Penne with creamy white wine celeriac sauce. Photo credit: www.fressenrestaurant.com.

For New Year’s Eve, Fressen was doing 2 seatings of 6 course prix fixe dinners, at $45 per person for the earlier 6pm appointment and $50 for the later 8pm appointment (which turned out to start around 8:30, and later for most).  I was not surprised that people who showed up for the 8pm seating had to wait a while before the first group was out, given the common comments from reviewers on Yelp and Urbanspoon that Fressen’s time management was questionable.  Knowing this in advance, my date and I opted for the 6pm seating, which would also allow for New Year’s Eve activities after dinner.

Upon arrival, we were greeted warmly by one of the servers, who led us to our table in the inner half of the restaurant, raised by a few steps, close to the kitchen.  Immediately, we noticed the warmth of the place – dimly lit by candles, round paper lanterns, and red teardrop hanging lights at the bar.  The middle of the long rectangular restaurant was marked by groupings of tree trunks, and so walking through the restaurant to get to our seats felt like walking through a grotto.  The decor and ambience was definitely a step up from Vegetarian Haven which is on the nicer spectrum in terms of vegan/vegetarian restaurants in downtown Toronto.

And now, on to the food!

With the exception of the tapas starter and the dessert, there were 2 choices of each of the four courses.  We decided to make the most of our adventure and have one of each (except for the soup because we both dislike leeks).  The menu (the wording might differ slightly from the actual menu – I didn’t have the forethought to take a photo!):

1. Tapas plate of chickpea hummus, 3 types of olives, toasted bread
2. Soup: corn chowder (we skipped on the potato leek)
3. Pasta: rigatoni with creamy white wine celeriac sauce vs. whole wheat pasta tossed in pesto, olive oil, sundried tomatoes
4. Salad: Swiss chard salad tossed with blueberries and mango vs. spinach salad tossed with strawberries and almond
5. Vegetable: Assortment of wild mushrooms cooked in white wine sauce, with pan fried polenta vs. roasted asparagus on a bed of Japanese style spinach cooked with sesame
6. Dessert plate of poached figs with a fruit coulis of some sort (we think it might have been kumquat), assortment of 3 cookies on chocolate-date fudge, fresh fruit

The tapas starter was a combination of two tapas plates from their main menu.  We could clearly make out the chickpeas in the hummus, the olives were olives, and the bread was bread.  Nothing to write home about.  Other patrons had tapas starters with two types of dips, probably also from their regular menu.  I would price this dish at $8, and no higher than $10.

The soup was also nothing to write home about – it was something that any home chef could whip up.  It had corn, potatoes, carrots, other nondescript chunks that were totally not memorable, and dill.  We felt it could be taken up a notch with addition of coconut milk.  I would price this at $5, no more than $8.

I’m not sure if other patrons noticed, but all of the main courses were served on top of a thin piece of decorative paper with a golden square printed on top of a deep orange square.  This type of paper is called joss paper, used for the making of funerary money in Chinese and other Asian cultures… it threw me off, a lot, and I had to block the Chinese part of my brain to proceed in peace.

So far, sounds like a bad review, right?  It would seem so, but read on – Fressen redeems itself with the next course.

The whole wheat pasta was nothing to write home about – you can make that stuff at home any day.  What stood out to me, the thing that woke my palate, was the rigatoni with creamy white wine celeriac sauce.  Ok, so there was just one mushroom and barely any other vegetables in there, but the sauce!  THE SAUCE! So good – it was smooth yet light, deep from white wine, and delicate from celeriac.  Finally, a dish worth $15 if only it was a slightly larger portion.

I’m not even going to write about the salad other than it being exactly as the title describes, with the Swiss chard being way too large to eat without making a mess on the table or my face.  Maybe they put the salad between the two mains to clean the palate, because BAM the next course was delicious.

The polenta, that is.  It was pan fried to perfection on the outside, soft and comforting inside, and it was wading in a delicious wild mushroom sauce cooked in white wine.  Hmm maybe I just really like white wine… En tout cas, I couldn’t stop eating this dish and was sad when it was finished.  The asparagus… it was asparagus.  I was just weirded out because asparagus is not even remotely in season.  I would gladly pay $12 (and not more than $15) for the polenta.

