my vegan streak

It doesn't seem like very often that I get the chance to explore amazing, new vegan cuisine. Wait, back that up...I know I don't get to explore amazing, new vegan cuisine often!

When you come from a town of 25,000+ people, vegan cuisine isn't exactly the food hot topic. Lucky for me, between staying in Blue Mountain this past weekend (which I documented in pictures) and taking a two day trip to the Cleveland area for the hubby to play in a golf qualifier, I got to experience some amazing vegan option I may have otherwise missed! And boy, would my taste buds have been disappointed!

I want to, first, go back to my pictures from the weekend. Since I was blogging from my phone last post, I didn't get a chance to do any link ups that actually really deserved them. So, first things first, my vegan experience while in Collingwood (aka where Blue Mountain is).

If I could marry a vegan restaurant, it would probably be the one from the weekend - Pure Food Bar. The husband and I ate our two out of three dinners from there, along with smoothie and dessert purchases. Like I said last post, we pretty bought the place last weekend.

If you are EVER in Collingwood, you NEED to try the Truffle Pasta; it's pricey, but so worth it.

I can't even describe how friggen fantastic it was. The flavours were like fireworks in my mouth. I don't want to ever overhype a meal (ahem, husband), but this is up there on my 'need to talk about it' foods!

Apart from this dinner, I also tried the taco wrap, and it was delish as well. What amazed me about this place, is it's not just vegan, but raw vegan.

I loved the dressing on the salad, too. I wish I was a talented vegan and could whip up these amazing things...especially salad dressings!

Ok, so after we left Collingwood and headed back home on Sunday, as soon as early Monday morning rolled around, we were back on the road, this time heading to Ohio.

The husband had already prepared me, telling me that there was a Trader Joe's close to where our hotel was. I had never been to TJ's before so you can just imagine how excited I was. I think we made 4 trips there in the 1.5 days we actually had time to go places other than the golf course.

You can see that I was obsessed from the start.

The big hit for me from there was the hummus and veggie wrap. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say that their hummus has crack in it. It was so good; I couldn't get enough!

It was the afternoon snack we need after a 5 hour car ride!

Then, after the husband played some holes on the golf course to get him ready for the tournament the next day, we hit up Chipotle Mexican Grill. As I was walking around the golf course, I went on to their website and checked what their vegan options were. Luckily, they clearly specify on their website which are vegan friendly, so that made it super easy when I went it because I already knew what I was going to order.

I got the burrito bowl with brown rice and black beans, then of course hot salsa, mild salsa, lettuce, grilled veggies, corn and guac.

It was so good and so filling. I actually took some home and snacked on later once we were in the hotel room. Definitely will be going back there again!

As if I wasn't already on the top of my vegan streak, it got mighty better the next day - I found a vegan bakery. They had me at 'Vegan Sweet Tooth.'

Going in, I told the husband that I wasn't just getting one cupcake, but at least 4, and 4 is what I got...along with a slice of strawberry cheesecake. Yes, I have a problem.

You probably are wondering why if I got 4 cupcakes are there only 2 in the picture...well, you see...we kinda got right into those cupcakes after the hubby finished his golf tourney, and with cupcakes in the room, my memory for taking pictures goes out the window!

I'm normally a vanilla girl (we got 2 different vanilla ones, and 2 different chocolate ones), but here, their chocolate cupcakes were much more moist than the vanilla and just full of flavour!

Either way, vegan cupcakes in general is a win in my book!

And finally, one last win in my vegan streak. Remember the vegan place up in Collingwood? Well when we got our last dinner from there, I had asked if they would mind giving me some extra vegan sour cream on the side as I really wanted to steal some...and they kindly agreed to it.

So last night, I used that lovely vegan sour cream on a glorious baked potato and it was amazing. I think I need to go up to Collingwood more often, spend all my money at Pure and ask for more sides of sour cream.

It's sad that my vegan streak ends there, or simply means I need to keep traveling, and I like the latter so much better!

artichoke hummus

There was once a time where I was an avid hummus buyer. I would buy my overpriced tub of hummus because it tasted so good.

