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Side Dishes

Salad #3 Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

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I’m still trying to convince Gordie that salads are not something he should automatically reject. He loves fruit salad, so I thought maybe a salad that was heavy on the fruit might be a promising avenue.

Two of my favorite fruits that are great in the winter are oranges and pomegranates and went searching for salad ideas. I found one that even included beets (which I still have a lot of). I toned it down a little to try and make it more attractive to little people, so I took out things like the onions and added pepper only for people who wanted it. The original recipe called for pomegranate molasses, which I was planning on substituting for balsamic vinegar. I happened to have pomegranate balsamic vinegar (seriously!) so I used that but any fruit or regular balsamic vinegar would be fine.

Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

(adapted from Epicurious Pomegranate, Beet and Blood Orange Salad)

Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

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Salad #3 Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • Seeds from 1 pomegranate
  • 4 sweet oranges (blood oranges are nice)
  • 3-4 medium yellow or red beets (or a mix of both!)

  • Balsamic Dressing

  • 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar (fruit flavored or regular)
  • 1 TBSP honey (or rogers golden syrup)
  • touch of oil
  • sprinkle of freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Roast beets using your favorite method. I like wrapping them in aluminum foil and then sticking them on a cookie sheet for 45-60 minutes, until a knife easily pierces the centre.
  2. Let them cool a bit and then take the skin off with a vegetable peeler.
  3. Cut the beets and oranges up into wedges.
  4. Add the beets, oranges and pomegranate seeds into a big bowl.
  5. Stir together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over the salad ingredients.

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Loved the pomegrante seeds and oranges while we were making the salad. Was actually willing to try the salad, but bit into a piece of beet, exclaimed “it’s a potato!” and would not try it again.

Nicole (10 months): I’m pretty sure she thinks this was the best thing she had ever eaten. If she saw other people eating it she would demand that they share. Huge hit.

Stephen: “Good. Kinda weird”

Dana: This salad was good but it is not the quickest to throw together. Roasting the beets takes a while as does de-seeding the pomegranate. Gordie really loved helping take the seeds out. So I like that even pretty little kids can be involved in making the salad. It was really good though. It would be a great salad to make for a special meal or if you had company over for dinner.

3 down 51 to go.

Salad #2 Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing

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For our second salad I went in search of something to use the yellow beets that I had gotten from Eagle Creek Farm’s Winter CSA. Winter is not the easiest time to create a seasonal salad, but there is still quite a bit you can work with, beets included.

I came across a couple recipes for shredded beet salads. Now I’m no stranger to beets. I grew up on pickled beets and grew and roasted beets when I had my very first garden. But I had absolutely no idea that you could shred beets and eat them raw. At first I had thought this would fall into the category of, you can but would you want to (sort of like raw chicken, yeah, you can eat it raw but…).

But in fact when they are shredded they are very similar to the carrots. And yes, you can also use purple beets.

Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Ginger Orange Dressing Recipe

(adapted from Simply Recipes Morrocan Beet Salad)

Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Ginger Orange Dressing

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Salad #2 Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large beet
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 apple (I like granny smith)

  • Orange Ginger Dressing

  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of cayenne
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 2 tbsp honey
Instructions
  1. Peel and shred the carrots, beets and apples (the apple will also need to be cored). The beet will shred better if you cut it into smaller pieces first, think steak fries. If you have some kind of kitchen gadget to shred things, that would be handy. Put everything you've shredded into a large bowl.
  2. Add the ingredients for your dressing into a small bowl and blend well.
  3. Pour the dressing over your salad ingredients and mix. You will end up with quite a bit of dressing. You can use it all, it doesn't hurt for the salad to marinate in the fridge a little, and it can keep it from drying out or you can just add what you need if you are using it right away.

