, and will be identified on the package label.’ (This statement was found here) So I e-mailed to ask if that meant all the other products that don’t list ‘natural colour’ use the food dyes, and they replied simply ‘that is correct‘.

Popsicle

So, I don’t want to knock any brands, but since I’ve started doing this series and have had to e-mail out multiple companies, I’ve noticed that the ones I e-mail that just so happen to be owned by Unilever either never answer me, or never give me a real answer.

I sent both companies the exact same e-mail, listing the specific products I was asking about, the food dyes I was wondering about and started both of them off with ‘I checked the FAQ and ingredients listed on the website, and I still had some questions.’

Anyway, this was Popsicle’s official answer: Thank you for taking the time to reach out to us at Popsicle.

All of the ingredients for out products are available on our website popsicle.ca. Just select the product you are interested in and click on the nutritional values, and you will scroll down and there is where you will find the ingredients. We hope this helps.

I did e-mail them back and restated I already checked the website and wasn’t able to find the answer to my question, but I have yet to receive an answer. (If I receive a real answer, I’ll update this article)

So there you go! Who says ice cream is the only frozen treat you can enjoy in the summer?


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