Category: Side Dish

Recipes for side dishes.

It’s tough to see one more empty seat at the table

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 18, 2019

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.

A couple weeks ago, our family gathered around my maternal grandmother’s table, enjoying a meal with her along with all of the cousins and their children and spouses present.

It was sometimes a bit loud and boisterous, and there was plenty of laughter as we all ate way too much while telling stories and catching up. It was a rare moment when everyone was able to come.

This past weekend, we were all there again, minus one very noticeable presence: Grandma.

After losing my grandpa in March, she went to join him last week. She was ready; we were not.

Grandma’s table expanded several times over the years as grandchildren, significant others and great grandchildren continued to join our family, and although it seemed like there were always more places set every time we gathered, the amount of leftovers seemed to stay constant. She taught us all to cook for an army, and as she often said, if you left hungry, that was your own fault.

When we were younger, Grandma made us all elaborately decorated birthday cakes every year. I almost always requested a spice cake, and when she asked what dishes we’d like to see for our family dinner together to celebrate, I requested her scalloped broccoli.

The broccoli casserole was a favorite amongst all the grandkids, which I suspect had less to do with the broccoli and more to do with the fact that it had plenty of cheese in it.

I decided that making that dish was the perfect way for me to honor her memory and all of those elaborate meals over the years, so I opened the handwritten cookbook she gave me for my 16th birthday, following the directions written in her beautiful cursive.

I’m not sure if anyone has ever shed nostalgic tears over broccoli before, but I definitely did.

So this week, my recipe comes from the kitchen of Lola Franklin—one of the best cooks I’ve ever known.

Scalloped Broccoli

Scalloped broccoli won't heat up your kitchen with the oven and makes for a good side dish for a big family meal.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword broccoli, casserole, cheese, cream of mushroom, rice

Ingredients

32 ounces frozen broccoli
1 pound American cheese cut into chunks
2 cups minute rice
1 cup milk
2, 10.5- ounce cans cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large pot, add the frozen broccoli along with three cups of water. Put it over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is cooked through.
While the broccoli is cooking, add the cheese (Grandma used to either get the loaves of sliced American cheese to use or would request it from the deli counter), rice, milk and soup to a large, microwave-safe casserole dish with a lid.
Drain the broccoli and stir it into the other ingredients.
Microwave on high, with the lid on, until the cheese is melted and the rice is cooked through (somewhere between five and 10 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave).
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This is a great dish for leftovers, which I can attest to after being sent home with many Tupperware containers of it over the years.

After mixing up my batch of broccoli, I have to admit it didn’t taste as great at Grandma’s. I doubt I’ll ever be fully satisfied with my version of it, though, since I won’t be enjoying it with one of the most influential women in my life.

Over the years, she taught me much more than just cooking skills around her dinner table. As she loaded up our plates, she also demonstrated how to be resilient, to be caring, to love unconditionally, and to always put others first.

As we spent our last family meal together, Grandma watched my mom, her daughter, bustling around the table, her own plate still empty as she made sure that everyone else was getting their fill and each dish was making its way around.

She looked across at me and said, “I’d be shocked if she ever actually sat down and ate.”

“I wonder where she got that from,” I responded.

“Hey, now,” she said, a gleam in her eye and a wry smile on her face.

I’ll miss sharing those meals with her as we all try to move forward, but she’ll most certainly always be with us at our family dinner tables and other gatherings we host with friends through the years.

If nothing else, Grandma taught me that life can always use an extra large scoop—of love and, of course, of ice cream.

This piece first appeared in print on July 18, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags broccoli, cheese, cream of mushroom, rice

Side Dish

I finally found the cooking method I’ve ‘bean’ looking for

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 11, 2019

Fresh green beans are a beautiful and delicious addition to the summer dinner table.

I absolutely adore green beans. They’ve been near the top of my favorite veggies list since I was little.

My normal ways of preparing them is to open a can, dump them in a microwave-safe container with some salt and pepper and heat them up or to fry up some bits of bacon in a pot and then add the canned beans and seasonings.

