Vegetable Quinoa Soup

Quinoa is the best food. Seriously it is amazing and if you haven't tried it you are missing out. It is a great source of protein and can be used in so many dishes. Also for those with difficulties, its pronounced "keen-wah".

We made a quinoa soup and it was extremely easy and delicious. This is definitely something you can make in large quantities and freeze for a time when you don't have time to make a full meal. I got it from this blog and the only thing we did differently was use butternut squash instead of yellow squash because we couldn't find it in the store. You can use whatever vegetables are in season or are to your taste.

Ingredients
- 2 tbps. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 small zucchini, chopped
- 1 yellow squash, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups fresh green beans, cut into pieces
- 1 box vegetable broth (I used Campbell's)*
- 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
Salt and black pepper, to taste

* You may need more vegetable broth, after I added the quinoa, even though it was fully cooked, it absorbed most of the liquid in the soup and we had to add another cup of broth

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, and green beans and continue to cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the vegetable broth, diced tomatoes (and their juice), bay leaves, thyme, and basil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the vegetables are fork tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. 

3. To cook the quinoa, add quinoa and 2 cups water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until quinoa grains become transparent. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

4. Stir in the cooked quinoa and season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the quinoa absorbs too much liquid in the soup, add more vegetable broth.

Healthy Study Snacks

I don't think I know any college students who haven't stress eaten while studying. If you are some magical person with super human willpower who hasn't partaken in this behaviour, I hate you a little bit/encourage you to share your secrets with the world and make millions.

The problem for me, at least, stems from how difficult it seems to take a break from the books for anything other than eating, so food - even when you're not hungry - becomes all the more exciting. Since I have a mini-break in my own exam schedule right now, I thought I would take the time to give you all some tips on healthy alternatives to chips or other packaged junk you might be tempted to reach for in times of stress, as well as mini-breaks you can take from your work that don't involve eating.

1. Celery and Cream cheese

I love cream cheese so much! Buy light cream cheese when possible, and try to keep your portion to no more than 2 tbsp. When it comes to celery, however, eat as much as you want!

2. Laughing Cow Cheese

Light Laughing Cow cheese is 25 calories and only has 1 g of fat, so it pretty much can't be beat when it comes to a low-cal craving satisfier. Try it with some Ryvita or Wasa crackers, or spread on a slice of whole wheat toast. Top with sliced cucumber or tomato for some extra flavour.

3. Veggies and Hummus

This is something that I literally eat everyday. Hummus is filling and you'll sneak some of your daily protein in with your snacking - multitasking is always a bonus, right!? As usual, eat as many vegetables as your heart desires!

4. Pretzels and Mustard 

I hadn't tried this combination until this week, but now I am hooked! Pretzels are just as satisfying at chips, but more filling and lower in calories. If you can, get ones with low salt. Mustard is a great dip, but when times get tough, breaking out the Nutella is a delicious, sweet alternative (try to keep it to a tbsp-ish-sized serving, though).

5. Popcorn

My favourite are the Blue Menu mini-bags! They're only 100 calories and are perfect if you want a snack to munch on while studying because they take a while to finish. 

6. Trail Mix

I just made this giant container of my own trail mix this weekend, but you can absolutely buy pre-made if you're super busy. I might have gone a little crazy on the treats this time (bananas, raisins, and TWO kinds of chocolate chips), but generally try to keep the dried fruits and or chocolates to a moderate level. I mixed all those yummy things with roasted, unsalted cashews and soy nuts.

Here are some guidelines for nuts, brought to you by Nutrition Action Magazine (my fave) to help you pick your perfect mix!

A few extras from my favourite blogs to keep you inspired: 

-Apple Nachos from Manifest Vegan

-Kale Chips from Kath Eats Real Food

-Your guide to granola bars from Eat Spin Run Repeat

-Roasted chickpeas from Oh She Glows

-Single-serving treats from Chocolate Covered Katie

Before you bite into these yummy brain foods, ask yourself whether you're actually hungry or reaching for food because you're bored of studying. If you're eating because you're feeling a little burnt out, try to take a little break that doesn't involve food! Here are some suggestions:

-Take a walk or run

-Go to the gym

-Do a Blogilates workout (they're super short and you can do them in your room!)

