What's for lunch? Grilled Pear & Goat Cheese Sandwich with Honey & Chocolate Mint

There's nothing I like better than a quick lunch and this is it! The best part is that it seems like a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich, but kind of like you're eating dessert.

I've made this sandwich before a few times, but there's an extra little kick in this one: chocolate mint! Our neighbour is growing a ton of it and offered some to me so I snuck a couple leaves in for fun.

By the way, this is kid-approved! I made this sans-mint for Leo and Mila a while back and they loved it.

Recipe: Grilled Pear & Goat Cheese Sandwich with Honey & Chocolate Mint

• 2 slices of bread (I eat thin rye bread from Dimpflmeier, but thick and crusty French bread would be amazing here)
• 1.5 oz of goat cheese
• 4-8 thin slices of pear
• A drizzle of honey
• A couple leaves of chocolate mint
• Oil for grilling

Method

• Spread goat cheese on both sides of the bread - don't be shy! Use lots!
• Layer the pear on one slice of bread
• Drizzle with honey & top with mint
• Grill!

Notes:

• If you have it, use coconut oil in your pan. It's super yummy with this sandwich!
• I used two mint leaves and it was a tad much. I really liked it, but if you just want a taste go with one.
• I used my cast iron pan, but I've also used my panini press which is fun because you get nice grill marks.

Enjoy and let me know if you make it!

-Steph

It's All Good

A while back I went to my friend Carol's for an afternoon/dinner play date with our kids and she made the yummiest meal: Mexican Tomato Rice with Go-To Black Beans and Mango + Avocado Salad with Balsamic-Lime Vinaigrette. 

And before you ask: yes this was for the kids too and yes they ate it (well Leo ate the avocado, but he's a special case...). The meal was so yummy that I made her lend me the book to take home to try some other recipes.

This one is a favourite:

Quinoa with sauteed kale & garlic topped with an olive oil fried egg. I have eaten this for breakfast a few times and it's so good. Savoury.

I also made the Veggie Dumplings which were fantastic. They were pretty easy to make from scratch but if you follow me on Instagram you'll know that my very first attempt didn't go so well:

I haven't gotten around to trying much else but here are a few that caught my eye for next time.

Spring Vegetable Soup, Two ways

Spanish Chopped Salad with Tuna + Piquillos with Spanish Salad Dressing

Sweet Potato + Five-Spice Muffins

Lentil Salad with Mustard + Tomatoes

She also has an awesome almond butter cooke recipe in here... um.

I should also note that she has a ton of meat recipes in here too - mainly lamb and chicken but this is not a vegetarian book for all you meat eaters!

Anyway, Gwenyth got a bit of a bad rap about this book which I'll never understand. The food is great, real, whole, fantastic and good for you. I think people have a really hard time with recipes and food that are in fact 'clean' and not full of crap that comes with eating processed foods.

Poor Gwenyth! Don't worry I'm a believer!

Believer or not the food is good. Check it out.

Local or Organic: What's at Stake and Why it Matters

A friend of mine sent me this today and I thought I'd share on here. It's a question I ask myself all the time. Get more info here if you want to attend. I just signed up! 

on the menu this week

It's a short week so less cooking (ya right...). I had a few veggies in the fridge I had to use up so here's what's on the menu this week.

Tuesday

Pasta with lentils and kale

I made this last time and it was just ok, but I have some kale to use up so I'll have to add more garlic and onions or something.

Wednesday

Baked Falafel

My friend C made this and she said it was really tasty so I'm looking forward to trying it this week.

Thursday

Tacos with spicy, smoky lentils

I'm very excited to try out some recipes from The Southern Vegetarian I received in the mail recently. It's a good way to kick up your veg dishes a notch. This week I'll try these tacos on Thursday.

... and the Roast beet salad w/sea salt granola with salmon on Friday

 What are you munching on this week?

time to work on that grocery bill y'all

Now that I'm not going back to work, we're on a quest to save a bit of cash here and there. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, our biggest bill after our mortgage is our grocery bill and I'm determined to get it under control. Mark and I sat down on the weekend to look at our budget and I told him I don't want to spend any more than $200 a week. This still may seem like a lot for some, but our current grocery bill is way more than that I'm telling you! Small steps at a time people!

So, every week I get a veggie box delivered to my house which is about $50, but I wanted to take a trip to the Liberty Village Farmer's Market to see what I could get for the $20 I had in my wallet. I LOVE farmers' markets, however many of them in the city don't offer organic fruits and veggies. Liberty Village does. In fact, the majority of the vendors on site this past Sunday were offering pesticide-free and organic food. Bliss!

