rating: 7

1 can (20 oz.) Worthington® Vegetable Skallops®
1 small onion
1 stalk celery
2 eggs
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

1. In food processor or blender chop WORTHINGTON VEGETABLE SKALLOPS, onion and celery. Add eggs, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, Old Bay Seasoning and dry mustard. Mix thoroughly.

2. Shape mixture into six patties. Place on baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Brush patties with 2 tablespoons melted butter.

3. Bake at 350° F for 20 minutes, turning patties after 10 minutes.

Crack wraps are the vegan alternative to crack cocaine. Okay, I'm kidding, but they are addictive. No one can eat just one, which is why my friends and I came up with the name, Crack Wraps. They are super easy to make and require only four ingredients. Basically you make this yummy vegan cream concoction, spread it on a tortilla, roll it up, and, voilá -- Crack Wraps.

The magic ingredient is this secret product called Chic-kettes. It's not really a secret, but it's not easy to find either. Chic-kettes is a faux chicken product made by Worthington. It comes frozen and pre-cooked. It tastes great in soups, stir fry, casseroles, or straight-up, sliced on a sandwich with some Veganaise.

While not carried by the average grocery store, it can be special ordered by health food stores. In the Chicago area, Chic-kettes can be found at the following locations:

Kramer's Health Food in the Loop
JD Mills in Evanston
Highland Health Foods in Highland Park

Crack Wraps are tasty, bite-size treats that are great appetizers even the pickiest omnivore will embrace. I recently took them to a party of mostly omnivores and received positive feedback in this regard.

Crack Wraps
1 bag tortillas (Try flour, chili, or whole wheat flavors)
Vegan cream cheese
1/2 cup salsa
Chic-kettes (Special order from natural or health food stores. Made by Worthington.)
 
Let cream cheese sit out for an hour or so before making wraps. Once the cream cheese has softened, mix it with the salsa. Ground up about half a roll of Chic-kettes in a food processor. Mix Chic-kettes in with cream cheese mix. If mixture is too thick, add a bit of salsa. Spread a thin layer of mixture on a tortilla and roll up. Refrigerate wraps prior to serving so the cream cheese can solidify again. Just before serving, cut roll-ups in slices.

Serves approximately 4-6 as an appetizer or finger food at a picnic.

 
If you don't have any Chic-kettes, one of the LightLife Smart Deli faux meat slices would also be tasty. For this substitution, you wouldn't need to ground it up. The slices could be spread on top of a layer of cream cheese and salsa instead.

Now a quick word on vegan cream cheese. I always use Tofutti Cream Cheese, but the store didn't have enough when I made the Crack Wraps recently, so I tried the new Follow Your Heart brand cream cheese. The taste were very similar, so either brand works for this recipe. The biggest difference between the two was price. The Tofutti was about a buck less than the FYH brand. Either way, it's good to know us vegans have options!

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Seitan bacon. Mmmmmmm. And it looked easy.

Thirty minutes later I sat down to enjoy a yummy, yummy sandwich -- a real Montreal bagel, toasted, with seitan bacon, tomatoes, and a couple slices of Sheese. Very, very yummy. I'll be making that bac'n again. (Tomorrow in fact, since there's some left. :-) )

Or so I thought. Um. I'm an idiot. Yes they're full of things I don't eat, but I kinda get a kick out of 'veganizing' recipes, so why should that prove an obstacle? And besides, they're not just full of things I don't eat...they're also full of information. *swoon*

I like learning. Nah, I love learning, and cooking is one area where I certainly have a lot to learn. Imagine my delight, then, when yesterday for the first time in many ages I wandered into my local bookstore and checked out the cooking mags. I left with two. The one that got me all excited? Cook's Illustrated. If you haven't seen it before, it's kind of a cross between a normal cooking magazine and Consumer Reports. The people who create it run a test kitchen, and they take a methodical, scientific approach to cooking. They tackle culinary questions like "what's the best way to cook baby spinach" or "what's the best chocolate cake recipe," and try every variation imaginable until they find the answers. (It's almost exhausting to read the descriptions of their labours.) Then they publish the results, complete with recipes. And yes, a lot of those results apply to vegan cookery just as much as to non-vegan cookery.

