03 Nov Butternut Squash Quesadillas w/ Caramelized Onions- Guest Post by Sarah Ahn
Hi my name is Sarah Ahn and am the girl behind Ahnestveggie blog! I'm here to use my creativity and love for food to showcase how amazing and beautiful living a plant-based, vegan diet can be. Being vegan doesn't have to be either boring or flavorless.
As a Korean-American, I grew up eating meat (Korean BBQ for days) and all sorts of seafood, seasoning, and dairy. Back in 2008 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (inflammatory disease in my colon) where I lost over 20 lbs. I had excruciating burning pains in my stomach/intestine and food did not digest and went straight through my system. Although stress was the main trigger for this sickness, my diet affected it as well. Per doctor's orders, I had to cut most spicy foods, greasy fried foods, processed foods and eat more raw fruits and green vegetables. This was extremely difficult as my diet consisted of diet coke, fast foods, alcohol, eggs, cheese, pork, steak, etc.
After a few months, my symptoms seemed to have worsened and I was hospitalized for a blood transfusion and left myself, friends and family in shock and fear. I knew I had to do something quick about my health. It was not until 2012 that I started to really focus on what I was putting into my body. I started cooking more, was aware of what ingredients were going into my food, focused incorporating vegetables and cutting red meat out of my diet. I decided then to try a full vegetarian diet to help cope with the pain and it seemed to have worked. I was a vegetarian for about 2 years since then.
An impromptu dinner with my family last night lead to the creation of this fall inspired dish! This was actually my first time cooking with black rice (I purchased it from Trader Joe's), and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it! It worked perfectly as a risotto, and I will definitely be using it again!
I'm excited to share that I was able to source half of the ingredients for this recipe from my backyard garden. I picked the kale, calamansi, thyme and butternut squash from my garden just before I got cooking. All organic, and grown with love <3 (If you grow any fruits or veggies in your home, share below, I'd love to read about your gardens!)