But despite my pedestrian preparation of green beans, I am always drawn to fresh ones in the produce aisle when they show up each year. Unfortunately for me (and probably because of my years of canned bean consumption), I’m not a huge fan of crunchy cooked green beans and I seem to struggle to cook them in such a way that they don’t get mushy and overdone.

I still grabbed a big bag of them recently, though, vowing to finally conquer fresh green beans once and for all.

And I totally accomplished it.

So, I thought I would share my green bean process with anyone else who struggles with the perfect line between crispy and mushy fresh beans every summer. I don’t have a specific source for this one, as it’s a product of lots of trial and error over the years, although I’m sure I’m not the first one to try such a preparation.

Fresh Green Beans

Fresh green beans are a beautiful and delicious addition to the summer dinner table.

Course Side Dish

Keyword garlic, green beans, vegetables

Ingredients

1-2 pounds fresh green beans
About 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
6-8 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste optional

Instructions

Cut or snap the stem end of each bean off (I also snapped the longer ones in half so they’d fit in my pot more easily.) and wash them thoroughly.
Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with cold water.
Bring the pot to a boil and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until they’re just fork tender.
When the beans are almost done boiling, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the beans are done, drain them well and then add them to the skillet, stirring to coat them in oil.
Add in the garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and stir again, letting the beans sit for a couple minutes on each side before stirring them around. Your goal is to get just a little bit of char on the beans and brown the garlic.
When the garlic is browned, remove the beans from heat and serve immediately.

These also reheated as leftovers really well, which was nice, because I made way more green beans than we could eat in one meal.

And they turned out just how I like them: a beautiful bright green, plenty of flavor and no crunch when biting into them.

I know a lot of people will argue with me about crunchy beans, but if you’re like me and would rather not have that crisp texture, I’d recommend giving this method a try.

And, of course, there’s always the canned variety, but who wants to get out the can opener during the time of year that gardens are overflowing with fresh veggies?

This piece first appeared in print on July 11, 2019.

Tags garlic, green beans, vegetables

Main Dish Side Dish

Egg rolls in a bowl will get you ‘egg-cited’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 2, 2019

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.

When we were kids, my sister and I often had conflicts over our favorite places to eat. Any time I was in the mood to visit the Chinese buffet, she balked, claiming she hated Chinese food.

If my parents were kind enough to push the issue and decide to go anyway, she always seemed to find plenty to eat, but it was still a struggle to convince her every time.

It was a few years ago that she mentioned going to eat Chinese food with her husband, and I was shocked to learn that she now has a taste for it.

I tried to convince her she owes me compensation, but she seems to think that her acts of denying me Chinese food all those years isn’t that big of a deal. I guess some childhood feuds never end.

Now that I can get Chinese food whenever the mood strikes, I’m a huge fan of egg rolls. There’s something about the seasoned meat combined with some slightly crunchy cabbage that always seems perfect.

Of course, the fried outer shell is less than perfect as far as calorie consumption is concerned, which is why I was very interested in trying a recipe that keeps all the goodies from the inside but gets rid of the egg roll wrapper completely.

The recipe I tried is from the blog “Mostly Homemade Mom.” You can find her post at https://www.mostlyhomemademom.com/eggroll-in-bowl/. I increased the amount of garlic and ginger and added pepper.

Egg Roll in a Bowl

To cut out the fried aspect of traditional egg rolls, try egg rolls in a bowl instead.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword cabbage, egg roll, sausage

Ingredients

1 pound ground sausage
8 to 10 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
ground pepper to taste
1 bag dry coleslaw mix
one bunch green onion sliced

Instructions

In a large skillet, brown and drain the sausage over medium heat, crumbling it as it cooks.
While the sausage cooks, combine the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
Add the cabbage/carrot mix and stir it to combine it with the sausage.
Dump the sauce mixture over the top of the sausage and cabbage and stir. Let the mixture heat through for about five minutes. The cabbage will still be pretty crunchy. If you’d rather have it softer, place a lid on the pan and check it every five minutes until it reaches the level of wilted you’d like.
Top with the sliced green onions and serve.

