Side dishes...I Need Ideas!

for summer:
Chopped salad -- cucumber, tomato, onion, pepper, parsley, olive oil
tomato and mozzarela chese with olive oil
smoked salmon
great bread with great spreads
hummus and pita

We like pasta. Sometimes I have macaroni salad, italian pasta salad, pasta and marinara sauce.

Fried corn.. I use a cast iron skillet, butter. Drain a can of whole kernal corn and just cook it till done. Tasty.

Grilled corn on the cob. I soak it in water in the husks, grill it slowly, remove husks outside, bring it in an eat it, yummy.

Tomato, onion, cucumber salad. Mix bits size of all 3 with a bit of olive oil, apple cider vinegar with a touch of sugar, pepper and salt to taste.

Texas Caviar... frozen or fresh black eyed peas cooked firm to the bite, mix with a bit of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, touch of sugar, salt papper to taste and chopped scallions and/or celery if desired.

mashed potatoes and gravy

baked potatoes and twice baked potatoes

we like Stouffer's creamed spinach. cook as directed, put in small dish, sprinke parmesan cheese on top, bake a little and eat.

fresh broccoli

asparagus,

tomato mozzeralla basil with balsamic vinegar

caprese salad... mis of 3 types of tomatoes, oil lemon juice salt pepper.

Hope one of these might be interesting to you. I look forward to your other responses as well.

Also, allrecipes.com has good stuff on it.

We do a lot of 'raw' side dishes...

I like to add a bowl or plate of just fresh fruit and veggies to the table with most of our meals....like:

Olives
Apples
Mandarin Oranges
Pears
Grapes
Sliced Red, Yellow & Orange Bell Peppers w/or w/out rice vinegar
Carrots
Celery
Snap Peas
Cauliflower (lightly steamed)
Broccoli (my kids will eat it raw, weirdos!)
Cherry/Grape tomatos
Cucumbers, Tomato & Red Onion & Vinegar (no oil in mine, just AppleCider or Rice Vinegar and S&P)

Ya know...all the basics.

I am also a salad FREAK so we eat a lot of greens...
and Cous-Cous salads....possibilities are endless w/CousCous!
and steamed veggies..

We do a lot of grilling in the summer time (like most people) so grilled corn on the cob, grilled asparagus, grilled peaches, etc. Grilled fruit Sheesh Kabobs are a kid favorite at my house too.

Artichokes are also a fun side dish...so much work for so little but SO worth it!

~My MOST favorite summer meal is what we call 'Snack Night'...
Salami
Sliced Apples
Sliced Pears
Grapes
Green & Black Olives
A Cheese Plate (Muenster is a must for us)
And then either a baguette w/EVOO for dipping, Pita bread, Naan OR Crackers
*Sometimes we mix it all up and get some Hummus from our favorite restaurant.
I cover the living room floor or the coffee table with a table cloth and slice everything up and bring it out and we snack and watch a movie together! SO FUN!

Baked sweet potatoes! Buy the red garnet yams and bake them at 350 for an hour or so. The peel just falls off, then you can mash them up with butter and cinnamon. YUM!

Most often we make:

Salads (with different cheeses like blue, feta, etc), add in roasted nuts, sunflower seeds, crab and even pickles from time to time!

Mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese. Sometimes I add in a ranch seasoning packet or Cream cheese. Always add in garlic!

Stuffing - homemade or box.

Mac and cheese - same as above.

My kids love noodles so sometimes or side is simply noodles with butter and parm cheese. Add in canned/jarred sauce (we do 1/2 marinara and 1/2 alfredo for a different take).

Rolls - cresent, biscuit, etc.

Carrots/Cauliflower/Broccoli in the oven - wash them and then coat a cookie sheet with EVOO. Drizzle some over the veggies along with your fav seasonings. Cook at HIGH temp - like 450 for 10-20 mins. Delish!

Pasta salad - again homemade or box.

Potato wedges - slice them, coat with EVOO and seasoning (can be ranch, garlic, lemon pepper) and bake in oven.

Homemade french fries (regular or sweet).

