Veggies, Veggies, Veggies

I will be the first to admit, side dishes are not my strength...I try to prepare well balanced meals, but to be honest, most of the veggies I serve are just plain old canned veggies, which is fine at times, but it gets old. I lack creativity in this department! Anyone with any good ideas, feel free to leave a comment, I would be very grateful! But here are a few I've tried recently and my thoughts on those!

Rosemary Asparagus

This was a last minute thrown together idea. I'd had some asparagus left over from an asparagus stuffed chicken I'd done a few days earlier and didn't want it to go bad. Normally, I just throw it in a steam bag with some butter but I looked up asparagus in my Taste of Home cookbook and found this great recipe! I had everything on hand but the bay leaf do I figured I'd give it a try without.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary or 1 to 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 garlic clove, halved
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Directions

• In a large skillet, combine the broth, rosemary, garlic and bay leaf. Add asparagus and onion. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Discard bay leaf. Garnish with parsley. Yield: 4 servings.

As I said, I left out the bay leaf and added just a pinch of sage, but otherwise prepared the same way. I am not really an asparagus fan myself, but Matt is and he LOVED this. One day I will have to try it as the recipe calls for but either way...a success!

Sauteed Spinach and Peppers

Another Taste of Home recipe which can be found here. As you can see, I use this cookbook a lot, and while you can get a lot of the recipes online, I would recommend buying the cookbook too...lots of good stuff in there!

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Crisco® Light Olive Oil or Canola Oil
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 cups packed fresh spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar

Directions

• In a large nonstick skillet, saute red pepper in oil for 1 minute. Add onion and garlic; saute until tender, about 1-1/2 minutes longer. Stir in the spinach, salt, pepper and sugar; saute for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is wilted and tender. Serve with a slotted spoon. Yield: 4 servings.

This was AWESOME! I'm normally not a fan of spinach other than in pastas or that type of thing, but I really loved this and can see it becoming a regular in the future. Very easy to make too...the hardest thing was the spinach overflowing from my pan initially. Ha!


So, a few good side dish ideas for you. Hope someone enjoys them, and seriously, if you're looking for a good cookbook, this is the one to buy! My friend Brittany bought it for me and its my current favorite!

I also want to close out this post by giving a shout out to my fellow August mommy, Dallas. She has some great recipes and tips for making great food on a budget. Check her out. Become a fan!
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