Posted on - Root Vegetables, Side Dishes

Roasted Carrot Salad with Chinese Vinaigrette | Side Dishes

roasted carrot salad with asian vinaigrette

I dream’t this recipe up one day while staring into the drawers at the bottom of my fridge looking for a side-dish to go with my broiled steaks. As I stared at the questionable contents of those all-to-often-forgotten-about compartments, I happened to glance just to my left at the bottom rung of my condiments shelf. This bottom shelf is completely stocked with soy sauces, rice vinegar, sesame oil, hot sauces and various other “Asian” sundries. A bottle of Chinkiang black rice vinegar caught my eye and I remembered how much I enjoy that pungent flavor. Directly behind it was some sesame oil and the rest came together like a jello mold.   Continue reading →

Posted on - soup, Squash

Butternut Squash Soup | Side Dishes

Butter Nut Squash soup recipe

Butternut squash soup is a very simple thing to make. Having an immersion blender on hand makes it even easier. Basically all you have to do is cook some squash and then puree it with some liquid. Chicken stock is quite nice but water works just as well. I added some coconut oil. The flavor of coconut really came through nicely. And it’s a bit better for you than butter, which is also good in this soup. Some people add cream or yogurt to smooth out the flavors. But that is up to you.  Continue reading →

Posted on - Fruit, Root Vegetables, Side Dishes

Waldorf Salad Recipe | Side Dishes

 

waldorf salad recipeThis recipe for Waldorf salad is something I came up with while cooking dinner at my Grandma Barb’s house. I love cooking at Grandma’s house, she has a really nice gas range, convection oven, garden, fresh herbs, and lots of cookies in the pantry. As you can imagine with a nice oven like hers, I often roast meat when I cook at her house. Continue reading →

Posted on - Curry, Root Vegetables, Side Dishes

Mashed Sweet Potatoes | Side Dishes

mashed sweet potatoes

A lot of people make the mistake of adding too many things to their mashed sweet potatoes. I like to keep them simple by adding just one or two strong flavors like: Cumin, Ginger, Clove, Cinnamin, or other common curry spices. My personal favorite recipe is Butter, Salt, and Ground Cumin. But I made a really good recipe o’er Christmas by adding a bit of Garam Masala Curry in place of the cumin. The recipe is simple. Continue reading →

Posted on - Fruit

Cranberry Sauce | Side Dishes

cranberry sauce

Cranberry sauce is a lot simpler to make than most people think. Perhaps not as simple as opening a can. But with homemade cranberry sauce comes the potential for a more interesting flavor profile. Which in-itself can be accomplished with the addition of one or two common ingredients. In this case: grapefruit peel. Or for the less adventurous, or more-traditional, orange zest. Either will do nicely.  Continue reading →

Posted on - Baked Goods

Banana Bread | Side Dishes

When I open my freezer door and little black sub-tropical sickles of pain start falling out I know it’s time to make some banana bread. It’s that same old story, you’ve heard ten times. We love bananas, so we buy lots of bananas. But after we eat one banana, we forget about bananas. Then other bananas start breeding fruit flies and we remember bananas. Then we put bananas in freezer door and forget about bananas again. Until bananas knock out curious kitchen cat when we open freezer door. It’s a vicious cycle, but there are a couple of positive byproducts (besides those of fruit flies and shame) banana bread and joy. Continue reading →