Alternatives:

  • If you are keeping it for a while you may want to use raisins instead of the apple, it’ll still taste fine, but the color goes a bit off over time.
  • You could also make the dressing as simply recipes did with lemon juice instead of orange juice and cinnamon instead of ginger
  • If you have a baby under 12 months you may want to substitute the honey for corn syrup, rogers golden syrup or maple syrup (I forgot so didn’t give it to Nicky).

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Tried some of the shredded vegetables before I put the dressing on it and made it into a salad.

Stephen: “Good. Cool and refreshing.”

Dana: I liked this salad. It was a real surprise as I didn’t expect much. It was pretty heavy on the ginger, I might reduce it if I was going to make it again. 2 down 51 to go.

Salad #1 – Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad Recipe – 52 Salads

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I’ve decided to embark on a challenge to make 52 different salads over the next 52 weeks. I was inspired by my friend Misty’s 52 cakes challenge and my friend Jenny’s 52 cookies challenge. They sounded like so much fun I decided to do one of my own. But 52 weeks of cookies and cakes was not going to help me with my fitness goals for this year, so I’m going to do 52 salads instead.

I love salads, but I often find myself too lazy and disorganized to actually make them. I’m going to use this challenge to help me get in the habit of making salads and getting my family to eat more vegetables.

Additionally, my three year old son Gordie turns his nose up at anything labeled a salad so I’m going to try to see if I can win him over and
get him to try some salads.

For this challenge I am going to try to:

  • Make really different salads rather than subtle variations
  • Use a variety of sources for inspiration
  • Use seasonally available ingredients
  • Focus on salads with lots of vegetables that would work as a snack or side dish and will keep a few days in the fridge.

At least for the time being I’ll also be choosing salads that are dairy free as Nicky is sensitive to dairy products.

I’m taking suggestions so if you have a favorite salad that I should try please let me know!

Now onto our first salad:

This salad was inspired by one that they make at Sunterra Market. They use green peppers which is quite pretty but the ones at the store when I went were all squishy. That’s one of the things that’s so great about making salads, a recipe is really only a guideline.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad

Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad

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Salad #1 – Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad Recipe – 52 Salads
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large sweet potato cubed and roasted
  • 1-2 red or green peppers chopped
  • 1-2 green onion sliced
  • handful of dried cranberries
  • handful of pumpkin seeds
  • Maple Dijon Dressing
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp white wine vinegar (or red wine or just white vinegar)
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Mix the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk, blend of shake the dressing ingredients together until they are well mixed. Use your hands to cover the salad with the dressing. You will probably have a bit more than you really need.
  2. Note: When you are roasting the sweet potatoes test them often, you want them to be cooked but not mushy or they will just fall apart in the salad.

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Did not try it because it is a salad even though I presented him with just a piece of sweet potato

Nicky (10 months): Loved it, sweet potato and red peppers were a huge hit

Stephen: “Good. Doesn’t really seem like a salad though.”

Dana: I adore this salad. I would absolutely make it again. Aside from having to roast the sweet potatoes it’s super easy to throw together too.

So there you have it – 1 down 51 to go.

Easy Roasted Beets

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I starting making these when we had a community garden plot. I had planted things like beets and turnips that I read grown well in Siberia. I figured it they grew well there, I  shouldn’t have a problem. And it totally worked, they were awesome. This year, I tried a square foot garden and had no luck whatsoever with my beets or turnips. I’m not entirely sure why, but if you had more luck than I did, this recipe is great.

Easy Roasted Beets

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Easy Roasted Beets
 
Ingredients
  • Beets trimmed and washed
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Aluminum foil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Line a baking tray and wrap each beet with aluminum foil.
  3. Roast beets for approximately 40 minutes. Longer if you have big beets, less if you have small beets.
  4. When the beets are cooked through, take them out of the oven. I recommend covering your hands when you work with the beets, gloves are good, but I hate now they make my hands smell so I usually just use two sandwich sized ziplock bags.
  5. Peel the beets. If the beets have been cooked long enough, the skin should slide right off with your fingers.
  6. Cut each beet in half and then slice into half moons. It looks pretty to have full circles but the beets can be pretty slippery. Halving them first can really save your fingers.
  7. Put the beets into a bowl and toss with the olive oil, vinegar and pepper. If you think they need a bit more flavor, add more vinegar. You only need enough olive oil to coat and the pepper can get to be too much pretty quickly.

