Showing posts with label side dish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label side dish. Show all posts

Creamy Parmesan Lemon Risotto

 

Creamy parmesan Lemon Risotto

This creamy parmesan lemon risotto is delightful. You would expect to find risotto in a fancy Italian restaurant. Or, you could make risotto yourself.

Risotto is a rice dish from Northern Italy and can be served as an appetizer, side dish, or even a main dish. It is made from short-grain starchy rice that you can buy at your local grocery store. 

We used Arborio Rice the starch in this rice gives the Risotto that creamy consistency. Risotto is cooked in broth and you can add all kinds of your favorites like mushrooms, and veggies.

Bobby prepared a saucepan and added six cups of chicken broth to simmer while I diced the onion. In a separate pan, we started to cook the onions using extra virgin olive oil and seasoned rice vinegar. you can use white wine in place of the vinegar.

Cheesy Lemon Risotto

After the broth has simmered and onions are tender add one cup of the rice to the onions and stir in the warm broth one cup at a time continually stirring until the broth is absorbed for each cup of broth you add. 

Creamy Parmesan Lemon Risotto Ingredients:

6 cups Chicken Broth
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar or white wine
2 teaspoons lemon juice plus zest of one lemon
1/2 of medium Spanish onion diced
1 cup Arborio Rice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese plus 1/4 cup for garnish

Instructions:
  1. Simmer the chicken broth in a saucepan. 
  2. In a separate pan add the olive oil, butter, vinegar, and onions.
  3. Stir and cook the onions until tender. If you are adding mushrooms or veggies add them now.
  4. Add the rice to the onions and then add one cup of broth at a time.
  5. Continue to stir until each cup of broth is absorbed before you add the next one.
  6. Continue to stir and cook the risotto until soft on the outside but firm on the inside.
Note: You may not use all of the broth. We ended up using 4 cups of the broth before our risotto was finished. This takes a little time and work but is so well worth it in the end. We yielded four servings from this recipe.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.





 

Cast Iron Fried Potatoes

Cast Iron Fried Potatoes

I love cooking with my cast iron skillet. These cast-iron fried potatoes will make a perfect side dish for any meal. These little baby yellow potatoes are very versatile. You can use them for just about anything, baked, sauteed, mashed, roasted, I choose the fry them.

Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes


These little baby yellow potatoes are firm white potatoes with thin skin. They're perfect for my cast iron skillet.

I first rinsed them in cold water and then dried them. Leaving the skin on, I sliced the potatoes about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. You can cut them any way that you like, sliced or quartered.

I covered the bottom of my 10-inch cast-iron skillet with olive oil, then added 2 tablespoons of butter. Let this heat up over medium heat. I cut the potatoes while waiting for the pan to heat up.

I love cooking with garlic, so, I chopped a clove of garlic and added it to the skillet. Let this heat up until the garlic becomes fragrant. Now add the potatoes and begin to stir.

As they cook, add a generous amount of Italian seasoning.  Add sea salt and black pepper to your taste. Continue to move and toss the potatoes as they cook. This will prevent them from sticking and cooking too much on one side. Cook until the potatoes are golden brown.

 Now, you have a quick, easy, and perfect side dish for any meal. Try these delicious little potatoes with my Perfect Cast Iron Skillet Steak.


As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it!


The Lodge Brand is my go-to cast iron skillet


Cajun Roasted Potato Wedges

Cajun Roasted Potato Wedges

These cajun roasted potato wedges made the perfect side dish for Fran's slow cooker chuck roast. Fran picked up a nice chuck roast at the grocery store and decided to slow roast it in our crockpot.

If I'm going to have a good roast and gravy then I need to have potatoes. I'm not a fan of adding potatoes to the crockpot while cooking a roast. For me, they always seem to turn out too soft and mushy.

So, just before the roast was finished I made these cajun roasted potato wedges in the oven. Potatoes are another side dish that is so versatile. I made these Cajun-style using Penzeys Cajun Seasoning.

You can season your potato wedges with so many different seasoning. Some options are Italian seasoning, garlic, and butter, or try steak seasoning.

Cajun Roasted Potato Wedges:


recipe oven roasted potato wedges

Here is all I used:

4 medium white potatoes
Olive oil
Penzeys Cajun Seasoning
Salt and Pepper
Pam non-stick spray

First I washed the potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise and then in half again. I put the wedges in a medium bowl and tossed them with olive oil until they were all coated.

I sprayed my cookie sheet with Pam non-stick spray to be sure the potatoes wouldn't stick while roasting. Then I generously coated the wedges with salt, pepper, and the cajun seasoning.

I set the oven to 450 degrees and roasted the wedges for 30 minutes until they were golden brown.

Cajun Roasted Potato Wedges:


crispy oven roasted potato wedges

I have to tell you these came out of the oven just perfectly. Crispy and tasty on the outside, nice and firm on the inside. These potatoes were a perfect fit for our slow-roasted chuck roast. This is an easy 30-minute side dish for any meat and potatoes meal.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy.

Grilled Zucchini

Grilled Zucchini and Squash
Grilled zucchini squash recipe
An easy and healthy veggie side dish to compliment any meal.  While shopping last week Fran had picked up a strip steak for me and a turkey burger for herself.

