Side Dish Archives - Eat at Home

Easy Mashed Sweet Potatoes

May 2, 2013 by Tiffany

I love sweet potatoes. I usually just serve them baked as a side dish. If I’ve got more time, I like to make Sweet Potato Fries.

But this time, I decided to make them mashed. Or rather, smashed.

This is such an easy side dish to fix. And it’s a nice change from serving the potatoes baked.

It starts with baking the sweet spuds. I scrubbed them and put them in a foil lined pan, covering the whole pan with foil. This was faster than wrapping them individually. It made the final step easier too. Just whip the foil off the pan, instead of having to unwrap individual potatoes.

This is more method than recipe. Easy to fix. Easy to remember.

Easy Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 sweet potato per person
2-3 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 - 1/2 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Scrub the sweet potatoes.
Place in foil lined baking pan and stick potatoes with a fork several times each.
Cover with more foil.
Bake 350 for 1 1/2 hours or until very tender.
Remove from oven.
Slice potatoes in half and scoop out the middles.
Place in a bowl with brown sugar and butter.
Smash and stir with a spoon until well combined.

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You’ll also need butter and brown sugar in addition to the sweet potatoes.

Filed under: Side Dish, Vegetable Tagged with brown sugar, butter, sweet potatoes2 Comments

Slow Cooked Apples and Butternut Squash – Easy Side Dish

April 12, 2013 by Tiffany

I made this a while back to go with Slow Cooked Breakfast Casserole. It was a great combination. Since you’re just dumping two ingredients into a slow cooker, it couldn’t be simpler.

Admittedly, it isn’t the most photogenic of recipes. Don’t let that stop you though. I’m not sure what it is about orange veggies, like butternut squash, pumpkin, acorn squash and sweet potatoes, but I could eat and eat and eat them. They are so good!

You can find diced butternut squash in the produce section or the freezer section of the grocery. I like skipping the step of peeling and chopping a fresh squash, but it would cut down on cost to do your own prep.

Here’s what you’ll need for this easy side dish: [Read more...]

Filed under: Crockpot, Side Dish Tagged with apples, butternut squash, slow cooker2 Comments

Apricot Delight Jello Salad

March 21, 2013 by Tiffany

We’ve been having a debate at our house about whether this is a salad or dessert. I call it a Jello salad. My daughter agrees with me. She says if it’s a salad then she can eat dessert later with a clear conscience! I like her line of reasoning.

What do you think – salad or dessert?

Either way, it’s fantastic and perfect for Easter. The apricots and pineapple add fruitiness to the jello. And it gets topped with a creamy topping made from the fruit juice. You won’t want to skip the topping. It’s a cooked custard with Cool Whip folded in. The topping makes this dish special.

I will say that the original recipe (given to me by my mom years ago) called for shredded cheddar cheese on top of the creamy topping. I didn’t care for the cheese though, so I leave it out. The cheese might move it more firmly into the salad category though.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it: [Read more...]

Filed under: Side Dish Tagged with apricots, cool whip, jello, pineapple13 Comments

How to Cut a Head of Cauliflower in 1 Minute

October 21, 2012 by Tiffany

I am not a perfectionist.

Not by a long shot. I like to keep things quick and simple, and that includes dinner prep. To that end, I don’t believe you need to spend a lot of time chopping veggies.

As long as you give up any ideas of having perfect, uniform pieces you can chop a head of cauliflower (or broccoli) in just 1 minute. It cooks just fine and works great for weeknight suppers.

This post has more photos than most of my posts and I apologize for the weird, blue color going on in the pics. [Read more...]

Filed under: 31 days of cooking cheats, cooking tips, Side Dish, tips Tagged with broccoli, cauliflower1 Comment

Orange Curry Couscous

August 31, 2012 by AndreaG

Please welcome new contributing writer, Andrea Green. I love this quick side dish. Sides are one thing that I tend to neglect. This one is easy and I love that leftovers can double for lunch the next day.

I love couscous! Any side dish that can be prepared in 10 minutes has my undying devotion. But, I’ll admit that it can be pretty plain on it’s own. So I like to add all kinds of veggies, nuts and dressings to my couscous – like in this Orange Curry Couscous. It is one of my absolute favorite ways to dress up plain couscous. Plus, you can use it as a side dish for dinner, then use any leftovers the next day for a delicious lunch!