I really liked this recipe. The increase in ginger and the addition of pepper did kick up the spice level just a tiny bit, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might back those off.

Also, while this did reheat fairly well as leftovers, it left quite a bit of juice in the bottom of the storage container, which let the cabbage get soggy quickly, so I wouldn’t leave it in the refrigerator for too many days before finishing it off.

Eating an egg roll in a bowl wasn’t as good as the real thing (I mean, when you take away the fried dough part, how could it be?), but it satisfied a craving, and it was easy to make, which I appreciated.

My younger self would have been glad to see that I was getting to enjoy one of my favorite things. I think I’ll take this dish to a family potluck, just to see if my sister enjoys it, too. I’ll try not to take it personally if she doesn’t like it—and especially if she does.

This piece first appeared in print on May 2, 2019.

Tags cabbage, Chinese, egg roll, sausage

Salad Side Dish

Sometimes even salad can be comfort food

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date March 28, 2019

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.

When I close my eyes and picture my grandpa, I see his mischievous smile—one that went clear up to his eyes—and I can hear his laugh. I see his large hands, calloused from years of hard work, which were always willing to help anyone who needed him. And I’ll never see a pair of suspenders, stretched over a plaid shirt, without thinking of him, too.

We lost my grandfather, Bill Franklin, this past week. He was the epitome of a Kansas farmer, constantly working and fixing, even long after he “retired” from planting grain and milking cows.

He was an imposing figure at over 6 feet tall with a wide frame, and he was strong beyond his 83 years. No one would ever mistake Grandpa for a frail old man.

But he was also gentle and kind. He could create some of the most delicate woodworking I’ve ever seen and was always quick to scoop up a great grand-baby.

And although he probably would have argued with me, he was a life-long learner, too, mastering new technology and doing tons of research on his family tree.

What I admired him for most of all, though, was the love he showed my grandma. They knew each other for practically their entire lives, and they never got tired of each other. He loved to tease her, and she loved to pretend she was shocked by whatever it was he said. They walked hand-in-hand wherever they went, and the look he gave her in their wedding photos was the same one he gave her over 60 years later.

He also liked to eat, and while he had a lot of favorites, the one dish that pops into my head is a salad my mom and I took turns bringing to family meals just because we knew he loved it, so in honor of him, I’m sharing that recipe with you. I don’t have an original source for it. It’s one of those recipes that gets passed around families and loses its origin.

Oriental Salad

Oriental salad uses cabbage and ramen to create a great, crunchy side dish.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Keyword ramen, red cabbage, sunflower seeds

Ingredients

16 ounces shredded cabbage I buy the bagged coleslaw mix with carrots
1 bunch green onion chopped
1 package ramen noodles I use beef flavored
1/4 to 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup oil I use canola
Flavor packet from the ramen
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar I use apple cider
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

In a large salad bowl, combine the cabbage and onions.
Place the uncooked noodles into a small plastic zippered bag. Zip the bag and crush the noodles (I normally use the handle of a kitchen knife, but a rolling pin or the smooth side of a meat mallet would also work well.). Break them up into about 1/2-inch pieces. Dump the sunflower seeds into the bag and set it aside.
In another small bowl, combine the oil, flavor packet, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Just before serving the salad, pour the noodles, sunflower seeds and oil mixture over top of the cabbage and mix well.
Refrigerate any leftovers.

As we gathered this week to share stories of Grandpa in the days leading to his funeral, this salad graced the table with tons of other food from the wonderful people in our family’s life. Grandma’s fridge won’t be empty for quite awhile.

And while the love we all have for each other will keep us going, there will continue to be a piece missing from our get-togethers.

The hole a man like my grandpa leaves is large and a tough one to fill.

This piece first appeared in print on March 28, 2019.

