The Vegan Butcher

I am having a full-blown love affair with the cookbooks of Joni Marie Newman and I don’t care who knows it! She’s absolutely genius. This post chronicles the first meal I made from her new book with Celine Steen, Hearty Vegan Meals for Monster Appetites.

As the title clearly states, this book includes nothing but recipes for substantial, filling food. You’re not going to find recipes for dainty salads in here, I’ll tell you that much for free.

I cracked open this cookbook on a hot, humid, Halifax summer weekend. My friends Jimmy and Kaleigh were coming over to visit that afternoon. I didn’t want to go to the grocery store and I wanted to cook outside. Those were my parameters while I flipped through for a recipe.

I found a recipe for the Ultimate Patty Melt topped with Smoky Pub Cheese, a burger served on sourdough bread.  I sounded delicious and it fit the bill. I was happy. (more…)

It’s time for our third post in the “Into the Woods” series! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been? Do some back reading now to get in the loop.

Another fairy tale character involved in Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” is dear Jack, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame. In this story Jack and his mother have fallen on hard times and she sends him into the woods to sell their cow—his one and only (and rather beloved) friend, Milky White.

So off goes Jack, with explicit instructions from his brilliant and shockingly beautiful mother (can you tell which role I played in our high school production?) to get as much gold as he possibly can for the worse-for-the-wear creature.

Jack, being a bit of a dolt, is tricked into giving up Milky White for five magic beans. Were I really Jack’s mother, this is what I would have done with them. (more…)

I did some research on the history of chili for this post and I need to start by saying that the chili purist community is fairly snobby about what they consider to be “real” chili. Well, they are not going to like this recipe in the slightest, I’ll tell you that much for free. I don’t care though, because this is chili as I know it and it’s delicious. So they should just chill…..i out. (more…)

Well, boys and girls, I’m afraid yesterday was a pretty uninspiring day on the food front. I ate nachos. That’s it. More than once. And the second time wasn’t really even nachos. Here’s what went down… (more…)

First and foremost, HAPPY WORLD VEGAN DAY! I celebrated by blatantly breaking my office’s business dress code and wearing an SSOV hoodie proudly around my workplace all day.

I decided that since today is a worldly day, I needed to cook something from a different country for dinner. Wait, nix that. Let’s be truthful with one another here. I was just craving spaghetti and meatballs and had been for a couple of weeks.

SIDE NOTE: I am vegan. I eat no meat, dairy, eggs, or other animal bi-products. I will use words like “meat”, “chicken”, “cheese”, “milk” etc. while talking about my food. Understand and deal with the fact that I am talking about vegan substitutions. Obvi. I get sick of using quotation marks all over the place. “OKAY?!?!”

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