Kielbasa Pizza and Why I Still Eat Meat

Last night for dinner I made this kielbasa and onion pizza, inspired by a recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray.

I made the following changes to the original recipe:

• made my own pizza dough (we’re looking for a better recipe though–anyone have one?)
• used a mix of provolone and swiss cheese (the gruyère was really expensive)
• only used one onion
• used dried thyme

The pizza was pretty good overall.  The husband is a big fan of kielbasa and it goes on sale every few weeks at our supermarket, so we eat it a few times a month.  I never would’ve thought to put it on pizza though–I’m terribly uncreative and unoriginal in the kitchen.  Thank goodness for cooking magazines and shows to inspire me!

Why I Still Eat Meat

For the past several days, I’ve been seriously pondering the question of why I’m still eating meat at all.   Honestly, I was the only one pondering this question, at least aloud. My husband, my family and my friends, though generally aware of my views and recent changes to my diet, have never inquired as to why I haven’t gone completely vegetarian. They probably have better things to occupy their minds with.  If the vegetarians whose blogs I frequently read, cite and comment on are wondering, they haven’t actually asked me.

Brian and I discussed this thoroughly while eating the above meat-topped pizza last night.  In the end, I’ve decided it’s probably mentally healthier (and easier, though I mentioned several times that ‘what’s right is not always what’s easy’) for me to remain a flexitarian/semitarian.  Changing one’s eating habits is a gradual process and I don’t have to go radical overnight.  Eating meat once or twice a week, or on special occasions, is not going to make me drop dead.  He also pointed out to me that if I want to “change the world,” I should perhaps focus more of my energy on petitioning elected officials and the like instead of agonizing over the amount of animal products in my lunch.  It is possible to eat healthy AND eat meat (I am in no way labelling kielbasa as a healthy meat!).  Plus, it should be noted, nine months ago the argument Brian and I were having was about the fact that I loved junk food and was going to stock our pantry with it when we got married whether he liked it or not.  Now the tables have turned and I’m the “health nut”.

Interestingly enough, Caitlin on Healthy Tipping Point was answering a similar question this morning: “Do you ever feel pressure to eat “perfectly” or “complete dinners” because of your blog?“.  I realized that I may be feeling pressured to become a full vegetarian because the blogs I admire the most are written by vegetarians and it’s the lifestyle I advocate most on this blog.  However, eating meat isn’t always bad and it is possible to be an unhealthy vegetarian.  My eating (and this blog) is primarily about delicious food that is also healthy, whether or not it fits into a labeled lifestyle.  Food bloggers are normal people, so for now I’m just going to eat as healthy as I can, meat included.