Tags cabbage, ramen, sunflower seeds

Appetizer Main Dish Side Dish Snack

You can’t just wing crispy chicken

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 7, 2019

Cooking nice, crispy chicken wings in the oven takes some time but is well worth the wait.

Although we had big crowds of folks in our house for the NFL playoff games this season, Super Bowl Sunday was a calm evening without company—something Joey and I were both very much in the mood for after a few busy weeks in a row.

Despite the lack of a table full of food, I still decided to make a traditional football snack for the big game: buffalo wings.

Buffalo wings are one of Joey’s favorite foods, and we’ve spent a lot of time over the years trying to figure out how to make some at home that are crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and aren’t the product of lots of deep frying.

In all our attempts, we generally only attained one or two of those criteria, but I finally figured it out this past weekend, thanks to a blog post by “The Cookful.” You can find it at https://thecookful.com/bake-chicken-wings-crispy/. I will warn you that it takes a good amount of time in the oven to accomplish this, but it is mostly hands-off time, and it’s well worth the wait.

Crispy Chicken Wings

Cooking nice, crispy chicken wings in the oven takes some time but is well worth the wait.

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snacks

Keyword chicken wings

Ingredients

20 wing pieces
1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
sauce or dry rub

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil and place a rack onto the sheet (I just used my cooling racks).
Place the wing pieces into a bowl and dump in the baking powder and salt. Mix them with your hands to distribute the powder and salt. (Don’t expect them to look like they’ve been dipped in flour; you won’t be able to see the coating on the wings when you’re done.)
Place the wing pieces in a single layer on the rack, spacing them just slightly. Cook them for 30 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees, and cook for another 45 to 50 minutes or until the wings are brown and crispy.
Let them rest for a couple minutes, and then toss them in your favorite wing sauce or dry rub and serve immediately.

My favorite way to coat wings is to put them in a bowl with a lid along with the sauce and then just shake them until they’re coated. I’m not coordinated enough to do it without a lid—unless I want to clean sauce off every inch of my kitchen.

These wings were awesome—exactly what we’d been looking for. It was also nice that any fat dripped down onto the foil, and the wings weren’t swimming in it while they cooked.

I’m not sure what the secret of the baking powder is that makes the wings cook so well, but it was just what I was missing in previous attempts.

They also received the Joey stamp of approval, which is a pretty big deal. He has pretty high standards for what makes for a good wing.

Our Super Bowl snack was awesome. The game, on the other hand, well…maybe it could have used some baking powder.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 7, 2019.

Tags buffalo, chicken, wings

Salad Side Dish

Make garlic pasta salad to be the ‘roast’ of the town

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date June 14, 2018

Roasted garlic pasta salad has some amazing flavors that meld into the perfect summer side dish.

A few weekends ago, Joey and his best friend decided to fire up our smoker in the backyard and fill it with everything from several racks of ribs to a pork loin.

They tended the fire all day, hanging out in the garage with a set of washer boards to get out of the sun.

Parts of the house still smell a little smoky, and I can definitely tell which clothes I had up to dry while the smoking was going on when I pull them out of the dresser in the morning, but it was very much worth it.

As they wound down their cooking and we prepared to feast for dinner, I decided to whip up a side dish to complement smoked meats and found a delicious one that was even better the next day out of the fridge.

The recipe I made comes from the blog “Budget Bytes.” You can find the post at https://www.budgetbytes.com/roasted-garlic-pasta-salad/. I didn’t feel the need to add anything to this recipe other than suggesting getting a large head of garlic.

Roasted Garlic Pasta Salad

Roasted garlic pasta salad has some amazing flavors that meld into the perfect summer side dish.

