How to irritate a vegetarian

I am soooo tired of hearing it. "How do you get protein?" "Where is your protein?" "Don't you need protein?"

The sources are so many. Just off the top of my head I can name these: whole grain bread, brown rice, all beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds, nut butters, soy, meat substitutes, veggie burgers, protein powder and the every versatile tofu.

I would love to walk up to those same people while they are eating a big mac and fries and ask them, "Where's the vegetables and fruit?" My husband would be quick to reply that fries are potatoes and potatoes are a vegetable. But that still leaves the fruit! : )

Baked Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells

This was one of my first vegetarian meals and it was awesome!

Whole foods says this...
This pasta dish will soon become a family favorite. In a hurry? Use a cup of thawed spinach instead of fresh; just be sure to squeeze it well to remove any excess water. Serve with garlic bread and a fresh salad for a complete meal.

Ingredients are simple:
16 jumbo pasta shells
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound baby spinach
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 pound part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 pound part-skim mozzarella cheese, grated
1 egg
1 Tablespoon chopped basil
1 1/2 cups marinara sauce


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta shells and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.


Drain well then toss with oil in a large bowl; set aside


Preheat oven to 375. Put spinach into a large skillet and drizzle with a tablespoon or two of water.


Cover and cook over medium low heat, tossing occasionally, until just wilted; drain well. When cool enough to handle, squeeze to remove any excess water. Chop spinach and transfer to a large bowl. Add garlic, ricotta, mozzarella, egg and basil to make the filing.



Spread a few spoonfuls of marinara sauce in the bottom of a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the shells in a single layer. Fill each shell with spinach mixture and arrange in the dish. Pour remaining sauce over and around the stuffed shells and top with Mozzarella cheese.

Cover with foil and bake until hot throughout, 20-30 minutes, then remove foil and back until golden brown, about 10 minutes more.



What I would have done differently.
I would have added less marinara sauce and baked a little longer with the foil. I think mushrooms would have been really good also.

A vegetarian is born

My initial post

The first of July while watching a UFC fight, I saw an ad on a guy’s shorts that read MeetyourMeat.org. It was a site by PETA encouraging readers to become Vegetarian and Vegans. Their tag line was ‘the site the meet companies don’t want you to see”.

I’m going to give it a whirl. No big deal you say? Meat is a big deal here in cattle country! We have meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and I’m pretty sure I’ve had some kind of desert made with meat.

I can remember being very little when my grandpa had cows. I was so scared of them, Mom or Daddy had to put me on the tractor so I would stop crying. As I got older we had cows at home. By then I wasn’t scared of course but after feeding them and watching them grow up, I couldn’t eat them. Same with my FFA pig in school. We planned on butchering Louie at the end of my senior year but just couldn’t do it. He had become a family pet.

My weirdness didn’t stop at beef and pork. I remember the first time my mom cooked one of our chickens. I was thinking how small it was and that it was kind of tough. Eating that chicken made me wonder what the poultry farms do to the chickens to make them so big and tasty. Our chicken was home grown, hand fed and as natural as they come but barely palatable.

During the past several years I’ve tried to limit my beef but being an Okie, it is hard to resist a big ole steak. I decided to take the ’30 day Veg pledge’ as a challenge to myself. I really don’t think it will be a problem but we’ll see.

My post after watching the video...
I have always thought PETA was an acronym for People Eating Tasty Animals. I watched this video on the PETA website and knew that I would never eat meat again.

I have always assumed that PETA members were crazy liberal hippies with too much time on their hands, and to some extent I still agree. I don't see myself standing outside of Macy's throwing red paint on fur coats or believing that everyone should be vegetarian just because I am. In fact, I had my husband and 16 year old daughter watch the video. They both looked at each other and said they wanted a steak.

I'm not making some hippie statement, I don't have an agenda. It is simply a choice that I have made and plan to keep the promise to myself.

More soon...