Finally, the dessert.  The fig was warm and gooey, which could be either good or bad depending on your taste.  I thought it was a nice way to finish the meal.  The cookies were another matter… guys, I know it’s a vegan restaurant but B. Goods Bakery and Auntie Loo’s in Ottawa make perfect vegan cookies and squares every day.  Vegan doesn’t have to mean ultra healthy and devoid of fat. Fressen’s cookies were dry as the desert, and so very sad.  The dish could easily have done without them.  The chocolate fudge was interesting, because it had an underlying taste and texture that was hard to pinpoint.  We decided at the end that it was dates.  I can see restaurants charging $12 and up to $16 for this, seeing as it’s got poached figs in it, but I would just skip dessert entirely and head over to Wanda’s Pie in the Sky in Kensington Market.

A word about service because there are so many mixed reviews on the internet.  The service was excellent, if a tad hap-hazard (we were asked by two different waiters if we needed pepper).  Our glasses were never empty, and the courses came with good timing.  The waiters were courteous and attentive.

Overall, I found the prix fixe experience worthwhile.  We got a good sense of what the restaurant was good at – ambience, specialty vegan dishes; and what the restaurant needed work on – more in-season dishes, dessert.  I’d like to note that the food was very filling – I didn’t get hungry after an hour or two of leaving the restaurant which is what I would find after visiting Vegetarian Haven or any other Asian vegetarian restaurant.  It’s very rare to find a romantic vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Toronto/Ottawa; in fact there seems to be only one in each – Fressen and Zen Kitchen.  I wouldn’t rule out Fressen in the future, but it would have to be a special occasion.  Despite some of the misses, we had a great time and it was an honestly decent way to spend the last evening of the year.

Happy New Year, friends!

Loaf of awesome.

This summer to celebrate my birthday, I made a layered pina colada cake.  It was fantastic.  But that was an intense and had a very thorough process involving over two days of prep, and anyway it wasn’t a layer cake that I was craving – I needed something grab-and-go for breakfast at work.  So I decided to concoct a breakfast pina colada loaf, to get me going with full cheer in the morning.  What came out of the oven was a moist, fragrant loaf, with a beautiful golden crust and a nice balance of coconut and pineapple flavours.  Waking up this week is going to be a breeze.

This year's birthday cake - coconut cake layers with pineapple curd and coconut icing, dairy free!

Bake at 350 F, approximately 1 hour

Preparation time, approximately 20 minutes

This is one of those easy recipes that requires very little equipment – I got away with using one large mixing bowl, two measuring cups (1 c and 2 c capacity), a measuring spoon, a regular spoon, and a fork.  It was a nice change from the other more involved baking that I’ve done in the past.

Did it with just one bowl and two measuring cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup diced and drained pineapples that have been tossed in a pinch of salt

Dry

• 2 cups flour
• 2.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Wet

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1.5 tsp coconut extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• Zest of 1 lemon

Before even taking out the flour from the cupboard, prepare the pineapple by dicing it finely and pressing out its juice in a strainer (the juice can be saved for other uses, like drinking).  And tossing the pineapple with a pinch of salt.  This will mellow it out a bit and not make your teeth feel weird when you eat it.  Just leave it in the strainer to further air dry, until you need to use it.

Hanging out to dry.

Putting this together is quite straightforward – it’s a simple dry to wet method.  You can do this in the most efficient and fast way as you see fit, but below I will elaborate on some extra steps I took that you might wish to follow.

First, stir the dry ingredients together in a small bowl or a 2 cup measuring cup and set aside.  Then, in the order listed, whisk together wet ingredients from eggs to coconut extract.  Then comes the first bonus fun part – emulsification!!

When a cake recipe uses oil instead of butter for its fat, I always always emulsify the oil into the wet ingredients, rather than just dumping it in willy nilly.  Emulsifying the oil will create a uniform and thick mixture that will produce a nice and even loaf.  Emulsifying is easier than one might think – you don’t even have to have fancy equipment!  All you have to do, is pour the oil in in a very thin line while mixing it in with a fork (or whisk) vigorously.  Ta-da!  Then, add in the lemon zest and stir it up good.

