Posts filed under 'sides'
6 ounces rotini
1/4 cup italian dressing
cook pasta, until al dente - cooked, but still has a bite to it. drain and rinse pasta with cool water. place in a bowl, and add dressing. mix well. chill before serving.
this is likely the easiest pasta side dish there is, yet it still has tons of flavor. after chilling, i usually add more dressing, but ultimately it’s up to you.
any pasta would work, but i especially like the colored rotini.
to add some flavor, chop cucumbers, tomatoes (or use cherry/plum), carrots, peas, olives, or any other veggie you have on hand.
June 11th, 2008
1 banana, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 apple, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pear, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
6 skewers
preheat grill. (i use an indoor one similar to a george forman) soak skewers in water. meanwhile, mix together the sugar and cinnamon until well combined. add lemon juice and mix. slide fruit pieces onto skewers, alternating. brush sugar mixture over the fruit and place on grill. cook about 6 minutes, turn over and cook another 6 minutes.
this is enough to make about 6 skewers, but it all really depends on how big each piece of fruit is.
you can use any fruit you like, or just have on hand. i actually used 2 slices of canned pears and it worked out great. strawberries, pineapple, and kiwi are just a few other options.
i ended up looking at all 4 grocery stores in my town to find the skewers i needed, so if you don’t have any just place the fruit directly on the grill.
April 21st, 2008
2 lbs fresh mushrooms
½ cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp grill seasoning
preheat oven to 450 degrees. coarsely chop mushrooms and place on baking sheet. coat mushrooms in teriyaki sauce and add green onions, oil and grill seasoning. mix well and spread evenly. cook 20 minutes, turning once.
if you want a quicker way to cook these, you can sauté them in the oil instead of roasting. i used regular white mushrooms, but you can use any you like or have on hand.
this recipe came from rachael ray’s 30 minute meals (served with hoisin noodle bowls & cucumber salad), but i made it a tiny bit different - mostly because i can never stick to an actual recipe - and posted the recipe i used.
April 9th, 2008
2 limes, juiced
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp imitation honey
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp sesame seeds
combine juice of limes, rice wine vinegar, honey and sesame oil. add cucumber and onion, season with salt and toss in sesame seeds.
i’ve also made this salad with sliced green pepper ; red, yellow, or orange pepper slices would be great and add tons of color.
seedless cucumbers would probably work best, but i can’t always find them so i usually just use regular. if it’s waxy, you’ll want to peel it first.
serve with hoisin noodle bowls & roasted mushrooms.
April 4th, 2008
4 potatoes - about 4 1/2 cups chopped
3 carrots - 1-2 cups cut into disks (optional)
1 pkg onion soup mix
spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with non-stick spray. preheat oven to 350 degrees. chop potatoes and slice carrots into disks, cutting the potatoes close to the size of the carrots so they cook evenly. (the smaller the veggies the faster they cook.) then rinse. dump into baking dish and spread the onion soup mix over the veggies. mix with your hands until all veggies are covered. bake for about 50 minutes, or until tender.
cooking these reminded me of being in high school. my best friend and i would be hanging out and randomly decide to cook hash browns (and mounds of other yummy food) in the middle of the night. so this morning, i heated the leftovers in the microwave and topped with maple syrup. yum! for this, you can always skip the carrots but i found they still tasted great.
i used small yellow potatoes so there wasn’t any need to peel. if you are using regular baking potatoes you might want to peel them depending on how tough the skin is.
March 30th, 2008
3 cups cooked sweet potatoes, cooled and mashed
½ cup sugar
egg replacer, for 2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
¼ cup butter
mix together and place in a greased casserole dish.
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup flour
¼ cup butter
1 cup chopped pecans
combine and sprinkle over potatoes. bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
last year for thanksgiving, instead of her usual candied yams, my mom made these. it’s so good you’ll want to make it throughout the year, not just for holidays.
March 27th, 2008