Simple Meals

One of my favorite songs is Simple Meals by Claire Holley, an incredible artist from our very own Jackson, Mississippi. And one of my favorite things is making simple meals. I used to cook everything in a complicated manner, taking hours to slave and becoming so exhausted that I could barely eat by the time the meal was completed. Now, some things should be this way. Pastries, pies and cakes are not best out of a box. A little love, sweat and tears goes a long way for certain foods. Chicken n' dumplings have never been good with tortillas masquerading as dumplings. Sorry, Sweet Sue, you do not have the market cornered! There should be flour, and shortening, and buttermilk, and lots of rolling out, cutting and dropping. This can even become a family experience, one that children will remember for life.

But for every day fare, I find that the key to satisfaction is grabbing whatever is in the kitchen and keeping the ingredients list short. If it has more than about four or five ingredients, move on to the next meal, unless it has eight ingredients and three of them are spices that are already in your kitchen. Take, for instance, my best oatmeal. Start with a good hearty oatmeal, like Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Rolled Oats.

Cook for 10 minutes longer than prescribed and add an extra half cup of water to make the consistency creamier (really, you can keep cooking and adding water for as long as you want, but you need to eat at some point!). Add raisins, apples, a tsp brown sugar and a tiny bit of Smart Balance Light for buttery flavor, and you are now feasting on a scrumptious breakfast of champions. It's tasty. It's brain food. It's filling, AND it's pretty. Who could ask for more?

What I really want to share, though, is my favorite salad. My friend, Julie got me thinking about good salads, and this has become my absolute favorite. I eat it for lunch and dinner, and sometimes, yes, breakfast. My daughter loves it. It combines salty and sweet flavors, and the dressing adds the kick. It is merely green leaf lettuce, green onions, strawberries and walnuts. If you have a sprinkling of REAL parmigiano reggiano cheese, that is great. The "real" stuff is imported from the Parma region of Italy and bears this stamp on the rind:

For a whole meal, add slices of Bobbly Flay's grilled chicken paillard (obviously, leave out the arugula salad he recommends).

Here is the recipe for spicy balsamic vinaigrette, shared with me by the kitchen coordinator at our church:

3 TBSP red wine vinegar

3 TBSP balsamic vinegar

3 TBSP Dijon mustard

3 cloves garlic

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp sea salt

Combine in blender and blend well. Enjoy.

Now that is a meal that tastes like hours of work and only took minutes.

Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough. -Author Unknown