-Paint your nails

-Clean (literally my favourite stressed-out activity)

-Read an article or a chapter in a book

-Watch a TED talk, a College Humor skit, or a silly youtube clip that has nothing to do with what you're working on 

-Do an at-home hair mask or face mask

-Have a mini-dance-party/sing-along in your room (this is my fave scream your lungs out jam) 

Good luck on finals! Eat mindfully and study hard :)

Peanut, Sweet Potato and Spinach Stew

Everyone at McGill loves September. No midterms, no papers, no stress (supposedly, I have a million readings and its not even two weeks in but whatever) and its not the freezing hell that Montreal turns into in January. Hence, it is a great time to do what you enjoy, which at our house essentially involves TLC, alcohol, cooking/baking or all three.

So I decided to spend my first Sunday in school cooking something new. We obviously enjoy making stews and chilis (is it a vegetarian thing or does everyone love these dishes as much as we do?) but this one looked different.

Ingredients
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. clove
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 carrot, diced
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. peanut butter
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups spinach, chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, lightly toasted
brown rice to serve, optional

Directions
1. Heat oil over medium heat in a pot. Add onions and saute for a few minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 2 more minutes.
2. Stir in clove, salt, cayenne and cumin. Cook for 2 more min.
3. Add potatoes, carrots, broth and honey. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer over low heat. Add peanut butter and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are soft.
4. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted. Serve on a grain or alone and garnish with peanuts.

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Pizza is the best food pretty much ever, right? But, it's so high cal, greasy, and only reserved for cheat days, right? WRONG!

We're not telling you to call up Pizza Pizza everyday; we're telling you to make this:

With a recipe from Lauren Conrad (Caitlin's hero), you can never feel guilty about having a slice or two ever again!

Ingredients: For the crust: 
-1 cup riced cauliflower (either grated or chopped very finely in a food processor)
-1 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese (any cheese would probably be good though)
-1 egg
-spices of your choice (it's nice with oregano)

For the toppings (what we used):
-a thin layer of pesto
-a couple handfulls of spinach
-1 chopped tomato
-crumbled feta
-a sprinkling of green olives

Directions: 
-Preheat oven to 450 and grease a baking pan (DO NOT JUST USE TINFOIL! We learned the hard way that it's a little sticky...)
-Mix all the crust ingredients together in a bowl and spread into a circle on your baking sheet
-Bake for 15 minutes and remove
-Add toppings (get creative with these; we just used what we had on hand - picture this topped with tomato sauce and roasted veggies, totally gonna do that next time)
-Place back in the oven for about 10 minutes
-Take it out and split it with a friend (or hoard your delicious leftovers, either way)

Yummmmm.

Carnivorism

So a lot has changed since we last posted... First, summer happened (yeah, sorry about the lack of posts oops, we were on vacay), and second, Caitlin is now a meat-eater!!!

We know what you're thinking, "like say whaaat? She's been a veggie since she was literally eleven!" It's true though, anemia has finally driven her back to the rotting-flesh-of-dead-animals diet.

Eating such cute things is hard to get used to. Even after finding and organic, local butcher, it hasn't been easy, so she's been finding recipes that will best disguise that nasty meat stuff.

First concoction: Beef Chili!

She took the recipe from Leslie Beck Nutrition (a favourite R.D.), and altered it from the original, as the original was for a venison chili and was depressingly low in vegetables.

Ingredients:
-1 tbsp margarine or butter
-1 lb. ground beef
-1 onion, chopped
-1 pepper (I used orange), chopped
-small package of mushrooms, chopped
-1 small zucchini, chopped
-15 oz. can diced tomatoes (liquid and all)
-1 small can kidney beans, rinsed
-1/2 cup tomato sauce of choice
-red chili powder
-chili flakes
-oregano
-salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 
-Melt butter in a large soup pot on medium heat
-Add ground beef and break it up; cook in butter until browned
-Add onion and pepper and let sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently
-Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil
-After the mixture has boiled, turn down and let simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally
-Serve garnished with tortilla chips, cheese, and/or sour cream (we just used chips); it would also be amazing with a fresh slice of bread of course

The verdict: meat is not so bad after all! And now we have yummy leftovers in the freezer for a stressful day :)

Curried Lentils

Ok so I wouldn't even put sweet potatoes in the title because we use them way too much. It's a problem. But I made this recipe because we did not have a decent curry recipe on here and I really wanted to try one. This sounded much better than one of our older posts (I should go delete that, doesn't even compare to what I made here). So yes this has sweet potatoes. But it also has other foods I've never cooked with before, Swiss Chard, which to me sounds like a cheese but it is actually a tasty lettuce.

