Skip to main content

Yamchops: Toronto's First Vegetarian "Butcher" Shop!

YamChops owners at the counter
When I heard about Yamchops a few months ago, I was super excited.  I couldn't wait for it to open.  A place in downtown Toronto selling all vegetarian foods, including, house-made veggie-meat alternatives made with all natural ingredients?!?  I was very excited when I finally got there a few weeks ago.

Nope, I am not vegetarian.  I call myself a healthitarian actually.  I like healthy food and plant foods are healthy.  Mostly, that is.  I do like a lot of faux-meat products, but many of them are highly processed and made from poor quality ingredients, so a place that makes their own from natural ingredients is very awesome, in my book.

They sell a variety of veggie burgers and sausages, and some other faux meat dishes like Mongolian beef and pulled pork.  They also sell mock tuna salad made from chickpeas as well as coconut bacon.  Yum!

I was also thrilled to find that they have their own line of condiments, made from natural ingredients.  I got a roasted pineapple chutney and a mango tamarind chutney...neither have any added sugar!  I used the mango tamarind chutney in a basmati rice and salmon dish I made last night and it was delish.  I decided to purchase all 3 varieties of their sausage (apple sage, Italian and Chipotle).  They're pretty good...nicely seasoned and hold together well, but pretty pricey.  I haven't made my own veggie meats in a while and think I'll get back on that bandwagon soon.  I make a pretty mean veggie burger!

So if you are looking for some yummy, healthy prepared foods, check them out.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Japanese 7-Spice Kelp Noodles

I love trying new spices and seasonings, so I am very excited that the President's Choice Black Label line now has a bunch of new spice blends available.  My most recent find: Shichimi Togarashi, or Japanese 7-Spice blend. It's a combination of crushed red chili flakes, sea salt, Szechiuan peppercorns, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, orange zest, wasabi powder and nori seaweed flakes. I make Japanese-inspired dishes all the time, but resort to the same old flavours most of the time: miso, soy, sesame, ginger and garlic.  I was so excited to be able to liven things up a bit. This dish is easy and tasty, although be warned that this seasoning packs punch.  I used 1 tsp, which ended up being too spicy for me, and I have a high tolerance for heat!  I recommend 1/4-1/2 tsp, or, if you don't like heat at all, make your own at home and omit the red chili flakes.  You'll get all the flavour without the heat. I served these noodles with a mix of seafood (

Blackfly Coolers: Product Review

Summer is over! Well, at least if you're a student. Officially it doesn't end for a few weeks, and it certainly still feels like summer. Yeah, I hate it. This f*cking hot, humid weather needs to end NOW! We made the most of our last weekend of the summer with our annual trip to the CNE on Friday, with a crowd of friends. It wasn't unbearably lot, thank goodness, and the girls and their friends had a blast on the rides.  Saturday I had to work, and Sunday was errand day. Monday we took the girls berry/apple/pear picking but didn't last long due to the heat. I organized the house to prepare for the construction workers starting back up yesterday, while Adam took the girls for a swim in our neighbourhood pool. Yesterday was the first day of school. Grade 2 and Grade 5. Yep, the girls are growing up.  We are fortunate that the girls don't have much anxiety about school, they are so much more confident than I ever was as a kid! But now, in the midst of our reno ch

How to Look Like a Celebrity

Okay, I know you're going to be interested in this post! I am sure virtually every woman in North America has wondered how Hollywood celebrities achieve such 'perfect' bodies.  Well, at CAN FIT PRO last week, one of Hollywood's top fitness trainers, Eric the Trainer , was there to tell us fitness professionals the secrets! Eric the Trainer, gave several presentations, and I caught the one on Celebrity Secrets, and it was most interesting!!!  I also found some of what he said rather disturbing. First off, he was very upfront about the fact that celebrities come to him for improve their appearance.  Not to improve their health or athletic performance.  To look their best.  He admitted that his approach then, is entirely dedicated to that end. Male and female celebrities are trained in completely different ways because Hollywood wants women to be lithe and thin and in his words, "look like they dropped out of heaven looking this way without every having ste