New weekly post: Dark Days Challenge

I heard about the 3rd Annual Dark Days Challenge via windycityvegan and decided I would try it this winter. The challenge is to cook one SOLE meal each week - sustainable, organic, local, and ethical - throughout the winter. Rather than put this on my "other" blog, I decided to put it on my mommy blog because food is something we discuss with the kids. They help us cook, they help us shop, they help us garden, and they help us unpack our CSA box every week.

With two parents working outside the house, we don't have a lot of time to cook every night with two hungry preschoolers, so part of my hope for this challenge is to be able to put together fast SOLE meals for our family of four.

Even though this is the third week of the challenge, this is my first submission. And I made it an easy one (lunch) because Jon was gone this week, work is busy, and we've all got colds. I also wanted to start the challenge with MEAT AND POTATOES to debunk the myth that you need to eat crazy vegan meals to be SOLE focused.




* The milk is from Maple View Farm.
* The meatloaf is made from grass fed ground beef from Grandview Farms. The meatloaf also contains organic antibiotic free range non-local eggs and bread crumbs that are not SOLE.
* The sweet potatoes are organic beauregards from Ward Brother's Farm. They are mashed with Maple View Farm milk and organic non-local butter.
* (I had also planned on a big salad with veggies from our CSA but none of us were that hungry due to our colds.)

This meal couldn't be easier to put together. The milk is sold at our local grocery store in glass bottles. The beef and sweet potatoes were delivered by Papa Spud's right to our doorstep.

Could this be better? Yes, and that's my plan for this winter - to source all of these items locally.