Redstockings Radical Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Creamy Walnut Pesto:

Ingredients:                                                                             
10 oz Potatoes
6 oz Organic Butternut Squash
1 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour, plus more
for dusting and kneading
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
Salt & Pepper

Sauce:
10 oz Fresh Organic Spinach
1/2 cup Toasted Walnuts
2 cups low-fat Organic Cottage Cheese
1-3 cloves Organic Garlic
1/4 cup Paremsan, grated
1/4 Organic Fresh Basil, chopped
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black Pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Steam the potaoes and squash until tender.
Mash together the potatoes, squash and nutmeg. Salt and pepper to taste.
Gradually, add in the flour. When the mixture is sticky add the olive oil. Knead
well. You will need at least 1/2 cup of extra flour to knead the dough to the
appropriate texture.
2) Knead the mixture into a square and cut it into 6 pieces. Roll each piece between
your palms (using extra flour if needed). Cut into 1-1 1/2″ pieces and roll each piece
into a well shaped dumpling.
3) Heat a large pot of salted water until it boils. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil. In batches of
8-12 drop the dumplings into the boiling water. Cook until the dumplings float to the
top (stir after 2-3 minutes to ensure that they are not sticking).
4) Put the cooked gnocchi on a lightly oiled baking sheet until they are all done. Bake for
10 minutes.

Sauce:

1) Rinse the spinach and transfer to a pot. Simmer on low heat until the spinach wilts. Add all
of the ingredients to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth :) 

Serve the gnocchi topped with the walnut sauce!  

An ode to my foremothers!

As more and more women, from all social locations (age, race, class), pursue unrealistic and dangerous standards of beauty and a cultural era that reinforces the rewards of achieving this beauty ideal  throughout the cultural landscape, I give a proud nod to the women of the New York Radical Women that publicly challenged the prevailing beauty norms.

As more and more young women are seized by the collective amnesia of their generation, it becomes imperative to promote the learning of women’s history.  In the words and actions of the women that form the continuous lineage we are part of, we find sources of inspiration, empowerment, and examples we can utilize in our current challenges and issues.

While the stereotype of feminist “bra-burning” is a myth, there is no doubt that this event and its protest left an indelible impression, for better or worse (depending on who you ask), on the nation.

NPR interviews: Miss America 1968, Debra Barnes Snodgrass, Alix Kates Schulman, Carol Hanisch and Kathie Sarachild. Listen here.

As a small group of feminists prepared to launch their emerging women’s liberation movement onto the national stage by protesting the 1968 Miss America pageant, they had no idea that the media was about to give them a new moniker: “bra burners.”

In reality, no bras were actually burned on the boardwalk in front of the Atlantic City convention hall that hosted the Miss America pageant, says Carol Hanisch, one of the organizers of the protest.

“We had intended to burn it, but the police department, since we were on the boardwalk, wouldn’t let us do the burning,” says Hanisch. A New York Post story on the protest included a reference to bra burning as a way to link the movement to war protesters burning draft cards.

Women threw bras, mops, girdles, pots and pans, and Playboy magazines — items they called “instruments of female torture” — into a big garbage can.

“The media picked up on the bra part,” Hanisch says. “I often say that if they had called us ‘girdle burners,’ every woman in America would have run to join us.”

Read the full story here.