Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds
Summer means a lot of things. One of them is making cold pasta salads. I suppose it’s ok to make them during winter too but it is usually during the Summer that I get to indulge in whipping up different kinds of cold pasta salads. They’d go with any grilled meat entrees, including kebabs, satays, burgers, just to name a couple. Pasta salads prefect to serve as side dishes during the summer parties in the backyard or as lunch for the family on regular days. This Mini Rotelle Cold Pasta Salad W/ Cheese & Sunflower Seeds is basically another version of Pasta & Broccoli Salad W/ Golden Raisins and Sunflower Seeds but without the golden raisins and chopped fresh broccoli. I added chopped eggs instead.
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
I had such a craving sweet potato fries earlier this month so I decided to make baked sweet potato fries. I think it because we didn’t eat that much sweet potatoes around the holidays. I made sweet potato bread on Thanksgiving Day but that’s about it. I wanted to savor the flavor and softness of sweet potatoes in fries form. Hence the baking way instead of fried way. Here’s how I make my baked sweet potato fries.
| Baked Sweet Potato Fries |
- 3 large sweet potatoes, washed thoroughly
- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- dried basil
- dried parsley
- dried oregano
- garlic powder
- paprika
- salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven to 365°.
- Cut the fried in thin strips. Peel them first if you prefer it that way. I like to leave the skin on.
- In a bowl, put the sweet potato fries. Drizzle 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle dried parsley, dried oregano, dried basil, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix everything together with your hands making sure everything is coated.
- Line two cookie sheet pans with foil. Drizzle 1/2 tbsp of olive oil on each pans. Brush the oil all over. Lay the sweet potato fries on top.
- Bake it in the oven for 35-40 minutes. Carefully take the baked fries out from the pan using a spatula.
- Serve as a side dish to sliders or Bacon & Feta Cheese Burger. Ranch dressing is a good dip for Baked Sweet Potato Fries.
Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes Salad
This colorful and delicious green beans and cherry tomatoes salad was inspired by Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis green beans salad recipe. While she also had wax beans (yellow) for an added color, I only used green beans and cherry tomatoes to keep it simple for the kids. The dressing is not hard to make either.
| Green Beans & Cherry Tomatoes Salad |
- a bundle of green beans
- a pack of red cherry tomatoes
- water for boiling
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- sprinkle of red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp of honey
- a drizzle of sesame oil just for taste
- sprinkle of dried oregano
- sprinkle of dried basil
- Boil the water. Add the green beans for about 3-5 minutes. Make sure the beans are still crunchy. Drain the water.
- While waiting for the water to boil, cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Then transfer into a salad bowl, add the green beans as well.
- In a small container, combine the red wine vinegar, olive oil, pepper flakes, dried basil, dried oregano and honey. Cover tight, then shake, shake, shake. Pour over the green beans and cherry tomatoes. Gently mix everyting to coat the veggies with the dressing.
- I serve this as a side dish, along with rice to seafood dishes like honey-mustard panko breaded fried tilapia.
————–originally posted at blisstree/b5media—————
Zucchini & Yellow Squash Au Gratin
I wasn’t really sure if I was going to make Zucchini & Yellow Squash Au Gratin as one of the side dishes in our Thanksgiving feast yesterday. I thought it about weeks before but wasn’t firm about it and just told myself to decide on the day itself, depending on the time and my mood. Well, I decided to make it and good thing I did. It’s such a simple side dish to make but it’s really good in a cheesy and creamy way.
| Zucchini & Yellow Squash Au Gratin |
- 1 zucchini, peeled, sliced in rounds
- 1 yellow squash, peeled, sliced in rounds
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup of bread crumbs
- salt & pepper
- In a square baking pan, arrange the sliced zucchini and yellow squash. In a bowl, combine the milk, heavy cream and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Pour the whole thing over the zucchini and yellow squash. Top with the remaining cheese, then the bread crumbs. Bake it in the oven, 355° for 20 minutes.
- Cheesy and creamy side dish that you can make anytime, holidays or not.
Thanksgiving Day Recipes
Looking for easy recipes to make for Thanksgiving Day? I’ve curated the recipes from my own Thanksgiving Day Menu throughout the years that I’ve posted in this foodblog for easy access. Just click the links to get the recipes. The print button for each recipe is located underneath the title and in newer posts, it’s also located within the recipe box, top-right.
Cheesy-Garlic Bread
Instead of just making regular garlic bread, I decided at the last minute to use up the remaining shredded cheese from the frittata breakfast yesterday morning(will post that sometime this week) by sprinkling them on top of the bread before broiling it for a few minutes. It was a really good twist to the bread and everyone loved it. Cheesy, garlicky, and buttery bread, YUM!
Zucchini Sautéed In Butter & Dried Herbs
This Zucchini Sautéed In Butter & Dried Herbs side dish is hardly a “recipe” but I’ve decided a few months ago that I will be better at sharing simpler dishes in my foodblog since that’s my mantra around here after all. I for one have a hard time coming up with vegetable side dishes to go along with main entrées on a daily basis. But no matter what, as much as possible, there’s always have to be vegetables with our meals. If you’re the same way, here’s one that you could whip up in a breeze.
Cucumber and Apple Slaw
This is just a simple side dish that I put together to go along with the sliders the other day. Instead of the cabbage based slaw, I used cucumber and green apple. It’s a combination of soft, crunchy and just the right about of sweetness from the apple.
Sauteed Onions & Mushrooms
I love onions. I love mushrooms. I combined them together to create a delicious marriage of flavors then served ‘em as a vegetable side dish to lamb chops. It’s fast, easy and healthy to go along with any kind of protein entree.
Grilled Corn In The Cob With Parmesan Cheese
If you are not taking advantage of the fresh corns this Summer then you are missing a lot. I love ‘em boiled, or chucked to cooked with lots of butter & black pepper, cornbread, added in a fresh salad or grilled. Grilling corn is really easy to do and the best time to grill corn is when you’re also grilling a main meat entree’ since the grill is already on so might as well grill corn for a side dish, right?
