The Frugal Foodie

Thanks to a VIA rail seat sale and a little thing called reading week, the boyfriend and I trekked to Montreal for a few days last week for some alone time and for some walk-around-all-day-and-do-nothing-but-eat time.

Since the boyfriend is vegetarian as well, the one thing we bond over most is finding new veggie restaurants to try. Is it sad we bond so much over food? If so, I do not care! SO, it follows that our favourite thing to do in new cities we visit is to find their veggie or veggie-friendly food joints.

First on our list to try was Aux Vivres , since it was only about a 5 minute walk from where we staying on Rue Saint-Laurent.

It wasn’t crazy expensive but wasn’t cheap either, a typical entree was about $12.00. Not exactly at my frugal foodie standards- but a gal can go crazy on a mini vacation right?

I liked the atmosphere as well, it was like a old dinner that had an affair with a clean-cut hipster.

There was a lot of selection, from soups and salads, grain bowls, sandwiches, soul food, “burgers”, and a big selection of smoothies and tea.

This one went with the veggie BLT wrap.

Their Chapati wraps are baked-to-order and seemed to be a popular choice. The fake “bacon” was kind of weird, and as really crunchy- almost like bacon flavoured potato chips, but it seemed to work with the whole wrap and it was good enough to please this guy.

I ordered the tofu burger.

It was pretty decent, I was more in the mood for a fake-burger kind of deal rather than the actual tofu consistency but it did the trick nonetheless! I always seem to crave veggie burgers when I travel, probably because I am never organized enough to bring proper snacks for the bus/train.

My only complaint is that TINY container of ketchup, I will always be needing more thankyouverymuch.

My expert overall rating: 6/10 blocks of perfectly marinated and sautéed blocks of tofu. Plus 2 containers of homemade ketchup. This equals 8/10 y’all. 

Here’s a glimpse of all the good reviews by real reviewers!

Soaked feet. Frozen thighs. Canadian winter. Toronto slush. 4 miles. Bad ass.

Hello little bloggy blog, I am back! LSAT=over!

Tonight I wanted pizza. I went from this:

To this:

in a matter of 5 minutes! It hit the spot. 

I mean, of course I’d rather enjoy half of this baby…The BEST pizza I’ve ever had. This was at John’s in NYC.  Enjoyed with the BF this past summer. Oh, take me back! 

But, the meantime while I daydream about NYC, summer, and John’s fresh brick oven pizza, I’ll settle on this healthier version! 

All you need: whole wheat pita, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, italian spices, and any veggies you want to throw on there! Tonight I went with tomatoes and broccoli. 

Just spread a couple spoonfuls of pizza sauce on your pita, grate the cheese and toss it on as evenly as you can, throw on some veggies and toss it in the oven or toaster oven until cheese melts. 

Also, I signed up for a 10k race in April! The Toronto Yonge St. 10k on April 22nd. Boo-ya. Pumped to whip my butt into shape! 

So I’ve been running a lot lately and…

So after work tonight, I stopped by the fruit/veggie stand close by and something caught my eye:

LOCALLY GROWN COLLARD GREENS FOR $1.89

I had to document just how large and scary this beast of a bundle was…

That aint no optical illusion folks. 

So once I got home, I embarked on a discovery of how to cook collard greens. I-learn-you-learn, we all eat collard greens. 

First, wash the leaves, and remove the stems:

then roll up each leaf and cut into strips, here is a video to show you how

I chopped up some garlic and onions and sautéed in olive oil, then added the chopped greens and a cup of water, and covered to steam for about 15 minutes. Added a bit of soy sauce and chilli flakes and took the cover off and cooked for about 5 minutes more.

Some people like their greens more mushy and will cook for longer, but I like them a bit crunchier.

I topped mine with a soy chicken breast and little marinara sauce.  The best part about the way you cut them up, is you can twirl them like SPAGHETTI. Boo-ya.

So today I had a sweet potato for lunch, that I baked in my slow cooker.

You can watch this instructional video of the most boring pair of ladies I think I’ve ever seen.

OR, you can just put a sweet potato in a crock pot with a splash of water for 2 and 1/2 hours on high.

If that sounds too hard, then maybe you should watch this video. And if you happen to be the younger of these two ladies, maybe you should wash your hair.

15 hour apple butter. Sound crazy? It’s actually pretty simple, and you get to fill your house with the smell of apple pie all day long.

I started with these beauties…

…that were handpicked by myself and these crazy kids in my hometown, Windsor ON:

And got to CHOPPING.

What you’ll need:

• 10 Apples (cored and chopped, with peel left on)
• 2 cups unsweetened apple juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

I researched a lot of recipes online before I tackled this project, and most recipes included 2-4 cups of refined sugar! This blew my mind because apples are already so sweet from their natural sugar. SO, I made two batches, one batch with no sugar, and one batch that I added 1 cup of sugar to and the verdict? I didn’t even notice a difference, so obviously I’d advise just forgoing the sugar.  

Steps:

1. core and chop the apples, leaving the peels on. You want to chop the pieces pretty small, about 1-2” pieces. Throw them in the crockpot. 

2. add the remaining ingredients, stir, cover and set to low for 15 hours. 

I poured a little wine and got my study on in the meantime (k, I may have done other things with my 15 hours…like sleep)

You don’t have to check on it and/or stir, though you may be tempted to like I was. I was worried it wasn’t getting thick enough, so I lifted the top off with the very scientific method of using chop sticks, so that the steam could escape and let it boil down faster. 

3. After 15 hours, if you have the consistency you want, turn crock pot off and wait for it to cool

4. Transfer to blender and blend until desired consistency. 

5. Pour into jars and give it as gifts, or horde all of it to yourself!

With the above directions (using 10 apples), it yields enough to fill one large mason jar, and one small. With my first try, I only used 5 apples and it filled two small mason jars. 

Spread on toast, stir into oatmeal, yogurt or add to a smoothie for FALL IN YOUR MOUTH.

I made something damn exciting with these. Stay tuned. 

Fall means many things:

• pumpkin
• scarves
• boots
• crunchy leaves
• MY BIRTHDAY
• cozy sweaters
• pumpkin

And on my birthday last week, I had an overwhelming urge to bake scones. Pumpkin sones. I had a really mediocre scone at a coffee shop and knew I could make a better AND healthy version at home.

I actually made two types- vegan pumpkin scones, and also tried a healthier recipe that I wan’t to give a go as well.

 Can you tell which ones my roommates preferred?

Recipe from ”Oh She Glows”…recipe found here.

The other scones are blueberry chocolate chip…but alas, I can’t relocate the recipe…but you’re not really missing out.

and here is a finale picture of the birthday baking extravaganza!

pumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkinpumpkin scones

Birthday snack. Everything is post-worthy on your birthday.