Cooking Rut!

I like to make roasted potatoes as a side. Just take small red potatoes and quarter them. Drizzle and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. I also like to use a Greek seasoning salt sometimes. I bake a 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or longer if you want them crispy.

I also make baby or sliced carrots the same way...baby carrots are super fast and easy as there is no cutting involved.

My new favorite side dish is cauliflower puree, served like mashed potatoes. Chop a head of cauliflower, steam it until really tender (about 18 minutes), then puree in a food processor with a couple tablespoons of unsalted butter, a little salt and pepper to taste. Delicious!!!!

I also love to saute zucchini and summer squash in butter, then sprinkle in a little salt, some honey, and then add chopped fresh mint leaves.

The Martha Stewart website, has TONS of good recipes.
Her "Everyday Food" recipes are good and easy.

S.~ I'll steer you in the direction of my good friend's blog. It is veryculinary.com

She created it for busy families that still want healthy meals, so all of the recipes are around 30 minutes or less.

I love her blog, and she's really funny.
Good luck!

I hate potatoes au gratin. Never understood the appeal. My husband bought a box and keeps in putting them on the counter for me to make as a side dish. I keep putting them back in the cupboard. Eventually he'll take the hint.

Today I made a crock-pot rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes (using Idaho Potato flakes), and steamed broccoli. I poured the chicken drippings out of the crock-pot and used them with a roux to make gravy. It was deeeeelish.

Side dishes in my house:
Stove top stuffing
Mashed potatoes
Macoroni and cheese
Alfredo with pasta (Alfredo is super easy)
Pasta with butter, basil and garlic
Veggies with butter
Veggies with crispy bacon
Rice
Baked potatoes
Roasted potatoes

Why not make real potatoes? I don't always peel the potatoes, just wash, cut up and cook. When done use a little skim milk and whip. Non-fat and actually low calorie with lots of potassium.

Salads are always good. I make a regular dinner salad almost every night, sometimes instead of regular lettuce, green pepper, celery, tomatoes ect... I make a sweet salad --- lettuce, celery, sweet onion (if wanted) an apple diced, banana diced, marachino cherries cut in half, raisins, for dressing I use a couple tbl spoons of fat free mayo with a little marachino cherry juice and a little honey -- stir and pour over salad. Not as low calorie as a regular salad but a nice change.

You can always make veggies or creamed veggies to cream the veggies make a basic medium white sauce and pour over veggies after cooking till done. This can be used as gravy over potatoes.

Me and my kids are BIG salad lovers (H not so much) so I always have a salad on the table. Cous-Cous is also a good one, I add cranberries, cucumbers, feta and almonds, and whatever else sounds good and lemon juice & EVOO.

I also am big on putting zucchini and onions w/some butter in a saute pan.

Don't be afraid to just throw some raw fresh veggies on the table too...that's what else I do!

Wild Rice and Brown Rice is BIG in my house too!

Salmon is one of our favorites. We love to grill it..

Rice... Brown rice, with soy sauce. I noticed these new products of precooked flavored rices.. look for them by the soups.. They come in Thai Lime, Lemon grass.. really good..

Soy sauce with toasted sesame seeds and a bit of fresh ginger. (Rice wine vinegar add to this sauce is also good)

Steamed broccoli still crunchy.. top with a bit of lemon

Or a bit of cheese sauce.

Microwaved potatoes or sweet potatoes.

Broccoli rice casserole..
Mix cooked rice, can of cream of chicken soup, chopped up frozen broccoli, top with cheese, bake until bubbly.. My Aunt uses the spicy velveeta..

Simple angle hair pasta, topped with butter or olive oil.. toss with some roasted garlic (wrap 2 cloves in saran wrap with salt and pepper a little bit of olive oil.. , pop in microwave for about 40 seconds.) , toss this garlic into the pasta.. sprinkle Parmesan cheese. Toss all together , you can add red chili flakes.

Sauteed snow peas or green beans with slivered almonds. Tomato, cucumber salad.

Kale or spinach.. sauteed with olive oil salt and pepper. a little lemon juice.

Tonight I roasted sweet potatoes. I am going to fry up some squash breaded with panko. I have left over carrots and will throw in a salad if some one else will make it!

My mom makes a side that I love. She gets baby yellow squash and zucchini and cuts them into coins. Then she sautees them in butter, salt, and pepper until the edges are almost charred. It brings out the sweetness of the veggies and it is sooooooooooooooooo good. I could eat an entire skillet in one sitting. And it is one way to get kiddos to eat them, too.

Side,

Home made Augrauten Potatoes
Home made Mac N cheese.

We do lots of veggies. We put Parmesiean cheese on them a lot.

Sweet Potatoes & Carrots with Cinnamin
Home made Fries.

We just went gluetn free, so I have been trying new recipies.

Lemon roasted potatoes. Lipton onion soup roasted potatoes. Sweet potato, rutabaga, parsnip, carrot, potato and onion casserole. Rice.

I love potatoes (mashed, baked, boiled or roasted), but for a twist, try boiling a turnip with your mashed potatoes w/butter,milk, salt and pepper...also a little bit of sour cream or yogurt and some chopped chives. VERY GOOD/1