Side Dishes

Dill Pickles

This is our first year with a big garden, and I am loving it!!  Our cucumbers are gorgeous, and we’ve had enough to snack on as well as enough for the one thing I’ve been waiting for…pickling!  I pretty much heart dill pickles.  This brine comes from my Gram’s recipe, but the spice ratios I ad-libbed for our tastes.  I used dill heads from our own garden as well, so extra fun.  I did use pickle crisp because I did a BWB so they’d last a year+ and didn’t want soggy spears.  Also, I was out of canning salt so used sea salt (about the only alternative to avoid the anti-caking).

For planning purposes, 20 medium to large pickling cucumbers and about 40 dill heads yielded 9 jars of pickles.  The worst thing is waiting six weeks to see how they turned out!

pickles

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Green Bean and Tomato Salad

This was a really tasty side salad using summer veggies – goes really well with a grilled entree! I got this from Chow and made as is other than halving it for two people. 🙂  At its original size, it would be a nice picnic/BBQ side dish.  Recipe below is for that portion size.

 

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Cucumber and Black Eyed Pea Salad

This was a nice base salad with which you could do a lot…we liked it a lot.  I’ve had my eye on this for a while since I love black eyed peas, and am always looking for new ways to use them.  I thought this could use lots more flavor and added more lemon, pepper and salt,  Some herbs tossed in would be great too.  This would be nice for a BBQ or picnic side.  It was nice with grilled pork chops.

 

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Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

So this whole low carb thing.  It works, the only thing that gets the stubborn 5-10lb off of me.  But…I really miss rice.  Quinoa does an okay job, though.  It is it’s own flavor, so I find if you don’t try to think of it as “fake rice,” but rather its own very good thing, it does well.  It’s never been my favorite over the years, but I semi need its niche now!  It is one of the few grainy items that are not incredibly offensive to the low-carb folks.  And I would argue what carbs it has are outweighed by it’s nutritional and functional benefits.  I really enjoyed this, and as typical with quinoa, add what you like best!

 

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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

This is was a nice side salad for grilled food over the holiday weekend…we had it with both nice steaks and beer can chicken. 🙂  Versatile!  It would also make a nice lunch…it made a ton, so there was plenty for lunches this week.  Definitely satisfies my “grain” craving while staying on the low-carb side.

 

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Asparagus, Green Bean, and Wax Bean Salad

I’ve had this one from Chow saved forever, just looking for the occasion to use it.  It makes so much that it’s not exactly a two-person meal.  I thought this was great though – light, flavors were good, and a pretty side dish for a BBQ or picnic.

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Classic Potato Salad

Potato salad is definitely a go-to BBQ side, and even though I am really not a fan of potatoes, I recognize most people do not agree with me. 😉  We had a BBQ last weekend to showcase Shawn’s foray into the world of brewing his own beer, and he also made his awesome wings.  Of course a classic potato salad was a given with that.  This is an Ina Garten recipe, I didn’t change anything, and the dressing was excellent.  Definite winner.

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Snap Pea Salad with Thai Vinaigrette

This was a really fun side salad – we had it with some Teriyaki wings.  You could definitely add some chicken or other protein to this to make it a full meal.  I think it would do well with noodles, too.  Either way, versatile and very tasty!  This came from Chow, I changed very little – subbed sesame oil for vegetable in the dressing, and Sriracha for chile garlic paste (I was out).  Made a ton, and stored separately from the dressing, it will be great left over!

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Black Eyed Peas with Bacon

We always do black eyed peas for New Years Day, because…well, they’re supposed to be lucky!  And even more delicious with bacon (what isn’t?!).  Made this as instructed and it was excellent – this is from Serious Eats.  You can adapt this for canned beans – just less liquid, and combine everything in a sautee pan instead of the oven until the beans are heated through.

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Orzo Salad

This is one of my favorite side dishes, and I especially like it with anything Mediterranean.  I made this to go with lemon-oregano grilled lamb chops for dinner, and probably could have hoovered the entire thing myself.  This is good warm or cold, so leftovers are very useful.  This could also be a main dish for a vegetarian night if you paired with a salad, etc.

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