A five minute read-through of my copy felt like a three-hour cooking lesson, minus dinner at the end. But lunch...lunch I could do. The best way to learn is to apply lessons while they're still fresh, right? And I can see myself trying and adapting a lot of the things in this issue.

But back to lunch. There was an article on making the best oven fries, and there were a couple of articles involving baked chicken. I went with those, because yum, fries! And also because I've tried making crispy faux chicken a few times in the past few months and haven't been happy with any of the results -- the coating always turns out a bit soggy, and I don't care how tasty it is -- soggy just isn't acceptable.

Here's the gist of the oven fries article: For the absolute best results, [1] Cut russet potatoes into wedges, [2] soak the wedges in hot water for 10 minutes and then drain and dry them, [3] in a baking pan season 4T of oil with salt and pepper, [4] spread potatoes evenly, [5] bake covered tightly with foil at 475F for 5 minutes, [6] remove the foil and continue baking 20 to 30 minutes, turning once.

Honestly? I burned mine. My bad -- I cut my potato into too many wedges, so that they were too thin and cooked super-fast. Also my baking sheet is thin and crappy and doesn't heat evenly, so that some fries did okay while others burned. C'est la vie. (Besides, I have thirteen more potatoes to play with!) The soaking and steaming did create a noticably better texture than I've managed with my usual oven fries recipe though; there were no 'hollow' fries. And seasoning the oil rather than the cut potatoes? Sheer genius. I was skeptical, but it worked perfectly.

Now for the chik'n. I used a PC meatless chik'n breast. It occurred to me that maybe past attempts hadn't done as well because I hadn't thawed the faux meat fully before prepping the meal, so this time I let the cut thaw overnight and made sure it was dry to the touch before starting. I think fake meats tend to hold more moisture than real meat, which may add to the challenge of creating a crispy coat. Anyway, I sliced mine in half to create two thinner cutlets, and then I breaded them. To do this I prepared one flax egg (1 T ground flax whisked into 1/4 cup hot water), and dipped both sides of each cutlet. Then I pressed these into panko (japanese breadcrumbs) seasoned with 1 T of nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. The two tricks I picked up from Cook's Illustrated were these: [1] Cook the chik'n on a rack set over a baking pan, and [2] spray the breaded cutlets lightly with oil before baking.

The results? Best breaded chik'n so far -- crispy and lightly browned. The rack made a big difference in ensuring that both sides crisped up. My only excuse for not thinking this up myself is that my normal baking pans don't have racks. Fortunately my housemate pointed out that my wee toaster oven pan does have such an insert, so I used that and it worked perfectly. I did forget two things while making these -- I didn't dredge the cutlets with flour before breading them, and I didn't spray the baking rack. Neither proved major issues, and the finished product tasted wonderful topped with a raw tomato sauce (half a tomato, diced; a few basil leaves, minced; one garlic clove and one teaspoon capers, squeezed through a garlic press; salt and pepper to taste).

As lunches go, yum. As learning experiences go, likewise yum. And I still have a bunch more recipes and techniques eyemarked for trying. Is it dinner time yet?

There are concerns around eating too much processed soy, but for those of us who enjoyed eating meat but wanted a healthier diet, some of the soy and wheat meat replacements are really very tasty and fulfilling.

A meeting of veg-minded souls

Vegetarians awaken to idea of promoting the taste of their food instead of the politics
May 24, 2006. 01:00 AM
NETTIE CRONISH - SPECIAL TO THE STAR

Grand rapids, MICH.—Let's stop labelling food vegan, vegetarian and meat-free. Instead, let's describe the ingredients that make a dish exciting and flavourful. Let's be open-minded and curious, and use our senses to figure out whether the smell, appearance and ingredient lists of different dishes satisfy our needs. Let's spread the word about tofu, seitan, dairy-free chocolate and sea vegetables.

These were some of the messages delivered at the first Vegetarian Awakening Conference last month, showcasing vegetarian, vegan and raw food cuisine. Held at the Grand Rapids Community College, the conference attracted 125 people, including professionals who work in university cafeterias, dietitians whose clients have food sensitivities, and chefs who want to create gourmet vegetarian food.