Tater tots.

What about hash browns? We don't do this unless we are having breakfast, but I just thought about it and I'm not sure why we don't eat them more often? With a bit of cheese on to and onion flakes, YUM and easy!!

Raw veggies and dip.

Good luck!

Grilled sweet potatoes are fabulous! Slice them diagonally 1/4 inch-1/2 inch thick and toss them witha pinch of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and olive oil and grill till pierced easily with a fork, serve warm.
Try a salad with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers-toss them with red wine vinegar, some water, a teaspoon or so of sugar and dill-chill for a few hours.
OR(my favorite!!) Corn on the cob mexican style!!!! My husband turned me onto this-sounds weird but it is SO addicting!!!!! Cook your corn like normal and instead of plain butter you coat the corn in mayonnaise first, roll it in parmesan cheese and sprinkle chili powder next!

Cucumber salad (sour cream, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste).
Zucchini salad
Tomatoes with fresh basil and mozzarella
We'll be coming up on fresh local corn on the cob in about 3 weeks.
Kind of dessert like but fruit/melon salad is good and so is jello.
We check out the local road side produce stands and try to use what is available.
Local peaches are out now!

This is a side we tried recently and really liked, even the picky four year-old eats it.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Nutty-Barley-Bake

We simply saute different veggies alone or in combos (like green pepper, zuchinni and mushrooms), with a tich of EVOO. Then add Chef Prudhommes Veggie Magic. We use that stuff on everything.

We do fruit plates.

Veggies and dip occasionally but with my over sensitive teeth I have a hard time with raw veggies.

Uncle Bens rice in a bag (the 90 second stuff.) We do a fair amount of that. Quick and easy and a lot of variety. Often get the Target brand stuff too for a few more varieties (they have more mixed with brown rice..I do not like plain brown rice but like it in mixes)

We do some simple pasta salads too. Sometimes we cheat and go packaged if we jump off the healthy wagon (and get run over by it and scratched all to H*ll by it in the process..LOL)

In all honesty we struggle between simple and healthy and quick and easy. Most of the time I am just too tired to want to eat. LOL. Hubby and I worry how this will work when our only child leaves for college in August. Shes the reason we even do group eating. LOL. Once shes gone we will be both be eating out the refrigerator and making actual meals out of desperation for something real a few times a month. Sad, but probably true!

ETA... of course, I married the 1 man I've ever met that the way to his heart was NOT through food. :P Although, come to think of it... he might just not have a heart. Moving on! These are things I make all the time, but I tend to cycle based off of what's on sale or in the garden. Most take 5-20 minutes top from prep to serve. Some, though, like gyoza or tamales... I just make in big batches when I'm avoiding cleaning my house.
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(Mostly) Savory Fruit:
Tostones w/ Guacamole
Boiled Plantains
Guacamole, period
Mango Avocado Salsa
Pico de Gallo
Frozen Grapes
Pepper Candied Strawberries (simple sugar boil + cracked pepper)
Chocolate strawberries / cherries/ blueberries/ heck, pick a fruit
Grilled peaches
Drunken peaches
Watermelon

Carb Load
- Bulgar Wheat (w/ onion and lemon juice)
- (Gah... brain meltdown) baguette slices, toasted w/ olive oil, tomato, parm, basil ((ha! ha! Bruschetta))
- Fresh bruschetta (fresh mozz, tomato, basil)
- Baguette w/ cannelini beans and purple onion and EVOO
- Croissants w/ or without anything melted into or onto them
- Grilled Polenta
- Instant stuffing w/ hardboiled eggs
- Ebelskivers
- Crepes (sweet or savory, plain or stuffed)
- gnocci
- Grilled cheese panini (baguette size w/ pepper jack, or whatever)
- Garlic Bread
- Fresh bread with butter cold (seriously delish)
- Zuke Bread
- Banana Bread

