One of the best things about doing e-mealz is that each meal includes a side dish. I’m so very guilty of making an entree and then 2 minutes before I serve it up saying, “Oh. Maybe we should have some vegetables with this?” The side dishes e-mealz suggests are usually simple like cut up cantaloupe or a salad with bacon, tomatoes and ranch dressing. But I just like that it gets me out of my box to try new things!

So, because I’m a little hungry I thought I’d share my

Top Ten Favorite Side Dishes That Have Less Than Five Ingredients and You Can Make Even When You Forgot You Needed A Side Dish

{*waggling eyebrows*}

1. Balsamic Honey Carrots

I learned this one from Chef Druck when we did a Healthy Food Chat for The Motherhood. Just cut up a few carrots, throw in a little balsamic vinegar, some honey and maybe a little oil and water into a pan. Put on the lid and steam/cook for a few minutes until desired tenderness. This is Lydia’s favorite! So yummy! And I’m sure it would be delicious with other veggies, too.

2. Dressed Up Broccoli

I found this one on All Recipes. It’s basically just bread crumbs, butter, garlic and parmesan cheese sprinkled on cooked broccoli. Then broiled until brown. I could eat an entire bowl.

3. Sweet Baby Carrots

OK, baby carrots freak me out. You know they are STAMPED out of real carrots, right? Why?!

But this was a surprisingly yummy side dish from E-Mealz. Combine 1/3 c orange marmalade, a couple of tablespoons of water, a hunk of butter, and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg plus a little salt in a pan. Add carrots (baby or not), coat and then steam until done.

4. Cranberry Slaw

I am not a big slaw fan. Maybe because it usually shows up on the potluck table with the top just torn off from Wal-mart. Anywhoo. I *am* a fan of sweet/tart food. And this one fits the bill– mix 2 T cider vinegar, 1 T sugar, 2 t olive oil, ½ t salt. Add to 4 c coleslaw mix and ½ c dried cranberries. It was so yummy! The kids even liked it! {Got this one from E-mealz, too!}

5. Diced Potatoes

This is our old standby. And honestly, I could eat it for every meal. I like to dice (with my Vidalia Chop Wizard, a gift from Staci) potatoes of any kind–sweet potatoes, plain old Idaho potatoes, red potatoes and even purple potatoes! Then dice up an onion, bell pepper or jalapeno to mix with it. Pour on a little olive oil and some salt. Then bake at about 400 for 20 minutes. Oh, yum. I want some right now!

6. Broccoli with Poppy Seed Butter

This is another All Recipes find. It’s so easy–just a few spices, some poppy seeds and parmesan cheese. Pour over broccoli and devour. YUM.

7. Roasted Veggies

I asked my friends on facebook what their favorite side dish was and the landslide winner was roasted veggies–broccoli, asparagus, red potatoes, etc. Just grab whatever veggies you have, coat them with a little olive oil, some salt and pepper and throw them in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Done.

8. Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes

I haven’t tried this one yet, but since I obviously love potatoes, honey & throwing things in the oven this one is perfect. Thank you to one of my messageboard mamas on facebook for the suggestion: Cut 3 large sweet potatoes/yams into 3/4″ chunks. Toss with 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup good honey and 2tsp cinnamon. Bake on a cookie sheet for ~30 min @350. Tip: the honey kills a cookie sheet so cover the whole thing in foil and then a sheet of parchment paper.

9. Lundberg Jubilee Rice

OK. This isn’t actually a quick side dish. In fact, it takes an hour to cook. But oh man, is it yummy! It’s especially good if you cook it in broth instead of water. (You know you should ALWAYS use broth in place of water, right?)

10. Bread and Butter

I know, it doesn’t seem that great. A poor-man’s side dish even. But ever since I have been making my own bread and buying real butter? It is like the best thing ever. I find myself craving bread and butter for a snack. I’m not kidding. The crusts are even delicious!

:: :: ::

Link up your Top Ten list and join in the Top Ten {Tuesday} fun! All you have to do is WRITE a top ten list, PASTE it  below, LINK back to me in your post & then start LOVIN’ on the rest of the participants with facebook likes, stumbles, comments and tweets! For better and more succinct guidelines see my Top Ten {Tuesday} page!

Best Under 5 Ingredients Side Dishes: Top Ten {Tuesday} is a post from: ohamanda.com

Anyone remember the fabulousness of my Rice Krispies Fruity Shortcakes? I know, you’ve probably been dreaming of them the last few months. Well, never fear, I have come up with a new CHRISTMASY version of Rice Krispies treats that you are going to LOVE.

See, Rice Krispies and The Motherhood contacted all the bloggers who had done those Springy treats (and some other seasonal challenges) to do a show-stopping Christmas treat. And although, I’m not super creative in the food department, I like a little show-stopping Christmasy challenge.

As I was thinking about this TWO things came to mind—first was this cute little craft Lydia and I were planning on making this year—it was a craft-foam gingerbread man inside a snowglobe. It’s something we found for 75% off after Christmas last year. I figured I could make some gingerbread men Rice Krispies and put them in a snowglobe!

But then something EVEN BETTER came to mind—my very favorite cookie from the Fickle Pickle! Anyone remember it? (Because I’ve blogged about it several times and just tweeted it last week!) OK, fine, you don’t know every single thing I love by heart–but if you’d ever had their CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIE you’d never forget it!

