The Vegan Butcher

As I announced on Twitter and Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I now work at the only fully vegan bakery in all of big, bad London, Ms Cupcake! About once a week I’ll get sent to deliver a special order of cakes and treats to Vx, the fully vegan shop near King’s Cross.

“What?!” you’re probably thinking. “Getting paid to visit a vegan shop?!?” Trust me, it’s nothing but trouble. Every time I go there I find something new to buy and I’m spending far too much money. Though, I’m sure the owner is not complaining. (more…)

My friend Rachelle is in town and is staying with me this weekend. She met me at my new workplace and we headed to Soho for some din. When I told a vegan friend that I needed someplace blog-worthy to eat tonight, she recommended we check out Mildred’s. I’m glad we listened. (more…)

Today was a mad day in Londontown! It would have fulfilled any vegan’s dream. Well, this vegan’s dream, anyway. And it’s finally coming true!!! AHABSFHJNSLGNLSA!!!!!!! Now that I’m a London girl, I can explore its vegan community as much and as sloooowly as I want. That hasn’t quite settled in yet (as illustrated below). Aaaanyway, it’s now waaayyyy past midnight in jolly old England, so let’s recap this day swiftly. (more…)

I was in the grocery store the other day (or as Jerri and I have taken to calling it, the brocery store—don’t ask) and as I wandered through the produce section I happened upon a vegetable I had never seen before.

“What in the hell is that?” I asked Jerri, who was wandering with me at the time.

“Kohlrabi?” she read from the sign. “I have no idea. Are those slugs?”

I dropped the kohlrabi I was holding because for a second I thought it was, indeed, covered in slugs. I picked it up, called her a bitch as she laughed at me, and put it in the cart. (more…)

I went over to my darling bestie Jerri’s house the other day. The days are getting shorter, the nights chillier, and the summer is clearly dying. Before it gives its final death rattle we wanted to have one last BBQ hurrah. Jerr Bear had a supply of mini hamburgers and mini buns and was going to make mini sliders.

NEEDLESS TO SAY (but you know I’m gonna say it anyway), I got very jealous. I wanted to have mini burgers too! As I sat there grumping Jerri and I came up with a plan: mushroom sliders! If we couldn’t find vegan mini buns we would make our own with cookie cutters and bread! IT WAS ON! (more…)

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…)

Get ready for the most exciting blog post of your life in which I make a sandwich from the leftovers in my fridge! I can tell you’re all pretty jacked up about this–perhaps we should all calm down.

The other night I was cooking for a post that didn’t involve a main dish. I didn’t have anything on the go to eat for supper, so I rooted around in the fridge and found leftover seitan and garlic mayo from this meal, and dug in the freezer to find leftover batter coating from this meal. We were in business! (more…)

In honour of passing 666 followers on Twitter, here is a post on seitan. (Ahahahaha. Oh, SO CLEVER, Tracy!) Big up to my 666th follower, @nubiandread!

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I have a vegan buddy in England who wants me to teach him some new kitchen skills when I move there this fall.

“I can totally do that!” I thought to myself as we chatted, feeling confident in my skills, “Just as long as he doesn’t request lessons in making seit—“

“…especially if I can learn to cook seitan!”

Melonfarmer. (For those of you joining this programming in progress, that is the curse I use instead of “motherfacker”. It’s friendlier for my Mama, whom I know reads this blog.) (more…)

This meal contained enough garlic and onions to keep even that creepy, boundary-overstepping pedophile Edward Cullen at bay. Twihards, calm down. I too am a fan (read my “About Me” page if you doubt me) of the vampire-preys-on-young-girl-themed Twilight series, but you’ve got to admit that’s a good intro for this garlic mayo and onion ring spread.

While we had the deep fryer fired up for vegan Fish & Chips, I decided to break in my shiny new book Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson. I bought it just last week and, like Bella, am already deeply and madly in love (although I have only known it for a unrealistically short amount of time). Seriously, this book has anything you could want from a vegan greasy spoon: burgers, malt shakes, doughnuts, salads and slaws, sandwiches, roasts, and desserts. Oh, the desserts! Yes, even having only cooked from it once, this is a definitely a book I recommend you check out, dear readers. (more…)