After that, mix the dry ingredients into the wet, but reserve about 2 tablespoons of the dry.  Don’t over-mix; lumpy is ok – just mix until the dry ingredients have just been incorporated.   Then comes the second bonus fun part – mixing in the pineapple!!  Hopefully your pineapple bits had a good time hanging out in the strainer – I imagined them laying there like in a hammock.  Toss the pineapple with the 2 tablespoons of flour mixture, and then mix them into the batter.

Oil and flour a loaf pan, and pour in the batter.  Bake at 350F for about an hour, it will be golden and cracked at the top.  Always check with a toothpick – if it comes out clean then it’s done!  Let the loaf sit in its pan for at least half an hour – it will deflate a little.  Then, invert onto a wire rack and cool entirely.  I couldn’t wait that long so I ate a slice… mmm…

So delicious it probably won't last a week.

The conversation naturally turned to the different ways we loved to eat it.  On toast, on celery, on apples, even on pancakes. But we both agreed that the best way was with chocolate, bien sûr. Our mouths started to salivate.

A trip to Wikipedia told us that there are actually a lot more chocolate bar brands than expected out there that feature peanut butter.  We made a list.  Then, we made a plan. Yes, a plan.

In the name of Science!

The plan:

Buy all the main candy bars from the grocery store that featured peanut butter.  Taste them.  And rate them and compare them.  Because, you know, we need to keep track of these things. Right? For science.

And so, on a cold October evening, we sat down in our lab coats, a glass of milk each, and proceeded to sample every single one of the 9 chocolate bars.  It’s going to be a long (and delicious!) night.

The lineup

Here goes:

1. Twix PB

She says: Twix is one of my favourite chocolate bars – this one is an interesting twist.  The peanut butter is sufficiently peanutty, and the chocolate is nice and soft.  But it’s missing the essential chewiness of a classic Twix because of its lack of caramel.

He says: Ah, Twix, the candy bar with a cookie crumble. This peanut butter version has the signature lightness of the original Twix, and a nice salty twist. The chocolate flavour remains missing, however, and one is only left with this confusing mix of sweet and salty. Still, a good start.

2. Snickers

She says: Caramel. Nougat. Whole peanut.  Encased in a chocolate shell that melts in your mouth.  Yes. This well-balanced mouth sensation is what I crave.  However, not peanut buttery enough.

He says: Now, I have an already well established love for Snickers. The peanut flavour is strong enough but doesn’t detract from all that nougat-y goodness. It’s a classic for a reason.

3. Reese’s Nutrageous

She says:  It’s only the third one in.  But I think we may have a winner even though it looks like a turd.  It’s like a Snickers in its level of chewiness and got that whole peanut crunch, plus caramel.  And it’s got a chunk of actual peanut butter in the centre.  Two thumbs up from me!

He says: Lovely name. This special offering from Reese tastes like a cross between classic Reese (that signature salty peanut butter), and a nut-caramel bar like Oh Henry!. It is both chewy and crunchy, and offers a hint of caramel to round things off. Love it. (Boy do I need some milk now.)

4. Butterfinger

She says: The package says “Crunchety and peanut-buttery!” but it’s only half right.  Yes, it’s crunchy, but… where’s the peanut butter?  Maybe there’s a hint of it but it’s way too sweet.  It’s more like a flaky toffee and I’m so not into that.  Next.

He says: This one is quite a departure from the others. It is crunchy (the label says “crunchety”, thanks, marketing folks!) and quite flaky. A simple peanut butter (emphasis on butter) filling with a thin chocolate coating. It tastes like an overbaked crust with a peanut butter finish. Too sweet for me.

5. 5th Avenue

She says: Am I eating a potato chip!?  In terms of peanut taste 5th Avenue is a bit north of the mark, but miles closer than the last contestant.  But in terms of texture… see first sentence.

He says: This is a US-only candy bar. That’s right, we’re eating an import. Such snobs. Now, is the grass really greener south of the border? Not in this case, I’m afraid. It tastes and feels much like a Butterfinger: crunchy, flaky toffee-like peanut butter filling coated with chocolate. It is somewhat less sweet but here again, it fails to impress.

6. Wunderbar

She says: The level of chewiness makes me think there is caramel in this candy but is there?  The package says so, so it must be true!  This is a very nice candy.  The crispness and crunch factor is just the level it should be – a slight crunch when you chew on it, thanks to the crisped rice.  The peanut and chocolate ratio is also well balanced, but the caramel level makes it slightly too chewy for me.   Well done, Cadbury!

