A simple recipe of long grain rice, green bell peppers, tomatoes, onions and a sprinkling of sliced green olives livens up any Southwestern meal. Plus, toasting the rice before cooking and why.
Green Rice
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Tag Archives: side dish
Herbed Mashed Potatoes
Herbed Mashed Potatoes, my side dish for Roasted Lamb with Garlic sherry and thyme au jus..
No Recipe Required: Fresh Sweet Corn with Avocado and Cilantro
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Fresh sweet corn from three ears of corn
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Place in a microwave safe bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with a pat of butter
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Microwave for one minute
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Top with sliced avocado, chopped cilantro and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes
Fresh Sweet Corn with Avocado and Cilantro….It’s What’s for a Summer Side Dish.
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One Year Ago: Vegetable Salad
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Two Years Ago: Nick’s Italian Cafe, McMinnville, Oregon
Homesick Texan’s Onion Rings
Can I see a show of hands of how many of you LOVE onion rings?
Can I see a show of hands of how many of you make them on a regular basis?
That’s just what I thought.
I think I tried making them once about 20 years ago. With the mess involved both with the oil, the countertops and that stubborn batter that wouldn’t cling to the onions, I quickly decided they were best left to the experts and should only be ordered in restaurants.
Bean Salad
As a kid, growing up on a farm in the middle of Kansas, the Memorial Day weekend was a declaration of ”let the summer games begin”. School had just let out, swimming pools in town were open for the season and summer softball leagues were in full swing. The horseshoe pit in the back yard was open for business and June bug wars with the cousins was in full swing. Three action-packed months lay ahead of us before school started again around Labor Day.
Endives Apples and Grapes, A Great Side Dish
It’s Sunday and over a week since you’ve heard from me. I wanted to write a blog post this morning that simply read “I got nothing for ya”. I can’t remember the last time I was so busy at work that I couldn’t find time to cook dinner for this many days in a row. If it hadn’t been for a big pan of Turkey Tetrazzini and a box of DOTS, we might have all starved to death around here.
So, let’s talk about a side dish I made before Thanksgiving, a side dish of Endives, Apples and Grapes.
Green Beans Bolognese
Green Beans Bolognese. A long simmer in smoked bacon and chicken broth finishes these green beans with a caramelized goodness.
Welcome to Kansas, Vegetable Salad
I come by my love of cooking honestly, as my mom and her two sisters were constantly whipping up some of the best country cooking you can imagine when I was growing up on the farm in Kansas. Then gathering us all together around a long buffet table of dish after casserole dish of food, we’d eat until we were ”fuller than ticks”.
I have a family cookbook full of these recipes and want to start posting more. Last road trip home, I pulled over to take a photo of this sign just inside the Kansas-Colorado border to use for these posts. Just a side note, did you know there’s a town on the border called Kanorado? Clever. Population 222, 119 males, 103 females…thank you Google.
This recipe comes from my Aunt Lena. Actually her name was Lois, but we called her Aunt Lena. Come to think of it her husband’s name was Marion and we called him Uncle Frank??? Then there was my Mom’s friend Wallace but we called him Wig. My Aunt Laura who we always called Aunt Tootse. Very confusing for my husband when he started visiting my family. Always questions like “well then which one is Marion?”
Anyway, this is an easy delicious side dish. I’ve used canned vegetables for this batch because here it is the end of July and Colorado still has no fresh Colorado produce. This last week we did just see some sweet corn.. finally! Very soon I’ll be blanching up fresh veggies for this recipe.
This simple sweet tangy flavorful mixture will pair quite nicely with any piece of meat that comes off your grill this summer.
Aunt Lena’s Vegetable Salad
1 can corn — white
1 can green beans — french style
1 can peas — small
1 cup onion — red, chopped
1 whole green pepper — chopped
1 cup celery — chopped
1 jar pimentos
Dressing:
1 cup sugar — 1/2 to 1 cup (to taste)
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs water
1. Heat sauce slightly to melt sugar. Pour over vegetable and let set overnight.
Servings: 12
Aunt Lena’s Vegetable Salad.
It’s What’s for a Summer Side Dish.
The Best Pasta Salad EVER?
This is a wonderful pot luck, crowd pleasing Summer pasta salad. Salty bacon and onions…always a winner, chewy cheese tortellini, fresh crunch of broccoli, colored with red tomatoes, with a creamy sweet and tangy vinegar dressing = yum.
Braised Red Cabbage Recipe, Rode Kool
Britney Spears
Before we get to this Braised Red Cabbage Recipe…
Remember a couple of years ago when Brittney Spears was in the news about every 15 minutes with some crazy stunt? Well my little dog Sammy, dressed up as Britney that Halloween. He played the part well by sporting a fedora, long wig, rhinestone studded sunglasses, a cropped t-shirt to expose a slightly over-weight belly and of course the mini skirt with no underwear.
We went to a local doggie Halloween costume party and won 1st place. Everyone stood in a big circle where each contestant was to parade around inside of that circle so everyone could see and review the costumes. I was holding Sammy in my arms, so I just walked to the center, placed him on the ground and took a few steps back and announced “I give you…Brittney Spears”. I knew he wouldn’t move because those sunglasses freaked him out. The crowd went wild, clapping and cheering and the rest is history. It was a proud moment for our household.
For a reason with a much less interesting story attached to it, Rode Kool has been our Halloween Tradition for years. I had this at a hotel in Vail, and begged for the recipe. It’s been so long ago, that I can’t even remember the name of the hotel to credit.
During the two hours this dish is simmering on the stove, your house fills up with the most wonderful fall spicy aromas you can imagine.
Gather ingredients
Rode Kool
1 large head red cabbage, halved, cored and then cut into wedges about 2 inches across
2 whole apple, cored and sliced
2 whole pear, cored and sliced
6 whole cloves
8 whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaf
salt to taste and lots of fresh ground pepper
2 thick slices onion
3 T. butter
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1. Place cabbage in heavy kettle with apple, seasonings, onion and 2 cups of water. Peppercorns, cloves and bay leaves should be placed in a cheese cloth bag, tied at the top to secure, so that they can easily be removed before serving. Simmer, covered one hour. Add butter, vinegar and sugar and simmer one hour longer. At this time I leave the lid just barely ajar to make sure the water evaporates. Add more water if cabbage becomes too dry, but no more than 1/2 cup at a time. Ad end of cooking time liquid should be entirely absorbed.
Servings: 12
I served this as a side dish with meatloaf, which will be my next post. Enjoy.
Braised Red Cabbage Recipe…It’s What’s For A Sidedish