Also, this is not one of those "easy and delicious recipes". We had most of the spices, and I eliminated a few of the ingredients from the original but there is still a lot of different things in this which you may not typically have in your kitchen. I would recommend buying them all because I think that the combination of spices gives this recipe a great taste, particularly the lime zest.

Ingredients
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tbsp. ginger
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala
1 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
4 cups vegetable broth
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils
1 pound Swiss chard
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/3 cup cilantro (I didn't have any so I used parsley)
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lime

Directions
1. In a large saucepan (or wok!) heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute for 5 min. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala, curry powder and jalapeno. Stir and cook for 1 min.
2. Add vegetable broth, sweet potatoes, and lentils. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, partially cover for 25 min.
3. Stir in chard, salt, and pepper and cook for another 10 min. or until lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.
4. Stir in cilantro, lime zest and juice. Enjoy your hard work!

Sweet Potato and Spinach Pizza

So I know there is already a recipe on here for a similar pizza, but it was one of our first posts and wasn't very exciting so I am adding a new vegetable pizza that is much more tasty. This is also one of those recipes that is very quick if you don't have much time but want a good healthy meal. And of course it features our most used ingredient: sweet potato! Don't have much credit to give for this recipe, it was inspired from one I read on Self Magazine's website (check it out it has great stuff) but basically changed all the ingredients to things I had on hand.

Ingredients
- 1 Sweet Potato, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 Red Onion, chopped
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1/2 tsp. paprika
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp. mexican chili powder
- 2 Whole-Wheat Pitas
- Handful of Spinach
- 1/3 cup feta

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Put potatoes in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 5 minutes or until softened.
2. Add red onions to a skillet on medium-high heat with oil. Add paprika, cayenne and chili powder. Cook for 5 minutes.
3. Place 2 pitas on a foil covered baking tray. Add spinach, potatoes, onions and feta. Cook for 10 minutes.

It's as easy as that! You have a filling, colourful and nutritious meal.

Fresh Vegetable, Barley, and Chickpea Salad with Peanut Dressing

I LOVE SALAD. 

I didn't use to love salad quite so much as I do now. I became a convert into the can't-live-without-salad-it's-like-my-favourite-food world when I figured out the formula to make a REALLY LEGIT salad every time. And I'm going to share it with you! Here are the guidelines to the perfect salad:

1. Don't be lazy. If you want a good salad, things may need to be grated or blended, and you will just have to deal with that. It's worth it.

2. You can never have enough veggies. Don't shy away from mixing carrots with snap peas, broccoli, beets, anything! Let's face it, an all cucumber salad never got anyone excited.

3. Protein. I'm talking lentils, chickpeas, black beans, tofu, you name it! Never shy away from the protein, love the protein.

4. A starch. We've addressed the strange aversion that women have developed toward carbohydrates before on this blog (thanks, Atkins) and I will tell you once again that it is RIDICULOUS. I'm not telling you to eat a white baguette alongside your salad, I'm saying have 1/4-1/2 of a cup of cooked barley, whole grain rice, quinoa, bulgur, or maybe some home-made croutons (cube some whole wheat bread and pop it in the oven at 350 for 20-ish minutes). It's delicious, it will kick-start your metabolism, and it will fill you up. Deal.

5. Dressing doesn't have to be fat. Sometimes when I have a super-loaded salad and just throw some basalmic vinegar on it, and sometimes I add a fat like nuts or a plant-based oil. Making your own dressing is the best way to keep it healthy, because you control exactly what goes into it. 

Those are some of the basic guidelines I follow when creating my masterpieces, and now here is a creation I whipped up a few weeks ago, a veggie, barley, and chickpea salad with improvised peanut dressing.

What I put in:

-2 handfuls baby spinach

-1/4 cup barley

-1/2 cup chickpeas

-1/3 cup chopped carrots (note: all veggie amounts are kind of approximate, you really can't screw this up don't worry)

-1/3 cup chopped snap peas

-1/3 cup chopped red pepper

And the peanut dressing (1 serving)

-1 tbsp all-natural peanut butter, heated in the microwave until melted

-1 tbsp soy sauce

-A pinch of brown sugar (to taste)

-A drizzle of sunflower oil

-1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (the amount you add depends on the sourness level you prefer)

More awesome salads to come!