Chairperson Kevin Dunn, a hospitality education teacher at the college, stressed he was "a chef first, vegan second" and emphasized the importance of flavour and presentation.

Dunn, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, was just 35 when he was diagnosed with diabetes and heart disease. That's when he began redeveloping classic dishes into healthier, vegan alternatives. Now he argues that culinary management students be well-educated in all types of cuisine, including vegetarian, vegan and raw.

According to Beverly Lynn Bennett and Ray Sammartano, authors of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living, "eliminating animal foods from one's diet has gone from being thought of as a strange `health nut' fad to receiving wide acknowledgement as a nutritionally sound, healthful and even optimal way of eating."

Diet and lifestyle play a major role in developing certain illnesses and diseases. This conference addressed how consumers and food professionals can prepare delicious, sustainable, time-wise vegan food.

Seattle-based David Lee showed off his protein-rich, "vegan grain meats" made from wheat gluten or seitan. Known as wheat meat, seitan is made from the gluten, or protein portion, of wheat flour. It has no cholesterol and little fat.

Lee's Field Roast Grain Meat Co. prepares loaves, cutlets and sausages in flavours such as lentil sage, smoked tomato or wild mushroom. (They're not sold yet in Canada.)

Calling himself a vegetarian "meat" activist, Lee suggested that "meat is delicious" and that we "need to embrace meat culture." He argued that products made with integrity and healthful ingredients respond to the public's demand for mock meat products.

Conference-goers were reminded not to deny that there are people who want to eat meat substitutes.

Howard Lyman, ex-cattle rancher turned vegan activist, weighed in on a discussion about how vegetarian/vegan menu items are named. He pointed out that no one serves "dead cow."

Is it important to use established, understood words to explain vegan alternatives? Take tofu ricotta, for example. People are familiar with the texture of ricotta cheese. By pairing that familiar term with tofu, perhaps we can translate what the texture and appearance of tofu ricotta will be.

This two-day conference was inspiring because it was full of vegetarian and vegan culinary professionals who are earning a living cooking this way — and who put food ahead of politics.

Anything you can think of can be found here, it really is a vegan's playground. Faux meats, Soy Cheese, Soy Ice Cream, Dim Sims, Vegetable Buns, BBQ Not-Pork Bun, Kumera Purse and Spring Roll etc. Vegan's choice also provide sauces such as Hot and Spicy Sauce, Laksa Paste, Ginger Soy Sauce, Ginger Black Bean Sauce and Monk's Choice Paste.

Opening Hours
Open 7 days
From 11:30am – 8pm (Sun close at 7pm)
Most Public Holidays – closed all day (please ring to confirm)

My apologies to all of you New Englanders out there - it's nothing personal against you. I just really, really dislike your team. No hard feelings. To make sure that we all stay friends, I offer you this recipe as a peace offering - it's a fitting peace offering because I guarantee that if you bring it to your next sports watching function it will bring carnivores, vegetarians, and vegans together over one plate of delicious food: No Piggies in Blankets ... or ... Veggie Dogs in Sleeping Bags ... or ... Happy Piggies Don't Sleep in Blankets (unexpected bonus of bringing these to a party: people have a really fun time trying to come up with names for them).

No Piggies in These Blankets
Makes 30 “No Piggies”

1 ½ cup soymilk
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp Earth Balance buttery spread
1 packet rapid-rise active yeast

2 packages Jumbo Smart Dogs (or other brand of “jumbo” vegan dogs)
Olive oil
Sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds

1. Pour soymilk into the bread pan in your bread machine. (If your bread machine calls for the yeast to be added first, reverse the order in which you add the wet and the dry ingredients.)

2. Sprinkle the flour over the soymilk, making sure that the soymilk is completely covered. Add the salt, sugar, and butter to three separate corners of the bread pan. Maker a shallow indentation in the center of the flour, making sure not to go down as far as the liquid, and add the yeast.

3. Set the bread machine to the dough setting and press start.

4. When the dough cycle has finished, remove the dough from the pan and punch it down gently. Take a little more than half of the dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface and, using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into small squares about 2” x 2”.  Wrap the rest of the dough in plastic and put in your refrigerator for use in another meal in the next few days or place in the freezer for use sometime in the next few months.

