The other evening, when someone (unnecessarily) apologized for the lack of green vegetables at the dinner we were eating, we replied “It’s alright, we split a side salad earlier today.” Those four lettuce leaves and one tablespoon of shredded carrot ought to cover us, right?

If you’ve travelled for an extended amount of time, you can understand just how hard it is to eat healthy food on the road, especially when you’re on a trip that’s ALL ABOUT FOOD, have a carpe diem attitude, and possess an overwhelming love of butter. We do our best to snack on blueberries and snap peas during a long day of driving, but we aren’t exactly superstar health fiends at the moment.

This is why we were unbelievably excited to discover Leyda’s in Saskatoon, a brand new restaurant located just across from the Farmers’ Market. Their focus is on whole, healthy foods, with a menu that includes gluten-free bread, vegan, vegetarian, and meat options. There are a number of principals they’re committed to, which include:

-using as much organic, nonGMO, local, and seasonal food as possible
-never using a deep-fryer
-strictly following the “Dirty Dozen” (www.ewg.org) list when it comes to organic produce
-sourcing local trout, grass-fed beef and bison, and free range organic chicken and eggs
-Not utilizing any high-fructose corn syrup, MSG, or artificial sweeteners
-using Saskatchewan-grown organic seabuckthorn berries, which are one of the highest sources in anti-oxidants and vitamins A, C, and E.

In other words, their dishes may be restaurant food, but you won’t feel the need to cleanse after having them. They’re healthy, clean, and oh so tasty.

We met there for lunch with food writers Vincci, Dan, and Jenn Sharp, and took forever to decide on our orders. Dana and I finally settled on splitting a pizza (wonderful) and a trout quesadilla with mango chutney and guacamole (phenomenal).

Trout is what I grew up eating, and there are few fish I love more. Pair it with some tomato, gouda, cilantro, and grill it in a tortilla, and you have a perfect lunch. Our daily requirement of vitamin C was acquired by sipping on a refreshing cranberry/seabuckthorn soda.

We finished by splitting desserts made by the uber-talented Renée Kohlman of Sweet Sugar Bean, my favourite of which was a crunchy/fruity/coconutty creamy parfait. I’d eat this for breakfast every day if I could.

Saskatchewan has some of the best meat-and-potato meals out there, but Leyda’s proved you can get yourself a fruit, vegetable, and vitamin-filled lunch too. We kind of wish there was one in every city, but for now we shall just continue on with our regime of snap peas, blueberries, and butter.

-LA

Who loves to eat greens? Sheep. And with that, we have our segue to Saskatoon's The Sheepdogs: