A VegGiving Story

What would thanksgiving be without a little drama? The annual meal is not complete without some mashed potatoes with a little drama on top. In my case, the best drama is the drunken buffoonery that goes on, but this year there was a good ol’ slice of awkwardness with an offensive aftertaste. It all started when No-Name* over heard that the stuffing was made with veggie broth so it was Veg friendly. When No-Name learned I was a vegetarian, she released the kind of chuckle you hold inside when a child tells you he’s afraid of the monster under his bed, like it were the silliest thing she’d ever heard. She said “Oh, honey… Animals have no souls! Its people you should worry about, people have souls, not animals” like she was assuring me (condescendingly) that there were in fact no monsters under my bed. Uhhhhhhh! I literally didn’t know what to say. It was quite literally a ‘WTF’ moment.  Had I been more than half way through my (lethal) Cosmo at this time it could have gotten ugly, the awkwardness at the table could have been cut with the carving knife. I calmly assured her I care very much about people, in addition to caring about animals. I don’t think its really and issue of either/or. 

This moment made it clear to me MORE THAN EVER that not everyone understands vegetarianism, and I can relate because I too, at one time, thought of vegetarians as kinda… well… weird. Like rebels to society or trying to be ‘better’ than the average (meat-eating) person. And this was the first time in my 5 years of being a Veg that someone truly insulted because I’m vegetarian. 

I’ve been asked on countless occasions why I'm a vegetarian. I, myself, think it’s interesting to know why everyone choses to eat what they do! I know I’m being cliché, but we quite literally are what we eat. I find I’m never very good at answering this question in conversation, so when people ask me why I don’t eat meat, I never have the same answer. I don’t want to offend any meat eaters by saying I think eating animals is wrong, because I think people have every right to eat meat, just as I have every right not to. Sometimes I’ll talk about how I’ve always avoided eating meat, even since I was a child, it just seemed weird to me and after doing research on the food, and specifically the meat industry, I couldn’t ignore what I had learned and go back to eating meat. 

So here is my opportunity to hopefully put into the best words I can, exactly why I choose to be a vegetarian. I’m not trying to blow your minds here with quotes Gandhi wishes he came up with. Its really very simple. For 18 years of my life, I was NOT a vegetarian. I’ve been a member of both parties now, and I’ve chosen to stay on the leafy side.  This is why:

I like to know where my food has come from and what it has gone through to get to my plate. This includes fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, butter, pasta, flour, sugar, meat, etc. I’m very interested in it all, not just meat. I don’t actually ever remember making the conscious decision that today will be the last day I eat a burger, or chicken, or bacon, etc. I was in college and the options available in our cafeteria were wide and varying. I never really picked out anything that had meat (well except the fried chicken strips, I liked those... shh!). Then one day it kinda clicked. Hey! There are others who don’t eat meat!! That’s when I realized I hadn’t really decided to enter the world of vegetarianism, it just kind of happened (after I said my final goodbyes to the chicken strips). I started doing research on why other people are vegetarians. Then I got into how species like cows go from being cows to beef, learning about where they are raised, how they are treated, how they are killed, and how they eventually get onto our plates. Even in the most ‘humane’ of cases, knowing the meat on my plate was at one time a live animal just doesn’t settle right in my stomach. What it all comes down to for me is a very simple reasoning. I believe there is a certain amount of suffering involved with turning animals to meat. It’s a suffering that I don’t want to be a part of. Eating the flesh of an animal that suffered to get onto my dinner table is not what I want to do. Plain and simple. If I were perfect, I would apply this logic of mine to eggs, dairy and leather too, but I'm not perfect in my ways. I know there is suffering involved with these too, but it is easier for me to forget about than being faced with a plate of flesh. 

In the end, who know if animals have ‘souls’ or not. Who is ANYONE to say? But I do know they are capable of suffering. Have you ever seen a dog in pain? If a dog is capable of suffering, so is any other animal. Anyone can tell me that animals are meant for us to eat. If that works for you, that’s fine by me! I’m not the one to judge whether eating meat is right or wrong. I think it’s an issue of personal beliefs and it is a very personal decision. I’m okay with you eating meat as long as you are okay with me not. 

I’ll never be one to say a vegetarian diet is the best way to eat because hell if I know!! I just know what is best for me. I can only encourage you and everyone here to give a damn about what you eat; where its coming from and how it got there (not just meat!!) and make your diet decisions from there. Don’t do it to fit in with any one person or group or family. Most of my friends aren’t vegetarians and I am the only member of my family who is one. I didn’t do it for them, and I didn’t do it for attention or to stand out among the rest. I do it for me.

If you eat meat, you are NOT a heartless animal killer and I don’t mean to say you don’t care about suffering either. You have reasons for eating meat just like I have reasons for not. . The End

*names have been changed, obviously

Since I don't want to leave you without a recipe ill share a link to the recipe I served as a main course alternative (or additional as it turned out to be) to the thanksgiving meal. From one of my idols: Butternut Squash and Cheddar Bread Pudding. I cant recommend this enough!

Butternut Squash 'Something'

Here I am, sitting at my kitchen table, looking at my 'coming soon board'. When I have ingredients that I need to use up or if I have a craving to make something in particular, I jot it down on this board. If I don't, I forget.  I'm cursed with the memory of a goldfish. Right now the board says 'butternut squash something'. I had bought a particularly nice looking butternut squash at the Los Gatos farmers market last weekend when the sun finally graced us with its presence.... for all of maybe 24 hours. First thing I did when I got back home... wrote 'butternut squash something' up on the board. If I hadn't, that pretty squash would have become a pretty decoration on my kitchen counter for far too long.

After searching through three and a half cookbooks for inspiration on what to do about the 'something', I had nothing. Then I saw my favorite Italian cookbook sitting there on the shelf, looking neglected. Before I even opened it, my little light bulb of inspiration turned on in my head. Ravioli! I had not made ravioli in ages and it felt like the perfect day to make it. I was feeling particularly creative at that moment so I decided to create something on my own. No cookbooks. I just followed my foodie instincts into the fridge and got to work. The dish came together perfectly as the wheels were turning in my head. Here is what it sounded like in my there:

mmm RAVIOLIII! oh YUM! YA RAVIOLI. PERFECT!!
  
mmm SWISS CHARD! ya chard! chard with ricotta! yummm! 
Gosh there's so much freakin Parm in here! I'll add Parmesan too!! 
  
hmm...this thyme needs a serious trim. ok, stop! ravioli's are done. move on!
OH OH rosemary!
NO you crazed foodie! NO MORE.

 
ok, I know I want to puree the squash, but I'll need to add some garlic. ROASTED GARLIC. oh yeaaah. roasted garlic!!! And I'll use the rosemary if I remember it.

Then my chaotic stream of thought came to a halt.  In my head there were nothing but delicious ideas. As if those little keebler elves were working at the speed of my thoughts and created the meal for my brain to approve before relaying the message to me that this would be perfect.

This is a great dish when you want to make something ahead, AND it's impressive. I roasted the garlic and made the ravioli filling in the afternoon and the butternut squash sauce about an hour before dinner time. I was having a friend over who I had lived with in Italy, so I thought it would be nice to make the ravioli together over a glass of vino and reminisce about our times abroad. 

This dish is really simple to make. It may seem like a lot of steps, but take it slow and get it done all ahead of time and when it comes time to putting it all together, it will be stress free. Nothing is worse than stressing over dinner... it leaves a terrible aftertaste. 

Ravioli with Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Sauce

For the Ravioli:
    1 ½ lbs. swiss chard, leaves cut off from the stems
    1 c. whole milk Ricotta cheese
    ½ c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
    1 egg
    Salt and Pepper to taste
    Wonton wrappers

Fill a large pot with about ¼ c. of water, and bring to a boil, this will happen fairly quick since the water just barely covers the surface of the pot. Once it is at a boil add the stemmed swiss chard. Cover the pot and let steam for a couple minutes, until it is bright green. Let it drain until it is cool enough to handle. In the mean time, in a medium bowl, mix together the Ricotta, Parmesan, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the chard has cooled, squeeze out at much of the water as you can and chop really fine. Once chopped, place all of it onto a dish towel and wring out the water again. The drier the swiss chard the better. Add this to the ricotta cheese mixture and combine well, taste for more salt or pepper, then add the egg and combine well.

To assemble the ravioli:
Take one wonton wrapper and place about 1 Tbls. of the filling in the center. Dip your finger in some water and wet the edges, then place another wonton wrapper on top. seal the edges tight with a fork or by pinching the edges. If the filling is coming out the edges, use less filling.

Butternut Squash Sauce
      
Butternut Squash Puree
     
     1 Butternut squash, peeled (watch lasts posts video).

Cut the squash into 1” pieces.  Put on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and a large pinch of salt. Roast in the oven at 375 for about 30 mintues, or until very tender and starting to brown around the edges. Let them cool for a bit, then I used a food mill to make a puree. You could use a food processor too.

Roasted Garlic

     1 head of garlic 

Peel the papery skin off the outside of the garlic. You want to keep the head of garlic in tact so don’t go to crazy with this. Just remove as much as you can without getting obsessive about it. Cut the top off the garlic to expose the tops of all the cloves within the head. In a small baking dish drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of the dish. Add the head of garlic and drizzle the garlic with more olive oil. Cover with tin foil and pop in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes.

Sauce
    ½ an onion diced fine.
    2 sprigs of rosemary

    6 cloves or 1 Tbls. roasted garlic, mashed
    2 c. Butternut Squash puree
    1-1 1/2 c. water

Saute the onion and 2 sprigs of rosemary in about 2 Tbls. of olive oil until the onions are translucent and just starting to brown up.  Remove the rosemary. Add the roasted garlic and stir around to combine. Add the squash puree and mix them all together. Add 1 cup of water and mix till combined. Add more water until the sauce is the consistency that you like. Add salt and pepper.

Boil the ravioli in a large pot of water until they float to the top, just a a couple of minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the ravioli and serve on individual plates (if you drain them all into a colander, they could get stuck together and form one very large ravioli! Lay the left overs flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment). Spoon the sauce on top. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.