Moroccan Stew - Under 4$ A Serving

I love cooking, eating well and designing my own recipes. Students notoriously eat cheap foods and suffer from terrible diets. I think many students believe that eating well comes at a high price and inconvenience. I'm a student and I've done the math, it's cheaper to eat home cooked meals and spend the extra time to prepare them. One foot-long sub from subway costs about 6.00$ with taxes but only lasts one meal, where a well designed home-cooked meal, can cost under 5.00$ a serving and last up to 5 meals. Home cooked meals don't have to be completely from scratch either, there are hundreds of pre-made cooking sauces and spice packs on the market, perfect for all types of cooks. I like to experiment, but many companies give example recipes on packages and on websites. Here is a recipe I invented this week:

The Student-Modified Berber (Moroccan) Stew

PC Memories of Morocco Cooking Sauce (Equal Parts Water)

Unico Red Lentils (about 300grams)

Carnation Soy Cream or Bel Soy Cream

PC Soft-Unripened Goats Cheese

2 Large Organic Bell Peppers

2 Large Organic Carrots

2-3 Large Organic French Shallots

1 Large Organic Zucchini

1 1/2 Cup de-tailed Precooked Shrimp (Tofu or Chicken)

1/4 Cup Flour (for desired thickness)

Instructions: Chop/Dice/Slice Veggies into desired sizes (I like mine chunky) and toss them in your large soup pot or crock-pot. Quarter or dice the shallots. Drain the lentils and pour them on your veggies. Pour the Cooking sauce on the veggies, and fill the sauce bottle with water and shake, pour that on too. Give it a stir and set on high. Add soy cream and flour once the stew is simmering, add slowly and test consistency. 30 mins before serving add shrimp (Tofu or Chicken) and Goat Cheese* to taste.

Total: 18.22$

Per Serving: 3.65$

Serve on Brown Rice or Couscous with a side of Harcha* or Naan. Serves 4-5 people or lunch or light dinner. I made mine in a small/medium crock-pot over 3-4 hours. It keeps really well and freezes amazingly. Reheat in a sauce-pan on low, as not to overcook the shrimp.

* Goat Cheese compliments these flavours perfectly, respectively deriving from the the traditional Berber culture in rural Morocco, who have been making goat cheese for centuries.

* Harcha is a traditional Moroccan Bread, similar to Naan.

Welcome to my Art Education Class!

Working with ink and dyes.

Dynamic finger painting at the University Level.

I Picasso of face pieces using pattern and basic children's paints.

Please take note that this class is from 6:30 to 10:30pm!

Montreal, doesn't seem so small?

Part of the downtown Concordia campus.

The turf field at the Loyola campus (near my residence)

It's been almost two weeks now. It has flown by at times and others lasting what seemed forever. Montreal feels smaller to me now that my perspective and geography has settled in. I've been exploring within reasonable walking distances of the SGW campus downtown. I know where the best cheap shopping is, Thai restaurants, grocery stores, and cafes. I've been down to the luxury district and the poor student area, some of my favourites to browse are; book-stores, vegetarian shops, dollar stores, art supply, Eco stores and much more. There are also lots of great galleries, cinemas and theatres.

The other day I bought a fish for two dollars

and put it in a bowl that I brought from home.

He is very curious, healthy and happy, now that I have expanded his habitat by 90%. He came with food in a neat Betta shaped pellet holder, and a tiny wand for direct "hand" feeding. I think this is why he is so friendly, he'll do anything for a pellet or two. As I type he stares inquisitively at me from the nightstand. He needs a name. I also have a small collection of plants that sit by the window. I'm not entirely sure what kind they are, so I'll have to familiarize myself with more houseplants.

K'naan and Chromeo played a concert near my residence but I had class, so I missed it. I would have also had rugby. There is always so much to do!

Bronwyn Graduated!

Graduating Senior Kindergarten!

Bronwyn & her teacher Mme Griffiths.

She is so excited to start Grade 1 next year!