Vancouver’s weather has finally decided it is time for summer and the sun is out! To celebrate this beautiful time, I invited my parents out for a picnic dinner. I told them it would be healthy, organic and mostly local food.
I didn’t tell them it would be vegan.
Now, when I originally invited my parents, I hadn’t planned on a picnic. I bought groceries and made recipes not expecting a picnic. So most of the meal would probably taste better hot, but I served it cold.
For the Thai Coconut Brown Rice:
You only need 2 cups of brown rice, Happy Planet‘s Thai Coconut Soup and 1/4 cup of cornstarch. I didn’t use instant rice which worked out well, the 50 minutes it takes to cook the brown rice is enough to prep everything else. While the rice cooks, pour all of the soup into a sauce pan and heat it on a medium setting.
When it starts to get warmer, add the cornstarch to thicken. Stir really well and continue to heat until it reaches a thicker consistency. Set aside to wait for the rice. Once all is said and done, mix the rice and the Thai Coconut mix together and serve warm or cold.
Left overs are good for a couple of days. In fact, I’m eating some now for dinner.
Then my “Steak” was a new dish, not only for my parents but for me as well. It was really tough for me to find a good meat substitute that would look like meat to help hide my secret from my parents.
It wasn’t so good cold, but man was it delicious when I tried them hot!
They come frozen and all I did was spread them on a baking sheet and stick them in the oven at 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
I just wish they came with more sauce, I thought they were a little dry.
But what topped the meal off for me was the bread I bought. I love A Bread Affair breads. Local, fresh, organic…what’s not to love?
Some of the best breads I have ever tasted.
Somewhat surprisingly to me, it was my mom that had the hardest time with the vegan meat. I knew my dad would eat it, I just thought he’d mock it more. But mom had a really hard time with the texture. To quote her, it was “all in [her] head” and I’m proud she did so well with it.
