The Vegan Butcher

It’s not always easy being vegan in a non-vegan world. In this post I will not cry you a river about never being able to eat in social situations, blah blah. This post is about the amazing and heartwarming times you find omnivorous restaurants that are willing to go out of their way to ensure you get a delicious vegan meal in their non-vegan setting. Here are some stories about places like that. (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 am about to impart to you the sacred knowledge that is the recipe for my Mama’s macaroni and cheese. Well, that is to say this would be my Mama’s macaroni and cheese if my Mama were vegan. Last week she and I hit the kitchen and veganised a family favourite. (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…)

Let’s start this post with some music and a confession. Let’s make it a couple confessions, actually (it is Lent, after all): a) I love pasta, probably more than a person should. I love it in soup, I love it in casseroles, I love it straight up with just ketchup on it. b) I love anything and everything tomato based. Growing up I was attracted to red foods because of my red hair (there’s a deep connection there, all right?!) and to tomatoes in particular because my name starts with T. (Ever play the game “Going on a Picnic”? Where you state that you’re going on a picnic and you say what you’re going to bring along with you? The key [SPOILER ALERT!] is to name something that starts with the same letter as your name. So guess what that always left me with? “I’m going on a picnic…my name is Tracy…and I’m bringing a tomato…” Every. Time.) Keeping confessions A & B in mind, you should immediately recognise how wild and crazy I am bound to be for this dish. And I am. Oh boy oh boy oh boy, am I ever. (more…)

Today it has been two years since my Opa died. He was a nomadic Mennonite man that was born in the Ukraine, and spent time in different parts of Europe before heading to South America after World War II. In Paraguay he met my grandmother, in Brazil they had my mother, and in 1958 they immigrated to Canada. He and my Oma helped raise me from a young age. (more…)

The last night of VeganMoFo was quick and easy (unlike VeganMoFo as a whole, good gracious). Tonight I made Hurry Up Alfredo from the beautiful book Vegan Yum Yum by Lauren Ulm. This cookbook is absolutely gorgeous and it delightful to cook from if you are a visual person like me. And even if you’re not, I recommend checking it out anyway. I love it! (more…)

LASAGNA! DAIYA! HOMEMADE MARINARA!!! Man, was I ever looking forward to this meal.

Tonight I cooked Spinach Lasagna from Quick and Easy Vegan Comfort Food by Alicia C. Simpson. There’s a back story to this author, dear friends. When I got on Twitter I made friends with @VeganGuineaPig and thought she was just another vegan doing her thang. We commented back and forth, agreed on a lot of topics, and got to know a bit about each other. Then one day I was in the veg cooking section of a bookstore, perusing a book that I thought looked good. I flipped to the back cover and saw my dear Guinea Pig’s face staring back at me! I nearly dropped the book in excitement and bought it immediately. And now I proudly tell anyone who will listen how what we’re eating is out of  “my friend’s” cookbook. Ahahahaha. Name-dropper. (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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