Do you only plan a main dish? Me too. Sometimes it's hard to think up a full, balanced meal for me. Especially something more than getting out the can opener for a can of corn or green beans, or the scissors to open up a bag of salad. Not that those don't work sometimes, but every time? I also always justify that casseroles are a complete meal. Well, sure, they have all the food groups, but sometimes I'd like to dress them up a bit with a side. Good ideas for that? What do you do to balance your meals? Tell us some of your side dishes and vegetables that work. Here are a few easy ones I like:
1. Green beans and chopped tomatoes tossed in vinegar based salad dressing
2. Steamed vegetables, whatever is in season, sprinkled with lemon pepper
3. Potatoes, however you like them
4. Rolls, biscuits, muffins (I'll post a family favorite recipe that goes with almost anything when I post your ideas), tortillas, pitas, etc
5. Carrots and celery with ranch dressing or without
6. One that I learned from a restaurant I went to on an anniversary trip is large tomato slices layered with fresh (or not) mozzarella cheese and salt and pepper or salad dressing poured on top. (Can you tell I like salad dressing?)
7. Rice to go with whatever your main dish theme is. (Spanish, curried, sticky, fried, whatever)
Please share your ideas!
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I run into the same problem at times. So many of my "main dishes" seem to be complete meals in and of themselves. For Easter I made a wonderful stawberry spinach salad. I find it to be the perfect side for summer time meals or even for a lite lunch/dinner. You can find a link to the recipe on my blogs side bar under "what's cookin'" Give it a try and let me know what you think!
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one that i loved that i had in france, although it is more of an apetizer than a side dish, is to cut an avocado in half, take out the pit, and fill the hole with vegetable puree. it was tres bon!
ReplyDeleteSince having this conversation with you, I am still trying to think of sides. I am horrible at sides! I would love to have more ideas for veggie sides. Beans are good one in my household (you are shocked, huh! But the kids love them and they are great 'finger' foods) Corn bread is another good one. I also try to add different veggies in my green salads to liven them up- spinach, tomatoes, shredded carrot, cucumber, green onion, green/red pepper, sunflower seeds, croutons...
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