Short ribs and baby octopus may dominate many menus in the city, but that doesn’t mean local chefs can’t find love in an acorn squash. In our ongoing series, Chefs Veg Out, we’ll prove D.C.’s chefs can play with more than just meat.

• Name: Jessalyn Kennedy
• Title: Owner
• Restaurant: Juice Revolution
• Twitter: @JuiceRevolution
• Cooking Juicing Since: I started getting into it in the last year or two. I quit my attorney job and decided to focus on nutrition. I decided I was only going to do things I was interested in. The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City introduced me to so many different ways of eating. Once I started juicing, it just clicked with me right away and then all of a sudden we were making green juice all the time. It’s just a fun way to eat vegetables.
• Random Fact: The thing that I was known for was being a shot putter and discus. I always wanted to be a volleyball player because they were the popular ones. But the track coach put me at a shot putter and discus because I was good at it. I think I still hold the junior high shot put record.
• Favorite Vegetable: Arugula. I know it’s kind of one of those polarizing things—-some people hate it,  some people love it.  I was in London for work for about a year and they call it rocket there and I didn’t know what it was. [She eventually figured it out.] But I just thought it was perfect description: distinct, peppery.
• Least Favorite Vegetable: Sweet potato. I have just always hated that too-sweet flavor. It’s cheap, versatile, and every once in a while I’ll check in and try a mashed sweet potato. But it just doesn’t do it for me.
• Memorable Meatless Dish: I made homemade linguine. My brother and I took the whole day making it. We served it on arugula with artichoke lemon pesto and it was just divine. Homemade pasta is such a treat, but it’s a rarity that I go to that extensiveness with my cooking.
• Best Vegetable Dish Juice at Juice Revolution: Green Om. It has kale, cucumber, pineapple, lemon and ginger in it. The green juices are the ones that got me started and I think they’re the ones that are so high in vitamins and such a light, perfect taste.
• Quick and Dirty Meatless Idea: This is super easy, not gourmet. In a pan, put half a can of chickpeas, a chopped zucchini, three cups of dark leafy greens and just let it melt on top. It has some heartiness because of the chickpeas and it’s really warming and comforting. [Find the full recipe on Jessalyn’s blog, Yogaccino.]

Photo by Suzanne Dingwell