5. Cut the vegan dogs into thirds. Wrap each veggie dog section in a piece of the dough, taking care to press the seam together, and set the dough wrapped dogs seam side down on a baking sheet that has a silplat sheet (a non-stick silicone sheet) on it or has been lightly greased.

6. Cover the dough wrapped dogs with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F.

7. Lightly brush the dough wrapped dogs with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds. Bake the veggie dogs for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly on a rack.   These can be enjoyed warm or at room temperature.

The wonderful, generous folks at Field Roast sent me a package of celebration roast, lentil sage roast and the exclusive-to-retail white truffle country pate last week, and although my friend Karla from Vegan Shizzle and myself sampled some Wednesday evening, the goods truly got a chance to shine on Thanksgiving.

Celebration Loaf

Their Celebration Roast is still by far my favorite Field Roast product that I've tried. Previously, I've sampled some at festivals and dined on a warmed version - but now I officially think it's at its tastiest cold and cut up. The 'meaty' outer layer is nice and firm, not squishy like some homemade seitans I’ve made – it’s firm like the baked variations I tend to go for. There is a stuffing, but it’s more like a different flavored middle section than a traditional stuffing. If there was miraculously a thinly sliced version of this particular roast, I'd probably eat more sandwiches! As it is, I enjoy their other slices at Backspace Cafe, but have yet to buy them at home, since the price is a bit high for me and I’m just now a big sandwich person. I like eating the celebration roast pieces as is - they're the definition of a great, savory & salty vegan prepackaged product. I would bet even my sister (omni) would dig it.

Lentil Sage Quarter Loaf

The Lentil Sage loaf at first seemed quite less flavorful in comparison to the celebration roast, eaten on its on or on a sesame rye cracker. Again, I've enjoyed slices of this before with condiments, but had never eaten it in loaf form. After I took the approrpiate advice from Field Roast's product descriptions, and added a dollop of mustard to the cracker with the roast slice, I was eating something on a whole other level. The tangy mustard in combination with the firm, wholesome & herby sage loaf (you can spot lentils, too!) is a winner. It’s honestly remarkable what a different the bit of mustard made. On Thanksgiving, I also served some spreadable Veganoicman cheesy sauce which worked well, but I think a smoked version would be even better with the lentil sage loaf. The strangest thing about this loaf was the removal of the strings, I knoooow it’s not meat, and I know the strings were obviously already removed from my celebration loaf – but I did squirm while removing them.

White Truffle Country Pate

I don't think I've ever had non-vegan pate, so I didn’t know what to expect. I knew there was fancy-pants white truffle flavor, and as a mushroom fan, I was stoked. The brown bowed packaging was the first thing I liked, and then the pate itself was next. I really enjoyed that while there was as woodsy , mushroomy flavor, there was also a sweetness . If this is country vibe, they’ve got it. At first I thought the pate was to be spread, but my loaf was more fittingly sliced. This pate is currently a retail-only (think Whole Foods hot case by the pound) selection – plus it’s VEGAN pate, so it was really cool to try. I think it’s a matter of my taste buds, but I wasn’t really digging it paired with my sesame rye crackers. It was begging for some rustic baguette. I’m giddily planning on making some sort of filo-wrapped concoction with the rest very soon.

Now that I’ve written this and have a salty craving, I daresay it’s time to buy some of those slices..

And I'm the shrimp,
The smallest of all,
They call me the shrimp
Because I'm not very tall.

Who knew that my theatrical claim to fame would be at the age of ten, singing a song about fish, and being photographed in a shrimp costume?

Our school, not having the money to pay for royalties for a more well-known Broadway-style musical, instead, for our annual play, performed a creation called Time Fog, a historical tour of the history of Nova Scotia, as written by the school's music teacher. It dealt with the expulsion of the Acadians, the founding of the City of Halifax, and even Confederation. One scene explored Nova Scotia's rich fishing heritage.

