Tag Archives: Side dish

Easy Peasy Cranberry Sauce

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If you’ve been following me on Instagram you know that I’ve been busy preparing for Thanksgiving and Page’s Birthday right after. We are hosting Thanksgiving , which means that I will be doing most of the cooking. I spent most of the day writing out my menu, dividing up tasks I can accomplish throughout the next few days. Today I tackled prepping my desserts which just means I weighed the dry ingredients put them in bags, labeled, and sealed them. Now all I have to do is add the wet ingredients and bake. As you can see I’ve learned over the years that cooking a large meal like this requires a lot of forethought and staggering of duties. So today one of the other things on my to do list was to make this cranberry sauce! It takes 10 minutes, you throw everything in one pot, a little bit of stirring and you’re done! So easy and super delicious and definitely an upgrade to the canned stuff. Trust me once you make this you will never go back to the canned stuff!

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

12oz organic cranberries fresh or frozen

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 cinnamon stick

Zest of 1 organic orange

Juice of 1 organic orange

1/2 teaspoon of allspice (optional)

Directions:

Place cranberries, cinnamon stick, orange zest, sugar, water, and juice in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, stirring as the cranberries begin to pop. The sauce is done once it thickens about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, serve immediately or place in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!

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Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash

 

From time to time, I crave a meal with a deep rich wine sauce. When that happens I turn to Julia Child’s beef bourguignon recipe, or my version of it.  If you have ever made beef bourguignon, then you know the sauce that accompanies the beef is everything for that particular dish! The beef, as succulent as it is, is nothing without that sauce, and that sauce was made to adorn a potato mash! The year that I had Page I decided rather than running from house to house to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family, it would be easier on her, and my husband and I,  if we just stayed home and made dinner ourselves. My best friend agreed and we divided the dinner duties. Instead of a massive turkey, I roasted a chicken, she made a few sides, and I baked a cake. One of the sides she made was a potato and cauliflower mash. It was delicious, and Page loved it! It was hearty and everything you’d expect when eating mash potatoes and at the same time it had the added bonus of cauliflower. When I was making my beef bourguignon, and anticipating the yumminess of the sauce, I knew that this cauliflower mash would go perfectly with the sauce. If you’re on a low carb diet, you can omit the potatoes, and whip the cauliflower in a blender. For this recipe, I opted to not whip the mash, I wanted the hearty texture, so I used a potato masher instead. If you want a more creamy texture, just throw all the ingredients in a blender after cooking them.

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower (about 5 cups)

2 medium potatoes (2 cups cubed)

4 tablespoons of grassfed butter

2 tablespoons of half and half (optional)

1 head of roasted garlic

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:  Add the cauliflower and potatoes to a pot and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, and cook until potatoes and cauliflower are fork tender.  Immediately drain the water from the cauliflower and potatoes, then add in, butter, half and half, roasted garlic, sea salt and pepper.

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Mash with a potato masher until well incorporated, or add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, then enjoy!

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Sauteed Beet Greens with Garlic and Feta Cheese

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Sautéed Beet Greens With Garlic and Feta Cheese

Sautéed Beet Greens With Garlic and Feta Cheese

 

I planted a garden about four months ago, the first thing to sprout from my garden were these lovely beet greens stalks. They were so beautiful and perfectly green that I found myself fighting the urge to pick them too soon.   For the longest time I had no idea that I could actually eat the tops of the beets, which means many, many, beet greens have been thrown in the trash by me without a thought. When it finally hit me that these beautiful greens were actually edible and that I could cook and eat them, I wondered why it had taken me so long to do so!  My husband is not a fan of beets at all. However, he is an ultra fan of the stalks on this vegetable.  I can’t blame him, the greens produced from the beets are delicious and tender, and when cooked, they are reminiscent of tender spinach.

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Total time: 15 minutes

 

Ingredients:

5 cups of beet greens chopped

2 large garlic clove (sliced thinly)

1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese

2 tablespoons of olive oil

sea salt to taste

Directions:  Add the oil and garlic to a saute pan over medium heat.  Cook until you smell the garlic, about 20 seconds.

