Tag Archives: side dish

Happy Thanksgiving!!

22 Nov

Well, another Thanksgiving meal has come and gone for our household.  Not really gone, because we have plenty of leftovers, but the big task of cooking it all is done.  I had my 2 little helpers this morning while I cooked, and I love that I get to cook and share the joy of making food with them.  I wanted to get a picture of the whole spread, but didn’t get a chance, but here is a plate with all we had:

So, starting top at going clockwise, here is what we had:

Turkey: Fresh, organic 21.5 pound turkey from Grateful Harvest, ordered through the Sierra Vista Food Co-op.  It cost a bit more than what I normally spend, but I think it was worth it.  It tasted amazing!  Although, I did use my “cheat” this year again, using a Reynolds Oven Bag, to cook the turkey.  I added cut up onion, celery, and carrots to the bag, rubbed the turkey in olive oil and poultry seasoning.  Sometimes, I think simpler is better!  The broth the collected in the bottom I kept for gravy.  Now, the turkey carcass is split up between my 2 slow cookers with new onions, celery, and carrots, plus water, to make turkey stock.  I’m going to have a lot of turkey stock, which is good since I haven’t made chicken stock in a while.

Dinner rolls: Ordered in my Custom FarmBox from Sunizona Family Farms bakery.  We love their sprouted Khorasan bread, and these are made with the same sprouted Khorasan wheat.  Delicious!

Mashed potatoes:  Red potatoes from Sunizona Family Farms, 2 pounds.  Left the skins on, diced, and cooked until soft.  Mashed and mixed in a stick of butter, 1/2 cup milk, and 1 tablespoon fresh chives, also from Sunizona Family Farms.

Wild Rice & Sausage Dressing: Recipe here.  Used Lundberg’s wild rice blend, then celery and onion from Bountiful Basktets and fresh parsley from Sunizona Family Farms.

Bread & Celery Dressing: Recipe here.  This year, I used Special Spelt bread from the Sunizona Family Farms bakery, and celery and onion from Bountiful Baskets.

Green Bean Casserole: Recipe here.  I used fresh green beans from Sunizona Family Farms to make it.  I really like this, but I really want to find an alternative to using cream of mushroom soup in a can.  I’ll be experimenting over the year to see what I can come up with.

Cranberry Sauce:  I used cranberries and oranges from Bountiful Baskets to make this.  This was a lot easier than I thought!  Here is how to make it.

What you need:

12 oz bag of fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1/2 – 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you want it (I used 1/2 cup)
Juice of 3 oranges, or 1 cup orange juice

How to make it:

Dissolve sugar in orange juice over medium heat.  Add cranberries, and cook until cranberry skins have cracked and a gel starts to form, about 15-20 minutes.  Pour into serving bowl and sauce will set more as it cools.  

 

Sweet Potato Pie (not pictured): Recipe here.  I used sweet potatoes from Sunizona Family Farms.

 

It really turned out to be a great meal that my family and I all really enjoyed!  I hope that everyone else had a great Thanksgiving day as well!

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Oven Baked Sweet Potato Chips

13 Oct

 

Usually, I make fries with my sweet potatoes, but after making Oven Baked Potato Chips a while back, I figured it was worth a try to make Sweet Potato Chips.  And, they turned out really well!  My friend was over with her kids, and her son asked for seconds!  I have more sweet potatoes, so I know we’ll be having these again soon!

 

Oven Baked Potato Chips
Based on recipe here

What you need:

2.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (use a mandolin slicer to get a thin, uniform thickness)
Olive oil
Sea salt

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place sweet potatoes in a large bowl.  Pour in olive oil and sea salt, toss to coat evenly.

Line 2 baking sheets with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay sweet potatoes on baking sheets in a single layer.

