Skinny Bitch

I have been reading the book Skinny bitch the last couple days.  That book has me cracking up with their blunt advice as well as making me sick to my stomach learning more and more about how meat gets to the supermarket. I highly recommend checking out this book for a quick read with tons of great information.  I'm not looking to be a skinny bitch, but a healthy one.  I came to the conclusion after reading Skinny Bitch that I am going to go Vegetarian and then Vegan.  I have been steadily cutting eating meat out of my diet anyways and now is the time to dive into the vegetarian lifestyle.  I've decided that I will not eat beef, pork, chicken or land animal first.  My goal is to make at least one meal a week meatless that will satisfy the whole family.

This won't be a very hard change because I don't feel so hot after eating these animals anyway.  The big thing about this change for me is making food for my Midwest born and raised husband who loves his meat!  I won't miss it, but he'll miss me making it.  I guess it's now time for him to show off his amazing cooking skills in the kitchen if he wants a pot roast or cheeseburger.  There are so many amazing resources out there for vegetarian and vegan recipes it's crazy.  I love Pintrest!  Hell if you Google "vegetarian soup" you're head will explode from so many options.  So the first meal I made was Pumpkin Risotto.  It turned out so creamy and delicious my family said they didn't even care there wasn't any meat or dairy in it.  Here is my recipe:

Pumpkin Risotto

3 Tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 quarts vegetable stock
2 cups short grain brown rice
3 cups roasted and diced pumpkin or butternut squash
1 Tbsp Rosemary, chopped
1 tsp dried mustard
salt and pepper to taste

I roasted my Sweet Meat Pumpkin first because I am using the whole pumpkin for other fall goodies but I would peel, remove the seeds and insides and dice the pumpkin before roasting.

To roast the diced pumpkin simply preheat you oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, spread pumpkin on the baking sheet and bake 30-45 minutes until pumpkin is fork tender.

 Next Heat a large sauce pan over medium heat the pan then add the coconut oil until it's melted.  Add the diced onions and sauté until translucent.  Lower heat a little than add garlic and sauté about 2 minutes until fragrant.  Add the brown rice and sauté a few minutes until it begins to smell a little nutty.

 Next stir in your veggie stock one cup at a time until the rice absorbs most of the stock. Continue to stir while the stock absorbs into the rice.  This will be a LONG process but this labor of love creates the creamy texture by slowly releasing the starches.

Keep adding the stock until the rice is al dente.  Then add the rosemary, dried mustard, salt and pepper.

Now fold in the roasted pumpkin until throughout the risotto.  Spoon into a bowl and enjoy your labor of love!