hold the beef

I’m so not a vegetarian.  I may have even been known to pressure one certain friend who is a vegetarian to go back to eating meat with promises of not being so cold all the time that she has to use blankets at the beach.  I’m all for being an omnivore.

However, I am one who cares about the earth.  You can read all about the shocking effects we could have on our earth if we all just stopped eating meat one day a week- here.  It is insane how much good could come of it. 

So I’m now committed to skipping meat at least 1 day or more a week. 

My first meatless dish was a baked butternut pasta. We had some pumpkin lasagna in Australia so I created something similar while keeping the calories and fat low.

Half a smallish butternut squash and place face down on a sprayed baking sheet.  Roast for about 45 minutes or until tender.  Then mash the heck out of it and salt to taste.

Homemade pasta sauce is so freaking easy- 1 onion diced, 2 cans of diced tomatoes or 4 large fresh tomatoes diced, fresh garlic, basil, oregano (I throw the herbs in whole instead of chopping), salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 cup red or white wine- caramelize the onions in a tiny bit of evoo, add the garlic for about a minute (burnt garlic = bitter awfulness), deglaze the pan with the wine. then just add the rest and simmer until thick.  I usually add a tiny pinch of sugar to mellow the acidity of the tomatoes- a little trick a chef taught me a million years ago.  This is my basis for tons of different sauces- add meat, chunky veggies or red chilies…the variations are endless. I doubled my recipe for this dish.

While that’s simmering, prepare some whole wheat pasta. I used penne so layering wasn’t really a good option so I threw the sauce, pasta, squash and the majority of one small container of low fat ricotta in a huge bowl and gently mixed.  Then throw that in a sprayed casserole dish and top with remaining ricotta and a handful or so of parm…

Bake at 375 until bubbly and golden brown…

This made like 12 servings which I fed to friends, us over two nights and froze the remaining. Thanks to my grandmother,  I only know how to cook for an army.