 

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Add in the beet green and saute until they begin to wilt.

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Add in the balsamic, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  Transfer the greens to a bowl, top with feta cheese, and enjoy!

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Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

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Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

Roasted Broccoli and Garlic

 

Trying to get my daughter to eat and love broccoli has not been easy.  This whole food texture thing she has is more trouble than I initially thought.  I mistakenly thought that since she loves roasted cauliflower then roasted broccoli would be a no-brainer—apparently not so with her.  Despite her refusal, this roasted broccoli and garlic dish has become a new favorite for my husband and I.  We both love it! Not only do we love it, but I served it to some friends, and they loved it too!  I’m just going to have to keep trying with my daughter, she has not been won over by a love of broccoli–yet!

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Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Total time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of broccoli sliced

3 large cloves of garlic sliced thinly

Coconut oil spray or 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 

Directions: Pre-heat oven to 400F degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil and spray it with coconut oil. Add broccoli, and sprinkle with sliced garlic.  Season with sea salt and black pepper then spray the broccoli generously with coconut oil spray.  If using olive oil, add broccoli to a bowl with olive oil and toss until broccoli is coated, then add it to the sheet pan, sprinkle sliced garlic, season with sea salt and black pepper.

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Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes or until broccoli starts to brown a bit.  Remove from oven, serve and enjoy.

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Cucumber Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

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Lemon and basil Cucumber Salad

Lemon and basil Cucumber Salad

I have a confession to make, sometimes I make salad when I don’t want to cook a side—okay maybe I do that more than sometimes, I do it a lot. There is a reason I named this blog lazy girl dinners.  This salad is a result of me being lazy and needing to use the ingredients I had on hand.  It was a hit with both my husband and my daughter.  It was the first time I got her to eat cucumber without chewing it up and spitting it out. Slicing them with my spiral vegetable slicer had everything to do with that because when it comes to getting her to eat something, it always comes down to texture.

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Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: none

Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers sliced thinly

4 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of fresh basil, finely chopped

Sea Salt to taste

Directions:

Add the lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, and basil to a small bowl and whisk together. Spoon as much of the viniagrette as you’d like over a serving of the cucumbers and enjoy!Note: If you are serving this at a dinner party–yes it’s lazy but it’s elegant and very delicious–then be sure to spoon the vinaigrette over the salad just before serving, otherwise the cucumbers will loose their crunch and get soggy.

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Parmesan Green beans

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Parmesan Green beans

Hello there my fellow foodies! I feel like I’ve been neglecting you guys and my blog. I’ve been so busy with work and raising my daughter that I have barely had enough time to post all the recipes I have in my cue! This last week in particular has been trying, and I didn’t get around to posting a second recipe, so I’ll try to post 3 this week to make it up to you.

My husband is a big fan of green beans, he would eat them every day of the week if I served them. This is a super quick and delicious way to serve green beans, and we all love green beans this way! Serve these with meatloaf and you have a winning dinner!

Ingredients
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese grated
1/4 cup of Percorino cheese grated
1lb of fresh organic green beans stems removed
Sea salt an black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 400F. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Place the green beans in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Drizzle the green beans with olive oil, and season with sea salt and black pepper.
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Bake for 10 minutes or until green beans are fork tender, then remove from oven top with grated cheese and bake for 1-2 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven and enjoy!
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Share your favorite green bean recipe. I could use some new ways to enjoy green beans!

Sautéed Kale with Mushrooms

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Sautéed Kale with Mushrooms

 

One of the great things about Kale is that it’s so versatile! You can dress kale up with almost any flavor and still end up with a soul satisfying side dish. I love pairing greens of any kind with mushrooms! Mushrooms give the greens a great counter texture, and let’s face it, mushrooms make everything fantastic!

 

Ingredients

3 cups of Lancinto kale chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic

2 cups of sliced mushrooms

1 Tablespoon of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 tablespoon of butter

Sea salt to taste

 

Heat olive oil and butter in a skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until mushrooms take on some color(10 minutes) add in kale and sauté until greens wilt, add in soy sauce and cook for another 5-7 minutes or until greens are tender. Season with sea salt if necessary, serve and enjoy!