Course Salad, Side Dish

Keyword garlic, parmesan, pasta, ricotta, spinach, tomatoes

Ingredients

1 large head of garlic
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound small pasta I used tri-color spirals
15 ounces ricotta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes sliced in half
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Instructions

Chop the top half inch off the head of garlic and place it in a microwave-safe bowl. Drizzle the top with olive oil and cover the bowl. Microwave on high, one minute at a time, until the garlic cloves are soft (poke them with a fork to save burning yourself).
Remove the garlic from the microwave and set aside to cool.
Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain, but save 1/2 cup of the cooking water and put the pasta back into the pot with the burner now off.
While cooking the pasta, squeeze the garlic cloves, and they’ll pop easily out of the skin. Mince the garlic and place it into a mixing bowl.
Add the ricotta, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup pasta water to the mixing bowl and stir until smooth.
In the warm pot you cooked the pasta in, add the spinach, ricotta sauce and cherry tomato halves to the pasta and stir so that everything is coated well and the spinach starts to wilt.
Add the parmesan cheese and more salt and pepper if needed.
You can serve this warm or cold.

This was a great pairing with the guys’ smoked smorgasbord, and I liked that it was a salad that didn’t use eggs or mayonnaise, so it would be perfect to take to an outdoor party where you may not have refrigeration readily available.

When I make this again, I’ll roast two heads of garlic instead of just one to really amp up the flavor, but it had all the stuff I really like—cheese, garlic, fresh veggies and pasta.

And I was thankful for the guys taking their Saturday to prepare lots of food to fill the refrigerator for awhile. Barbecue leftovers are some of the best kind.

This piece first appeared in print on June 14, 2018.

Tags garlic, parmesan, pasta, ricotta, spinach, tomatoes

Main Dish Side Dish

Make ‘mushroom’ for lots of fresh veggies this summer

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 24, 2018

Mixing fresh vegetables and sausage with some simple seasonings makes for a great summer dish.

I’ve mentioned before that my gardening ability is pretty sad to say the least.

Part of that is due to my inability to figure out how much water to dump on my plants, and part of that is due to a thieving squirrel, who convinced me for most of a summer that my tomatoes were vanishing into thin air just before they were ripe enough to pick.

Thank goodness for good friends, local grocery stores and farmer’s markets now that I’ve mostly given up my goals of urban farming.

And with it being the time of year for gardens to begin bursting with lots of great veggies, I’ve started getting really impatient to put them on our dinner table as much as possible.

This week’s recipe is one that Joey and I decided to create while standing in the produce department of our local grocery store last week, so while I’m sure there are dozens of recipes much like it online, we really just made this one up as we went along.

A couple thoughts: if you’d rather make this a vegetarian dish, ditch the sausage and toss in some more veggies. The mushrooms give this a nice, meaty flavor all on their own. Also, once zucchini and summer squash is ready, it would be an amazing addition to this as well, cut into 1/2-inch rounds or half moons.

Summer Vegetables and Sausage

Mixing fresh vegetables and sausage with some simple seasonings makes for a great summer dish.

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Keyword bell pepper, mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, vegetables

Ingredients

2 bell peppers any color
8 to 10 ounces grape or cherry tomatoes
8 ounces whole baby bella mushrooms
3 about 9 ounces bratwursts or sausages of your choice
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper to taste
garlic salt to taste
onion powder to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Wash and prepare the vegetables. Slice the bell peppers into 2-inch by 1/2-inch pieces. Slice the mushrooms in half. Leave the tomatoes whole.
Slice the sausages into 1/2-inch rounds. (We used a chicken, spinach and feta sausage that was out of this world.)
Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread all the ingredients out on it. Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle on your seasonings.
Use your hands to coat the ingredients in the oil and seasonings and spread everything out into as much of a single layer as you can.
Bake for 12 minutes and then give the ingredients a stir. Bake for another 12 minutes or until the sausage is done all the way through and the tomatoes are starting to burst.
Serve immediately.

We had leftovers of this and ate it a couple nights later after mixing it with a little marinara sauce and serving it over spaghetti. It was awesome.

There wasn’t much spring to enjoy this year, but at least that means summer gardens can get underway.

For my part, I’ll stick to keeping some flowers alive this year and get my veggies elsewhere. That sneaky squirrel will have to go bother someone else for his meals this summer.

This piece first appeared in print on May 24, 2018.

