Although, ironically enough, it’s actually rather cool for this time of year (74 degrees) and raining to beat the band at this precise moment, a few fellow bloggers and myself have joined forces to bring you some easy breezy Simple Sides recipes to get you through the hottest days of summer. You know, those days when it’s just so hot, you don’t even want to lift a finger, let alone cook a full-course meal. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered! Come back each Thursday in August for another super simple side dish recipe that is delicious, nutritious, frugal… and simple!
Up first this week is Stephanie, The Cheapskate Cook, who cooks delicious and healthy food for her family on a limited budget. And she certainly knows a thing or two about Simple Sides: I absolutely love her Cucumber & Tomato Salad and have made it at least once a week this summer with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes from the farmer’s market and my in-law’s garden. Yummy stuff, and so easy!
She has some more tomato goodness up her sleeves for us this week:
While our culture tends to equate easy meals as something that comes from a box or is popped in the microwave, I’ve found it isn’t always practical. When you’re trying to eat healthy and super frugally, routinely making up meals based on convenience food literally doesn’t fit the bill.
What does fit our bill right now is tomatoes. Not only are they fairly cheap at the grocery stores, and farmer’s markets, we’ve also been carting home boxes of them from our local produce stand. At the end of the day, they give us their slightly bruised and damaged fruit, which we can then chop up and use in the next few days or freeze for the coming months (read more about this little arrangement here).
And apparently tomatoes are in abundance. So on the weekends, when I’m looking for a cheap, fresh way to fill our stomachs, I pull out the tomatoes and make bruschetta.
Read more about Steph and her recipe for bruschetta here. Then come back next Thursday to read more from our other Simple Sides contributors:
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Love the idea of simple sides when it’s so hot out and I don’t want to spend too much time preparing meals. Tomatoes are so versatile – perfect in the cucumber tomato salad you mention, and this bruschetta. I’ve also been making no-cook tomato “sauce” with all the fresh tomatoes that are available this time of year. Can’t wait to see the simple sides everyone comes up with on Thursdays!
I get many great meal ideas from you and Steph. Thanks for making meal time and meal planning a bit more fun for this domestically challenged mama.