Romantical Meal Series Post 2 – Coconut Oil Roasted Cauliflower

Mar5

Here is the second course in my Valentine’s Day meal for Rob. I’ve been working a lot with cauliflower since Rob loves it so much but also it’s really versatile! This side dish could go with just about anything. As a reminder, this is adapted from the Feb/Mar 2014 Taste of Home magazine.

6 garlic cloves, unpeeled

3 tbsp coconut oil

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into florets

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 tbsp capers, drained and coarsely chopped

2 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut stem ends off unpeeled garlic cloves. Wrap cloves in a piece of foil. Bake 25-30 minutes or until cloves are soft. Unwrap and cool to room temperature. Squeeze garlic from the skins. Mash with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Heat 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Place cauliflower florets in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Drizzle with melted coconut oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast 15-20 minutes or until cauliflower is golden brown and tender.

Transfer to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and roasted garlic; toss well to combine.

This was such a yummy side dish. The golden raisins added just a bit of sweetness that went really well with the cauliflower. Stay tuned for part 3 of the series. Happy cooking!

Romantical Meal Series Post 1 – Kale Salad

Mar3

Valentine’s Day was last month and Rob and I decided that our gift this year would be homemade. In true cook form I decided making a big, romantic meal was my best bet. I’m going to do a series of three posts to chronicle what I made for him. I’ll start with this yummy kale salad. This recipe is adapted from a recipe in the Feb/Mar 2014 Taste of Home Magazine, as is the rest of the meal.

10 cups sliced kale (about 1 bunch)

1 medium apple, thinly sliced

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 cup pepitas

Place kale in a large bowl. With clean hands, massage kale until leaves become soft and darkened, about 2-3 minutes; stir in apple.

In a small bowl, whisk oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper until blended. Drizzle over salad, toss to coat. Sprinkle with pepitas.

First off I must apologize for the quality of the picture. I was running around trying to get the meal put together before Rob got to my place so pictures were taken haphazardly. Second, wow who knew what a difference massaging kale makes!! It as the first thing Rob commented on. The kale was soft and easy to eat. I will be massaging my kale from here on out! Stay tuned for post number 2 on our Valentine’s day meal. Happy cooking!

Summer Love – Basil Corn on the Cob

Jun5

Who doesn’t love grilled corn on the cob? I don’t have a grill but I still wanted to do corn on the cob for Memorial Day so I did it in my oven. It turned out deeeeelish! Here’s the recipe:

6 large ears of corn

6 tablespoons raw butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon rapadura

Dash sea salt

Dash garlic salt

1 cup fresh basil leaves

Carefully peel back corn husks to within 1 inch of bottoms: remove silk. In a small bowl, combine the butter, dried basil, rapadura, salt, and garlic salt; spread over the corn. Place basil leaves over the butter mixture. Re-wrap corn in husks. Place in a stock pot; cover with cold water. Soak for 20 minutes; drain.

Grill corn in an oven set to broil for 25-30 minutes or until tender (or on a grill over medium heat for the same amount of time) turning often.

Peel and serve! I got this recipe from tasteofhome.com and reworked it so it was a little healthier. Let me know if you like this one. I loved it! Happy cooking!

And she’s back! – Steamed Cauliflower and Broccoli with Chunky Avocado Salad

May27

I have to apologize to you all, I’ve been away from this blog for quite a while. I recently quit my job and took a new one which is great except that I’m now commuting 2 to 2 1/2 hours a day to and from it. I’m also still trying to finish my MBA. Needless to say, this cuts into my cooking and blogging time! So the frequency at which I post will likely be less but I will still be sharing good real food recipes that I find as often as I can! This dish makes is really great to take to work for lunch.

Half a head of broccoli, cut into florets

Half a head of cauliflower, cut into florets

4 ripe avocados

2 small carrots, sliced into coins

1 cup chopped purple cabbage

2 garlic cloves, minced

6 tablespoons fresh parsley, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons hemp seeds

1 teaspoons chili powder

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons

Unrefined sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Place the broccoli and cauliflower into a steamer basket and steam over boiling water until just fork tender. Remove from the steamer basket and arrange on plates. Place the avocados into a bowl and gently toss with the carrot, cabbage, garlic, parsley, hemp seeds, chili powder, olive oil, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the mixture between the plates, placing alongside the broccoli and cauliflower.

