Happy Moon Festival!
Moon Festival, also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival, is one of the most celebrated holidays in the Chinese calendar. Moon Festival falls on September 12th this year (today!) and on this date, families across the world will gather with brightly-lit Chinese lanterns to share delicious Chinese cuisine with one another.
If you’re looking to celebrate tonight – or any night – and would like a little help in the kitchen, VH Sauces offer a quick, easy and tasty solution for bringing a little culture into your cuisine. From zesty Orange Ginger to the NEW Spicy Thai Chili Sauce, you can create a healthy and delicious stir fry on the fly – perfect for those weekday nights when you’re craving take-out but want a more nutritious (and wallet-friendly) option.
To celebrate Moon Festival this evening, I once again threw together my 5-minute standby:
Lena’s Quick Un-Pad Thai
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 5 minutes
250g capellini pasta
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup medium cooked shrimp, deveined
3/4 cup VH Thai Market Pad Thai Sauce
1 tsp sesame seed oil
2-3 leaves fresh basil, chiffonade cut
Original PAM Cooking Spray
In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook capellini according to manufacturer’s directions (normally only about 3-4 minutes).
Meanwhile, spray a wok or large pan with PAM cooking spray; set on medium heat. Add minced garlic and fry barely 30 seconds; add shrimp, VH Market Pad Thai Sauce and sesame oil; stir for 1 minute until heated through. Toss with drained pasta, remove to serving bowl and sprinkle with fresh basil.
Ta-da! A delicious, Asian-inspired meal that you can create in minutes with a few staple ingredients on hand – including the VH Sauce, of course! All my boys gobble it up, and even though it’s not strictly authentic, the flavours are nonetheless perfectly balanced.
If you’re on the go and don’t have time to deal with pots, pans and dishes, do try VH Steamers. They’re Asian-inspired meals ready in less than 5 minutes and steamed to perfection! Available in Kung Pao Chicken, Shanghai Ginger Beef (my fave!), Honey Sesame Chicken, Chicken Teriyaki, Thai Chicken and Shrimp (think I’d love this too – a must try!) and Zesty Orange Chicken, they’re quick and tasty, perfect for lunch at the office or busy school nights.
What makes them unique? VH Steamers feature a DuoTray SteamCooker – a fancy title which essentially translates to the meal cooking naturally in it’s own juices, which helps lock in flavour and preserve the texture of the food. I cannot lie: my husband is addicted to these convenient little wonders, and I must admit that they are leaps and bounds better than your average frozen entrée. They’re a staple in our home!
Click here to visit VH Sauces and Steamers.
You can make your own Asian-inspired meal thanks to a $50 Grocery Gift Card! To enter, simply leave a comment on this post telling us how you introduce culture into your cuisine.
I use VH sauces and get creative! Also it never hurts to try a new recipe. Found a great curry recipe by taking a leap of faith.
by introducing them early and showing them that you too are not affraid to try something new
I shop in cultural grocery stores and I choose international fruits and veggies for my meals, they are Delicious!
I bought a portuguese cook book and use it weekly to cook from my culture!! I could really use this!! Xo
I like to try different foods on holiday and then come home and recreate them for my familysweetpeg at gmail dot com
I worked for years at a non profit immigrant settlement association and via our clients learned and tasted foods from all over the world. We've had community kitchens where we would all learn one dish from a specific culture. ie samoza's (the lady teaching us gave us the short cut of using tortilla's instead of home made dough)My kids love foods from other cultures as do my grandkids!tynancyrobster at gmail dot com
we like to try new food that the kids eat at their freinds houses that are from other cultures, my daughter has an interest in cooking so she likes to pick out recipes to try from other places, and i traveled alot in my early 20's so i usually have a story to tell about the place the food came from (stacey dempsey in rafflecopter)staceyx at telus dot net
We loving having "theme" nights and we try something new. It is also a good time to be educational about it and discuss the different spices and the culture of origin. It doesn't always work out though (I admit to it)mommakoala(at)cogeco(dot)ca
I actually dont introduce culture very much into our dinners, but I do use VH sauses quite often,,,karasceviour at hotmail dot com
I use different spices and sauces – they are actually great at trying new things!charmtime at gmail dot com
We like o try new foods and I'm alwways trying to incorporate different cultures to our meals :)justasmalltownmommy at gmail dot com
I don't introduce much culture into my meals besides stir-frys. I should be more creative and find some great recipes to use!
I use VH sauces all the time! We also have tacos and mexican food frequently. I havent experienced with any other cultures,but I really should!ksceviour at hotmail dot com
I love to try to introduce culture into our dinners by getting ideas from travel shows or friends.thanksflower_child_23(at)hotmail(dot)com
I have grabbed ethnic cookbooks and experiment with different meals from different cultures!sbabij2 at shaw dot ca
We visit the local asian market and buy interesting looking fruits and veggies.
I introduce culture into my meals all the time. Hubby is of East African decent and there are lost of fabulous dishes from that part of the world. My inspiration comes from those East African dishes!rebthecatsitter at gmail.com
I recently received a curry's of the world spice set and I have been introducing the family to some of the recipes.
My culture introducing would be more European than Asian, but my husband loves Chinese food so I've been trying to make some different things, and very seriously using premade sauces makes it so much easier. Plus homemade chicken balls with cherry/plum sauce is amazing.
We dont and any cultural food, small town living and no internation ingreadiants.reneetaylor at sympatico dot ca
my background is swedish so I make a lot of swedish pancakes on weekends and on holidays we eat a lot of traditional swedish foods and on Christmas eve a Smorgasbord!
Visiting a country and trying the cuisine would be my fav way of introducing a new culture, but who can afford that on a regular basis??!! So we just opt to try different restaurants of all kinds, and starting them young helps.
We use different recipes from around the world and also I have a diverse group of friends and we get together and make meals from our country!calvert0 at telus dot net
I introduce culture into our family's meals by trying new recipes
I try to find recipes from different cultures that we have never tried before. We have found some great ones that have ended up becoming or favorite goto recipes
We like to have theme nights (eg Mexican) and we discuss the country of origin and try the cuisine.mommakoala(at)cogeco(dot)ca
I am Aboriginal and my husband is Ukranian, so we already have two unique food cultures in our home. We also solicit recipes from our friends of different ethnicities. Nothing beats authentic recipes right from where they came from!
I try some unique sauces and ingredients from the international sections in the grocery store to try in various recipes – I also love to try at least 1 new recipe a week
We like to try different meals and we get the kids to try them. We learn about them from magizines and the internet.Always nice trying new foods.silverneon2000 at yahoo dot com
I use family recipes that i got from my mom. I also asked my mother-in-law about her favorite recipes to use for our family dinners
I usually take a bit of different cultures for each meal, sometimes I'll make something specific to a culture but usually it's a mix every night.thanksamym_brown @ hotmail.com
I introduce culture into my family's meals by trying new recipes from my co-workers who bring different culture foods to our pot-luck lunches.
I try to add things in slowly, usually by a side first, to see how they like the tastes, and then I'll look at a meal
arghh my last tweet went through without the link, here it is for sept 20http://twitter.com/#!/roswello/status/116039141178880000staceyx at telus dot net
I like to make traditional/holiday foods. If I'm trying something new I try to make it inconspicuous…or incorporated into something more familiar looking.
I try to get my kids to try one new food item each week. So when we go grocery shopping, I have them pick out something they've never tried before (usually in the international aisle or in the produce section). They get a real kick out of it.
The picture of this recipe looks delicious and I can’t believe it only takes 5 minutes to get ready