 

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Stew

So all of our blog has essentially been cookies and other Christmas treats recently (and there are more to come) but in between all of our holiday experiment posts I thought I would post about an actual meal we made during exams.

I wanted to make this because after finding it here it looked just like the sweet potato and chickpea stew at Lola Rosa, one of my favourite restaurants. Sadly the recipe didn't taste quite as good as the Lola Rosa one but it was very close.

Ingredients
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1 15oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 can chickpeas
2 handfuls of baby spinach

Directions

1. Cook quinoa with water according to directions (either by stove top or microwave). Cover and set aside.

2. In a large pot, heat olive oil at medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic and spices and cook for another few minutes. 

3. Add the tomatoes, broth, sweet potatoes and chickpeas. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Add the spinach into the stew (as you can see from our pictures, we forgot this step!). Stir until spinach has wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve stew over quinoa and enjoy.

Vegetarian Cassoulet

What is the result of searching "vegetarian" in foodgawker? You get cassoulet! What is cassoulet? I have no idea. After making it I concluded it was essentially vegetable soup with bread crumbs on top. But after looking it up it is apparently a slow-cooked French stew made with beans and usually meat. Well that doesn't sound that great to me, but what I ended up making (which differed quite a bit from the recipe I found) was so good. Perfect for warming you up in the upcoming cold weather.

This recipe was the first time I used leeks, I was so perplexed, they are just so big... but they ended up tasting great. Just not sure what to do with the green part of them.

Ingredients:
For Cassoulet:
- 2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, chopped
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tbsp. parsley
- 1 tbsp. oregano
- 1 tbsp. basil
- 2 cans of beans (I used one can of kidney beans and 1 can of "bean medley"), rinsed and drained
- 1 can diced tomatoes and their juices
- 3 cups vegetable broth
For Garlic Crumbs: (these are approximate, I added ingredients until I had the right taste)
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. parsely

Directions:
1. Cook leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, basil and oregano in oil in a large pot over medium heat for about 15 minutes.

2. Stir in beans, tomatoes and stock, then simmer for about 30 minutes.
3. While the cassoulet cooks, make the garlic crumbs. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss ingredients together until crumbs are well coated. Spread on an aluminum foil lined baking pan and cook for 10 minutes. Make sure you watch them, my oven gets a bit too hot so mine were done in less than 7.

4. Once the carrots are cooked through, carefully mash some of the beans in the (probably very hot) pot with a potato masher or spoon to thicken broth. Before serving sprinkle with garlic crumbs.

So delicious and hearty. Yummm.

Lettuce Wraps

Not sure if anyone else has been by the Provigo packaged lettuce area in the past few weeks, but if you have you may have noticed the lettuce wraps (drooool). Yeah they are trying to sell "extra crisp" romaine leaves separately packaged and it probably works because the picture they put on the package looks so good.

Thus I was inspired to make my own lettuce wraps. And no I did not buy their probably overpriced "extra crisp lettuce wraps" but some regular romaine (although I was tempted).

I attempted to find a recipe on foodgawker, but nothing really was what I exactly wanted so this is a creation mainly of my own! Yay me!

Ingredients
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 package Yves veggie ground round
3 green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped cashews (I used "cashew snacks" which is just broken cashews that are CHEAPER)
1 1/2 cups frozen veggies (I used peas, carrots, corn)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
Romaine leaves

Directions
1. In large non-stick skillet heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic, onions, frozen vegetables and veggie ground round. Cook until heated through.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the romaine leaves) and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Serve on (washed and dried) romaine leaves!

Moroccan Red Lentil Soup

Daniele and I have finally returned to our tradition of cooking for each other, which is great because it gives me lots to blog about and I get to enjoy delicious food all week.

The first recipe I tried was from Canadian Living a decent website if you haven't check it out before. Not much of a story behind this one except it was SO GOOD. Definitely one of my all time favourite recipes. I will be adding it to my personal cookbook, which is a big deal.

Ingredients
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 celery stalks, chopped
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 cups water
1 and 1/2 cup red lentils
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, with their juices
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a large wok, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and celery. Cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently. 

