Lasy cheap eats on the go

sanmich, a photo by B_A_Dxxx88 on Flickr.

Sorry for the lack of posting life has been crazy hectic and with working 7 days a week I feel like I rarely make anything post worthy.

Here is a terrible cell phone photo of my breakfast/lunch today, but it was such a good quick cheap last minute grab I had to share.

Running late and having not gotten groceries in a while, I was pretty hard up for food and have been taking instant costco oatmeal to work for breakfast and eating out for lunch.

BUT! This morning I stopped into pete's frootique to look around and decided to splurg on some 9.99/lbs guacamole. Finding pita chips at 3-4$ a bag, I decided to try to find corn chips when I happened by the bread section and found focaccia for 3.15 for a bag of 8 rolls from a local organic bakery.

So basically, these babies consist of toasted Focaccia, Guacamole, sliced organic tomatoes, dab of regular mustard and salt/pepper. So good, I'm eating one now for breakfast and toasted/wrapped another in the lunch room to take with me during my break along with the 2 costco kwiwis I am still trying to finish.


Here's the final score

8 Focaccia Loaves from a local organic bakery 3.50$
3 organic tomatoes 1.60$ (reduced produce score)
1 tub of Pete's Guacamole 6.15$
My total came out to around 11.60$ with taxes etc.
Added some mustard packets from the food section and take away salt/pepper and we are golden.

I figure it's not bad because this will make 6 meals because I'm generous with the tomato slices/guac, if I skimp I could make a full 8 meals, which for last minute 11.50$/8 =1.44$ a meal is pretty damn good.

Conversely I would now finally have bread for my veggie burgers if I decide to skip a meal or bulk one of the meals up with the frozen patties.

Tasty Week night meal

Sorry for the long absence, I just reclaimed my kitchen from the mold and bacon grease/roommate related mess. Late classes followed by tasty tasty full meals.

The prep was pretty easy, I defrosted some mock chicken breast, 4 in total. Took two to cover with garlic, olive oil, dijon, thyme, pepper, celery, balsamic vinegar and diced green onions and set them aside to marinate.

The other two were chopped plain and added to a bowl with celery, cabbage, green onions, white onion, vegan mayo, dijon, pepper and so on. So lunch tomorrow was the leftover diced carrots, celery and cherry tomatoes for work.

Back to the cooking, I rubbed 3 potatoes with olive oil and tossed them into the toaster oven. Then I shredded a head of cabbage and 1/2 onion to fry in margerine with onion/garlic/celery/pepper. Splashing in water as needed to braise it up, eventually reducing it with white wine.

Steamed some carrot chunks and added my mock-chicken to the toaster oven.

Final plate! Braised cabbage; steamed carrots; roasted dijon vegan chicken; roasted celery/onions; cherry tomatoes; and baked potatoes.

Not pictured is the balsamic glaze for the carrots and the dijon reduction sauce for the mock-breast.

Added some hot tea for the throat and voila!

Update on my lunch tomorrow to come!

Followed by Cabbage may be the greatest vegetable ever! it's 79 cents!! For over a pound, easily adds a quick cooking veggie for all meals and keeps forever. Salads, Slaws, Chicken Salad, braised veggies, steamed, used as lettuce or whatever! Good times.

A quick study break: Tea

Sorry for the neglect (doesn't it seem like most of these posts start this way?). I was feeling a little inspired today from my friend's blog bitch with a tea cup and our recent tea adventures.

So I brewed up a large pot of Emperor's Pu-erh steeped for 3 minutes until golden. Then removing the tea bag, adding 1/2 fresh lime, and squirt of Agave into a large mason jar to sit while going over my readings on gender and sexuality.


For a slight nutty, citrusy,tangy and slightly sweet chilled tea. Dark rich tea, perfect spring-summer connection. I think I might brew up a litre or two of this, chilled in the fridge for the summer.

Theppk's Cookbook Challenge #2: Week 1 Apetite for Reduction!

That's right, cookbook challenge is back! This time we'll be starting with Isa's latest book.

Get all the details on this weeks challenge and snoop what everyone else is making here.