I didn't play the Shrimp in the stage version, I was a mere extra, but the play had gotten such a huge amount of coverage in the local news that the school was asked to create a recording and slide presentation to send around to other schools. The kid who played Shrimp was sick on recording day, and being the first person in the line of sight of the music teacher (being able to fit into the shrimp costume didn't hurt) I was the lucky gal who got to wander through the school to the set, trying to keep the other kids from pulling off my many legs.

But I was, ultimately, the fake Shrimp. And the kid who brought the role to life onstage never let me forget it.

I was reminded of my Shrimp role recently when I picked up a package of soy-based shrimp at the local health food store. It doesn't actually say "shrimp" on the package anywhere, it's "Szechuan Style Stir-Fry", but what comes out of the little shrink-wrapped blob is definitely meant to look like shrimp.

Although I was pescetarian for many years, I stopped eating shrimp early on. After reading the works of Dr. Vandana Shiva about the destruction shrimp farming has caused in coastal India and Thailand, I couldn't justify it. I didn't like the things that much. In recent months, even Wal-Mart has hopped on the sustainable shrimp bandwagon, and is supposedly refusing to sell any shrimp not farmed in a sustainable manner. Given that shrimp farming has been linked to the destruction caused by the 2004 tsunami, this is definitely a step in the right direction.

But back to my faux shrimp. The product is made by a company called Montreal Veggie Gourmet, who are most well known for their seitan-based Smoked Wheat and Roast Wheat, pastrami and roast beef copies that are probably the most authentic faux meat products I've ever had. I figured these would be good too.

Now, they look like the real thing. Freakishly so. They're even pinkish on the outside to look like the various sections of the tail. Taste-wise, shrimp tend to take on the taste of what they're cooked in; on their own, they're pretty bland, so a soy copy works pretty much like all soy-based products do, sucking up the sauce they were cooked in. It was the texture that was wrong. So very wrong.

Shrimp is one of those meats with a bit of bounce. No matter how it's cooked, it's always slightly tough, with a bit of spring to it. My faux shrimp were doughy, almost fluffy, inside. It was sort of like eating a shrimp-shaped ball of bread.

As there were only six in the package, we managed to finish them, but afterwards, Greg and I looked at each other and admitted our buyer's remorse.

I don't know whatever happened to the kid who played Shrimp. I don't even remember his name. But somewhere out there, there are photos and recordings of me, pretending to be the Shrimp, and like my soy-based shrimp product, probably doing a really bad job of it.

Today I cooked BBQ Seitan wings. I basically threw together a sauce using chinese hot sauce (comes in a bottle with a rooster on it), and some vegan butter, the coating for the 'wings' was flour, paprika and thyme.

I also made fresh rolls with lettuce, shredded carrots, buckwheat soba noodles and fried chicken flavoured seitan. I also made a spicy peanut sauce.

I made spicy fries and mushroom gravy. The biscut and beans are from yesterday. I also had cheese cake with blueberry sauce. sorry forgot to take a picture and now it is all gone! I need a nap!

Here what I made today

~Baking Powder Biscuts (from Sarah Kramer's cookbook)

~Quinoa Stew

1 cup Quinoa
1 cup veggie broth
8 mushroom
2 ribs celery
one large can plum tomatos (use the juice)
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano

first saute the onions, garlic and celery, when onions are getting transluecent, throw in mushrooms, saute for a bit more, then add the Quinoa, saute for about 5 more minutes then add the broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer for another 20 minutes. Stir once in while so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.

~Chicken Flavoured Seitan (viki's recipe)

INGREDIENTS
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp cumin seed or ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 cups cold water
1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
8 cups water
1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce
3 tsp chicken flavored broth powder (a vegan product available in many natural food stores)

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together the vital wheat gluten, rosemary, thyme, sage, cumin seed, chicken flavored broth and garlic powder. In a separate bowl, combine the water and tamari or soy sauce. Using a strong spoon and mixing quickly, slowly pour liquid into gluten mixture. The gluten will develop very fast and become very rubbery and elastic. If there is any remaining dry mix, quickly add a small amount of water to soak it up. Personally once the liquid is mixed, I mix the rest with my hands. Once thoroughly mixed, knead the dough for approximately 5 minutes. Once done needing shape into a log about 10” long. Set aside to rest for 15 minutes.