2. Add salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger. Cook for another 2 minutes.

3. Add water, lentils, tomatoes, and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 min.

3. Add peas, cook for another 10 minutes. 

4. Serve either along or on couscous.

It's delicious, and Christmas-coloured! What's not to like?

Stuffed Peppers

Wow why are we so lame and never post anymore? I'm thinking it's a few reasons. First Caitlin and I signed up for like a bunch of clubs last year so our schedules are really messed up and our meals are either old recipes or just like super-quick stir-fry. Also (even though I know how super spoiled this sounds) but not having a working dishwasher is a big deterrent in cooking.

Hopefully things will settle and we will be regularly updating. Especially now that Daniele has lost her blog-virginity, we should have more posts.

This recipe is one that I made last Fall Semester BB (before blog) and I came home the other day and felt like stuffed peppers, even though I never went grocery shopping for the recipe. So the pictures I have aren't exactly of the same recipe, I just used vegetables I found in my fridge. They both turned out delicious though, so be creative.

Ingredients 
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
2/3 cup couscous
4 large bell peppers
2 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 zucchini, quartered and sliced thinly
1 yellow squash, quartered and sliced thinly
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
About 1 cup crumbled feta
3 tbsp. tomato paste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a small baking dish (I use glass).
2. Bring broth to a boil in a saucepan, add couscous, cover the pan and remove it form the heat.
3. Cut the stems and top half off of peppers, scoop out seeds. Place them upright in your baking dish and roast for 15 min. or until softened. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, zucchini, yellow squash, oregano and salt. Cook, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in chickpeas and tomato paste. Add the couscous and feta. *Instead of opening an entire can of tomato paste I just use vegetable broth here.

5. Fill the peppers with couscous mixture and bake for 15 min.

Delicious, filling and healthy :)

Mexican Night!

Wow it has been wayyyy too long! I feel like we were a bit of a let down in April because we were swamped with exams, packing and saying our goodbyes. But, we have not given up our blog! In fact during exams we had a mini celebration when Caitlin finished her hell week and we survived a very scary incident. And in true college student style, we cracked open a bottle of wine mid-day and got smashed. We then decided to get creative in the kitchen and make a Mexican feast!

We originally planned on making guacamole, mexican rice, and refried beans, however, Provigo was being a bitch as usual and all of the avocados were rock hard. But everything else we made was awesome and we just bought some salsa for our dipping needs.

First the refried beans, which are apparently healthy.
Ingredients
2 15 oz. cans black beans
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. chile powder
1/2 cup onion, minced

Directions
1. Drain about 1 cup of liquid from the black beans and set aside (in case the beans become too dry later when cooking). Pour the beans and remaining liquid in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Mash the beans with a potato masher but do not completely puree the beans to retain the texture.
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add cumin and chili powder and cook for a minute. Add the onions and cook for another few minutes until tender.
3. Add the beans to the pan, cook for 10 minutes, stirring and mashing often. Serve with your favourite Mexican dish.

While this is cooking, make your rice, we found this awesome recipe.
Ingredients 
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 jalapenos, minced
1 tbsp. oliver oil
1/2 tsp. salt
A pinch of black pepper
1 tsp. chili powder
A pinch of cumin
1 cup brown rice
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cup vegetarian broth

Directions
1. Saute pepper, onion, jalapenos, garlic, and olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until tender. Add the salt, pepper, chili powder, and cumin.
2. Add the rice and stir to coat with vegetable mixture, stir in tomatoes (and their juices) and the vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

After snacking on tortilla chips and salsa we made burritos. Well I think they were burritos, I find all Mexican food very similar and have no idea what the difference is between burritos and enchiladas.

So where to now? Well it's summer and most of us have returned to our homes in the rest of Canada, leaving Audrey behind. But no worries, seeing as we still love to cook and are no longer restrained by readings and student food budgets we will still be blogging. So whether you are procrastinating at work instead of class or zoning out in front of a computer after spending too long in the sun, keep in touch!

Yummy Lunches

Recently I have been craving Chickpea Salad, ever since having an amazing one at Burnside cafe, and watching Daniele make one the other night for dinner. So decided to make my own, and the results were delicious!

Hopefully you have enough time at lunch to make this, I happened to that day because I had just handed in my second term paper. And a fresh salad for lunch was a good reward for being done two term papers.

