Raise your hand if you’ve already been over-indulging in the Halloween goodies a bit! I know I have.
But, I’ve also been loving fall salads and life is all about balance, right?
Colorful with bright flavors, this one is a new favorite.
Tag Archives: side dish
Buttermilk Cornbread
I feel like we’re in this weird place in between summer and fall. We’re prepping for a beach trip – but also getting ready to start school. It’s warm enough to swim, but cools down at night enough for a sweatshirt.
Should I be posting fall dishes here? Or keep rocking summer?
This cornbread is a little of both – a great side for a summer cookout or a big bowl of fall chili. And really, is there any better side for either?
I’ve shared a few fun cornbread variations before – Amish Cornbread and Jalapeno Cornbread – but this is my favorite basic recipe. It’s gritty, but moist. Crumbly, but soft. Slather it with some honey butter and you’ve basically got heaven on a plate!
Buttermilk Cornbread
Makes 1 9×9″ pan
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Grease and flour a 9×9″ pan and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, melt the butter, then remove from heat. Immediately stir in sugar, then the eggs and beat until well blended.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and buttermilk. Stir into the mixture in the pan.
Stir in the cornmeal, flour, and salt until just a few lumps remain.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Honey Garlic Green Beans
Have you been enjoying the bounty of summer produce? Between our little container garden and our CSA share, we’ve been swimming in fresh fruit and veggies – and I’m loving every second of it.
I’ve been doing a mix of trying new recipes and making sure to revisit family favorites. This is a family favorite – or more specifically – my son’s favorite.
Honey garlic green beans are a recipe I whipped up one night to make a quick side, and since my son has requested them again and again. He even put them down as “the best thing mom cooks” on his Mother’s Day project at school!
We’ve been making this a lot since green beans have been in our CSA share weekly – so sharing them for Farmer’s Market Week seemed perfect! These sweet-and-savory beans take about 15 minutes to make and only use one pan, so they’re perfect for a weeknight!
Thanks Ellen from Family Around the Table and Christie from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures for hosting our Farmer’s Market Event!
Tuesday’s Farmer’s Market Week Recipes
- Bacon and Cheddar Potato Salad by Palatable Pastime
- Bacon and Eggplant Sandwiches by Jolene’s Recipe Journal
- Baked Stuffed Potatoes with Mushrooms & Onions by Intelligent Domestications
- Caprese Burgers by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Cauliflower “Mac” and Cheese by Tip Garden
- Honey Garlic Green Beans by Kate’s Recipe Box
- Blistered Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Old Bay Corn Pie by Cookaholic Wife
- Peach Cobbler Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
Honey Garlic Green Beans
Serves 4-6
1 lb. green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
Add the green beans and water to a large skillet over medium-high heat and cover. Let steam for 10-12 minutes, until the beans are softened.
Drain the water, and add the olive oil, tossing to coat the beans. Continue to cook for another few minutes, until the beans start to brown and blister. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute, until fragrant.
Whisk together the honey and garlic and stir into the skillet. Cook for another minute or two, then serve immediately.
a Kate’s Recipe Box original
Bacon Parmesan Green Beans
We are a green bean loving family, and this is our new favorite way to make them.
I made these green beans as a possible option for the upcoming holidays, and my family gobbled them up. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t have leftovers of our veggie dish!
Continue readingBrown Sugar Butternut Squash
Side dishes are on my list of “things I regularly forget about”. I’m not the only one that can plan main dishes for every night and conveniently forget that I should serve something along with it, right?
Except Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is all about the sides for me. And this would be a great one.
Continue readingBalsamic Grilled Vegetables
In the food blogger world, we’re often working ahead. Like, I’m currently working on Christmas cookies, as absurd as that sounds on this 80 degree summer day. Sometimes I feel like I’m living three steps ahead, not in the moment, so I was super excited that more than 80% of you were still up for summer recipes when I asked on Facebook this week.
Hurray, summer!
I feel like I’ve missed most of it, honestly. The move chewed up so much of my time that I feel like I’m frantically playing catch up now before school starts. Grilling is something I’m catching up on – we finally got our grill ready to go this week. This was the first thing I made.
This “recipe” is really flexible – it’s more of a method. You can use any vegetables you have on hand. Want it to cook faster? Cut the pieces smaller. Want the veggies to caramelize a little more? Don’t stir as often. Sub the balsamic for fresh Parmesan. Add a nice, crusty loaf of bread and serve it as a meal. So many options!
It can also be served warm, cold, or at room temp which makes it so flexible for potlucks or entertaining.
Balsamic Grilled Vegetables
(adapted from Stop & Shop)
Serves 6-8 as a side
1 eggplant
2 zucchini
1 red pepper
1/2 red onion
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, julienned
2 Tbsp. balsamic glaze
Preheat the grill to medium-high.
Chop the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Toss with olive oil and season with slat and pepper.
