Seeking New Side Dishes

www.savingdinner.com is awesome. I saved so much on grocery bills having the weekly list and boyfriend says he wants to find the women who writes these and marry her since the meals are so awesome (he is only kidding, but the meals are awesome)

Look in the frozen section at the grocery store and you will find a multitude of different veggie sides that you just heat on the stove or in the microwave. Some are already seasoned or have sauces. Some also have pasta in them as well. I prefer frozen veggies over canned anyway because they are supposed to retain more of their nutrients in the freezing process vs. the canning process. Now, I do still use some canned veggies so I'm not totally dissing those, I just find the taste and added nutrition in frozen veggies more preferable in most cases. I will state if you're more used to canned veggies, going with frozen may be a bit of a taste shock to your family 'cause it takes longer to soften some veggies up that have been frozen, like carrots and green beans, than the canned versions. But to get my family to eat the more healthy sides, I just cook them a little longer to improve the texture for them and they just gobble them right up.

Knorr has some new rice and pasta sides that have 2 servings of vegetables in each bag that you can find next to the rice and mac & cheese section of the grocery store. I can't remember the name of the side, but we have tried the chicken rice flavored one and even my picky daughter seemed to like it ok. I know it's processed, which some people would really poopoo, but when I'm busy, I'm not against using a bag or box to make dinner if you know what I mean.

I don't know if your family likes corn, but if they do, here's a good recipe from Paula Deen:

Corn Casserole
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Show: Paula's Home Cooking
Episode: Country Cooking - Southern Sides

1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
1 (8-ounce) package corn muffin mix (recommended: Jiffy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together the 2 cans of corn, corn muffin mix, sour cream, and melted butter. Pour into a greased 9 by 13-inch casserole dish. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and top with Cheddar. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for at least 5 minutes and then serve warm.

This recipe is by far not a healthy dish but it's probably one of my husband's favorite.

I also recommend looking for side dish recipes on these websites: www.recipezaar.com (my favorite), www.allrecipes.com or www.foodnetwork.com. On the first two, you can even specify that you want "simple" recipes in your search.

Good luck!

Hi C..
Artichoke pasta salad is easy to make store the extra for next time. My children also love the frozen veggies over the canned. Their favorites are cauliflower and broccoli mix and the stir fry veggies. I just salt and pepper with a tiny bit of butter. They can be easily and quickly steamed in the microwave, too. I suggest you just introduce them to everything and do it more than once 'cause you will always get the "gross", the first time. We also love sides like rice. "Mahatma" brand is great because they have the seasonings added for you. Comes out perfect every time. Have you ever had "fideo"? It's soooo easy and the kids love it. Have you ever tried German potatoe salad? It's another side you can make ahead of time and store. Oh! Another of my kiddos' favorites is baby baked potatoes. I get small red potatoes and "bake" them in the microwave as I would the large baked potatoes and I slit the tops and squeeze the bottoms. I then top each one with a little butter, salt, pepper. They love them and the kids love thinking that these potatoes were made in "their" size, just for them.
Well, there ar esooo many more. Just experiment, introduce and reintroduce.
Have fun!
D.

Something really healthy and different:

Tofu and veggies, you will need a variety of cut up veggies your favorite and off course one block of firm tofu, minced garlic and chopped onion.

You will cut the tofu in small cubes and put them to fry then add the garlic and salt and the veggies!!!! salt to taste and you can even buy some tumeric and sprinkle on everything while still on the pan or wok. You can add some rice noodles and those you just have to soak in warm water. With this quick and healthy dish you have a full balanced meal...

If you don't want to do tofu you can substiture for cut up checken breast.

Green Giant has a lot of the steamable frozen veggies - try a quick casserole with some soup and some veggies. I make a quick green bean casserole abour once every two weeks and in between I make the corn on the cobs (mini) and brussel sprouts which taste like mini cabbages and I season them with season salt and a little bit of butter - I also learned to try my veggies with the cooking sprays instead of real butter (I bought one that has olive oil and hot pepper) I love it.