He says: At number 6, we’re starting to run out of peanut-chocolate combinations, but Wunderbar, with its straightforward concentric layers of peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate, offers a welcome change from the last two samples. It is chewy enough, and the peanut butter is of good quality.

7. Crispy Crunch

She says: This candy means business.  If you’re not prepared to sit there and try to get the toffee unstuck from your teeth, then pass this one on.  However, in the realm of crisp chocolate bars, I would rank this one above 5th Avenue and Butterfinger.  But I would not go out of my way to buy this.

He says: Crispy Crunch succeeds where Butterfinger and 5th Avenue failed. A well balanced, flaky and crispy candy bar with the right balance of saltiness, sweetness, and textures. Easily the best of the “crunchy” genre. Yes, genre.

8. Oh Henry!

She says: Oh memories of childhood.  This was one of my favourites, along with Mr. Big. I would always try to get these ones when trick-or-treating.  None of that Smarties or Glosettes crap.   I wonder how Henry and Mr. Big are different?  We forgot to pick up a Mr. Big so alas we’ll never know!  Nice chewiness, nice crunch from the whole peanuts, and I think there’s even a bit of peanut nougat inside.  Me likey.

He says: I’ve had several Oh Henry’s! in my life, but in the context of this experiment, I must put an emphasis on how much it tastes like peanuts. Much more than any other sample so far. That’s a great thing. It is crunchy with a chewy centre, somewhat reminiscent of Snickers. Satisfying. (I’m starting to suspect that my top choices will roughly reflect the sales revenue of each candy – I’m so mainstream.)

9. Reese

She says: Pure unadulterated salty peanut butter covered with a thin layer of chocolate.  Yes.  A thousand times yes.

He says: What more can be said about Reese. It’s chewy, salty, delicious. There’s a reason why they’re number 1. (And no, it’s not because of ET’s unexpected endorsement.)

Ten dollars and an estimated 428 calories later, who’s the winner?

And we're spent

She says: If I had these candies on a line-up and I had to pick just one on a day that I’m jonesing for a peanut butter experience, I think I’d go for the Reese’s NutRageous.  But I think this isn’t widely available everywhere (we went to the Sugar Mountain) so if that was eliminated, I would most likely go for Snickers.  For everyday snacking, I’d go for the Twix.

He says: While I love peanut butter, I rarely find myself craving it. Faced with a choice among the candies sampled for this highly scientific endeavour, I would first reach for Snickers (for the peanut and nougat combo), then Reese’s Nutrageous (great spin on the original), and good old Reese. The crunchy candies didn’t do it for me, and the Twix was perhaps a bit too bland.

Apparently, Canadian geese taste more like beef than chicken, and it could be quite good.  In fact, in the early 20th century, they were feared extinct because they were so widely hunted.  We’ve forgotten that these animals can be hunted and eaten!  But why should we start now?

Lander is considered a “locavore”, who teaches urban people how to hunt and dress animals.  The term Locavore is a play on the terms herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore – locavores prefer to eat food that is locally produced or grown.  Lander recently published a book on how to hunt and cook deer.   On Q, Lander explained that the students that he took hunting, ended up being fitter, better, happier.  Being outdoors and being active helped improve mood and prevent depression.  People also became more compassionate – hunters have to confront their prey and acknowledge that its death was indeed a sacrifice.  An interesting point that he brought up was that even in the production of tofu, lots of animals are sacrificed – animals routinely get sucked into the combine as soybeans are harvested.

Listen to the full interview here - Lander does a goose call, which when done properly can call in a flock of flying geese to land.  Also check out his blog over at The Locavore Hunter.

In local news, October 13th is World Food Day.  In Ottawa, USC Canada is hosting a forum titled Building a Better Food System at  St Paul’s University.  The speakers are: Sarah Elton (author of Locavore), Susan Jessup (owner of 42 Fine Foods and Cordon Bleu trained), and Colleen Ross (a local organic farmer).

I’m also going to check out the REEL Food Film Festival, October 20-27.  Check out the full list of events here.