Sometimes, I would hold off on buying it just in case it went on sale. And then when it never did, I would buy it anyways. After all, good hummus deserves to be in my belly.

Besides, if I never bought the overpriced, delicious hummus, then what other hummus would I eat? I couldn't just go without hummus...what kind of world would that be?! That's until I discovered making your own hummus (read: I finally realized that it really is that easy to make your own).

It's actually the overpriced hummus's fault for being so overpriced that lead to my hummus-making abilities. I bet it wishes it would have lowered its price a little because, unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing each other for a while now. Unless it vows to drop its price to 1/2 off.

Artichoke Hummus

by Char

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups precooked chickpeas
• 3/4 of 14oz can artichokes in water, reserving the water and a few artichokes for garnish
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• juice from 3/4 lemon
• 2 small garlic cloves
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder (if you run out of garlic cloves like me)
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp tahini

Instructions

Place all ingredients in a food processor (this includes the water from the artichokes) and blend until well-combined.

Drizzle with high quality olive oil and garnish with fresh or dried parsley.

Serve with fresh vegetables or tortilla chips or even quinoa socca (since it's not chickpea related).

Powered by Recipage

For a hummus newbie, I think I did pretty good. I half expected that it would have actually been:

a) a waste of my chickpeas

b) something I would gag over but try to eat anyways for the sake of not wasting.

Obviously you can see my expectations are fairly low when trying something new! But, a life lesson I learned from this experience: don't be afraid to try new things...you might just surprise yourself!

Making my own hummus has actually fueled the fire. My next attempt will probably involve a lot of heat - that way if it doesn't turn out, my mouth will be half-paralyzed by peppers!

QUESTION: Any other hummus newbies out there? Or if you make it quite often, what are your favourite flavour combos?!

thursday things

Thursday Things = random facts I feel like sharing (mainly from today, but, honestly, just whatever pops to mind). You should do some Thursday Things, too (or Friday, or Saturday) and link back.

1. I'm on day 6 of working out in a row. Why am I emphasizing this everyday? Well, as a student, some days I'm on campus for 11 hours wishing I could just be at the gym having CrossFit kick my butt. So obviously my vow to workout everyday while on break is totally sticking. Downfall: I smell everyday.

2. I ran tonight (which was less torturous than my Tuesday run...thank goodness) and I'm doing the CrossFit Open workout tomorrow. You know you want to do it, too (7 minutes to do as many burpees as you can). Tina's husband did 119. My hubby said the highest at our gym (from this morning) was 115. He was leaving work as people in the evening were doing it, so there is potential for a higher number.

3. This whole workout thing really puts a damper on having clean hair. I'm sorry hair, but there are sacrifices you have to make for the sake of staying in shape. One day you'll understand.

4. I'm making a batch and a half of cookies tonight. It's kind of like a challenge for the husband and I. We each get a baking sheet and see whose cookies turn out better (ie: mine every. single. time.)

5. I made a ridiculously good hummus yesterday. Look for that recipe here tomorrow (especially if you like artichokes).

6. Yesterday was the first time I ever made hummus. Why have I never made hummus before? Did I really just waste the last 25 years of my life not making hummus...yup.

7. Peanut butter is my drug. I buy it in bulk and it feels like I'm constantly refilling the damn thing. Yet another trip to Bulk Barn tomorrow - let's just hope they don't notice this addiction, or if they do, a discount would be nice.

8. Today felt like spring, but that was just a tease. This is what we have to look forward to overnight and tomorrow:

9. I think I'm addicted to Caffe Americano's...well done, Starbucks. (PS - for the best way to enjoy it: top with soy milk and get 2 pumps of cinnamon dolce flavouring).

10. The husband and I eat this same dish every week without ever getting sick of it...ever. Ever! One little tip: add way more veggies than the recipes asks for. Tonight's addition was: kale, broccoli, yellow pepper, brown mushrooms, onion, carrots, celery and bok choy. Like I said...I eat greens. Now it's time to match my veggie consumption in cookies...I mean, I am doing a bunch of burpees in the morning!