Wanigan Organics

This healthy smoothie is inspired by fresh in-season ingredients, namely delicious organic cantaloupes.

We created this vibrantly flavoured smoothie because any way you slice it, fresh cantaloupes are awesome!

Summer is in full swing and sipping on this smoothie is a nice way to relax and keep cool. We hope you enjoy it! Order some produce and make it at home with this recipe!

Cantaloupe Super Smoothie:

• 1 cup of cantaloupe, skin removed
• 1/2 cup strawberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup ice

Simply blend till smooth and enjoy!

This salad is bursting at the seams with superfoods. Kale, quinoa, tahini, hemp, almonds, garlic, olive oil, lemon -- all great tasting ingredients that are amazing for your health.

Though this salad is vegan and gluten-free it offers a whack of protein thanks to the kale, quinoa, nuts and seeds. It makes a great post-workout meal or just a health-conscious meal for any day of the week. Its also totally delicious!

Try making this salad at home with our easy recipe and organic ingredients from Wanigan! 

Kale & Quinoa Salad with Garlic Tahini Dressing

• 1 bunch of green or black kale, stems removed
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• ½ red onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup sunflower seeds, raw or roasted
• 2 tbsp hemp seeds
• ½ cup chopped almonds

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp tahini
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Tear kale into bite-sized pieces, or shred into ribbons. Place in large mixing bowl and set aside. Place all dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Drizzle 2-3 tbsp of the dressing over kale and massage to soften it. Transfer the kale to a serving bowl and add all other ingredients. Refrigerate to allow kale to continue to soften. Drizzle with more of the dressing before serving.

If you're not already a Wanigan delivery customer and would like to get really fresh assortments of organic fruits and veggies delivered conveniently to your door, simply click here:  SIGN-UP NOW!

Last month we came across a cool movement underfoot called Plastic Free July.

A little late to the party maybe, but for the last week of July, we participated by making sure our Wanigans were free of plastic containers and bags.

With our operation already designed to output zero food waste, reducing the amount of one-way plastic packaging was a natural motivation for us.

So this past week was a fun challenge for us, we used paper if we needed to box items and we steered away from items that the supplier or farmer could only deliver packaged in plastic. Honestly, it wasn't that difficult, just a slight shift in how we made our purchases and how we packed for the week.

Participating in Plastic Free July, even if it was just for one week, opened our eyes a bit more and helped us become aware of future challenges around plastic. We noticed things like elastic bands holding bunches together, for the kale and carrots. Small things for sure, but good to become more aware.

Btw, for the elastic bands, I keep a mountaineering carabiner (from MEC) in my kitchen drawer. I put the elastics I receive on the "biner", keeps them organized and in one place for reuse around the house later.

Beyond July, we'll continue to look for ways to reduce plastic in our daily operations. 

We always deliver in paper grocery bags, with minimal packaging and if the paper bags you receive are in good shape after you unpack your deliveries, we'll gladly take them back to use again, just leave them out on the next delivery day for our drivers.

In our veg shop in Brampton, we have lots of cardboard boxes from our incoming deliveries. We always make these available for our customers to pack their purchases instead of plastic bags. Of course, many of our customers simply bring in their own reusable bags.

If you're not already a Wanigan delivery customer and would like to get really fresh assortments of organic fruits and veggies delivered conveniently to your door, simply click here:  SIGN-UP NOW!

If you're really into the idea of local flavours, our Local Harvest Wanigan basket is for you.

In this basket, 100% of the produce is grown locally and at this time of year, most of the items are farmed and hand-picked at McVean farm. McVean farm is an urban farm inside the city limits of Brampton and is only 10 km away from our Vegquarters where we pack and prepare all our deliveries.

Talk about local!

McVean farm has several different farmers growing crops on the land and we also have a plot where we are growing our own Roma tomatoes and Basil.

You can have the Local Harvest delivered to your home on a weekly basis for $24.50 per week.

ORDER A LOCAL HARVEST NOW

With the sun shining strong and rain coming and going, now is the time of year where the local season really takes off. Our Wanigan basket deliveries are full of amazingly fresh and delicious veggies from local farms.

This week we're delivering fresh local spring onions.

These onions are starting to form bulbs, which gives a more intense flavour, especially in the greens or tops. You can use them as you normally would use a scallion or green onion, like in salad dressings or grill them up whole on the bbq for something a little different.

Right now we've also got garlic scapes, rainbow chard, spring mixes, cilantro, snap peas, red radish and lots more from local organic farms.

Sign-up for Wanigan basket deliveries and we'll bring them to your door or c'mon by our secret vegquarters and veg shop at 250 Clarence Street in Brampton anytime, we're friendly and always happy to meet and talk veggies.

The backyard tomato patch staked with old hockey sticks is perhaps the most uniquely Canadian thing I can think of.

In the spirit of Canada Day, it’s worthy of a little reflection.

When I grew up, in the 1970’s, all hockey sticks were made out of wood. They were made in Canada and if I remember correctly, most were made in Quebec. We got our sticks from the gas station, where they were sold back in the 70’s, often as a sort of impulse purchase when your parents were getting gas.

The new stick started out for ice hockey and eventually, in a simple act of up-cycling, before we used words like that, it would become a road hockey stick…The official transition from ice to road occurred after a single use on the pavement, maybe in a pinch when you couldn’t find your current road hockey stick. Once used on the street, it simply became your road hockey stick and could never go back on the ice. That’s just how it was.

Now a good road hockey stick was something to be coveted and you would try and keep it in use for as long as possible. It was a badge of honour to play with a blade worn down to a sliver of its original size, showing all others just how much hockey you played.

When you finally retired your stick, it went into the line-up of old sticks, along the inside wall of the garage. Actually, these sticks would be better classified as semi-retired, waiting at the ready in case someone showed up without a stick or someone broke a stick mid-game.

At some point though, all sticks would end up broken. The shaft would snap or the blade would break and they would no longer be useful for hockey.  Worth noting that even these sticks, on occasion, would still be used as a last resort when nothing else was available to play with. A broken stick, maybe with just a nub of the blade remaining. It’s funny reflecting on that. Re-using at it best I guess.

The next stage for the hockey stick was where the real creative up-cycling took place. It became a tomato stake in the vegetable garden.  If I remember correctly, this is how all garden veggies were staked in the 1970’s ;)

I can still see my old hockey sticks, the different brands sticking up out of my parents garden behind the garage, holding up Dads beefsteak tomato crop.

Fast forward to 2018 and here I am using my kids' old sticks for the very same thing, in my own backyard. It’s a small thing maybe, but I take some pride in my settling for the practicality of the hockey stick to stake my tomatoes. I saved a few bucks, I feel good about a little up-cycling and feel happy to carry on the tradition, not just one from my family, but a much wider Canadian tradition.

Happy Canada Day everyone, from all of us at Wanigan Organics.