Side dish recipes

Fast & Easy Pantry Superbowl Snacks

It’s a few hours before the big game, but you still don’t know what to do for snacks?  Maybe you didn’t make it to the store, or maybe you just got too busy to think about it.  Whatever the reason, don’t worry, all is not lost.  I’ve got a few easy ideas using items you probably have on hand in your kitchen.  

Pigs in a blanket

1 package of hot dogs or cooked sausage

1 roll of Crescents (Pillsbury)

Ketchup (optional)

Mustard (optional)

Pre-heat oven according to Crescent roll package.  Open and unroll Crescent rolls onto a clean working surface. Separate them according to the perforations. Spread a light amount of ketchup and mustard (if using) only on the wide end of each roll.  Place one sausage or hot dog at the wide end of each roll and roll them up. 

Place them on a lined or sprayed baking sheet a few inches apart. 

Bake according to package directions.  Let cool for 5 minutes and then cut them to size.  Serve with more ketchup and mustard, melted cheese, BBQ sauce, or hot sauce. 

Cheese dip

1 Eight ounce box of Velveeta

½ cup of Rotel tomatoes drained or ½ cup of salsa excess liquid drained

½ cup of cooked sausage or left-over cooked meat chopped fine (optional).

1 scallion, sliced thin keeping white and green parts separate (optional)

Place all ingredients, except the green parts of the scallions, in a bowl and microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring after every 30 seconds, until Velveeta is completely melted. Stir thoroughly and sprinkle the top with scallion greens. Serve immediately. If it gets too cool and starts to be hard to dip, microwave for 30 seconds, and stir.

Variation:  Omit Salsa/Rotel and meat and stir in a can of chili instead.

Air Fryer Taquitos

1 ½ – 2 cups of left-over cooked meat and/or cooked veggies

1 cup of shredded Cheddar, Monterey, Gouda, Colby or Taco blend cheese

4-8 inch flour or corn tortillas as needed

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 tsp ground garlic

Jarred sliced hot peppers (optional)

Mix meat and/or veggies with cumin, chili powder, and garlic.  Mix in hot peppers if using.  If the mixture is too dry, add 1 Tablespoon of water at a time. It should be moist but not dripping.  Put cheese on one end of a tortilla, place meat/veggie mixture on top of the cheese, place a little more cheese on top and roll up.  Depending on the size of your tortilla, you should have about 3 Tablespoons of filling (including the cheese) in the tortilla, don’t overfill.  You should be able to roll it easily.  Place seam side down in a single layer in the air fryer basket.  Repeat until all the filling is used.  Spray Taquitos with oil spray and air fry on 380 for 6-8 minutes until light brown and crisp.  Cool for 2-3 minutes before biting in; they will be very hot inside.  You can serve salsa, sour cream, guacamole on the side for dipping. 

Buffalo Cauliflower or Brussel Sprouts

2 cups of Cauliflower florets (can be frozen)

Or 

2 cups of cleaned, trimmed, and cut in half Brussel sprouts

Frank’s Original Hot Sauce or Buffalo Sauce

Ranch or Bleu cheese Dressing

Pre-heat oven to 375.

Place Cauliflower or Brussel sprouts in a Microwave safe bowl with a lid and add ¼ cup of water (if using frozen, don’t add any water), cover and microwave for 3-4 minutes or until a fork offers only slight resistance.  

Transfer to a strainer and drain off any liquid.

In a large bowl, Toss Cauliflower or Brussel sprouts in Frank’s until well coated.  Transfer to a lined and sprayed sheet pan.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until they are brown.  Check after 10 minutes.

Serve with Ranch or Bleu cheese dressing for dipping.

By Chef Kerry, ago

Asian Style Rice Salad

This recipe was born from a need to make my husbands’ lunches more interesting.  Although delicious, he was growing tired of the Italian pasta salad he’d been taking for lunch every day.  At first, I was going to make this recipe with noodles, which would certainly work, but I decided to go with rice to vary his lunch even more.  He loves very spicy food, but if you aren’t as impervious to heat as he, you may wish to leave out some or all of the optional ingredients. I’m sure some left-over cooked chicken would be a great addition to this recipe as well.  Enjoy!

Asian Style Rice Salad

4-6 servings

1 cup uncooked rice – Jasmine, long grain, or brown

1 cup frozen peas thawed, or 1 cup sliced snow peas

¼ cup minced red onion

1-2 Tablespoons seeded & minced hot pepper -Jalapeno, Serrano, or Thai chili pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

1 seeded & minced red bell pepper

2 teaspoons granulated garlic or 1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic

2 teaspoons fresh ginger minced or 1 teaspoon dried

1 eight ounce can of water chestnuts diced

1 bunch of scallions white part minced, and green part sliced thin (keep separate)

2 Tablespoons honey or Agave

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar 

1 Tablespoon Sriracha (optional)

¼ cup toasted sesame oil

2 Tablespoons soy sauce or Tamari

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon of lime juice

3 Tablespoons fresh cilantro minced

Cook rice according to package directions and then spread onto a cookie sheet to cool to room temperature.  While cooling, whisk crush red pepper, garlic, ginger, scallion whites, honey or Agave, rice vinegar, Sriracha, sesame oil, soy sauce, black pepper, and lime juice in a bowl big enough to hold the rice and all the other ingredients.  Once cooled, add rice to the bowl and mix thoroughly.  Mix in the remaining ingredients reserving 1 Tablespoon of cilantro and the scallions greens for later. Chill covered for 2-4 hours.  Stir before serving and garnish with reserved cilantro and scallion.