Rice now gets it's own category (ctd from carb load)
- Arroz Verde (green rice made green by cillantro and chard)
- MexRice
- Sushi Rice w/ furikake
- Sticky rice balls
- Sushi (typically not raw, love it, but can't afford to buy sashimi qual often)
- Mochi (plain, red bean, etc.)
- Cumin Basmati Rice
- Tomato Curry Rice
- Coconut curry rice
- Rissoto
- Rice Pudding
- Chimichurri Rice
- Harissa Rice
- KimChee Rice
- Steamed in a Ti leaf chineses sausage rice
- Stirfried Rice
- Sizzling Rice
- Paella
- Greek Grapeleaves stuffed w/ rice (my brain isn't working)

Oy. Noodles. (ctd. from carb load)
- Cold somen salad w/ picked veggies
- Insert Italian dictionary here (aka a zillion kinds of italian noodles) tossed simply w/ pesto, parm & pepper, lemon butter, tomato/basil/parm, etc. ((I do small sides w/ simple sauces as a side, but tend to leave heavier sauces as main courses)
- Mac'n'Cheese
- Stuffed shells

Bread to be dipped in (ctd from carb load)
- Harissa
- Chimichurri
- Hummus
- Baba Ganoosh
- Melted cheese
- brie or other soft cheese & fig spread

Po-tai-to (ctd. from carb load)
- Mashed w/ chicken stock
- Mashed with sauteed leeks
- Crash Hot Potatoes
- Leftover mashed w/ chat masala, peas, etc. in a wonton wrapper
- Baked
- Hashbrowns / or birdsnests
- Grilled w/ onions and EVOO and gah-lick
- Fingerling potatoes
- 'I'm not going to eat that' Russian blue/purple potatoes and greens

Some beans with that rice? (more beans in veggies)
- Refried pinto
- spicy black beans
- cillantro garlic black beans
- cubano black beans and rice
- Hoppin John
- Blackeyed w/ ham hocks and onion
- Screw it, we're making gumbo
(a lot of my kitchen accidents involving rice or beans turn into a gumbo pot)

Vegetables & Myco
Stuffed mushrooms
Broiled/Grilled Portobellos
Broiled/Grilled Asparagus
Aspargus pieces, mushrooms, lemon sauteed
Fresh shelled peas w/ kosher salt
Raw whole or half radishes w/ kosher salt
Green beans, pesto, arugula, cherry tomatoes, cigliene mozz
Caprese salad
Fava beans, summer squash, carrots, spinache sautee
Roasted veggies
Roasted roots
Roasted rainbow carrots
Sauteed Greens (mustard/ kale/ chard/ whatever) w/ EVOO and garlic S&P
Eggplant fries w/ sea salt and honey
Stuffed Eggplant
Stuffed 8ball zukes
Pickles (think asian, not dill)
Cabbage w/ corned beef seasoning, then sauteed in butter
The chinese shredded stirfried cabbage thing (i know)
Turnip & chinese sausage 'cake'
Kimchee
Carrots boiled in chickenstock
Grilled Fennel bulb

Veggie Soups
(Hot)
- Cream of Carrot
- Butternut squash
- Leek
- French Onion
- Miso
- Udon
(Cold)
- Gaspacho
- Watermelon Gaspacho
- Cream of Zuke and cracked pepper

Things involving bacon
- Bacon wrapped grilled jalepeno poppers w/ goatcheese and chives and bleu
- Proscuitto wrapped " " w/ marscapone and goat cheese and chives served cold
- Lima beans w/ sour cream and bacon
- Collard greens w/ bacon
- Bacon wrapped seascallops
- Grilled (in shell) oysters w/ sorrel sauce and bacon

Eggies
- Devilled Eggs
- Stuffing w/ hardboiled egg
- Tamagozushi
- Frittatas (mini)
- muffin quiche (mini muffin tin, muffin tin, huge muffin tin, whatever)

Meatable Sides
Crab Rangoon
Gyoza
Bao (hum bao particularly)
shu mai
shrimp ball (w/ cillantro!!! drool)
ceviche
oysters
mini shrimp skewers w/ various sauces
Calamari
sausage bites
swed meatballs w/ lingonberry
vietnamese meatballs
italian meatballs
anything I can dip in poi