Thai Vegan

Happy Sunday everybody!  Summer is still in full, glorious swing in Montreal.  In fact, it looks like a September Back-to-School heatwave coming this week.  As beautiful as the weather is though, I'm having evil wishes for an early frost.  This has been THE WORST year for my hay fever / rag week allergies.  Horrid.  I sound like a pack-a-day smoker.  Can't. Wait. For. This. To. End. 

But in keeping with the hot climate theme, last night's vittles were Thai-inspired.
Once again, this was pretty much whipped together and I didn't take note of exactly what was going in with guests and three kids running about.

Noodle dish was to be Pad Thai but then I got lazy and used a package of Taste of Thai Peanut Sauce mixed with coconut milk instead.  Rice noodles, bok choi, bean sprouts, red pepper, tofu, onion, green onions, garlic and cilantro from what I remember.  Chopped peanuts, Thai chili sauce and lime wedges for garnish.
And spring rolls with noodles, grated carrot, bok choi, green onions, mint, cilantro and more peanut sauce.  Well I'm outta here... kiddies await :)

Potato-Leek Soup and Baked Kale Chips... my version of eat real, eat local

The Hellmann's Mayonnaise "Eat Real, Eat Local" campaign started up over a year ago, but lately I've been seeing more and more of it in print, TV, and FB links to the campaign video:

(and so there I am doing my part too.. )

On the surface this is a message I firmly back: eating local produce, eating unrefined, simple food.. all good.  But lets think about this green wash-up for a moment (and its not like I'm the first to do this).  We're talking about selling mayonnaise here folks... pure and simple... an industrialized, cholesterol-laden mass-produced product manufactured by Unilver. 

To put their money where their mouth is, Hellmann's 1/2 the Fat mayo is made with 100% Canadian free run eggs (the definition of which leaves much to be desired if I'm not mistaken) and canola oil from the prairies.  So the canola comes from one part of the country and the eggs from about 1,000 kms away and somewhere they're all processed together and packaged up, labeled as real, local food then shipped up to 3,000 kms off to a grocery shelf.  Yep, sounds Real Local to me.

If you give their message a good listen, what they are advocating is that Canadians eat Canadian food.  Ok, I'm all for helping my fellow country-folk but if I'm really concerned about the distance my food travels, I'd be better off getting peaches from Georgia than from B.C.'s Okanagan valley; in fact, its twice as far.

But, on the up side, there is no shortage of excellent Quebec produce available these days, and I'm enjoying as much of it as possible:

Potato-leek soup made with Quebec leeks, Quebec potatoes, Quebec onions, Quebec garlic, Becel Vegan margarine (another Unilever product.. still looking, think its made in Quebec), Yu soy milk (produced in Quebec).  The only non-local item was GoBio Vegetable Bouillon Cubes.

And oven-baked Quebec kale chips:

And for breakfast:  Sweet local strawberries and Lac St. Jean wild blueberries on my cereal:

Hope you are all enjoying great local food... where ever you are :)

Browsing other blogs.. finding fab pinto bean burgers..

I've had so many commercial, packaged veggie burgers this summer that (no offense to veggie burger producers but) I can't stand the thought of eating another one anytime soon.  Sure, they came in handy when dinner had to get on the table and it was so hot that we wanted to stretch pool time out as long as possible, or for those last-minute invites to BBQ parties.  But when I came across this recipe over at Good Good Things for BBQ Pinto Bean Burgers, I knew I had come across a fast, nutritious alternative that I had try and soon.  They took even less than the advertised 30 minutes to prepare. 

I topped mine with kale, tomato, onion, Dijon mustard and Vegenaise.

Faux crab cakes and greek salad ... best summer meal yet!

Hot, humid weather has returned to Montreal and that calls for light, refreshing meals.  I came across this recipe for Chesapeake Tempeh Cakes (or faux crab cakes) from the Post Punk Kitchen a few weeks back and have been waiting for a good moment to try them.  Soooo good: crunchy, flavourful, melt in your mouth goodness.  Oh, and real crab would kill Mr. Vittles, we don't want that.  Instead of the remoulade though, I served them with a organic, bottled chili ginger sauce (from The Ginger People), which was a good match.  They were devoured :)

Salad is just a little thrown-together Greek inspiration:  Mesclan greens, red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, capers, and feta from La Moutonnière (totally optional).  Vinaigrette was olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, lemon juice, dijon, oregano, fresh ground salt and pepper (sorry, I just whip this together by sight / taste and don't have the exact portions written down).

What's with the feta you may ask?  Well, you'll note in the header it says "moving towards a plant-based diet."  There's a reason I don't refer to myself as a vegan even though the majority of posts here highlight vegan cuisine.  There's still some dairy slipping into my diet and I balance healthier / sustainable choices with living in an omnivore household.  I'll still take some cream in coffee on occasion or enjoy an artisanal Quebec cheese or locally-produced Coaticook ice cream (made the old fashioned way).  I know full well there is a laundry list of reasons these foods should be avoided, but I'm still good at finding excuses to enjoy them.

In other news, we've been enjoying this excellent summer with various short trips, BBQ parties, pool parties, local festivals, you name it.  Its meant bringing along marinated portobellos or packaged veggie burgers mostly.  But today's Gazette featured a selection of veggie burgers from Lukas Volger's Veggie Burgers Every Which Way.  I haven't seen the book, but I think I'll have to try some of these (minus the egg, and maybe even the cheese).

Off to start some back-to-school shopping (already).. with me luck :)