Tags bell pepper, mushrooms, sausage, tomatoes, vegetables

Side Dish

Let’s have a serious ‘stalk’ about grilled asparagus

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date May 3, 2018

Grilled asparagus has some simple seasonings that make it a perfect summer side dish.

Last weekend, we decided to go to a late showing of the new “Avengers” movie with a group of friends, so we met early to enjoy the nice weather and grill for supper.

One of our friends walked in with a big bag of fresh asparagus.

“You can do whatever you want with this,” she said, before heading out to the patio.

It’s pretty obvious my friends know me well when they feel comfortable presenting me with a random ingredient and have full faith that I’ll be able to pull something off with it.

I looked online for a way to grill asparagus, since I figured it would easily pop onto the grill next to our steaks, and I discovered one from the blog “Or whatever you do.” The recipe is by Nicole Johnson and is both easy and perfectly seasoned. You can find it at https://www.orwhateveryoudo.com/2014/08/perfect-grilled-asparagus.html.

I will include grilling instructions as well as oven instructions with this recipe, since I ended up finishing the asparagus in the oven, because we managed to run out of propane about halfway through our cooking adventure (the hazards of the first time firing up the grill for spring, I suppose). I also played with some of the amounts a bit.

Grilled Asparagus

Grilled asparagus has some simple seasonings that make it a perfect summer side dish.

Course Side Dish

Keyword asparagus, garlic, grilled

Ingredients

about 1 pound fresh asparagus
about 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine

Instructions

Preheat the grill to about medium-high heat or preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Wash the asparagus and trim off the ends.
Fold a tray out of aluminum foil with raised sides to house the asparagus (put it on some kind of tray to use to carry to the grill or on a baking sheet if it’s going in the oven).
Place the asparagus into the tray, spaced just a little apart, and drizzle with olive oil. Use your hands to coat the asparagus in the oil and then sprinkle with the garlic salt, onion powder and pepper and mix around again to evenly distribute the spices.
Cut the butter into pieces and dot it along the top of the asparagus.
Place the aluminum tray right on the grill grates or leave it on the baking sheet in the oven and cook for about six to eight minutes for stalks that are pencil-size or smaller or about 10 to 15 minutes for larger stalks.
Serve immediately. The asparagus won’t stay warm for long.

We had a fantastic dinner, despite having to finish both our steaks and asparagus back in the house. At least our patio table was ready to hold our plates as we enjoyed one another’s company before our late-night movie.

Once the propane tank is full again, I’m planning on giving this recipe another try. I’m excited to fire up the grill, pull out my shorts and finally enjoy summer.

This piece first appeared in print on May 3, 2018.

Tags asparagus, garlic, grilled, vegetarian

Side Dish

Just ‘fry’ to resist these scrumptious potatoes

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date March 8, 2018

Italian fried potatoes are a relatively simple recipe with lots of flavor.

When I was younger, I knew it was going to be a great supper if I saw my mom’s electric skillet sitting out on the counter.

That meant we were having fried potatoes as our side dish for dinner. I can still smell them cooking when I think about that skillet. It was one of my favorite things.

Mom would cut Russet potatoes into about quarter-inch rounds and add them with oil, garlic salt and pepper into the electric skillet.

They always came out creamy and delicious—especially if you got one of the crispy potatoes that was just a bit thinner than the others.

Now I’m making myself hungry.

Well, in the spirit of my Mom’s tried and true potato recipe, I decided to try one that’s extremely similar but adds Italian frying potatoes (or whatever long, mild green pepper you can find) into the mix. I wouldn’t recommend bell peppers for this, but if that’s all you can find, go for it.

I found this recipe on a blog with a fantastic name, “Panning the Globe.” You can find the post at www.panningtheglobe.com/2016/11/02/italian-fried-potatoes-peppers/. I added more seasoning to my version.