I did my usual recipe adapting from here, you know replacing tomatoes with green peppers and fresh squeezed lemon juice with non name brand lemon juice. But mostly it is the same.

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. dill
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp. pepper

So fresh!

Directions
Pretty simple, it's a salad so chop up your vegetables, throw everything together and mix well. The recipe said to let sit in the fridge for an hour so the flavours can "meld". Or you can not and say you did, it tastes the same otherwise.

Yum yum yum. My first experiment with dill turned out very well.

Chickpea Burgers

The best part of veggie burgers is that there are so many ways to make them. There are soy burgers, which are I guess are trying to be like real hamburgers (try Lick's Nature Burgers!), lentil burgers (which Caitlin made pre-blog), chickpea burgers, actual veggie burgers made with real vegetables, falafel burgers (at O'Burger, omg go try them) and I'm sure other varieties which I have not yet experienced.

Past experiences with veggie burgers have not been that great. PC Blue Label makes a veggie burger with is kind of like a hash brown with vegetables in it and it tastes good but always falls apart on the BBQ and I'm fairly certain cooking them for me makes my mom despise my vegetarianism. I personally love Lick's Nature Burgers but one time my (drunk) friend tried some of mine and spit it out because she thought it was gross. Veggie burgers have a bad rep with non-vegetarians so I decided to try to make my own.

My chickpea burgers turned out to be delicious, although I have yet to have a non-vegetarian to try them because Daniele had a midterm. They were a bit time-consuming to make but not that difficult. Plus the recipe made about 15 mini-patties so I'll have lots to eat during exams!

Ingredients
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated carrot
1/3 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten *the burgers were a bit difficult to stick together and I ran into that falling apart problem, if I made them again I would try two eggs to help the mixture stick together
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp. peanut butter
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
English muffins or other buns

Directions
1. In a large bowl mash chickpeas with a potato masher.
2. Stir in rice, onion, carrot, zucchini, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, peanut butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

3. Shape into patties. The original recipe says to make six 3/4 inch patties, I made mine a lot smaller but I guess it all depends on the size of your buns.
4. Place on a greased grill and cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

5. Serve to your vegetarian and non-vegetarian friends and get creative with toppings. Since the main ingredients are chickpeas and vegetables you can definitely go beyond the standard mustard and ketchup.

Caitlin got artsy :)

This recipe was delicious, I totally recommend it. And I plan on making it again when I go home to show my mom and my drunk friend that veggie burgers are not the worst thing in the world.

My New Favourite Dinner

I am beginning to wonder if my obsession of creeping food blogs is strange. Does everyone else do it too or are me and my roommates alone on this? I mean really it is not that satisfying, I do it in class, scrolling through foodgawker and longingly staring at perfected pictures of food, and usually it just makes me hungry. It also makes me imagine a world where I can make Hot Fudge Oreo Cupcakes, Salted Fudge Brownies, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes without consequence. I save all of these recipes and just wish that I had the time and funds to make them all.

Perhaps that's why we made this blog, to give our endeavors in the kitchen a bit more of a mission and sense of accomplishment. No, we will never be able to make the hundreds of recipes we have saved, however we will make some, and that will give our food blog obsessions a purpose.

And one day, we will make it on to the holy grail known as foodgawker.

Where am I going with this? Well seeing as bikini season is fast approaching, I started searching the blogs for salad recipes and found Warm Winter Vegetable Salad, which isn't really what I consider "salad" but ohmygod it is so good. Seriously, this is something I plan on making again and again, it was fantastic and so easy.

I adjusted the vegetables to what I had and you can do the same (see the link for the original).

Ingredients
1 small red onion, cut into wedges
1 sweet potato, cubed
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
3 tbsp. olive oil, separated
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. parsley
1/4 cup crumbled feta

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a roasting pan, toss the onions, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery and zucchini with two tablespoons of the olive oil.
3. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and roast for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice, or until tender and lightly browned in spots.

4. Meanwhile, spread the walnuts in a nonstick skillet and toast over medium heat until fragrant and lightly toasted, about 6 minutes (make sure to watch them, I didn't know this but walnuts can burn fast!)

5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Add the vegetables and the walnuts to the dressing and toss.
7. Top the salad with the feta and serve warm or at room temperature.

Voila! Delicious, healthy, easy dinner, my favourite kind. And recipes like this make the hours I spend staring at food pictures worthwhile.