My first dish is simmering away from page 133

Mango BBQ Red Beans!

Super easy and man does it smell good. Not sure I'm going to want to add Agave to it... Maybe I will eat a bowl and then decide.

Super easy directions, pantry friendly stuff and it comes together quickly.

JUST BE SURE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON THE ONIONS AND GARLIC. Maybe cook on 5 or lower, I caught mine burning a few times.

Otherwise it smells and tastes fantastic. I served mine over brown rice and saved the rest for lunches.

I'm a terrible MOFO'er: Late night student eats

As the end of term draws near and dealines loom my time in the kitchen becomes non-existant... as do my meals. In efforts to rectify that I made time to make diner, which is a shame because it was so easy to throw together I should make time to do it everyday.


Bonus for when times are tight and limited cook a bit extra, or make 3-4 things. You can save a little bit of everything to throw into a lunch container for the next day which is what i did.
First I made a simple stir fry with frozen mixed veggies, soysauce, squirt of plum sauce, lemon juice, chili oil, sesame oil and seeds. Very tasty, super easy way to make sure you get at least a bit of green.

frozen stir fry mix (broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots, yellow carrot coins)
-sesame seeds, chili oil, toasted sesame oil, garlic, plum sauce, red chilis, all spice, mustard seeds, lemon juice, soysauce.
fry together, string often

The rest of the meal was less green with some roasted red potatoes and vegan chicken strips from super store. Again, it doesn't have to be fancy as long as your eating something during the long days.

Roasted potatoes:
diced red potatoes
canjun spice mix, texan spice mix, veggie grill spice mix, paprika, pepper, olive oil.
Bake at 400 shake/stir every 15 you can bake these with the strips to save time. After the 1st 15 minutes push potatoes to one side to add mock-chicken. Continue baking until done.
Salt AFTER they are finished, otherwise potatoes tend to absorb salt.

I topped the strips with some thai sweet chili heat sauce and tucked a small portion of each into my amazing Green-go containers! <3 they are fantastic.
Be sure to let your leftovers cool before placing the lid, otherwise these suckers will steam up and lose their texture. Place in the fridge and grab on your way out the door to study!

Heartwood love

Peanutbutter Cheesecake MMMM

More love for Heartwood. Photo essay


Portabello sandwich and daily soup

Daily special, quesadilla tofu, beans, roast veggies.

nachos

Veganmofo: the pyschological dance of the midnight snack

It's midnight... you are home alone... watching some horrible exploitation film or horror movie which should never be watched by a single person alone at night when the neighbours are away.

Pressure rises, blood pumps a bit faster then usual. Every little noise makes you second guess if the doors were locked just right. And if your anything like me, when the AM rolls around so does the craving for food. Snacks. Edibles. and not just any, but the greasy, junkfoodie kind. The type of food you should likely limit your intake of and certainly not consume just before bed.

So here I sit, scared a bit witless craving french fries. Pause movie. Dash to Kitchen. Dice Potatoes. Fire up Toaster Oven. Jump at street Noises. Toss in Oil. Potatoes. Spicemixes. WTF WAS THAT CREAKING SOUND. Grab Knife. Insert fries. Return to movie chair.

It's midnight snack cravings that make simple things like spice mixes crucial. It's one less thing you have to worry about as everything your parents and dieting ever told you about eating after 8pm flashes through your mind. Well I say, fuck your parents and dieting and pass me some midnight munchies.

Midnight snacks can take on many a forums but my favourite late night group is carbs. Specifically potatoes, which are easy and versatile to whip up with little effort.

Your toaster oven is your best friend.

Late night nosh fries:

• 3-4 small red skin potatoes
• 4tbsp olive oil
• veggie grill spice mix, tex-mex spice mix and canjun mix
  
• check out yellow rose recipes for some awesome spice mix recipes!

1. turn on toaster oven 350
2. dice potatoes. toss oil into baking sheet. toss in potatoes and dump on your spices
3. cook for 10-20 mins, flip em, cook for another 10-20 until tender/crisp

Salt to taste. enjoy while hiding in a blanket fort.