Number ONE thing that I’ve learned: Prep, prep, prep. Every weekend Adam and I head to the grocers down the street, or my personal fav: The Sweet Potato, and get all the groceries on the LIST. The LIST (it’s in CAPS because it’s UBER-important) has everything that we need on it so that 1) we don’t go over board and waste too much, and 2) we don’t miss anything and end up having to hit the grocery store again during the week.

My process? I try to come up with a meal plan. I don’t necessarily stick to having each meal I’ve planned out in the order that I’ve set them out in. i.e. Monday I’m having Spinaquicha, Tuesday will be an Avocado & Cheese Sandwich, etc. Instead, I have a list of five basic meals that I will have planned for the week, and each day I can decide which one that will be! This may not work for everyone, but it works for me. If you need to make a plan and stick to it, then do it! Whatever works! Once I have that all organized, I whip out my trusty iPhone and get to entering all of the ingredients needed in my grocery app – or a paper and pencil will work too.

List EVERYTHING. Regardless of whether you know you have it or not. Then head over to your kitchen – in my case it’s SO damn small only me and my two cats fit in it on a good day… and start going through your cupboards and fridge. As you do, check off the things you already have on your list.

Once you’re done, your LIST is complete! I’m a big fan of going to the grocery store on a Saturday. That way it’s out of the way and done at the start of the weekend, and I can get to prepping my veggies and making any meals ahead of time for the week.

FREEBIES!!

Weekly Meal Plan Worksheet – Download

Grocery Worksheet – Download

Tofu Wontons (Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times October 2011 issue)

1 pkg medium-firm tofu

1 pkg wonton wrappers

4 cups swiss chard, chopped

1/2 cup carrot, finely chopped

2 tsp roasted sesame oil

1 tbsp tamari

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the sesame oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add carrot and cook for about 3-5 min until the carrots have softened.

Add the chopped swiss chard and cook until the chard has wilted.

Transfer the mixture to a food processor, and pulse to finely chop the mixture. Add the tofu and mix until combined.

Transfer the tofu mixture to a bowl and add the tamari, salt and pepper.

Place a wonton sheet on a clean surface. Drop 1 tsp of the tofu mixture in the middle of the wonton sheet.

Fill a small bowl with water and use a basting brush to brush the edges of the wonton wrapper with water.

Pick up two opposite corners of the wonton wrapper and press them together. Then pick up the package and press edges together to seal, making sure to get rid of any air pockets.

I then placed them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or you could flour your baking sheet, and once the sheet was all filled up I placed it in the freezer for about a half hour until they were hard.

I then transfered them into a large zip lock freezer bag and continued with this process until all of the tofu mixture was done. Which worked out to be all of my wonton wrappers – roughly 60 wontons!

Now you have wontons to fry up, boil, serve in soup or whatever your heart desires!

This dish is exotic Autumn in a pot – I ate it on top of quinoa, but you can eat it with any kind of rice, or even pita bread because it is not a watery stew.  It is spicy, sweet, savoury, mushy, creamy, and hearty, all in one.  Mission: accomplished.

This recipe made dinner for 2 plus 3 lunches.  Cooking time is relatively short, about 30 minutes; the steps that require more time is the prepping of vegetables.

Spicy Paste

• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, washed and dried, with thicker stems removed
• ­­­2 stalks lemon grass, outer layer removed, and cut into pinky finger length pieces
• 1 jalapeno pepper, halved and seeded
• 2 red chili peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 thumb sized ginger, peeled and chunked
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

For the stew, in order of appearance:

• 1 red pepper, diced (any bell pepper)
• 1 orange pepper diced (any bell pepper)
• 3-4 ripe tomatoes chopped into chunks, do not deseed, we want its juices!
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 can premium coconut milk, none of that reduced fat stuff
• ½ large or 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chunked
• 4 veggie burger patties, cubed (or, a can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed; 2 cups of reconstituted chunky TVP)
• ½ fresh lemon

First, prep all vegetables in the stew – chop the peppers and tomatoes, prepare the butternut squash, and set all aside.  Then, prep everything needed for the Spicy Paste.  I recommend doing this second because of the jalapeno and chili peppers.  You will want to do these last to avoid contaminating everything else with hot chili oil and reducing the number of times you need to wash everything.  Be very careful seeding the hot peppers… I have had several mishaps.  If available, use gloves.