So, that’s what we did. We made TWO batches of Rice Krispies Treats. One gingerbread and one CHOCOLATE gingerbread! Ready for the deliciousness?

Here’s what you need:

6 cups of Rice Krispies
1 bag of marshmallows
4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon molasses
1/4 cup cocoa {optional for Chocolate Gingerbread}
Assorted frosting, candy, etc for decoration

The key here is mixing all your spices in with the butter. Once the butter is melted, just stir the spices in until your butter is nice and…spicy. Then add the marshmallows and coat. Then stir until melted. Keep it on low the whole time otherwise your treats will get crunchy. I don’t know why, but it’s true. Look how yummy that is:

After adding the Rice Krispies, I poured them into a baking dish and cut out gingerbread man shapes. A jelly roll pan might be a little easier for using cookie cutters because the treats would be thinner. If you were really crafty, you might be able to mold them into gingerbread people shapes, but I couldn’t figure it out. You saw my Rice Krispies Cannonballs, I could barely make circles!

Lydia loved the fruit-by-the-foot and the marshmallows (I cut them in thirds with scissors so the colored sugar would stick to it!). Asa just liked picking up the candy and eating it. Pretty sure he didn’t even decorate his gingerpeople.

Lydia’s creation!

Somehow only 2 of my gingerfolk escaped my stomach long enough to have their picture taken. And get their picture taken they did—inside a winter wonderland snowglobe! It’s just a big clear round bowl I found at Michael’s. I poured a little glitter in it and swirled it around. It made it sparkle and shimmer. Then I attached a cute snowflake ornament, added a little bit of that snowy cotton stuff and I think our little Ginger couple are as Christmas-y, wintery as can be!

I used cut mini-marshmallows and green sugar for the gingerbread person on the right. Along with some red fruit-by-the-foot-straps. The chocolate gingerbread guy on the right looks a littlThen I laid out the candy (in a muffin tin, my fave!) and let the kids have at it. e Santa Claus-ish with a fruit-by-the-foot tunic, edible pearl belt and green M&M buttons. Oh, and don’t forget his cut marshmallows with red sugar for shoes.

Even if you didn’t want to do gingerbread people and all the {amazing} decorations we did, you could still do the gingerbread or chocolate gingerbread flavoring. It was really easy, the flavor was light and not overwhelming. It’s just nice and Christmasy. In fact, I took the leftovers to church last Sunday (not a very pretty presentation, mind you, because I had just stuffed all of them in a ziploc bag) but everyone who tasted them loved them! (Am I right, ladies?)

I will be making these for Christmas this year. Seriously, they are yummy, Christmasy and simple to make! What? You’d like to make them, too? Well, Rice Krispies is giving a $100 Visa Giftcard to one of you–just think of all the Rice Krispies treats you could make! Just leave me a comment with how awesome you think my gingerbread men are a fun way you’ve seen or made Rice Krispies treats!

Abbreviated Rules: No Purchase Necessary. Contest Ends Tuesday 12/21/10. For complete Official Rules, go to http://web.mediacdt.com/docs/motherhoodholiday. Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. One entry per person. Subject to complete Official Rules. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: The Motherhood; www.TheMotherhood.com.

Disclosure: Thank you to Rice Krispies and The Motherhood for providing me with Rice Krispies galore and a stipend to fund my creation!

Chocolate Gingerbread Rice Krispies Treats {*giveaway*} is a post from: ohamanda.com

In my first vegetable share box, I correctly identified some SWEET POTATOES! Lydia and Asa have been eating sweet potatoes since they were babies. That was also the first time I began to eat sweet potatoes. I never liked them growing up–maybe because I’d only had the the marshmallow casserole version or the overcooked baked-potato version. Apparently I’d never had them in their God-given form: SWEET POTATO FRIES.

Sweet potato fries are practically our favorite food. We make them regularly–sometimes just quartered and drizzled with olive oil, sometimes diced (for little fingers) and mixed with onions and peppers. A few weeks ago I found the most delicious potato fries recipe ever from (my  new favorite blog name) THE PURPLE FOODIE. She used regular old russet potatoes. But I decided to grab my new fresh-from-the-farmer sweet potatoes! OH MY YUM.

Her directions were honestly a little too foodie for me, so here’s my normal-person-not-so-good-in-the-kitchen version:

Ingredients:
Sweet Potatoes
3 T Cornstarch {I’ve made these twice, once with cornstarch & once with flour. Both worked fine!}
8 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 t salt {Purple Foodie suggests sea salt and I actually had some in my cupboard!}
1 1/2 t pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper {cut it down if you’re wimpy like that}
1/2 t garlic powder
6 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.

2. Cut sweet potatoes to desired size and shape. Boil for 5 minutes. Take potatoes out of pot and drain or pat dry. Pour into large bowl.

2. Heat olive oil in pan. Cook garlic for 2-3 minutes. (Or until it smells good to you.)

3.  Pour olive oil (try to hold back the garlic) on top of potatoes. Mix to coat.

4. Mix cornstarch, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic powder in small bowl.

5. Pour dry ingredients over potatoes. Add garlic. Mix to coat potatoes.

6. Place in one layer on baking sheet. Bake at 440 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

If you make and eat these and do NOT say, “Oooh, Amanda!” with thankfulness and admiration in your voice, I will give you your money back! They are that good.

(PS–that money guarantee was just hyperbole.)

linked to Things I Love Thursday

YUMMY Garlic Sweet Potato Fries is a post from: ohamanda.com