*For a higher protein and lower carb option, substitute Quinoa for rice in this recipe.

By Chef Kerry, ago

Taking the Cream out of Cream of Mushroom Soup

Last February my husband and I decided that our eating habits needed to be improved to help us achieve a healthier lifestyle and feel better as we get older.  During this ten-week period, we adopted a plant-based diet.  Having never attempted anything like this before, it was a fairly large learning curve with some disappointing food purchases.   At times it was challenging to keep our meals interesting and filling, while still making sure they met our dietary needs.  I discovered things about my body that were both good and bad.  My skin cleared up after about a week, I had more energy and never felt “food coma” after a meal and I didn’t have heartburn anymore.  I also discovered that I absolutely cannot eat beans without suffering serious gas and abdominal pain and eating too much fiber makes me fart constantly.  In the end, we learned a lot, not only about what food we wanted to keep in our diets but also, what foods we could purchase vs what foods were better prepared at home.  Despite feeling very healthy while eating the vegan diet, we realized we would not be able to completely give up animal products long term.  After 10 weeks, we slowly adopted the Mediterranean diet, but some of the recipes I developed while eating vegan have remained.  The Cream of Mushroom Soup below is one of them.  This recipe is easily adapted to a non-vegan version by substituting Worcestershire sauce for the coconut aminos, regular unsalted butter for the plant butter, and half and half for the Almond milk.  I didn’t include a photo, as the soup isn’t much to look at, but it is tasty.

Vegan Gluten-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup

4-5 one cup servings

2 cups of fresh mushroom chopped or sliced

1 cup dried mushrooms -packed tightly

1 tsp thyme

1 medium yellow onion diced

1 Tablespoon of coconut aminos (optional)

2 medium potatoes peeled and sliced 1/2” 

2 Tablespoons plant butter or olive oil

1 quart plain unsweetened almond, oat, soy, rice, or cashew milk

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley, or chives chopped (optional)

In the pot you are using to make the soup, sauté onion, thyme, fresh mushrooms, a teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of black pepper in the butter or oil on medium-low heat until onions are translucent and soft, stirring occasionally, about 10 – 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pulverize dried mushrooms to powder consistency in a food processor or blender. If a few rice size pieces remain, that’s ok. 

When sautéed onion and mushroom are soft, add dried mushroom powder and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes.

Add amino acid, potato, and milk and simmer, stirring occasionally until potatoes fall apart easily when forked and liquid has reduced by about ¼ of its original volume. Taste and adjust salt and pepper if needed.  The soup will not be thick at this point. Use one of the two methods below to thicken the soup.

Off the heat, use an immersion blender to blend/smooth the soup until the soup is thickened.

OR

Carefully ladle 2 cups soup into a standard blender and blend until smooth. Transfer blended soup to another container and continue until all the soup has been blended. 

Return blended soup to the soup pan and heat through. 

Serve with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive oil, Avocado oil, or flavored oil. Top with the fresh herbs and enjoy!

By Chef Kerry, ago

Black Bean & Rice Salad Recipe

This recipe was developed for my food truck business. It’s colorful, healthy, and has a lot of flavor. It is served cold or at room temperature. If you make it ahead of time, wait until you’re ready to serve it before adding the scallions on top because it should be stirred before serving as some of the dressing will settle to the bottom. Enjoy, and be sure to post a photo of your results here or on my Facebook page.

Makes 8-10 servings

1 15-16 ounce can of Black Beans drained & rinsed well

1 cup long grain white or brown rice cooked & cooled to room temp.

1 red bell pepper seeded & small diced

1 green bell pepper or 2 medium large Jalapeno peppers seeded & small diced

1 medium red onion diced small

1/3 cup of chopped scallions, white & green parts separated

Dressing ingredients:

¼ cup of chopped fresh Cilantro or 1 tablespoon of dried

1/3 cup of Olive oil or Avocado oil 

2 Tablespoons of Apple Cider or Rice Vinegar

1 Tablespoon of fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons of sugar, honey or agave 

2 teaspoons of cumin

2 teaspoons of paprika

2 teaspoons of dried granulated garlic or fresh minced garlic

Salt and black pepper to taste

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together thoroughly, let them sit for 5 minutes and whisk again. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper and sweetness.  It shouldn’t taste really sweet or really tart, balance with more sugar or more vinegar. Salt will make both of these flavors more pronounced, so adjust that first.

Mix rice, beans, peppers, scallion whites, and red onion together. Add dressing and combine thoroughly. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Place into serving bowl and top with scallion greens right before serving.

Best served at room temperature.

By Chef Kerry, ago