 

Note: Beets contain quite a lot of natural dye. When you eat them this goes through your body with predictable purple/red results. This is perfectly harmless but can look a little alarming if you are not prepared. 🙂

Whole Grain: Farro & Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe

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I’m a sucker for trying different kinds of whole grains. So when I saw a bag of Farro when I was at Costco the other day even though I had never heard of it before I didn’t hesitate to pick it up. It turns out that Farro is an ancient type of wheat that is now regaining popularity in Italy and with health conscious cooks. It’s great in soups and salads and can be used in place of barley or rice. Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe This was my first attempt at cooking Farro. I found that there was still quite a bit of water left in the pot when I cooked it according to the package directions (3 cups water to 1 cup Farro for 15 minutes), so I cooked it a little longer and ultimately drained it. After some internet research, I found out this is actually normal. Unlike rice all the water is not supposed to be absorbed when it’s finished cooking. It’s chewier than rice but it did soften a bit after the salad had sat in the fridge overnight. Trying a grain all by itself is kind of boring so I put together this salad which I think is pretty good. Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe

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Whole Grain: Farro & Balsamic Farro Salad Recipe
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • Dressing
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • pinch salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • Salad
  • ½ cup mild onion diced (red onions, shallots, chives, green onions)
  • 1 yellow or orange pepper chopped finely
  • 2 medium tomatoes chopped and seeded
  • 1 diced avocado (coat in lemon or lime juice if you’re not using the salad all right away)
  • 1 cups farro (Cooked barley or brown rice can also be substituted.)
Instructions
  1. Cook Farro according to package directions (they should be al dente when done)
  2. Chop onion, tomatoes and peppers.
  3. Add all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
  4. In a small bowl mix dressing ingredients.
  5. Add dressing ingredients to the salad ingredients and mix well.

Balsamic Farro Salad

Baby Smashed Potatoes

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I’m starting to think that just about every vegetable should be roasted at 400F for 30-60 minutes with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. This is now my third recipe in a row that follows this logic. You’d have to really hate potatoes to not like these. I liked these so much I made them for Christmas dinner last year – there wasn’t a single one left over!. They also provide a lot more nutrients than a lot of potato dishes because you leave the skins on. They take a little bit more time than some methods, because they are boiled and then baked but the result is amazing. If you want, you can boil and smash the potatoes ahead of time just refrigerate until you are ready to use them.

Baby Smashed Potatoes

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Baby Smashed Potatoes
Recipe type: Side Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 2-2.5 lbs baby potatoes
  • 2 TBSP oilve oil
  • salt, pepper and rosemary (I use dried but I’m sure fresh would be lovely)
  • 2 garlic cloves minced (shortcut – buy pre-minced, look in the refrigerated section by the salads as they are much better than the shelf stable variety you get by the spices)
  • ore it hits the heat. Squishing the potatoes is also pretty fun.
  • The kids can:
  • put the potatoes in the pot
  • squash the cooled potatoes
  • .paint the potatoes with olive oil
  • flip the potatoes
  • sprinkle the salt, pepper and rosemary
  • Directions
Instructions
  1. Put the potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
  2. When the potatoes are tender, drain the pot and let the potatoes cool (if you are in a hurry you can grab the potatoes with a tea towel and smash them while they are still hot).
  3. Preheat the oven to 400F
  4. Get a (clean!) tea towel and put it on the counter. Place the potato on top. Fold the tea towel over and press down on the potato with your palm.
  5. Place the smashed potatoes on a baking tray.
  6. Brush each potato with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  7. Flip the potatoes and repeat on the other side.
  8. Add a couple pieces of minced garlic to each potato and sprinkle with rosemary.
  9. Put the tray in the over and flip the potatoes after 15 minutes. Continue to bake for 15-20 minutes more. When they are done the skins of the potatoes will be brown and crispy but the centre will be soft.