Orange Curry Couscous

Ingredients

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups couscous
1/4 c rice vinegar
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup currants
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

Instructions

In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the couscous and stir. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand for 10 minutes.
While the couscous is standing, process the vinegar, garlic, orange zest, honey, cinnamon, curry powder and salt in the blender. Continue to process while adding the canola oil through the top of the blender.
When the couscous is ready, fluff it with a fork.
In a large bowl, mix together the cooked couscous, dressing, parsley, green onions, slivered almonds, currants, and peas. Serve immediately.

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This post is linked to Finding Joy in My Kitchen.

Andrea has been married to Peter for 20 years, and together they have two teenage daughters. Struggling with the reality that soon her girls will be on her own, she is leaving them vlogs at 101 Life Lessons. You can also find her at The Greenbacks Gal where she finds organic deals, green steals and cooks real food meals.

Filed under: Side Dish Tagged with couscous, curry, garlic, orange7 Comments

Garlic Cream Cheese Smashed Potatoes – 2 Ingredients!

August 3, 2012 by Tiffany

I’ve made these potatoes twice now. They are so simple, but they taste like you’ve really put in a lot of effort. I love a good cheat!

This is more method than recipe, but I’ll add it in Ziplist below. I’ve made this with about 1 lb. of potatoes and half a container of Philly Cooking Creme. I thought that was a perfect amount of creaminess. I’ve also made it with 3 lbs. potatoes and a whole container of Cooking Creme. I thought that was a little dry, but Jim liked it better that way.

So, do what suits you and your family. If you want to up the creaminess, but don’t want to use more cream cheese just add a splash of milk.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

Filed under: Side Dish, Vegetable Tagged with cream cheese, garlic, potatoes, side dish6 Comments

Fried Green Tomatoes (and many other Southern foods too!)

July 20, 2012 by Tiffany

Our summer road trip from the kitchen series has taken us to New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Now we’re in the South!

I live in Kentucky, so I have lots of Southern food on EaH. But somehow, I had not done a post on fried green tomatoes. I don’t make them very often, but they are oh-so-good. I like to eat them on a sandwich with a slice of ripe tomato and mayonnaise. Some people like them with ketchup on a sandwich or just on a plate.

Any way you eat them, they are full of summery, Southern goodness!

You have to use an iron skillet to make them right. They’ll use a lot more oil than you think they will. Or use Crisco, if you really want to do it right. (That makes me think of the Crisco scene in the book/movie The Help.) They also take longer to make than you would think, because you’re working in batches. Even though it doesn’t take too long for each batch to brown, the whole process takes a while.

It’s all worth it though! Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea and sip while you cook.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

Filed under: Side Dish, Vegetable Tagged with green tomatoes, Southern food, summer food, tomatoesLeave a Comment

Almost Homemade Pickles

July 5, 2012 by Tiffany

These pickles are super crunchy and a bit sweet. They’re fun to make too.

My mom told me about the recipe, which came from my Aunt Anne. I didn’t make them right away though, because we don’t eat pickles very often. However, these are really good to have with quick summer meals of hot dogs, hamburgers or sandwiches.

The recipe starts with a large jar of store-bought pickles. Then you slice them thick and add sugar, garlic and alum. Alum can be found in the spice section of the grocery. It’s used in pickle making for crispness.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]

Filed under: Side Dish, Snacks Tagged with dill pickles, pickles, sweet pickles1 Comment

Creamy Italian Herb Cucumbers & Tomatoes

June 22, 2012 by Tiffany

Cucumbers and tomatoes is one of our favorite summer side dishes. It’s going to be even better when we’ve got tomatoes from our garden and maybe some cucumbers too.

This time, I decided to try PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme as a dressing for the veggies. It couldn’t be easier. Just scoop some Italian Herb and Cheese Cooking Creme into the tomatoes and cucumbers and give it a stir. So simple!

You can find quite a few recipes for cold dishes on the PHILLY Cooking Creme site, including this month’s featured recipe Creamy Asian Slaw.

Here’s what you’ll need to make the cucumbers and tomatoes: [Read more...]

Filed under: salad, Side Dish, Vegetable Tagged with cucumbers, philadelphia cooking creme, salad, summer side dish, tomatoes3 Comments

Summer Corn Salad

June 12, 2012 by Tiffany

I have wanted to try this recipe for a long time, but somehow I just recently got around to it. It comes from the cookbook Country Gourmet (a fantastic book that is out of print now, I think).

One of the reasons it took me so long to try it is that the recipe calls for fresh corn cut off the cob. I’m super lazy. I think I’ve mentioned that before.

I finally realized I could cheat with this recipe and use frozen corn instead of fresh. I’m sure fresh would be better, but I also know I’ll be making this salad a lot more often since I can cheat with a bag from the freezer section.

Here’s what you’ll need: [Read more...]