Dark Days Meal #10

WEEK 10!! This week we are back to a meatless Dark Days Meal, like usual. Well actually my kids did eat some grilled chicken with the potatoes and beans and I had the chard instead. The chicken was the last of our frozen supply of non local meat and I now refuse to buy any meat that does not meet my standards. We don't eat meat very often, so I don't think it will be a problem. I do have local pork, fish and chicken available at the market now and one of my favorite vegetable farmers, Phil from Sage Mt. Farms is going to have beef to purchase starting in March!! I am beyond excited for this! It has taken me longer to adjust to eating the local meat, simply because of the prices and my lack of money but I can no longer turn a blind eye to the animal industry and the disgustingness...I have been using up what we had and I can't even bring myself to eat it after I cook it and I have figured out a way to make it work for us. We don't eat much meat, so I figure I can buy one or two sources at the market every two weeks and make into a couple meals each week. I did that with ground pork we got last time and it worked well and wow was it yummy!! To supplement (which I should have been doing all along) we will eat more beans, which I will also buy 2 bags of every two weeks and use for the meals on the other days of the week. The soaking and planning had always put me off of purchasing more beans, but they are so easy and I realize I can just store them cooked in the fridge and then plug them into the equation when dinner rolls around. Annette over at SustainableEats also just mentioned that she freezes hers and that would make it even easier!

On to dinner...Dinner was just a collection of different things, but was very filling and delicious! I still had fresh potatoes that I quartered and roasted with carrots, rosemary, garlic and Olive oil. I also slightly sauteed a bunch of chard with green garlic and olive oil and to round out the meal heated up some pinto beans from my fridge and topped them with some shredded Tillamook cheese. Everything was local, except the cheese and the salt & pepper.