The Vegan Butcher

It’s Hallowe’en, I have just carved my pumpkin, and my original, childhood VHS copy of “Hocus Pocus” is playing in the VCR. What could possibly make this day more wonderful? If you’re thinking “baking with squash from the fall harvest”, you and I would be on the same page. (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…)

I was sitting around one evening last week doing a whole lot of nothing when I was struck by a sudden and unyielding urge to eat a churro. What are churros and when have I been exposed to them in the past? I know you’re dying to know these things. Let’s back this story train up to the last station, shall we? (more…)

Have you ever noticed how in the world of the Super Mario Bros. it is the humble mushroom—and not beef or milk or any other animal product—that causes Mario to grow and gain extra life? Yessir, mushrooms are the cat’s pajamas and I buy and consume a lot of them.

So when it came time for “What’s the in Fackin’ Fridge?” Friday, it was three varieties of mushrooms that fell into my arms first. I had a paper bag of hearty portobellos, a container of organic shiitakes, and even dug a couple of button mushrooms (erlack, I HATE them) out of my Mama’s stash. White button mushrooms are stupid and I refuse to eat them, but they met my ends here so I went with it. (more…)

I love soup. Laaaawd, I love it so much. Growing up in the chilly wilds of Cape Breton, soup was one thing (next to moonshine) that could instantaneously warm you from the inside out. It was a comfort.

Something else that comforted me was watching old game shows with my grandparents, who lived with my family when I was growing up. Bringing it back on ’round to soup, a fixture on old game shows like What’s My Line was Soupy Sales. Goodness, how I loved that man. He could always make me laugh. (Speaking of Soupy Sales, there’s a sales agent in my sales department at work that eats soup all the effing time. I can always smell it whilst traipsing past his office, so I’ve taken to calling him Soupy Sales because he’s all soupy and in sales. Because I’m all clever like that. He sure loves having me around.)

I hope y’all are ready for this, because I’m about to share with you my favourite soup recipe of all time. This is The Big One. Get ready. WAIT! I think we need some mood music first. (I have no idea what this song’s lyrics have to say–I think drugs and cockroaches are involved–but it’s called Margaret’s Song and since that is my second name we are going to roll with it.) (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…)

Ahoy, mateys! Disclaimer: I plan to make pirate references throughout this entire post (as this will most likely be one of my few voyages to the sea and I plan to take full advantage of it, read on to see why).

Even before I went vegan I was never a fan of seafood. Growing up on Cape Breton Island (a.k.a. God’s Country, The Most Beautiful Place on Earth, or Down Home) I was often seen as a bit off for not joining in on lobster boils and fish fries and other such seaside rites of passage. The idea and especially the smell of fish have always disgusted me.

My first mate Jimmy and I were parleying the other day about how whenever someone points out something smelling of fish it is never in a positive context. You never hear anyone say, “Mmmmmm! What smells like fish!?!” It’s always, “Uggghhh….is that….is that fish? Do you smell that? What smells like fish?!?” That is because it’s disgusting. Straight up. No sharp, tiny, hidden bones about it.

Now, with all that said, I hypocritically would only ever want or eat fish one way, and at that only about every 2 to 3 years. Every few years I would get a hankering for fish and chips. I would head down to the Halifax waterfront (or if I were down home, one of the countless seafood restaurants on the island), get fish and chips, and be done with it for another 2 to 3 years. Well, it’s been probably 4 or 5 years since I’ve last eaten fish and chips, so I was long overdue. (more…)