Baby Smashed Potatoes

Leftovers can be eaten cold straight from the fridge or reheated in the oven or toaster oven.

 

Roasted Butternut Squash

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I took another crack at the butternut squash today. It turned out quite a bit better than the last time. I think the problem before was that the squash wasn’t as fresh as it needed to be. Not that it was bad, it just didn’t have the right consistency anymore – it was a little too mushy around the edges. So if you (like I usually do) buy pre-cut cubes (Costco’s are great) make sure you get the furthest away best before date and check to make sure they are nice and firm when you go to cook them. If they’re not, maybe make soup instead.

This isn’t the lowest calorie vegetable dish you can make but it’s a crowd pleaser and makes a nice side dish for special occasion dinners (or just for snacking!) Unless your kids are going through a really picky stage, they’ll like this dish. And you will like making it! The prep work is minimal and once it’s in the oven you don’t have to do a thing.

Roasted Butternut Squash

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Roasted Butternut Squash
Recipe type: Side Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs butternut squash cubes (shortcut – buy pre-cubed)
  • 2 TBSP oilve oil
  • ¼ cup shredded Parmesan Cheese (or white cheese blend)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 0.5 tsp pepper
  • 2 garlic cloves minced and 2 Tbsp parsley chopped (both optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Put all ingredients into a large resealable plastic bag and combine (you can also mix in a bowl).
  3. Spread evenly on a single layer on a shallow baking dish. I've found that lining a cookie tray with parchment paper works really well. The cubes pop right off. Whatever you do, don't put them directly on the cookie tray – trust me it will never be the same.
  4. Cook for 40-50 minutes. The edges should be carmelized and golden. You can flip one of the cubes over to check the bottom, but otherwise leave them alone.
Notes
Based on <a href="http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Garlicky-Baked-Butternut-Squash/Detail.aspx">Garlicky Baked Butternut Sqush</a>

I completely forgot the garlic, but they were still great. Adding the parsley makes for a nicer presentation, but I was all out.

If you have leftovers, you can mash up the cooked squash with some pasta water to thin it out and use it as a pasta sauce.

Making Icky Food Good: Roasted Brussels Sprouts

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My mother-in-law is a big fan of Brussels sprouts and they are chalk full of vitamins but she wasn’t making any converts at home. I figure that just about anything can be appealing if you cook it the right way, so I set out to find something that everyone would enjoy. This is what I came up with.

Making Icky Food Good: Roasted Brussels Sprouts

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Making Icky Food Good: Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Recipe type: Side Dish
 
Ingredients
  • 1.5 pounds Brussels sprouts (shortcut - buy prewashed and bagged)
  • 1.5 tablespoons oilve oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt (do not skip the salt, you need it to counteract the bitterness of the sprouts)
  • 0.5 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F (you can do 400 if you are in a hurry but you'll need to watch it near the end)
  2. Wash and trim the Brussels Sprouts if necessary. Cut each Brussels sprout in half.
  3. Place the Brussels Sprouts, olive oil, salt and pepper in a resealable plastic bag. Seal it up and mix well. (Obviously you could also use a bowl if you'd rather).
  4. Put the Brussels spouts on a baking tray and bake for 40-50 minutes. Turn them every 7-10 minutes so they cook evenly and don't char.
  5. When they are finished they should have a nice brown color but still have some green visible. The loose leaves may be blackened but nothing else should be.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts - talkinginallcaps.com

If you have leftovers you can put them in a container in the fridge and eat then reheated in the oven/toaster oven or I actually like the leftovers cold, straight from the fridge. They store best if you let them cool down to room temperature first.

You could lighten the recipe up by using a cooking spray or olive oil mister to coat the Brussels Sprouts instead of the olive oil.