The food. The plate. The photograph. The gathering. The culinary experience.
Sweet Potato Pie Bake (Dairy-Free/Paleo-Friendly) – tastes just like pumpkin pie!
I love this Sweet Potato Pie Bake because it is so versatile! Dress it up with marshmallows for a special holiday side dish OR skip the marshmallows and it is a delicious paleo side dish for any meal!
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Creamy Purple Cabbage Coleslaw with Cilantro and Anaheim Peppers – my go-to coleslaw recipe that is ALWAYS a hit!
This is an all-time blog favorite that was born out of a desire to make coleslaw-that-doesn’t-suck AND to specially go with the all-time, most popular blog post – Smoked Pork Shoulder.
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Super Simple Roasted Broccolini – this is my go-to broccolini recipe that I honestly make 2-3 times per week!!
I am finally sharing my absolute favorite broccolini recipe with you guys!! I make it ALL the time and my entire family LOVES it!!
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Roasted Acorn Squash + Walnuts, Browned Butter and Brown Sugar is an easy side dish for fall that the entire family will love! Perfect for a weeknight meal or Thanksgiving dinner!
Oooh this Roasted Acorn Squash + Walnuts, Browned Butter and Brown Sugar is so good! And so easy! It has to roast for an hour, so I am not necessarily going to say it is quick, but with just a little planning ahead, these can become a weeknight staple. They are low maintenance and the result is some buttery, sweet yumminess that I promise even your picky eaters will love.
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Baked Beans + Thick Cut Bacon is a wonderfully indulgent way to impress your guests with some delicious homemade baked beans!
Ummmmm…. yummy. Yummy. Yummy. Yummy. Have you ever gotten to that point in your life, as you buy your 100th can of baked beans of the year, and find yourself wondering “Is this as good as it gets? What do really GOOD baked beans taste like? How in the what do you make these?” If so, (and let’s be honest, we’ve all been there) I have the recipe for you.
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Simple Steamed Broccoli + Lemon and Parmesan Cheese is an healthy and easy side dish to add to any weeknight meal!
I don’t know about you guys, but I am always scratching my head wondering what kind of vegetable I am going to serve with dinner. I mean, there are only so many veggies in the world, and there are only so many ways to serve them! Especially when we are talking about the dreaded “weeknight dinner” …. dun dun dunnn. Having a vegetable with our meal during the week is a must in our house, but when you have very specific parameters within which to work (i.e. fast, easy, kids will eat…) your options start to dwindle. Fast.
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Roasted Beets + Salt and Honey
Roasted Beets + Salt and Honey is a great summer side dish and a fun, new way to use your home-grown or farmers-market beets.
Wait, do you also have a CSA box full of beets and wondering what in the merciful heavens you are going to do with them? Cause I do. Or did. Until I decided to try out this new recipe. The beets are definitely all gone now. And yours will be too.
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Butter and Chive Cauliflower Mash
Cauliflower mash is a something I love to serve to people who have never tried it before, because they always have a pre-conceived notion that it tastes exactly like chopped up, plain cauliflower (which, I agree, sounds kind of gross). But there is something magical when you whip up the cauliflower into a smooth, creamy, wonderful mash – with butter, milk and chives of course – it becomes a delectable side dish that very well may over power your main event! I remember one time I was planning a meal – cause that is what I do for fun – and it ended up being scallops with spinach and cauliflower mash. When I told my wonderful plan to my husband, he gave me that supportive smile, but I knew he wasn’t overly thrilled with having to try “mashed up cauliflower.” Well, as you can probably guess, when serving time came, he was blown away with how good it was. Does the amount of butter outweigh any nutritional value in the cauliflower…. not sure. But I do know that you are going to love the recipe. It really is a great foundation for a fun, creatively plated meal. Next time you have a meal that may normally call for mashed potatoes, throw this into the mix and see what everyone has to say.
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Braised Boy Choy – a simple and delicious side dish with an Asian flare!
Can’t wait for you guys to try this super easy side dish!
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For this post, I truly went away from my comfort zone. I would say most times, when I create a recipe I come up with a general concept or ingredient and start brainstorming ideas and I then do quite a bit of research to get inspiration and to further develop and fine tune that idea. In the end, I put quite a bit of planning and thought behind my recipes. This was a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of recipe. As in, I was piecing it together in the grocery store….. Not always a good idea. I am pretty proud of the result, though I plan on re-visiting this recipe to fine-tune it. I ended up purchasing smoked salmon (Lox) and, to be quite honest, it was a little too “smokey”. I think next time I will try cured salmon or even a sushi grade salmon for a more pure salmon flavor. What I like about this recipe is the variety it provides, the different ways you can combine the different components. The acid in the lemon vinaigrette, the salt of the salmon and the sweet, creaminess of the avocado, cream cheese and/or beets. It is really a recipe you can have fun with and I hope you do!
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