Bake both baking sheets of sweet potatoes in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, then flip each chip and rotate the pans top to bottom.  Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the edges are crispy.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Parmesan Garlic Green Beans and Cauliflower

7 Aug

 

This was a different combination for me, but in a good way.  When I was deciding what to make for dinner one night, Cyndi at Daily Cynema had posted what she was making, Pan Seared Cod and Garlic Green Beans, which inspired me to make this with our dinner that night (I wish I could recall what main dish I made to go with this, but it was a couple weeks ago and my memory is failing me!).  Anyway, I threw in the cauliflower with the green beans because it needed to be eaten soon, and it turned out to be a nice combination.     You could do this with just one of either vegetable too.

 

Parmesan Garlic Green Beans and Cauliflower

What you need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb fresh green beans
1 cup cauliflower florets
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

How to make it:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add the garlic, green beans and cauliflower, cooking and stirring in the oil until they are browned.  Stir in lemon juice, sugar, salt, and black pepper.  Cook another 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve warm.

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Twice Baked Cauliflower

21 Mar

This is another low-carb recipe that my friend, Jen, shared a while back.  It’s been on my list to try, and tonight I finally got to try it.  It was very good!  It really doesn’t taste much like cauliflower with all the extras in there.  A nice alternative to potatoes.  I added in some fresh rosemary, and I didn’t have cream cheese, so I used sour cream instead because that’s what I had.  I served this as a side with some Zaycon Foods hot dogs and German sausage that I grilled.

Twice Baked Cauliflower

What you need:

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
5 slices bacon, crisped and crumbled (I used turkey bacon)
3 tbsp cream cheese (I used sour cream)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter or spray an 8×8 baking dish or 2 qt casserole dish.

Steam cauliflower until tender.  In a medium/large bowl, add cream cheese and then put steamed cauliflower on top to melt.  Mash with potato masher but leave chunky.  Mix in 1 1/2 cups of the cheddar cheese, 3 pieces worth of the crumbled bacon, green onions, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Place mixture in the prepared casserole dish, and spread evenly.  Top with the remaining cheese and bacon.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 – 30 minutes, or until bubbly and browning on top.

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Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

20 Mar

This is one of my favorite soups.  I haven’t made it for a while, but with the recent cold snap in the weather here, I thought it would be perfect for dinner.  I served it with roast beef and swiss on sourdough melts.  Delicious!

Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana
Serves 8 as a side, 4 as a meal
Original recipes here and here

What you need:

1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tablespoons bacon bits, optional
2 cans (or 4 cups) chicken broth (I used my Homemade Chicken Broth)
4 cups water
1 pound potatoes, cut in 1/4 inch round slices
2 cups chopped kale or chard (or another leafy green, like salad savoy)
1 cup heavy whipping cream or half and half

How to make it:

In a large pot, break up and brown sausage.  Remove from pot and set aside.  Put onion, garlic, and bacon bits in the pot, cook until they have softened.   Pour in water and chicken broth, then add potatoes.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.  Add sausage, kale and cream or half and half.  Heat through, do not boil.

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Yellow Squash Casserole

28 Feb

 

When I came across this recipe, it sounded good, but it really is delicious!  It has a buttery, cheesy taste, which blends nicely with the squash.  I used Ritz crackers for this, but you could probably use bread crumbs or crushed cornflakes in their place.  I was also tempted to add some oregano to this, but I got busy making it and forgot to add it in.

 

Yellow Squash Casserole
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1/4 cup butter
4 cups sliced yellow squash
1/2 cup chopped onion
Salt and pepper to taste (and 1 tsp oregano if desired)
35 round buttery crackers, crushed (about 1 1/2 cups if you decide to substitute in something else)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a large skillet, melt butter.  Add onion and squash.  Cover, and cook until both are tender, about 5-10 minutes.  Stir in salt and pepper.  Remove from heat.

Mix together crushed crackers and shredded cheddar cheese.  Divide mixture in half.  Stir in one half with the squash mixture.

In a small bowl, beat eggs and milk together.  Pour over the squash mixture and stir.

Grease an 8×8 baking dish.  Pour in the squash mixture.  Top with the remaining half of the cracker and cheese mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until casserole is bubbly and the crackers are lightly browned.