Once everything is ready, in a food processor (yes, I had to borrow one for this dish) whizz together on high speed everything except the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. Don’t forget to set aside a few sprigs of cilantro for garnish though!  Scrape down the sides once or twice and whizz again.  Once everything is in a fine paste, add in the soy sauce and vinegar and pulse several times.  Set this aside for use later.

In a large pot, heat a tablespoon of oil (I used olive).  Throw in the bell peppers and sautée for a few minutes, until its juices have come out.  Throw in the cinnamon and cumin, plus the Spicy Paste.  Sautée for another few minutes.  In Jamie’s words, it will smell amazing!  Throw in the tomatoes and cook until its juices have come out (about 3-5 minutes).  Somewhere in there would be a good time to put some rice or quinoa on the stove.

Once the tomatoes have softened and juices have come out, pour in the entire can of coconut milk, and add the chopped butternut squash.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and put a lid on the pot to cook, about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  While this is cooking, you can do some dishes and chop up the veggie burger patties!  Once the butternut squash has softened (I like to squish it with a wooden spoon), add in the cubed patties (or beans or TVP), and cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat and squeeze in that half lemon!  Add salt and soy sauce to taste (I added about a swig of soy sauce and 1 tsp salt).

Serve on a bed of rice, quinoa, or bread, with a cilantro garnish.  To push this over the edge you can also add some toasted cashews on top.  Delish!

What I had for lunch today.

This quiche is more spinach than egg, and to me, it’s more like a spanakopita in pie form.  That’s why I jokingly called it spinaquicha.

I ended up eating this for breakfast (with siracha), lunch (with salad) and dinner (with soup) over the next few days.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• Milk
• A handful of thyme
• Pinch nutmeg
• Several pinches of salt
• 1 package of frozen spinach
• ¾ cup feta, crumbled
• ¼ cup grated parmesan and gruyere
• 1, ¼ cup flour
• 1 stick cold butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg, beaten with 2 tbsp cold water

Assemble the crust and half-bake it: 

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Mix flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl.  Cut in the cold butter until coarse crumbs form with 2 knives or a pastry cutter.  Make a hole in the middle of the mixture, and pour in the egg and cold water.  Stir together and mix until a dough forms, then use floured hands to knead two to three times.  Use whatever method you like to put the dough into the 9 inch pie tin.

Note:  I don’t have a pastry roller, so I just press the dough into the tin and use my fingers to make the sides go up.  It doesn’t make a very pretty (or uniform) shell but it is perfectly serviceable!  Also, instead of a tarte tin (which I have yet to obtain), I use a 9 inch cake tin.  Works like a charm and comes out easily, don’t even have to grease it!

To pre-bake the crust, line the crust with tin foil and fill it with uncooked rice or dry beans.  You can use whatever is lying around in your pantry.  I usually have chickpeas lying around so that’s what I used.  Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, lift the tin foil carefully with all the beans/rice, and put the shell back into the oven for a few minutes until the bottom is dry.  Lower the oven to 350 F

While the crust is pre-baking, assemble the filling:

Beat the eggs into a 2 cup measuring cup.  Add milk up to the 1.5 cup mark.  Add salt and thyme and set aside.  Squeeze out the liquid from the spinach, and fluff with a fork.  Crumble the feta and grate the cheese.

An additional step that I skipped, is sautéing the spinach with some garlic.  That would make it taste pretty awesome.  So you could also do that while the shell pre-bakes.  Yes, you can do all of this in 15 minutes.

Assemble the quiche:

Spread the spinach evenly in the tarte shell.  Sprinkle on the feta and half of the gruyere mix.  Carefully pour the egg mixture into the tarte, making sure not to stay on one spot while pouring.  Then, sprinkle on the rest of the gruyere mix.

Stick it back in the oven at 350 and bake for about 35 minutes (you know it’s done when the egg is not jiggling when you shake it).

Cool slightly before cutting.

Until recently, when I was in DeSerres helping my mother purchase a very large canvas for her next painting endeavour, my dreams were answered! (I got it in green). Also called the Bento Box, the box features two containers that easily insert inside.

