Let's Start Simple

Over the past year, my recipes have grown increasingly complex, but as I've stated in my musings, simple is always good too. Let's start with a basic meal from what's around Wisconsin this week. After a very busy day for both Beo and I, I needed something easy and quick for dinner. So we did a very simple salad and bread. The lettuce, tomatoes and carrots were all harvested from our garden. The lettuce and carrots are still around this week. Tomatoes have been gone for some time, but Beo harvested what green 'maters were left when he took the vines down and turned the gardens under. They've just started ripening up this week. I topped the salad with Morningstar Farms Chik'n Strips I found in the back of the freezer. We've actually stopped purchasing these, but they're a great topper for stir frys and salads. We've switched to tempeh now-a more organic, less processed option. We had our salad with sourdough bread that Beo made over the weekend. For the kids, the meal was easily modified to a side salad, grilled cheese on sourdough with organic cheese from the Farmer's Market, and ketchup to dip their chik'n strips in. Incidentally, they're just as happy to eat the healthier tempeh that we now normally have instead. An omnivore friendly household could obviously just top this meal with a locally pastured organic option. Dessert was fresh pears from a local orchard. The pears weren't organic, but grown with IPM techniques. We've been learning more about this method this year. Organic fruit is tough here in Wisconsin, and IPM is a good option. I do have a mission to visit the one certified organic orchard in the state though, and will post about it in the future if all goes well. This was a was a very filling meal, and pleasantly fresh for October!