Easy Vegetable Sides

[jenniferharris1]

We normally have 1 meat and 2 sides; but I'm sick of the same-o, same-o. Does anyone have any refreshing ideas using say, peas or spinach? Since my main course usually takes me a while, I'd like fast and easy!
Also, I made deviled eggs the other day, and when I peel the eggs, I take off half of them with the shell. Does anyone have a surefire solution to this? Maybe I'm not letting them cool, huh?

[Ohioan]

Hi, Jennifer! For the eggs, try plunging them into ice-cold water when you take them out of the pot. That should cool them down quickly and make the white shrink away from the shell.

For the spinach, how about this for a quickie: Saute a clove or two of garlic in a bit of olive oil (not too much, just enough to smear around the bottom of the pot). When the garlic begins to brown, remove it from the pan and add some seasoned bread crumbs. Toast them lightly in the garlicky oil, and then put in the spinach. Keep stirring to coat all the leaves with the crumbs as the spinach wilts, adding a few drops of water if necessary to hurry the cooking and keep everything from sticking. (You can also mince the browned garlic in the meantime and add it back to the spinach if you like a lot of garlic.) Finally, squeeze a little fresh lemon juice over everything and serve.

Don't you love my precise measurements? http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif
Phoebe (aka Ohioan)

[NydiaC]

Jennifer,

Another boiled egg trick my mom taught me to help with peeling them is to add a little vinegar (maybe a tablespoon per cup of water would be my guess) to the water before you boil them. It seems to work for me.

As far as quick vegetable side dishes go, I don't know how you feel about frozed prepared vegetables, but I always keep Birds Eye frozen french-style green beens with slivered almonds on hand for emergencies. They take 5 minutes to heat up in the microwave and they taste great! Another quick thing I do for a veggy side is with broccoli and a sauce. The sauce consists of either 8 oz of low-fat sour cream or 8 oz of low-fat cream cheese (which ever I happen to have on hand) and Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup. Mix the can of soup with the cream cheese or sour cream on the stove unitl hot and serve over the broccoli (I like the version with the cream cheese best, but they're both good).

[This message has been edited by NydiaC (edited 07-31-2000).]

[Leanne]

As for spinach - mine's close to Ohioan's - put in a bit of olive oil, minced garlic & balsamic vinegar (very small amounts of each) & cook the spinach in that mixture. Yummy. I also make spinach salads alot - there are some good recipes out there for that.

I've never tried this before, but I've had peas with pearl onions & mushrooms in them.

[RunnerKim]

I'm always on the lookout for vegetable sides/salads that are different than my normal stand-bys. Can't wait to see what gets posted here - great thread!

This might take a few minutes of chopping but you could make it up a day/morning ahead of time.

Broccoli-Tomato Salad
Steam broccoli florets until just tender and immerse in cold water. Drain. Mix with halved cherry or grape tomators, sliced green onion and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. I mix just a bit of Dijon mustard into a fat-free red wine vinaigrette and pour that over and toss to coat. Refridgerate until ready to serve.

Kim

[KateH]

Plunging the eggs in ice water as Phoebe, AKA Ohioan, suggests also helps prevent the yolk from darkening. To be doubly sure they're easy to peel (although I usually leave this step out), you can then put them back in the boiling water for about 10-15 secs. This will cause the shell to expand away from the egg. But then be sure to dunk back in chilled water afterwards.

Someone recommended a wonderful marinade for asparagus on another thread - I think it was a few tablespoons of low salt soy sauce with a few drops of sesame oil. I haven't tried it on broccoli, but I bet it would be great. My mom used to put a dollop of mayo on the broccoli after cooked and stirred until it was coated. It might sound a little gross, but I find it to be delicious.

[This message has been edited by KateH (edited 07-31-2000).]

[Anne]

We like sugar snap peas lightly steamed and tossed with a bit of Thai style spices (lime, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, fish sauce, and chile paste). I think I use about a tsp of each, saute the garlic, add the chili paste along with about 1/2 cup of chicken broth, lime, and brown sugar. Cook a couple minutes then add ginger and peas and cook till peas are just barely done and still crisp. This is a bit spicy so you may want to start out with lesser amounts. I use about a quart of sugar snap peas. This works well with green beans and snow peas too.

[Denise]

Check out the sesame asparagus recipe in Aug. Its easy and very different from anything I've tasted (and yummy!).