Try casseroles like chicken and rice with ceese or my fave is -

1 lb ground beef browned
1 cup shredded cheese
1 can of mild dice tomatoes (I like to rotel brand)
12 cups of white rice (I use instant to make it quicker)

mix it all in a casserole dish and stick in the oven on 375-400 until everything is hot and cheese is melted - I notmally make a corn bread with it. Set the oven to the temp for the corn bread so thety can both cook at the same tiem and temp.

Good luck

something else that might help is - like me and my daughter (3 1/2) we became bored with the same everyday dishes - we said at least once a month or more we will try something we never tried before - whether a new fruit, veggie or whole new dish all together.... I normally let her choose as we walk through the grocery store each weekend....

Do you own a deep fryer. Once in a while to make things different, I will dip veggies like mushrooms, zuchinnie, asperagus, cauliflower, onion rings, etc.. in batter, and deep fry them. Any nice thick batter generally works. I also found out I can get my older brother to eat sweet potato by slicing it very thin and deep frying it as well. It taste just like potato chips. Sweet potato is also great when roasted whole in the oven, or BBQ. Boil baby carrots with salt pepper and a touch of ginger. When soft, drain, and add a spoon full each of butter and honey and stir. I love smashed potatoes. All I do is cut them in 1 inch pieces and boil them with enough salt in the water so as it tastes like the sea. When they are soft, drain them and add 1 tablespoon butter and a dollop of sour cream. Mash with potato masher or fork, and add pepper to taste.

Hi,

I know what you mean by the same old thing. I have started putting a small smiple little salad. I even put some fruit on the plate. We are trying to eat more healther so we use the slow cooker for our meat and then put the meat on a salad. Its so smiple and easy. You caneven try corn on the cob. You can get it at walmart in the frezer. They are little and cook up quick. Good luk in your findings. =)

I use recipes a lot whenever I cook. Try kraftfoods.com, meals.com, about.com, allrecipes.com for great ideas.

One of THE BEST websites in the whole world is www.allrecipes.com!! Try it and you will be hooked!

Cream Cheese Corn
3 Cans whole kernel corn ( Drained )
1 Stick Margarine
1 8 oz Cream Cheese

Put in Casserole Dish and Bake 30 minutes at 350 Degrees.
Stir real good and serve, Try it one time and you will
love it.

C. you have a big selection of box rice pilaf and couscous and other neat things that are quick and easy to make. You can also try steamed veggies and I also found some twice baked potatoes @ Meat Matters in plano that are made with real potatoes.

birdseye makes these great, already seasoned veggies that steam in the bag. They are tasty and super easy.

What about the Rice a Roni, Pasta helpers, broccili w/cheese, mash potato or sweet potatos, corn on the cob, or different veggies that you haven't tried yet....
Good Luck

Its funny that someone wrote you the recipe for corn casserole. Read Nicole's responce. I was about to do the same. It really is good. I serve it with baked ham, baked chicken. Its really easy. My kids always want it at Thanksgiving but to me it so much like cornbread stuffing that I only made it once at Thanksgiving.

We do a lot of canned stuff too and for a long time it was green beans and spinach, now we do blackeye peas, butter bean and pinto or kidney beans organic if I can find them. I also do frozen veggies and steam them on the stove like peas, broccoli, and mixed veggies. Betty crocker augratin potatoes are good they bake abt 20 minutes. When you have a little more time green bean casseroles are good even when its not Turkey day.
Best of luck and God bless.

i love the bagged frozen vegies with the sauces on them. corn and pears with butter sauce, broc with cheese. ect...

I second the frozen veggies in a steamable bag...they are GREAT!!

Instant mashed potatoes - so many flavors!!
Pasta Roni

I know this sounds like a no brainer, but my hubby and I were trying to eat healthier. I was doing plain salad with dressing. But, I started buying green pepper, celery, carrot, green onion, cucumber, green olives, peperocinis, etc. and once a week I chop them up and put them in seperate containers and we each put whatever we want on our salad! I like craisins and blue cheese crumbles with raspberry walnut vinagrette too. Make your own salad has made eating a salad better!!

I just found a new steamed vegetable side in the fresh produce rather than frozen. There are butter and herbs in the bag with the veggies and you just pop the whole bag in the microwave for 5 minutes and it is ready to serve. Our family tried the red potatoes with herbs and it was really good!