In a large stock pot, combine 8 cups cold water with 1/2 cup tamari or soy sauce and vegetable stock cube or powder to taste. Cut gluten log into desired shapes, maximum 1/2 inch thick. Individually drop the gluten pieces into the cold stock. Once the dough is in the cold broth, set to boil. Once boiling reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Seitan may now turned into any creation you like.

~Mini Cheese cakes (recipe to come)

~Veganized Dianne Smart's Baked Beans (slow cooker recipe)
2 16 oz cans of Navy Beans or 1 small bag of dry Navy Beans (if you are going to use dry, soak for 24 hours in hot water.
1 1/2 cups molasses
1 1/2 cups water
1 small onion
6 slices vegan bacon
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 5.5 oz can of tomato paste
pepper to taste

Before placing the ingredients in the pot, make sure you spray the walls with vegetable oil, the beans may stick. In a separate bowl combine all ingredient till the beans are completely covered with sauce. Pour all ingredients into the oiled crockery and then cook on low for 8 hours. Do not use the high setting for these beans as they will cook too fast and dry out.

Am calling this The Crazy Crack Pot Stew (again I apologize for the crappiness of my very old camera)

1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups of pasta (not noodles)
1/2 cup TVP
2 cups frozen peas/carrots
3 ribs celery diced
4 green onions diced
3 carrots diced
1 cup red sweet pepper diced
1 cup faux chicken
1 cup plain soy milk
1 Veggie hotdog
Vegetable broth (not sure how much but after you put everything in the slowcooker fill with broth till it's all covered)
Cilantro to garnish

Put all ingredients in your crock pot, cover with vegetable broth, cook on high for approx 3 hours.

I have never been to Center Island, have only this past summer been to Casa Loma, and have done the full tour of the AGO only once. I have never ridden the GO train, as that would mean having to go to the suburbs. I made it up the CN tower my first year here, but it was rather by fluke, and I was stoned off my ass, and it was before they put in the glass floor; I haven't been back.

Landing smack dab in the middle of Kensington Market meant that my Toronto experience was a very different one from just about anybody else's and the little bubble of the market provided everything I could ever need. Combine that with generally being cynical and misanthropic, and the desire to avoid the cliched tourist spots becomes more clear.

It means there is some stuff I missed out on, however, and one of those things is Lick's.

Lick's is a Toronto burger chain most well known for the fact that their staff sing. Now when I say "singing", you'll bring to mind your own concept of this, depending on your personal opinion of singing in general. I once had a downstairs neighbour who was inclined to sing.

After she moved in, people would ask, "How's the new neighbour?"

"She sings," would be my reply.

"Oh, how delightful!" they'd exclaim, or at least the normals would. Friends into the alternative music scene would furrow their brows sympathetically.

"I didn't say she sang WELL," I would say. "Just that she makes some kind of very loud noise, and appears to be attempting to make it sound melodious in some way." I would go on to explain that, as far as we could tell, the new neighbor was stricken with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, for the majority of her singing took place before she left for work each morning at about eight-thirty when she would put on a olde tymey rinkly-tinkly piano version of "You Are My Sunshine", and would sing along at the top of her lungs. Usually between three to ten times in a row before heading out the door. Her record was eighteen times, and resulted in the gal in the basement (who worked nights) threatening to kill her.

So "singing" doesn't necessarily equal GOOD singing.

Such is the case with Lick's. If I recall, it was one of the reasons why I was never inclined to eat there. "They sing? While people are eating? Oh, no, let's go for dim sum and eat chicken feet instead."

This is not to say that I have never eaten Lick's food. Through a well-thought out marketing plan, their burgers are available frozen through a local grocery chain. And Lick's happens to have a really thorough selection of vegetarian options, from chili and wraps to burgers. And oh, what burgers they are.

