The Vegan Butcher

Helllllloooooooooo Readers! My hectically busy year in London has drawn to a close and I’m back in glorious Nova Scotia again, just in time for endless delightful North American autumnal baked goods and comfort foods. First up to/on the plate: Vegan Chicken à la King and Pot Pies! (more…)

It has been raining in London for a month and a half straight. I’m not even kidding. They claim to be building the Olympic Stadium just over from my house in East London, but I’m convinced it’s actually an ark and I plan to be first in line when the truth comes out that this whole city is going down by the head and that we’re all going to die.

In the meantime, though, we all need something good and hearty to warm us from the inside out in this chilly, miserable weather. Enter my Mushroom & Tri-Onion Soup! (more…)

Hello and happy new year! I know I’ve been horrendously slack as of late. I neither apologise nor ask for forgiveness. We shall accept the fact that I’ve been galavanting around London with reckless abandon and move on.

Here’s a post that you were supposed to get at the beginning of the holiday season. You didn’t, so I’ll give it to you now. I found this recipe in a Vegan Society leaflet and did my own thing with it. This is the easiest little hors d’oeurve to make, like, ever. But only if you’ve got pre-made vegan puff pastry at your disposal. (more…)

I finally found tofu in this new city of mine! The Tescos and Marks & Spencers that I have been haunting these past three weeks have left me high and dry in the soy curd department. This afternoon was a perfect, sunny, crisp October day to walk around and finally find a Sainsbury’s. I took a roughly 5km roundtrip jaunt to the supermarket located over in East Ham. The way there was lovely. I was walking through a part of town I hadn’t seen yet, taking in local shops and wandering town their High Street, marvelling at the new and exciting.

The way back was AWFUL. My arms nearly fell off my body. I always buy too much stuff. Between the supermarket and the street-side vegetable market stalls, I got some wicked (albeit far too many) ingredients for a stir-fry. (more…)

This post is in honour of the home city of my heart, Halifax. Just this evening it was announced that our Halifax shipyard has been awarded a $25 Billion contract to build new ships for the Canadian military. I can only imagine the parties that are springing up across the city right now. And across the whole country, really. (We have a lot of boys that had to go away to find work. Maybe we can get some of you home now, eh?) I wish I could be there with you tonight, my friends. The only thing I can do from here is drink with you in spirit (check) and blog about my last lunch EVER in Halifax. I know, a touching tribute.

My very last day in Nova Scotia (as in, I was flying out that night) saw me packing, running my friends out to the airport for their flight ahead of mine, and tracking down rogue vegan foods/ingredients that I feared (correctly) I wouldn’t be able to find over in the UK.

We were out at Pete’s Frootique (ironically, a British grocer) and I found my sought-after ingredients and I bought a couple things to make one last honkin’ sandwich before flying away. Here’s what went down. (more…)

Welcome to the first and (I would say with almost definite certainty) not the last “Drunk Vegan Cooking with Tracy” post!

Since I work seven days a week and all holidays I have very few opportunities to get good ‘n’ drunk nowadays. There have been so few in the last year, in fact, that if you wanted I would be able to name the specific dates and occasions. It’s sad, really.

Anyway, since it’s almost time for me to blow this popsicle stand and move across the pond to Londontown, Jerri and I decided to each book a vacation day and get hammered on a school night. Drunk Tracy and Sober Tracy are similar in that they both love to cook. Where they differ is in their judgment calls and ability to make good choices. This post chronicles that night and those choices. (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…)

I invite you to once again join me on my quest to mastering seitan. When I say I’m going to learn to do something right, I’m not messing around. You’re going to see so much seitan on this blog you’ll long for the simpler days of tofu and beans. Take heart, beloved readers! The roads hardest travelled often lead to the best destinations. POWER THROUGH! We’ve got this. (more…)

Disclaimer: I am a Negative Nancy in this post. If you want shiny, happy Tracy please skip one post down. I promise this will not become a trend. I just have to vent about my arch nemesis of the flavouring world: tarragon.

Ugh. I have been avoiding writing this post for so long. There’s nothing quite as exciting as sharing with you a new recipe that works, friends, but when one doesn’t work out? Forgive me for not having my bells on.

I know what you’re thinking: If the recipe didn’t work, why include it on here at all? Trust me, normally I wouldn’t. But this night of cooking was for a series and when it’s for a series, my darlings, I share with you for better or worse. And this was one of the worst.

The series: “What’s in the Fackin’ Fridge?” Fridays, where, on any given Friday, I will empty out the contents of my fridge and work with what’s in it to create a recipe on the fly. Sometimes the results are delightful (read: passable) and others I am just disappointed and cranky on a Friday night. Get ready for the latter. (more…)