Meatless Mondays: Breakfast for Dinner

Riding the T around lately, I've noticed advertisements asking me to "Go Vegetarian" for dinner tonight. While on the whole the carbon footprint (check out the previous link for an awesome calculator) for most meats is greater than a vegetarian meal, the same might not hold true if your vegetarian meal consists of conventionally grown fruit, vegetables, and tofu grown and shipped from all over the world (a recent trip to Whole Foods showed apples from Chile and asparagus from New Zealand, for example). And, if your meats are more responsibly and locally sourced, you are probably off-setting your carbon footprint. Besides, don't all those fruits and veggies and tofu and tempeh get expensive?

So the other day I set out to make an inexpensive, more locally sourced vegetarian dinner. I also wanted something a little easier, so I didn't want to spend a ton of time on it.

The result may not be the most nutritionally balanced meal I've ever made, but it was delicious. And relatively affordable. And incredibly local.

Make breakfast for dinner.

We started off with some pancakes. I LOVE Trader Joe's Multigrain Baking Mix. It makes the most delicious pancakes ever! A box is less than $3 and just 1 recipe took only about 1/4 of the box. This was the least responsible of the items, but again, it is a dry good. Smaller footprint.

I made the recipe using oil I had, eggs from my Silverbrook Farms CSA, and some frozen Maine organic wild blueberries from Trader Joe's. Those blueberries really made the difference. I used just a little Kate's butter to make sure the pan didn't stick.

Then, I used the rest of the eggs from my CSA share for the week to make a nice scramble with some Cabot reduced fat cheddar cheese.

Last but not least, you have to invest in some real maple syrup. You know, the stuff made from the sap of maple trees. Your major "syrup" brands, no matter what family-friendly face they plaster on their sticker, are basically corn syrup with coloring to make it look like maple syrup. Yes, it's expensive, but it is local for New Englanders. I watch and buy when it's on sale. A little of the real stuff goes the long way.

So try breakfast for dinner, and enjoy!