I found this recipe in my favorite Hungry For Change cookbook. It’s a good one! Happy cooking!

Healthy Yumminess – Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts

Apr30

I haven’t had a lot of time to cook because it’s the end of the semester and, well, I got a new job! So interviewing, and now finding my replacement along with school projects and studying for finals has me pretty busy. But I did make this little side dish last weekend when I was cooking up a storm so I’m posting it now! It’s a really good one. If you have kids that don’t like Brussels sprouts, try this. They’ll eat them right up!

1 pound Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Steam the Brussels sprouts in a medium sauce pot with an inch of salted water for 7 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cut them into quarters. In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Combine the Brussels sprouts, peanuts, salt and pepper. Pour the vinaigrette over the top and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

There you have it! I’ve already forgotten what I served this with but it would go well with anything. Another great one from the Hungry for Change cookbook. It’s seriously my go to book! Happy cooking!

Colorful Healthy Side Dish – Lemon-Garlic Rainbow Chard

Apr3

I’ve been getting bunches of rainbow chard in my CSA and last month I totally forgot about it and had to throw it out. I was not about to do that this month. So I served it for Easter. I though it’s colorfulness made it appropriate. This is a really great way to use all of your chard bunch, instead of throwing away the stems and it’s very easy and quick.

1 bunch rainbow chard

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 pinch crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Separate the steps of the chard from the leaves. Cut the leaves into thin strips and set aside. Thinly slice the stems.

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Stir in the sliced garlic, red pepper flakes, and chard stems, and cook for 3 minutes until the flavor of the garlic mellows and the stems begin to soften. Stir in the shredded chard leaves, cover, and cook for 5 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir, recover, and continue cooking until the chard is tender. Toss with lemon juice and serve.

This is a great side dish for just about any protein. I’ll be using this again! Happy cooking!

Basic Side Dish- Baked New Potatoes

Feb21

This is post two in the Valentine’s Day dinner meal series. Rob loves potatoes, so I made some for him! These are super easy and will go with pretty much any type of protein.

1 pound medium red potatoes

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Leaves from 2 fresh rosemary sprigs

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large sauce pan, cover potatoes with two inches of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook over high heat until almost tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and cut in half (careful, they’re hot!). Spread potato halves on a large roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, a few grinds of pepper, and rosemary, and toss well to coat.

Roast for 25 minutes, until golden and completely tender. Serve!

You could serve these with some sort of topping but I just kept them plain and they were still yummy. Stay tuned for the main entree tomorrow! Happy cooking!

Sauteed Baby Bok Choi

Dec17

I’ve moved! I am now a real life blog! So this is my first blog post on WordPress. Bear with me as I learn to use this platform. I’m sure there will be some kinks along the way! My first post will be a side dish that I served with the turkey recipe I posted earlier today on Tumblr. I found this recipe in the New York Times cooking section Jan 5, 2011.I got these baby bok chois (is bok choi already plural?) in my CSA box this month and needed to use them before they went bad so although I’m not sure asian veggies go so well with American turkey I figured what the heck. We live in a melting pot right? Why not cook that way too!

2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil, like canola (I used olive because I don’t like those light veggie oils)

2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

1 1/2 inch piece ginger root, peeled and minced (I used about a half teaspoon pre-minced ginger which I forgot to include in the photo)

1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste

4 bunches of baby bok choi, approximately 1 1/2 pounds, cleaned, with the ends trimmed

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon chicken stock or water

Toasted sesame oil for drizzling.

1. In a large saute pan with a lid, heat oil over medium-high heat until it starts to shimmer. Add garlic, ginger and red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds. (Watch for flying oil drops, it hurts!)

2. Add bok choi and stir carefully to cover with oil, then cook approximately 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, stock or water, then cover pan and cook for approximately 2 minutes more, until steam begins to escape from beneath the lid of the pan.

3. Uncover and continue to cook until liquid is close to evaporated and stalks are soft to the touch, approximately 3 minutes more.

4. Remove to warmed platter and drizzle with sesame oil. (This was a last minute dish and I was out of sesame oil so I skipped this part).

This was a simple but delish recipe. I definitely recommend. Happy cooking!

The Unrefined Pantry

Real Food Cooking in Today's Busy, Modern World.

Category Archives: Side Dish