The Lick's Nature Burger has won awards. It is the most meat-like veggie burger I've ever had, beating out the quite delicious President's Choice World's Best Meatless burger. It oozes juices when cooking, just like a beef burger. And the only way to tell if you've got a Nature burger as opposed to a Lick's beef burger is to check the edges - both burgers are machine formed and start out with an obvious edge along the circumference. On the beef burger, this edge will round off during cooking as the fat melts away, while the Nature burger keeps its shape. Topped with Lick's signature Guk!, some barbeque sauce and accompanied by a side of fries, a vanilla cola and some vegetarian gravy, I defy anyone to tell the difference.

The problem is that to enjoy this burger, you must endure the singing. And while the lure of a delicious veggie burger was enough to bring me in, it soon became clear that the singing was not a qualifying factor in the hiring process, even though Lick's is well-known as the burger joint where the staff sing. Because burger joints are staffed with teenagers, and at no point ever has it been cool for teenagers to stand behind a burger grill singing little ditties about hamburgers.

That's right, I forgot to tell you, Lick's employees don't sing songs - there are no Top 40 hits or melodic 4-part harmonies. No karaoke versions of Cyndi Lauper or the Killers. Most of what they sing are more like chants you'd hear a cheerleader yell - little 4-line call-backs about how tasty the burgers are, or how great it is to work at Lick's. You'd need a microscope to see, never mind measure, the enthusiasm.

To my great relief, many of the Lick's employees didn't even bother to sing. They mouthed the words, some of them mumbling occasionally, and replied with reddening embarrassment to the team leader's loud chants. Fortunately, it appeared that the "singing" only took place when the staff was moderately busy. When the line-up at the cash got long and the orders were coming fast and furious, the singing stopped so the cashier could call out the items, diner-style. And when it got very slow and quiet, they all dispersed to do other tasks like cleaning the fryer or mopping the floor. I only had to endure one 5-minute burst of song, and for that I was extremely grateful.

So now I can cross another Toronto experience off my list. I enjoyed my dinner at Lick's - it was everything a fast food burger joint experience should be, and vegetarian to boot. But it's not one I think I ever need to relive, unless I'm in the 'hood alone (the Lick's I went to was in Greektown, an area full of big family restaurants where a single woman dining alone would have caused a stir) and am craving a burger.

In the meantime, I've bought a box of frozen Nature Burgers and am more than happy to have peace and quiet while I prepare the things.

Ah, red sauce and pasta. The weeknight fallback of those with no time to cook. It’s an easy option that usually makes everyone in the family a happy camper. But your average jarred sauce atop white pasta is often compared nutritionally to ketchup on white bread. When a sauce is as easy to make as this one, there’s no reason not to have some on hand. This recipe makes about 8 to 10 servings, so it’s simple to make a big pot and then freeze in single serving containers to make those rushed dinners a snap.

The added vegetables are a great source of vitamin C and the tomato base offers up a healthy dose of the much-coveted lycopene. The sauce is very low-fat with only a bit of olive oil used at the beginning to sauté the onion and garlic.

Paired with a whole wheat pasta and a multi-grain roll, this hearty sauce far outshines the jarred variety found at the supermarket.

Vegetarian Bolognese Sauce

3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 sweet onion, medium dice
1 pkg prepared TVP (equal to 1.5 pounds ground meat)

1/2 each: red, green yellow and orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
3 cups sliced mushrooms

1 16oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, sweat garlic and onion in olive oil until soft. Add TVP and stir well. Add crushed tomatoes, salt and pepper, and spices. Stir well and add vegetables, all at once.

Allow to simmer over medium heat, stirring every few minutes or so to prevent burning until the vegetables have softened and the sauce is more liquidy (it will look very dry at first, but as the mushrooms release their liquid, the sauce will loosen up). Adjust seasonings to taste and allow to simmer on low for about half an hour.

Remove bay leaves and serve over whole grain pasta. Makes approximately 8 - 10 servings.

This post originally appeared on FitFare, part of the WellFed Network.

Now while the donair resembles the traditional Greek gyro in many ways, it's not a gyro. Not even close. The meat is different, and more importantly, the sauce is different. How Halifax became the place where the gyro or doner kebab was bastardized and grew in popularity, I'll never know, but donair joints are on every block in downtown Halifax. Most of the shops that sell donairs also sell pizza, most famously on the corner of Blowers and Grafton Streets, aka "Pizza Corner", where three of the four corners (the fourth is a church) have some variation of a pizza/donair joint. There's even a donair pizza for those who can't decide.

