Archive for Recipes -- Side Dishes
Freezing Yellow Squash
Yellow squash also blanches at three minutes in boiling water and then three in ice water before freezing. If you grate the squash instead of chopping it you only needed to blanche for 1/2 minutes.
There is a LOT of really good information about blanching all kids of vegetables here.
Freezing Green Beans
Green beans are probably my family’s favorite veggie. They are equally loved by all, unlike other delicious things that some weirdos that I married and gave birth to don’t like, like cucumbers) but we have green beans coming out of our ears in the garden and I finally realized I couldn’t eat them as fast as we were picking them, especially since we left to go camping this weekend. Fortunately, they are easy to freeze! Just blanche them in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain them and transfer them to ice water for another 3 minutes to stop the cooking process. Freeze and enjoy them later in the year!
Three Sisters (Corn, Beans, Squash) Rice Bake
Letting my son use my camera is always a bad idea. I had two meals worth of pictures disappear when he was taking pictures of himself with his sister and uncles today. Which is too bad, because both recipes were a family hit. One I plan on remaking this week, this one I’m going to post without the pictures because I don’t know when I’ll be making it again (though it should be soon since my husband ate four helpings!).
Calling it a casserole is inaccurate because the only thing binding it all together was cheese.
I sauteed three small squash with half an onion in a little olive oil until tender. Drain and rinse a can of beans (I used black beans), and add a couple cups of corn (either a can of corn or half a bag of frozen). Mixed with cooked brown rice (I used one Success Family Size Boil In A Bag Brown Rice which equals about three cups cooked). Add a couple of cups of cooked chicken breast and mix with cheese (I mixed cheddar and monterey jack). Cover with tinfoil and bake for about 30 minutes at 350. I put this together the night before and put it straight from the fridge into the oven! If you want to bind it altogether a little salsa will work well, and you could also use this as a stuffing for peppers!
Kick out the chicken to make a still-very-filling vegetarian dish!
Read more about how some Native American tribes planted corn, beans, and squash together (hence the name “three sisters”).
ETA: Found one remaining picture of a mostly finished casserole taken before my husband hip checked me to finish it off.
Roasted Green Bean Antipasto Revisited
Assemble all but the pine nuts and the balsalmic vinegar in a large roasting pan.
While the green beans and potatos are roasting, toast the pine nuts over a medium high heat.
Add the toasted pine nuts to the mix. I serve the balsalmic tableside since the kids prefer this dish without!
Recipe here.
Green Bean Season
My favorite way to eat green beans is how my grandfather cooked them…with lots of unhealthy things. This mess of beans (split with my folks) comes from our common garden at their house. They were the first harvest of the summer. I sauteed some onion and garlic in butter and added some cooked crumbled bacon to the lightly boiled beans.
Delish!
Freezing Pesto
…isn’t hard to do at all, you just omit the parmesan cheese and add it back in later after you defrost. If you freeze it in an ice cube tray then you pop out just the small amounts needed to add to spagetti sauce. If you want to make pasta with pesto, you can put the whole bag of cubes in a bowl of warm water, then snip off the end of the bag and squeeze out the pesto once it has defrosted, add the parmesan cheese, then toss it with your pasta.
I made three batches of pesto using a mix of the three different kinds of pesto (sweet basil, lemon basil, and thai basil) I grow in an old washtub on my front porch (The washtub was rescued from a pile of trash by the side of the road. Don’t ever say I’m not classy.). The amount picture made two batches, and I made a third batch from sweet basil alone from my mom’s garden. One ice tray filled equaled one batch and I put each batch in a seperate freezer bag.
Classic Pesto Recipe
2 cups of fresh packed basil leaves
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I have also used sunflower seeds in the past)
1/2 cup of olive oil
3 cloves of fresh garlic
salt and pepper to taste.
Whirl all the above in a food processor. Wave your hands in the air and say “TAH DAH!” and you’re done!
Refrigerator Pickled Relish
Known just as “relish” in the Tex-Mex influenced South, this is far different from the relish you put on your hot dogs. We used to serve this in the Mexican restaurant I worked at in college and it was made from scratch in the kitchen, not bought pre-made.
And it’s so easy to make and so good, one of my husband’s favorite snacks. I used produce from the new Pearl Brewery Farmer’s market and Greenling. Just like the refrigerator pickles, this will be ready to eat in about 5 days.
In a pot on the stove combine 2 cups of water, 1/3 cup of white vinegar, a tablespoon of salt, 2 tsp of sugar, and a few grinds from the pepper mill. Heat on low just long enough to desolve the salt and sugar.
In a bowl with a lid or a glass jar with a lid (just not metal, mmmkay?) add two large peeled and coined carrots, one onion sliced and the rings seperated, one jalapeno slized, 3 garlic cloves sliced, and 5-10 peppercorns.
Pour the liquid over the veggie mixture, seal tightly and shake it like a polaroid picture. Stash in the fridge and forget about it for a few days (unless you want to shake it once a day or so). The veggies will last in your fridge for about 3 months. Not that you won’t eat them first!
Pinto Beans
Beans are an important part of a healthy GI diet. Pinto beans have a GI index of 39 which puts them firmly in the low range. All beans and legumes (with the exceptions of refried beans and baked beans) are a good and inexpensive addition to a GI friendly meal plan.
Beans are also very easy to cook, you just have to plan ahead of time. The evening before you want to cook them, put them in a bowl and cover them with water (at least an inch or so over the top of the dried beans, they will expand and they rehydrate). The next morning rinse them very well and add them to your crockpot. These beans were flavored only with a ham bone, salt, and pepper. You can make a vegetarian option by using adobo seasoning, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and even a little liquid smoke. Let them cook on day on low and then serve. I usually serve them with cheese and either tortillas or corn bread. The agave sweet corn bread recipe was great with these beans!
Sweet and Savory Spinach Salad
(before dressing and tossing)
(after dressing and tossing)
(from the March 2009 issue of Southern Living)
2 tbsp pine nuts
1 package or bunch (about 6 ounce) of fresh baby spinach, thoroughly washed
1 cup seedless red grapes, sliced
1.4 crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup raspberry-walnut vinaigrette (Newman’s Own)
Heat pine nuts in a small skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until toasted and fragrant.
Coarsley chop spinach. Toss together spinach, grapes, feta cheese, and vinaigrette in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with pine-nuts and serve immediately.
The Southern Living article on salads notes that red and purple grapes “contain flavonoids that help reduce cholesterol, protect against heart disease, and promote lung health.”
They also mention that “a small handful of nuts or seeds on your salad can make your meal more filling, helping to reduce hunger pangs and overeating throughout the day.” You may have noticed I already am a big fan of sunflower seeds in my salad. It gives me that nice crunch that I was missing when I stopped using croutons!
