Spaghetti and Meatballs

I’m having a change of heart in relation to meat eating lately.  I’ve found that the longer I keep my Google Reader closed, stop analyzing what other people are eating and focus on what my body is craving, the more I find myself wanting burgers, Chipotle steak bowls and meatballs.

I’m not about to go all caveman on you, and I would still rather eat a veggie dog than a real one, but I’m coming to realize that you don’t have to approach anything with an all or nothing attitude, meat included.  So what if I’m craving some good quality steak (good quality being the key words here)?  I think there’s definitely a way to appease both my desire to eat ethically and my need to eat deliciously.  And call me crazy but I’m pretty sure that if you look up the word “delicious” in the dictionary, you’ll see a picture of a giant burger, heavily doused in cheese and ketchup.

Notice how my meat preferences lean towards beef products.  That’s because I have and probably always will think chicken and turkey suck.  You can find pictures of those two under “boring,” “dry,” and “bland.”  Which is why when I bought a “vegetarian” empanada at Whole Foods last week and found myself eating chicken, I was not happy, to say the least.

Let’s be very clear that I’ve never been a vegetarian.  I refuse to ever give up shrimp and I would ask someone to commit me if I ever said no to my  mom’s sausage and ham-filled red beans and rice.  Plus I always feel obligated to at least see if someone has finally figured out the answer to the age old question, “How do I make this turkey not dry?” every Thanksgiving.

This week I asked Joey to “name 5 things he would have us cook, if price and meat were not a consideration.”  I won’t even tell you what my response was when he yelled “KRAFT MAC AND CHEESE!”  After additional prompting, he finally responded with “spaghetti and meatballs!”  Now that’s more like it.

We made the Pioneer Woman’s classic spaghetti and meatballs recipe on Tuesday night and it was everything I had imagined.  This isn’t about meat eating or not, there’s something honestly comforting about a big warm bowl of saucy pasta.  Especially if there’s also garlic bread and a glass of wine.