It should be pointed out that Halifax has three different institutes of higher learning in its rather miniscule downtown area, which means a lot of students (note to anyone considering a trip to Nova Scotia, do NOT go to Halifax during the first few weeks of September), which means a lot of bars. At one point in the 80s, Halifax had more bars per capita than any other city in North America. What this means is that there are a lot of drunk people looking for something to eat after last call.

And nothing is more satisfying than a donair.

It's hot, it's greasy, it's raunchy, it's sweet and it's sticky. Some of my best memories of the summer of 1987 involve a walk through Victoria Park at 2am with my roommate Sharon, as we stumbled along, pissed off our asses, donair sauce running down our wrists and a chunk of hash in our pockets to smoke when we got home. Each time, it was the best donair ever.

When we moved to Toronto later that year, we discovered a donair shop in the food court at the Eaton Centre (back when the food court was near the centre fountain), but it disappeared after a bout of renovations.

Since then, I've been making my own. My Mom used to work with the wife of the donair king and somehow scored the recipe. We made them all the time when I was a kid, and a phone call home got me a copy of the recipe so I could have donairs in Toronto. Going veg threw a bit of a wrench into my donair eating for a few years, but then one day I just craved the things so badly that I mashed some TVP together with the other ingredients and an egg and came up with something workable.

Note that the photo above is definitely a snooty version of what you'd get at any of the joints on pizza corner in Halifax. The donair is traditionally made on white pita bread, not wholewheat, and the inclusion of the fancy heirloom cherry tomatoes would likely get me run out of town. Resist the temptation to add such travesties as cheese, lettuce, hot sauce or pickles. The beauty of the donair is its simplicity - meat, tomatoes, raw onions, sauce and bread. Nothing else.

Some other tips before I set you loose on the recipes - no fair cooking the onions. You can omit them if you must, but part of the donair experience is that heartburn you get afterwards, which, incidentally is not as bad if your stomach is already full of alcohol. And - if the sauce does not run down your hand as far as your elbow as you try to eat the thing, you don't have enough sauce. These are traditonally served wrapped if you're getting them from a donair joint, but on a well-made donair, you should still be thoroughly covered in sauce by the time you're done regardless of the wrapper.

Meat Version

2.5 lb ground beef
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground chili pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
3-5 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup finely ground cracker crumbs

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Form a ball out of the meat mixture and place on a cookie rack on top of a deep baking pan - basically you want to simulate the rotisserie effect, and want the fat to drain off the meat. Bake for 2 hours in a 300'F oven.

Soy Version

2x 1 lb packages of prepared TVP such as Yves Ground Round
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground chili pepper
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
3-5 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup finely ground cracker crumbs
1 egg, well-beaten

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Place in a greased loaf pan and bake at 350'F for 1 hour.

Sauce

1/2 cup VERY COLD evaporated milk
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder

With a mixer, beat cold milk until light and fluffy and soft peaks form. Add sugar, garlic powder and vinegar. Beat lightly until well-blended. Do not over beat.

Other stuff you need:
warmed pita bread - 1 per donair
chopped tomatoes - approx 2 Tbsp per donair
chopped raw onions - approx 1 Tbsp per donair

Assembly:
Slice meat thinly while still hot. Soy version will not slice, simply measure about a third to half a cup per donair.

Heat pita bread in a skillet or a microwave if you're lazy.

Put a large dollop of sauce onto the pita. Add meat slices or crumbled TVP, then garnish with chopped tomatoes and onions, add more sauce. Roll up as much as possible without filling falling out. Grab plenty of napkins and enjoy.

Notes:
- Both the meat (and soy version) and the sauce freeze well. Wrap the meat into single servings, and simply defrost as necessary.
- The sauce does not get hard in the freezer, and can be stored there until it's time to assemble the sandwich.
- The sauce recipe is easily doubled if you are not inclined to waste half a can of evaporated milk.
- The original recipe was loaded with MSG, which I've omitted. Instead, I've doubled the quantity of spices - so if you're not big on spicy, cut the spices in the meat by half.