Italian Fried Potatoes and Peppers

Italian fried potatoes are a relatively simple recipe with lots of flavor.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword garlic powder, onion powder, peppers, potatoes

Ingredients

about 1/2 cup canola oil
5 large Russet potatoes
4 long mild green peppers (I used Anaheim)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon onion powder or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Slice your potatoes into rounds as thinly as possible or no bigger than one-quarter inch. If you have a mandolin slicer, this would be a good time to pull it out. Slice the peppers into one-by-one-inch strips and remove the seeds.
Heat the oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. (It may feel like a lot of oil in the pan, but the potatoes will soak it up as they cook. You’ll want somewhere around 1/4-inch of oil in the bottom, but if you want to use less and just keep an eye on it, go for it.)
Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the potatoes and seasoning into the pan and stir to coat the potatoes.
Don’t stir them again for another three to five minutes—letting the bottom get nice and browned with the lid on the pan.
Add the peppers into the pan, and flip the pan’s contents so the browned potatoes end up on top.
Put the lid back on and let things set for another three to five minutes. Repeat that process until your potatoes are all either crispy or nice and fork tender.
Add more seasoning to taste.

I didn’t peel my potatoes for this, but if you’re not really into potato skins, you’ll probably want to. They’ll mostly separate from the potatoes into long strips in the mix.

These potatoes also reheated really well, which was good, because it made tons and tons of food. It certainly wasn’t my healthiest week of lunches to take to work, but I tried to rationalize the fact that I was also taking meatless lunches made it better somehow.

You might want to decrease the number of potatoes and peppers if you’re not planning on feeding a small army, though.

The only disappointing part of this recipe is that this was definitely not as good as my mom’s. I may have to sweet talk her into firing up that electric skillet again sometime soon.

This piece first appeared in print on March 8, 2018.

Tags garlic powder, onion powder, peppers, potatoes

Side Dish

Get in the ‘spear’it with fresh asparagus

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 15, 2018

Balsamic potatoes and asparagus highlights fresh vegetables and simple flavors.

The other day, I was standing in the produce section of the grocery store, staring at a big bag of beautiful, fresh asparagus.

I had no idea what I wanted to make with the stuff, but I knew immediately that I wanted to make something.

So I stood to the side with my phone and scrolled through Pinterest and found one that looked delicious. I was especially excited about it, because it used balsamic vinegar. I have a huge bottle of it sitting in my pantry from a recipe I made long ago, and I haven’t had much use for it since.

The recipe I found is from the blog “Wallflower Kitchen.” You can find it at http://wallflowerkitchen.com/balsamic-roasted-new-potatoes-asparagus/. I simplified the amounts and swapped out an ingredient to make this easier and cheaper.

Balsamic Potatoes and Asparagus

Balsamic potatoes and asparagus highlights fresh vegetables and simple flavors.

Course Side Dish

Keyword asparagus, balsamic vinegar, potatoes

Ingredients

2 pounds small potatoes I used yellow
1/2 pound fresh asparagus
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 390 degrees.
Cut the potatoes into quarters and cut the asparagus into two-inch pieces.
In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the potatoes, olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder, salt and pepper and toss to coat the potatoes.
Roast for 20 minutes and check the potatoes by piercing them with a fork. You’ll want them fork tender before you add in the asparagus, so keep checking on them every 10 minutes until they’re pretty well cooked through and then mix in the asparagus.
Roast for another 15 minutes or until the asparagus is done to your liking.
Season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

This was a great side dish for dinner, and since I actually ended up purchasing about three pounds of potatoes and a pound of asparagus to make this, I had lots of leftovers to heat up over the next week for lunch, too.

If you do decide to up the amounts a bit, I’d recommend spreading it out on a big, rimmed baking sheet instead of in a 9-by-13-inch dish so that it cooks faster.

I was super excited with how this recipe turned out, and it was an excellent way to enjoy some fresh asparagus. It would be a great one to store away in the recipe box for when gardens are in full swing.

And I was once again reminded what a sucker I am for fresh produce when I’m out grocery shopping while hungry. I supposed that’s why it’s a good idea for me to avoid the candy aisle.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 15, 2018.

Tags asparagus, balsamic vinegar, potatoes