The pic above shows what I got for $20.50: kale, beets, peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini. I really wanted some of the fries they were making on site - they were peeling the potatoes right there! - but I didn't have any money left. Oh well.

So the haul I brought home is about the same amount of veggies I get in my box. Mind you, the box also comes with fruit and eggs however I pretty sure I can get those at the store for less than $30!

Here are a few snaps of the market. I'll definitely be making a weekly trip for the rest of the summer.

So tell me: How do you save a buck?

a little story about local food

This post is pretty local to Toronto so I apologize to anyone reading elsewhere, but I received an email last week telling me about FoodStory, a new food delivery service that allows people who want to eat locally in Toronto, but are too busy to make it to the farmers’ market each week, to purchase their fresh fruits and vegetables (meat and dairy are coming in the next few weeks) online. The fruits and vegetables are delivered straight from the farmers’ market to your front door. 

So far, FoodStory has been joined by the Leslieville Farmers’ Market, the SickKids Farmers’ Market and the Regent Park Farmers’ Market, but the company hopes to one day work with every farmers’ market in the city.

I think this is an excellent idea especially if you don't have time to get out to the various markets. Weekdays are usually out of the question for me to get out and weekends are typically packed with other activities to make it out to the local markets.

Even though I was sold on the idea, mainly because of this cute video, I still wanted to know how this was any different from getting a typically fruit and veggie box.

My contact Damian had the answer: "We source directly from the farmers' market. Along with the small profiles we will have on the ordering page, we are currently building more in depth profiles of each farmer/vendor/producer at the market (which you will soon be able to refer to on our site) so you know exactly who and where your food is coming from. 

"Also, because we source from the markets, we are not mostly local (typically veggie boxes turn to food from other countries in the off-seasons), but rather entirely local. The food is also as fresh as it possibly could be. We don't keep an inventory, so the food we deliver comes directly from the market. It literally couldn't be fresher.

"Lastly, and most importantly for our consumers is the level of customization you receive. Firstly, we will not charge you to customize your box. We will suggest a box for you at the beginning of the week with what is seasonal, but you then have the ability to pick and choose from the wide array of selection at a market. Assume only 10 vendors attend a market, and each brings only five products, you then have the option to choose from 50 different products. Because we don't keep inventory, we can advertise everything from the market for sale."

FoodStory started delivering this past weekend so they're up and ready to go. Check out the Website and let me know what you think of the idea. As an added bonus, the organization is offering a free delivery with your first order. Just plug in LEALOU to your order when you check out.

On the menu this week

I'm not sure about you, but my grocery bill is way out of control. I think groceries account for more than 50% of our expenses. It feels that way anyway. I've mentioned before that menu planning helps a lot with gaining more control over spending too much on food, but my planning went out the window last summer. It got hot. All I wanted to eat was BBQ meat and salad. Oh... and I had a baby.

So, I've decided to get back onto the meal planning bandwagon. Last week was great. I didn't have to leave the house once during the week to get something extra. This week I managed to get most items I needed over the weekend, but I still may need to get out for a couple things. The great thing about having a pretty well-stocked pantry is that sometimes you can just wing it with what you've got on hand if you don't feel like going out.

I decided to share what's on the menu for this week. I'm hoping it will keep me motivated to keep with the menu planning program.

Monday
Kale and mushroom pizza

via 

I made this pizza tonight (not my photo) and it was pretty good. I used this pizza dough recipe, but I didn't have enough spelt so I used a cup of all-purpose flour instead. Delish.

Tuesday
Veggie Fried Quinoa 

Via

Mark's out at a golf tournament so I think I'll make this Veggie Fried Quinoa from Damn Delicious and if I'm feeling spunky I might make some cucumber carrot fresh rolls.

Wednesday
Pasta with Lentils and Kale

via

I didn't really want to have pasta on Wednesday, but I had to shift a few menu items around since I'm hosting my book club last minute and need something easy to make. This pasta with lentils and kale honestly doesn't sound super yummy, but the reviews were good so we'll give it a whirl.

Thursday
Roasted zucchini, black bean and goat cheese enchiladas

via

Everything about these enchiladas from The Sprouted Kitchen is making my mouth water. Enchiladas can be a lot of work, but I'm hoping these won't be too bad. I'm opting to make the enchilada sauce she mentions in her post so we'll see how long that takes. My time management isn't always the best it seems.

Friday

Grilled shrimp and scallops with grilled peppers and quinoa

via

Friday seems like a good day for the BBQ. We're still not eating meat at home, but still tend to have fish at least once a week. I actually still need to get the shrimp and scallops this week so hopefully this pans out.

Well that's it! Saturday and Sunday are typically one day of leftovers and one day of eating out.

What are you eating this week?