Squash, over the last few years, has become one of my favorite things about fall. You can do so many things with it and meld it with a great range of flavors.

So far, butternut is my favorite, mostly because I've got lots of good recipes for it. This fall I'm going to experiment with buttercup and acorn and whatever else i get my hands on.

Here's a recipe I've adapted from La Dolce Vegan, I'm calling it...

Butternut Dhal
1 small onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
2 inches fresh ginger, grated
2 C butternut squashed, cubed
2 C vegetable stock
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (or a 14 oz can of diced toms)
1/2 C red lentils
1/2 t salt +
1/2 t ground pepper
1/4 C chopped cilantro

in a medium soup pot, sauté onion in oil until translucent. Add the ginger and squash and sauté for 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients, except the cilantro. Bring to a boil and then reduce temp and simmer for 15-20 until squash is cooked. Add cilantro. Blend with a hand blender or food processor. Makes 2-3 large servings and 4-5 small.

I've also been discovered the deliciousness of steamed greens lately. On my plate tonight was a mix of beet greens and kale with sea salt.

tell me what you think of the recipe if you try it!

Made it to waterloo this morning at 9am, after 8.5 hours on the bus.  A friend picked me up at the bus stop and i spent the day priming my room for painting (green), scrubbing and arranging the kitchen, and hunting and finding furniture on the side of the road.  

My YTT wrapped up beautifully, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone.  My friend A. and I went up to K.'s country house in Lachute and slept in a big tent under the stars, played with K's Adorable 4-year old daughter and with her chickens, had a fire, and ate poutine.  Sunday we went into montreal to the for brunch at a great little vegan and raw cafe called Crudessense and to the Tam-Tams and met up with some other YTT friends.  The next couple of posts I'll go back and put up some more YTT pics for you!

eating vegan-macrobiotic



On Thursday mornings we have a macrobiotic cooking class with Karen. Before getting into teaching yoga, Karen, our instructor, was a macrobiotic vegan chef. she's even written a cookbook full of deliciousness!  This thursday she made the most delicious soup that i've ever had. it was a buttercup squash and had coconut, ginger and cilantro. I've made a number of different purée squash soups, but this was mind-blowing! 

don't have many interesting stories to tell of the past few days... i've just been a bookworm trying to prepare for my last exam wednesday. golly gee, i can't wait till its over! my time in montreal is winding down fast, i'll be leaving 2 weeks from yesterday to return to goshen for the summer!

here's a pretty yummy supper recipe i made up tonight:

savory veggies and beans over pasta
in a large pan or wok, sauté with olive oil
- small red onion, diced
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced

Add
-1 cubed sweet potato (already cooked, baked or boiled)
-1 red pepper
- 1-2 cups chopped broccoli
- 1-2 cups chickpeas and/or black beans
- 1 cup tomato/pasta sauce
- 1 t salt
- 1 t cumin
- some chili pepper if you desire some heat

simmer until broccoli is cooked. serve over a bed of pasta.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been steadily reducing my meat consumption, and in the last 4 months I’ve become ovo-lacto vegetarian (meaning I still eat some dairy products and eggs occasionally). When people ask why I’m veg, I usually respond “there are a number of reasons but that biggest reason is the environmental effects of eating meat.” A lot of people look puzzled with this response. Here’s a bit of an explanation of the connection between reducing your carbon footprint and reducing meat consumption:

Acccording to treehugger.com’s guide to greening your meal “Meat is the most resource-intensive food on the table and eating less of it can be the single most green move a person makes. Producing meat requires huge amounts of water, grain, land, and other inputs including hormones and antibiotics, and leads to pollution of soil, air, and water. A pound of beef requires around 12,000 gallons of water to produce, compared to 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes.”

Not convinced yet? Here are some other stats:
• A meat-based diet requires 7 times more land than a plant-based diet according to veg.ca.
• According to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization , livestock production is responsible for more climate change gasses than all the motor vehicles in the world. In total, it is responsible for 18 percent of human induced greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to methane, manure, deforestation to expand pasture, fertilizers and pesticides for feed crops.
• In Latin America, 70 percent of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing.
• Animal waste accounts for 64 percent of ammonia, which contributes significantly to acid rain.
• The meat industry is immensely resource intensive and accounts for 70% of the water pollution in the US. (treehugger.com)
• Livestock production is at the heart of almost every environmental catastrophe confronting the planet – rain forest destruction, spreading deserts, loss of fresh water, air and water pollution, acid rain and soil erosion.


Being the single most green move a person can make, I’m really disappointed that reducing meat consumption is not more center stage to the current environmental movement. I guess that might be due to the fact that vegetarianism is a bit more controversial than changing the kind of light bulb you use. But most of the concerns people have about vegetarianism are misconceptions. For example, with a little effort and nutritional planning you can get plenty of protein on a vegetarian diet. Not ready to give up meat all together? Start by just trying to eat meat-free just one day a week. Even small steps make a difference. Also, if you do continue to eat meat, consider switching to free-range, organic meets (these farms are usually smaller and don't load their animals up with antibiotics and hormones).

Ready to go veg? Check out this link for a free vegetarian starter kit! Or here for vegetarian recipes.


and just in case you like to make moral choices based purely on asethetics...