[ElinorC]

Petite peas with tiny onions are good; carrots with a sugar and butter glaze are also a favorite. Oven baked (or grilled)zucchini and yellow squash with seasoning and balsamic vinegar; various colored bell pepper slivers, yellow squash, and onions with balsamic vinegar and sugar glaze and Italian seasoning. Fresh green beans are always good and the subject was extensively covered in a previous post.

[shoyski]

I use the vinegar trick myself but was always thought the step was to prevent an egg that had cracked from exploding all over the pot.????

Also, I just read last week that the older the eggs are when you hard-boil them, the easier they are to peel.

[Deanna]

Shoyski...you are right about the age of an egg having an effect on how easy or hard it is to peel them. For reference, I visited the American Egg Board (http://www.aeb.org/faq) and here is what they say about hard to peel eggs:

Q: WHY ARE SOME HARD-COOKED EGGS DIFFICULT TO PEEL?

A: Fresh eggs may be difficult to peel. Those which have been stored for a week to 10 days before cooking will usually peel more easily.

[This message has been edited by Deanna (edited 07-31-2000).]

[christinew]

Here is a wonderful side our family loves,
Peas with bacon, garlic, and parsley:
7 bacon slices chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
2 pkgs frozen peas thawed
2 tbsp butter
parsley

Saute bacon until crisp. Transfer to drain, discard all but 2 tbsp from skillet. Add garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add peas and butter to skillet and saute this for another 5 minutes or so. Mix all ingredients and sprinkle with parsley.

Or you for something really unique you could try Savory Mashed Limas, unless you like others think Limas are yuckie http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/eek.gif !!

1 lb of frozen lima beans
2 garlic cloves
2 tabsp butter
1/3 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

First you will cook limas according to package and while they are cooking mince garlic and cook in butter over low heat. Drain beans in a sieve and transfer to a food processor and add garlic mixure, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper and puree until smooth.

I got these both out of Bon Appetit which I receive every month with my CL!!! Let me know if you like these.

Cheers,
Christine http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[jenniferharris1]

Thanks for all the sugestions...they sound wonderful. I, personally, would rather have vegetables than meat. But, my husband and kids would starve if I didn't offer it.
As for eggs, doesn't it crack you up (I'm full of puns today!!!) how there's a website devoted to eggs?

[Dorothy]

A quick side I fix is sliced zucchini, diced tomato and onion sauted is a little butter and sprinkled with dried basil.

[Ohioan]

I forgot to mention the easiest side dish of all: roasted veggies. All you have to do is set the oven to 400F or so (I sometimes do up to 450F when I'm in a real rush), cut up a batch of mixed vegetables, put them in a pan, squirt them with a little olive oil, sprinkle some herbs over them (I'm partial to basil or rosemary) and stick them in the oven. It isn't all that quick in cooking time -- depending on which veggies you use and how small you cut them, the roasting can take a half hour to an hour -- but the preparation is a breeze and leaves you free to do other things during the roasting time.

Good veggies for this treatment are zucchini and other summer squash, green and red bell peppers, mushrooms, eggplant cubes, onions, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and even cauliflower. In fact, I'm now wondering whether a few handfuls of frozen peas scattered among the veggies might not be good. I think I just planned a side dish for later this week.

Cheers, Phoebe (aka Ohioan)

[sage]

Hey -

This will probably sound like a really weird combo. I think I stumbled on it when I was really hungry and too lazy to make a trip to the store right that minute. I did have a sweet potato and some feta cheese however.

So, I washed the sweet potato, pricked some holes in it with a fork or knife, wrapped it in saran wrap and nuked it. Removed the skin and put feta cheese on it "to taste". I know this sounds like a really bizarre combo, but there seems to be something about the sweetness of the potato vs the salty/sourness of the feta that is not all that bad. I have tried it out on others, and while their first instinct is to say something like "well, that's interesting" after they taste it, they all say it tasted much better than they thought it would and is actually pretty darn good. I eat this all the time now, it's one of my favorite veg sides. It's super easy and a lot healthier than the old brown sugar/marshmallow treatment that sweet potatoes usually get - it's just a whole different taste.

Somebody out there give it a try and let me know whether you think this combo works.

S. Sage.

[lorilei]

Sage - You're never gonna believe this, but I've been eating baked sweet potatoes with feta for years http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif (developed the recipe in graduate school, I think)

It's delicious!! -- you're definitely not crazy for recommending it!

[lorilei]

Sage - You're never gonna believe this, but I've been eating baked sweet potatoes with feta for years http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif (developed the recipe in graduate school, I think)

It's delicious!! -- you're definitely not crazy for recommending it!