One is tiny, with an attached lid, and can be used for dressings, or in my case – maple syrup! The other, takes up almost half of the box and has a detachable lid. You can use the box with or without these insertable containers, but for my breakfast this morning I opted to use them. I put maple syrup in the tiny one, and yogurt in the larger one. Then I filled the remaining space of the box with strawberries and blueberries.

OK, I may sound crazy going all gaga over a lunchbox. But it holds my breakfast – strawberries, blueberries, yogurt, maple syrup and granola so beautifully… truthfully the granola was in a ziploack bag, but the rest of it stayed sealed without any spilage!

The ONE major hurdle that I’ve had to overcome is finding time to prepare snacks for my work day. Bringing lunch to work has also been difficult, but around two o’clock every day I get the munchies! And before September if there was nothing in my backpack, I would head to the local coffee shop. Therefore, this past weekend I spent my time wisely and made my favourite granola, as well as two batches of yummy muffins!

The first batch were blueberry muffins, and the second batch sweetpotato and strawberry. Both of the muffins had the same base which included brown rice flour and buckwheat flour (which I had never cooked with before), and almond meal. Unfortunately that was the one ingredient I forgot to get! But I did have a big bag of whole almonds at home – because I use it to make almond milk to sooth my strawberry milkshake addition – so I went straight to the internet to see if I could make these muffins a reality. Luckily Almond meal, or any kind of nut meal for that matter is super easy to make. All it takes is the NUTS!

Just grind them (with skins)… I used my trusty Magic Bullet, making sure to shake it every so often to move the nuts around, as well as being careful not to over grind the nuts or I’d end up with a whole lot of nut butter!

Then I poured the ground nuts into a flour sifter and sifted!

I kept repeating this step until I had almond meal!

And that’s it! SO easy! I was able to make my yummy muffins which, did I mention, have NO sugar, and are completely gluten free! I highly recommend these babies, I couldn’t believe how yummy they were.

Once I finished munching on a muffin hot out of the oven (which looks NOTHING like Meghan Telpner’s but still delicious nonetheless), I let them cool, wrapped them individually and then put them in the freezer so that their fresh whenever I take one to work.

Done! Snacks for the next two weeks!

Variety was another lesson.  Living in a single household downtown, I am used to being able to obtain a lot of varied single-serving ready-to-eat items.  On a whim, I could pick up some artisan baked goods (anywhere between bread, scones, cupcakes, spanakopita, baklava, samosas) within a 3 block radius from my apartment.  What this challenge is teaching me is to get back to basics and eat within my own means.

Really, I went into this challenge without a lot of hypothesized outcomes.  One thing that is really surprising me is that it has forced me to remember the other sweets – FRUIT!  Good thing my office is right across the street from a green grocer that sells local fruits.  Usually in the afternoon I crave a sweet snack.  In the past, that has come in the form of baked goods.  But I can’t possibly bake every other day of the week in order to provide myself with enough variety to satisfy my cravings.  Someone kindly reminded me of the magic of fruit, and I realized, that I don’t actually buy or consume a lot of fruit.  This challenge is reminding me about fruit, which is ridiculous!  Because fruit is one of the food groups!

It’s starting to feel a bit like Autumn here in O-Town, what with the recent dip in temperature and lack of sunlight.  Throughout summer I’d been missing my favourite dish to make and eat – Smitten Kitchen’s Mushroom Bourguignon.  I couldn’t bring myself to make it in the summer because it is an Autumn dish.  So, feeling the need for some comfortable stewy food, I decided that last night would be the night.

The recipe is almost perfect.  Below is a list of things I changed, for maximization of nutrition and minimizing of cooking time:

• I doubled the amount of portabello mushrooms from 2 lb to 4 lbs (about 5 caps)
• I added 4 veggie-burger patties sliced into thin strips like the mushrooms (add to the pot at the same time as the cooked mushrooms)
• I did the wine reduction at the same time as cooking the mushrooms – saves a TONNE of time because it takes the same amount of time for the wine to reduce to half of its original volume as the amount of time it takes to heat up another pan, slice the mushrooms, and throw them in.  You can even just leave the mushrooms in their pan while working on adding other things to the wine reduction.
• Omitting onion and garlic was ok – although I imagine softened pearl onions would boost this dish to heavenly from fantastic.