Add to a grill basket. Grill for 20-25 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
When done, transfer to a serving bowl. Top with fresh basil and drizzle with balsamic glaze.
Instant Pot Garlic Rosemary Potatoes
I jumped on the Instant Pot bandwagon when they were on sale on Prime Day, but honestly, aside from cooking chicken to shred, I haven’t used to much. What seemed so versatile and useful on my computer screen now seems overwhelming on my kitchen counter. I guess that means I’m getting old? This recipe seemed simple enough so it became my first real Instant Pot test – and I fell in love.
What I loved here was that it was simple and hands-off. When I roast potatoes, I feel like I’m checking them a million times, they have to be flipped, etc. – with this I just threw potatoes in the IP and went on to do the rest of dinner. They cooked and you could switch up the seasonings to make it fit whatever meal you’re making.
I’m really excited about playing with the Instant Pot more and seeing what else I can do – is anyone interested in seeing more IP recipes here?
Instant Pot Garlic Rosemary Potatoes
(slightly adapted from Pressure Cooking Today)
Serves 4 as a side
1 lb. potatoes
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs rosemary
Salt and pepper, to taste
Wash and slice the potatoes and add them to the steamer basket of the Instant Pot. Pour 1 cup of water into the pot. Lock the lid in place, set to high pressure with a 4 minute cook time.
While the potatoes cook, whisk together the oil, garlic and rosemary in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until the garlic is fragrant.
When the Instant Pot beeps, turn it off and do a quick pressure release. Transfer the potatoes to a bowl and pour the oil over. Toss gently. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Italian-Parmesan Grilled Potatoes
I’m just starting to get back into some solid meal planning. Even though I’ve been feeling better for weeks, I haven’t been mentally ready to prep big meals more than once or twice a week. We’re on about week 3 of a real meal plan again and it feels good. Even if I’m mostly just doing main dishes and praying that the sides figure themselves out.
These delicious potatoes were mostly an after-thought. We were planning to make dinner on the grill and I decided to throw these on too instead of roasting them. The simple seasonings made them a breeze to throw together but they were still really good. And using a foil packet meant no dishes to clean up – always a plus!
Italian-Parmesan Grilled Potatoes
(adapted from Kraft)
Serves 4
4-5 red potatoes, cut into chunks
2 tsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. water
2 Tbsp. Italian dressing
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley, for garnish
Preheat the grill to medium heat.
In a medium bowl, toss together the potato chunks, olive oil and water. Transfer to a large sheet of foil and fold into a packet.
Grill the foil packet of potatoes for twenty minutes, turning halfway.
Once cooked, transfer to a bowl and toss with dressing, cheese, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Hatch Chili Mac ‘n Cheese
For the first time since I started this blog, one of our local grocery stores stocked hatch chilies. I feel like I’ve been watching my more-Southern food blogger friends rave about them for years and could never participate in the hatch chili fun. So now that they’re here? I’m making hatch chili everything.
First up: mac n cheese. I really, really loved this. The roasted chilies paired really nicely with the jack cheese sauce. I had split this into two pans with intentions to freeze one for later – but it all got eaten before it made it to the freezer. Oops!
Hatch Chili Mac ‘n Cheese
(from Life’s Ambrosia)
Serves 6-8 as a side
5 hatch chilies
2 cups elbow macaroni
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 yellow onion, diced
4 Tbsp. flour
2 cups whole milk
3 cups shredded jack cheese
4 oz. cream cheese
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. olive oil
On the grill, roast the chilies over high heat until charred and blistered. Transfer to a bowl. When cool enough to handle, peel the chilies, seed, remove the membrane and dice.
Cook macaroni according to package directions.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the diced onion and cook until nearly translucent. Whisk in flour until the mixture is a play dough consistency. Add milk, whisking constantly, and cook until starting to thicken, about a minute. Stir in cheeses and stir frequently until melted. Stir in cooked macaroni and diced chilies and season with salt to taste. Spread the macaroni in a greased baking pan.
In a small bowl, combine the panko and olive oil. Spread over the top of the macaroni.
Bake at 350F degrees until bubbly, about 15 minutes.
Red, White & Blue Salad
We just finished up our annual June celebrating marathon. It always seems like everything happens this month and we end up over-indulging in party food. Rather than keep the trend going, I’m planning to make some really fresh, seasonal meals for the July 4th weekend, including this salad.
We’ve had really beautiful berries in the stores lately so this will be a perfect accompaniment to any grilled meal we cook up this weekend.
Red, White & Blue Salad
(adapted slightly from Green Lite Bites)
Serves 4 as a side
8 oz. baby spinach
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup quartered strawberries
1/4 cup feta cheese
3-4 Tbsp. poppyseed dressing
In a large bowl, toss together the spinach and dressing until evenly coated. Toss in the berries and transfer to serving bowl. Top with feta. Serve immediately.