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Greek Salsa

16 Feb

 

This is a recipe I got from my Papou, and he had gotten it from a magazine, but I can’t remember which one anymore.  The recipe was actually Greek Salsa Chicken, this salsa served over lemon chicken and roasted potatoes.  Normally, I serve it with Lemon Herb Chicken and roasted potatoes that I’ve cooked separately.  But, I thought it would be the perfect addition to the Kotopoulo Lemonato we had for dinner tonight!  I was right!

 

Greek Salsa

What you need:

1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved (I diced one regular tomato tonight since that’s what I had)
1 jar (4.75 oz) pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 Tbsp dried oregano)

How to make it:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.

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Coleslaw

7 Feb

 

I had 2 heads of cabbage in my fridge, waiting for me to make something with them.  I had originally thought of making Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with them, but my husband said he wouldn’t eat them.  So, since I was thinking of making the fish and Oven Baked Potato Chips, I thought Coleslaw would be a nice addition.  I doubled the recipe below, so we have a lot of coleslaw.  The picture above is just a small part of all we have.  But it’s going fast since it turned out so yummy!  I didn’t cut mine very fine, I was too lazy to pull out the food processor to finely chop it, so I left it in larger pieces.

 

Coleslaw
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1 head cabbage, shredded
3 medium carrots, shredded (or in may case, 1 large carrot from Bountiful Baskets)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar

How to make it:

In a large bowl, combine cabbage and carrots.  In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients.  Mix well and pour over cabbage and carrots; toss to coat evenly.  Serve.

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Oven Baked Potato Chips

7 Feb

 

Yummy, yummy, yummy!  These turned out pretty well.  Some were a little overdone, some were a little underdone, but overall they turned out well.  I used the russet potatoes that I got from Bountiful Baskets this week to make them, and used my mandolin slicer to get them nice and thin.  I had gotten some Beer Battered Alaska Cod from Schwan’s, so decided it be best served with some chips and cole slaw, since I had cabbage to use (post coming on the cole slaw!).

 

Oven Baked Potato Chips
Based on recipe here

What you need:

2.5 pounds potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Olive oil (I used about 1/4 cup)
Seasoned salt (I used 2 tsp, probably could have used more)

How to make it:

Soak sliced potatoes in a bowl of water for 20 minutes.  Drain and dry potatoes on paper towels.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Place potatoes in a large bowl.  Pour in olive oil and seasoned salt, toss to coat evenly.

Line 2 baking sheets with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Lay potatoes on baking sheets in a single layer.

Bake both baking sheets of potatoes in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, then rotate the pans top to bottom.  Bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until potatoes are browned and crispy.  Allow to cool and serve.

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Crash Hot Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus

3 Feb

 

This dinner was definitely not in the Weekly Meal Plan, but it certainly came together perfectly to use some of the potatoes and asparagus I had gotten from Bountiful Baskets this week.  I had seen these potatoes on Pinterest a while back, but apparently hadn’t pinned it, so I had to search again and luckily found it.  I luckily had fresh rosemary from the Italian veggie themed pack still to use for the potatoes.  I then decided I should make either steak or chicken on the grill since I am trying to get good use out of my new grill.  I decided it would be a good idea to grill the asparagus too, just to avoid another dirty pan and again, utilize the grill.  It all turned out delicious and got rave reviews from the whole family.

 

Crash Hot Potatoes
Based on recipes here and here

What you need:

12 small potatoes, mine were red
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Malt vinegar

How to make it:

Wash potatoes thoroughly.  Add to a large pot and add enough water to just cover potatoes.  Bring water to a boil and cook potatoes until just tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Grease a baking sheet thoroughly with oil.  Lay out the 12 potatoes.  Slightly mash each potato with a potato masher, turn potato masher 90 degrees and slightly mash each potato again.  Brush each potato with olive oil, then sprinkle on salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and splash each potato with malt vinegar.

 

Grilled Asparagus
Based on recipe here

What you need:

1 lb asparagus, trimmed
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar

How to make it:

Place asparagus on skewers.  Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Grill on high heat for a few minutes, or until desired tenderness.

Remove from grill and splash with balsamic vinegar.

 

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