From the category archives:

Vegetables

Creamed Spinach with Bacon

November 14, 2011

Spinach doesn’t need cream or bacon to make it a good side dish. It’s fine on its own, simply steamed or sauteed with a little lemon. That’s how I typically make it. But… If you do happen to mix cream and bacon in with spinach – and maybe some aromatic onions and garlic too for [...]

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Slow Cooker Garlic Artichokes

May 26, 2011

It came as a surprise to many of my friends that I had never cooked artichokes until a few weeks ago. Here in California artichokes are kind of a staple, like avocados. In fact, nearly all artichokes in the U.S. are grown in this state (I just learned that). However, my parents were raised in [...]

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Balsamic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

April 27, 2011

I’ll try almost any recipe that has “balsamic” in the name. Balsamic vinegar is like this magical elixir that dials up the flavor of anything it touches. I’ll never forget the first time I tried strawberries with balsamic vinegar – how in the world did it make them so sweet? And, of course, you can’t [...]

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Zucchini with Walnuts & Chives

August 25, 2010

Yes, it’s unofficially “Zucchini Week” on Cooking On the Side. The other day I brought you a sweet treat – Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread. Today we’ll step over to the savory side, with Zucchini with Walnuts & Chives. Evidently when you plant zucchini in your garden it grows like crazy (you have to see the [...]

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Chilled Dill Carrot Salad

January 19, 2010

Do unusual fruits or vegetables catch your eye in your produce section and leave you wondering what they’re like? For me, it’s been the multicolor carrots lately. Despite the fact that I’m not the biggest carrot fan in the world I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put those beautiful colors in a dish. I finally [...]

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Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Pecan Crunch

November 18, 2009

Despite being almost two years old, my daughter still prefers her sweet potatoes in the form of baby food purées with nothing else added. I suspect this has as much to do with the appeal of the natural sweet potato flavor as it does with the entertainment value of practicing the transfer of bright-orange mush [...]

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Bacon, Sour Cream & Chive Mashed Potatoes

November 5, 2009

I’ve struggled in the past to make mashed potatoes with the texture I really like – the really fluffy, smooth, creamy kind. Maybe I’d been using the wrong kind of potatoes or I wasn’t cooking the potatoes for long enough or I could have benefited from a tool like a potato ricer…but I think the [...]

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Green Bean Casserole

November 4, 2009

I previously said that it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving at my house without classic pumpkin pie. Well, I guess I’d also add Green Bean Casserole to that list. To be fair, is it the best vegetable side dish I’ve ever had? No, not really. But it’s loaded with tradition and nostalgia – and on Thanksgiving, that [...]

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Creamy Broccoli Soup

October 6, 2009

I’m an adult now (and have been for some time) so I shouldn’t really need excuses to eat my vegetables. But I still kind of do. It’s not that I don’t like them…but I don’t necessarily jump for them either. That is, unless they’re made in an especially tasty manner. This Creamy Broccoli Soup definitely [...]

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Roasted Broccoli with Lemon

September 25, 2009

It doesn’t come much simpler than this: broccoli tossed with olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper and roasted until that telltale caramelized crust forms. Nothing fancy – just the fresh taste of the vegetable, with a bit of its natural sweetness brought out to the forefront. Everyone needs an easy vegetable side dish recipe [...]