 

 

Wine Braised Kale

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Wine Braised Kale

Braised Kale

Thank goodness that the Holidays are over. I feel like I’ve been on a fast moving train for the last 2 months! I don’t know about you, but I love being home and settled into my routine. The Holidays always take me out of routine.  It’s nice to get out of routine, but it’s heaven to get back into routine also. While I’ve been away from you, I’ve been indulging in comfort foods, like stews in wine sauces! I love adding wine to sauces and stews. A wine sauce always makes me want to lick the plate clean! This recipe for Kale is so extremely yummy that if you’re not a Kale lover, you may just become a kale lover overnight! Kale gets a bad rap, I think it’s because most people don’t know how to cook it. People always pull me aside in the grocery store and ask me how I cook it. They whisper the question as if my responding answer will contain the secrets of the earth! Maybe for them it does. If you are not eating kale because you haven’t a clue how to make it, I hope that this recipe changes that!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bunch of Lancinto Kale washed and chopped finely

1/4 cup of shallots or brown onion finely chopped

1/4 cup or more of a good white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)

1 large clove of garlic sliced thinly

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

Heat olive oil add garlic and shallots and  cook until you can smell the garlic, (20 seconds), add in kale, and sauté until wilted. Add in white wine, sea salt, and pepper, bring to a simmer and lower the heat. Cook covered for 5-7 minutes. It’s done when Kale is tender.

Indian Spiced Cabbage

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Indian Spiced Cabbage
 

I love cabbage! I wish more people shared my love for it. I say that because, it’s rarely on menu at restaurant’s, and when I go to a friends house for dinner, it’s rarely served. I don’t quite understand that, because it’s one of the most soul fulfilling veggies I know, in the same league as collard greens, and kale. I would happily eat it any day of the week! This is one of my favorite ways to prepare and eat cabbage! If you’ve ever been to an Indian restaurant then you’ve probably had this. It’s so quick to make at home that it’s almost an afterthought!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 small head do cabbage, chopped finely
1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Sea salt to taste

Directions:
In a cast iron skillet heat the oil along with the mustard seeds and turmeric, when the seeds begin to pop add in the the cabbage, cook for 10 minutes, allowing the cabbage to breakdown a bit. Add salt, toss, turn off fire, cover for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy!

What is your favorite cabbage recipe?
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No cream Creamed Corn

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Creamed Corn

One of my favorite things in the world is creamed corn. I remember at 5 years-old requesting it as a meal. My mom always bought the canned Del Monte brand, back then you could buy 4 cans for $1. While other kids were begging for cookies and their favorite brand of cereal, I was begging my mom for cans of creamed corn. I of course don’t eat the canned version any more, the preservatives alone keep me away from that stuff. Not to mention that it is extremely difficult now a days to find organic corn, let alone corn that is not genetically modified. Fortunately I’m lucky enough to have a local farm in my area, where I can buy organic and non GMO fresh corn. If you have never tried making fresh creamed corn without cream, then you’re in for a treat! It’s just as delicious as creamed corn with cream. The key to making this creamed corn, is a shallow cut.

Prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 12 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
4 raw fresh corn cobs husks removed
1 tablespoon of butter (optional)
1/4 cup of water

Directions:
Place the corn inside of a sauce pan, it helps to cut the bottom end of the corn so that you have a flat surface to work with. Cut down the sides of the corn, again the key here is to cut shallow, you really only want to cut the tops of the corn kernels. Once you have cut down all sides, slide the knife back up the cob in the opposite direction.

Be careful of splatter here, it can get messy. Continue to run the knife back up the cob until the cob is dry and all the corn and milk has been removed.

Place the pan over medium low heat, add the butter if using, and allow it to cook for 3 minutes.

Add the water, note if your corn had a lot of moisture you do not need to add all of the water, add as much as you’d like, lower the heat to simmer, and cook covered for another 7-10minutes. Serve and enjoy!

What was your favorite childhood food or snack?

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