Meatless Monday

Happy Valentine's Day! What did you do on this national day devoted love? I had the opportunity to learn about breast cancer and endometrial cancer, participate in a human chain to honor humanism in medicine, talk to a sweet old lady about how to reduce her risks for falls, do a male GU exam, and stick my finger into a prostate model. What an eventful day. What I learned: 1) Breast cancer is very confusing. 2) Humanism in medicine is a great thing, (especially since Dr. Rhee was part of our chain). I wish more people would work with the patient in a humanistic manner rather than just trying to fight the disease.  3) Old people are really cute. 4) GU exams on old men are not very fun ("now please turn your head and cough for me"). 5) After sticking my finger into a plastic model of a gigantic butt, I do not feel in any way prepared to do my first prostate exam. And I learned I have very short fingers.

Like I wrote yesterday, JC and I are celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow. I decided to cook a nice pasta meal for the two of us tonight. For the past couple months we have been getting a lot of spinach in our CSA baskets. Every week we have made some variation of lamb saag, but we have yet to make it just right. I don't know what it is about Indian food restaurants, but they have some secret ingredient to make their saag taste so delicious. Our saag just doesn't live up. If you have a delicious saag recipe, please let me know, I would love to try it out.

Rather than another batch of botched saag, I decided to try to make a spinach ravioli. My favorite food is Japanese (noodles, sushi, tempura...) and coming in a close second is pasta. I know it is not a healthy obsession, so I have been limiting my intake, but I love pasta. I found a recipe for a really easy spinach ravioli filling and used wonton skins for the pasta. I would love to make my own pasta, but I just don't have the patience, so wonton skins is the second best thing. In my previous posts, I have always stressed the importance of getting really good quality wonton skins. In the case of ravioli, it really doesn't matter what kind of wonton skins you get. You're simply going to boil them and whatever you get will turn out fine.

Now on to Meatless Monday. What is Meatless Monday you ask? It is an initiative by the Mondays Campaign in association with Johns Hopkins' Bloomberg School of Public Health to reduce meat consumption to help in overall health. I totally agree with the campaign. In general, Americans do not have a healthy diet and that may be attributed to the amount of unhealthy meat products we consume and the lack of healthy veggies. It's easy to make one night a week to be a veggie night, it can really open up your eating options and have you try something new and different. Rather than a salad with bacon, try garbanzo beans. Instead of a chicken enchilada, try a melty cheese one with green chiles. It's really easy. In the same light, not all vegetarian options are extremely healthy either--ie: broccoli smothered in cheddar cheese, cheese pizza, french fries, etc. You need to use your own judgment. Now, I am not a vegetarian by any means and I have nothing against vegetarians. To be honest, I probably am a vegetarian more days of the week than I am a meat eater, but that is solely based on taste preferences. Today I had a salad with chicken and picked out all of the meat and just ate the lettuce--only because I don't like chicken that much. If I order a pasta dish with meat, more often than not, I will pick out the meat and just eat the pasta and veggies. Don't get me wrong, I do love a great steak every once and a while, but overall, I am not a huge meat eater. In no way am I advocating for you to be a vegetarian or not, just make healthy choices in your diet.

Today I had a Meatless Monday, not really intentionally though, it just happened that way. I had a greek yogurt with fruit for breakfast, salad (with chicken picked out) and a side of cottage cheese with fruit, a red velvet cupcake, a chocolate raspberry cupcake, spinach raviolis, and coconut cheesecake for dessert. It might not have been the healthiest diet for today, but it's a holiday that revolves around sweets and treats. Moreover, it was a completely Meatless Monday.

These raviolis turned out bomb-dot-com. The filling was just perfect and the wonton skins added just the right touch. I didn't have a sauce for these, so I simply drizzled a little truffle oil on top with a sprinkle of cheese and they were amazing. These were so easy to make and turned out just great.

Spinach Ravioli
adapted from Cook Your Dream

• 1 bunch of fresh spinach (you could substitute frozen if you want)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 c. ricotta
• 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 c. shredded parmeasan
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
• Salt and pepper
• 1 package wonton skins
• 1 egg, beaten

Heat oil in a pan, add the garlic and saute for a minute. Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes just until wilted. Transfer it to a bowl and let cool slightly. Roughly chop the spinach. In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, lemon pepper, nutmeg, cheeses and spinach, add salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble the raviolis by placing about 1-2 Tbsp of filling onto one wonton skin. Brush the edges with the egg wash and lay another wonton skin on top. Make sure the edges are sealed well and try to push out all of the air bubbles. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Reduce the heat and gently cook the ravioli in batches for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the water, drain and keep warm. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with cheese.