 Fran eats much healthier than I do. While I was heating up the grill and grilling the steak and burger she prepared some zucchini and yellow squash. For this easy grilled zucchini squash recipe.

Here is how she did it:

Sliced the zucchini and squash length wise about ¼ inch to ½ inch thick.

Brushed olive oil on both sides.

Seasoned with some Italian seasoning.

Then layered with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

After the steak and turkey burger finished cooking on the grill, I took the zucchini and squash slices and placed them directly on the grill surface on the medium setting.

Quickly grilled these for about a minute per side, just enough to show the grill marks, you don’t want to over cook them, as they will turn out too soft and mushy.

They came out perfect and made a tasty veggie side dish. Quick and easy is the way that I like it.

Here is another great idea for grilled veggies, one of my earlier posts: Grilled Stacked Veggies, this one you can really make a meal out of.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy!

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

Grilled Sweet Potatoes


Here is another one where you don’t have to turn on the oven. It’s still grilling season so why not get all you can get out of it before the weather turns on us.

My daughter prepared these sweet potatoes and I grilled them for a great side dish for the evening. Apparently sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest foods that you can eat, Loaded with vitamin “A”. I’m not any kind of expert on the health benefits of sweet potatoes I just know that I do enjoy them.

What you need:

2 or 3 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Sugar (optional)

How to do this:

  • Peel and slice the sweet potatoes ¼” or ½ thick
  • Brush both sides lightly with olive oil
  • Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over one side
  • Sugar is optional; you can add some if you like. We did not use sugar

I set the grill on the medium setting and grilled on each side for about 2 minutes. Then I moved them to the upper rack of the grill, closed the lid, and cooked until the sweet potatoes were tender. I would say about 15 minutes.

Sweet potatoes cooking on the grill
Sweet Potatoes on the grill




As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy

Baked Parmesan Zucchini



Baked Parmesan Zucchini slices

Garden season brings so many healthy and fresh vegetables, and if you plant zucchini you already know it grows in abundance.

You can go online and find thousands of recipes for zucchini. This recipe my daughter cooked up just the other night, Baked Parmesan Zucchini Slices.

This is so easy to make with so few ingredients, and they make a healthy tasty snack or a side for any meal. When you slice them thin they're more like oven baked parmesan zucchini chips.

What you need:

2 or 3 zucchini of course sliced into rounds
Olive oil or our latest favorite coconut oil
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Minced garlic or garlic powder (Optional)

Here is all you have to do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Slice the zucchini into a bowl, (you can slice them to your desired thickness) I like the zucchini slices thin because they are so crispy right of the oven.

Drizzle some oil into the bowl and toss until the zucchini are all coated

Spread them out on a cookie sheet and add your seasonings, top off with a nice layer of Parmesan cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, for extra crispy turn on the broiler for the last 5 minutes

Serve and enjoy this oven baked parmesan zucchini.

As always Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Oil

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Oil


Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Oil
This is such a delightful compliment to any meal. My daughter made these with pork tenderloin, which I happened to cook on the grill, but I’m saving that one for another post. This one is all about these delicious roasted sweet potatoes. 

Okay here is what you need:

3 to 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, like home fries.
3 tbs. of coconut oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp nutmeg

Now this is what you do: 


1.     Place the cubed sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl.
2.       Add the coconut oil and turn over to coat the potatoes
3.       Add the three spices and turn several times to coat again
4.       Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
5.       Spread them out on a cookie sheet, and bake for about one hour

You have to give this one a try, if you like sweet potatoes you’ll love these. All of the flavors seem to just come together. Need I say that I ate every last one!!

As always Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed!

Broiled Asparagus with Pistachio Nuts

Broiled Asparagus


Broiled asparagus with pistachio nuts is a wonderful side dish to serve with a nice steak and baked potato, or with any meal. There are all kinds of articles on the health benefits of asparagus.

 I'm not going to go there because you can look them up anytime. If you like asparagus, and I do, this is a quick, easy, and tasty way to make it.

This takes about 2 minutes of prep time and 10 minutes to cook, and it just tastes so wonderful right out of the broiler. Give it a try you're going to love it.

Add a little more flavor by squeezing a fresh lemon wedge over the asparagus right out of the broiler.

Ingredients
  • 1 bunch of fresh asparagus
  • 1 clove of garlic minced (option garlic powder)
  • 1 small bag of shelled pistachios (option walnuts or pecans) or none at all if you don't like nuts.
  • Olive Oil ( Light)
Instructions:
  1. Spread your asparagus on a cookie sheet or broiler pan
  2. Drizzle or spray with light olive oil
  3. Spread the minced garlic over the asparagus
  4. Add the pistachios
  5. Set your oven on the broil setting
  6. Place in your broiler for about 5 to 8 minutes (time may vary depending on your oven)
 Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it.

Cuisinart TOB-60N2 Toaster Oven Broiler with ConvectionCuisinart TOB-60N2 Toaster Oven Broiler with ConvectionCuisinart TOB-60N2 Toaster Oven Broiler with Convection

 

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