Adding variety to side dishes at dinner
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gramarye
Posts: 586 Member
Hello all!
So, my side dishes at dinner feel like they're in a rut. I make dinner for a family of three (two adults and a six-year-old) and most days we tend to have a dinner that includes a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. The problem is that my vegetable game is weak, and my starches aren't much better. I've googled, but tend to feel totally overwhelmed by the scope of the results in the lack of direct recommendations.
For starches, we tend to do either dinner rolls/biscuits, roasted/mashed potatoes or rice.
For vegetables, I tend to make green beans, carrots, corn (which barely counts), or mixed vegetables when I get sick of those three.
At this stage, I just have no idea where to branch out to. The boys aren't particularly displeased, but I'd like to introduce more flavor variety into our meals, both to expand the child's food horizons and to resist the siren call of eating out because dinner sounds dull. Anything you guys like as a side dish go-to? Any cookbooks you like? Websites you can't live without?
Thanks all!
So, my side dishes at dinner feel like they're in a rut. I make dinner for a family of three (two adults and a six-year-old) and most days we tend to have a dinner that includes a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. The problem is that my vegetable game is weak, and my starches aren't much better. I've googled, but tend to feel totally overwhelmed by the scope of the results in the lack of direct recommendations.
For starches, we tend to do either dinner rolls/biscuits, roasted/mashed potatoes or rice.
For vegetables, I tend to make green beans, carrots, corn (which barely counts), or mixed vegetables when I get sick of those three.
At this stage, I just have no idea where to branch out to. The boys aren't particularly displeased, but I'd like to introduce more flavor variety into our meals, both to expand the child's food horizons and to resist the siren call of eating out because dinner sounds dull. Anything you guys like as a side dish go-to? Any cookbooks you like? Websites you can't live without?
Thanks all!
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Replies
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starches: you could try variety of rice such as fried rice, spanish rice, cauliflower rice, coconut rice, sweet potato, etc.
Veggies: roasted vegetables in the oven (broccoli and cauliflower), zucchini, asparagus with bacon, celery and carrots with ranch, etc.
I do a lot of menu planning so if you need ideas and recipes, don't hesitate to contact me!!0 -
Thanks! I do like the convenience of roasting things, so I'll have to look up for recipes for doing so.
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Roasting vegetables is great! I also like to steam broccoli. It keeps well in the fridge and my kids eat it fine, even if my 19 yo still only eats it raw, not cooked. He's been eating raw veggies mostly since he finished with baby foods.
I don't do salads much in the winter, but the rest of the year, I often have a salad and a veggie. We used to do a lot of spinach and mandarin orange salad. You can add dried fruit and nuts to it, but I'm usually lazy and do just the spinach and canned orange segments. Poppy seed dressing if you like it (DH and older son prefer it plain).0 -
Oooh, the oranges in a salad is a good idea! I like to make one with lettuce, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and apples. I'm not a dressing person either, so the moisture from the apples is pretty nice. I may switch it up with oranges, though.0
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Change the spices:
Here is a recipe for garlic and ginger green beans:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/146-string-beans-with-ginger-and-garlic0 -
There's a few recent books that came out recently that make the veg the main with the meat more the side. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'Veg everyday' or his 'light and easy' are good for easy ideas, or Ottolenghi's 'plenty' and 'plenty more' are a bit more advanced
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Ooh! Spinach salad with shrimp is on our menu tonight. I like Cape Cod's Sesame Soy Ginger dressing.
My approach is a lot like yours, protein + veg + carb/starch (its a solid game plan) but I typically only bother to fancy up one of the three.
I need a second fridge for the amount of frozen vegetables we keep on hand. My go tos are usually broccoli, brussels sprouts, and green beans which I will serve straight up. We usually have creamed spinach (the Seabrook is my favorite) that I like to mix with additional sauteed spinach and (Hanover) frozen butternut squash which can easily be snuck into mac & cheese. I get the prepackaged Bird Eye sauced vegetables when I find them on sale (and again like the creamed spinach, I try to bulk up with more veg if I can.)
So if I save saucy flavorful vegetables I will usually make plain mashed potatoes, wild rice (Lundberg is my favorite) or quinoa. We get a lot of flavored rice mixes too (sometimes they are super salty though which can be a bummer) and I really like the Near East Couscous and try to grab a bunch when they are on sale. I like to cut potatoes into big steak fries and roast them with some herbs.
One other thing I am totally addicted to, especially since its winter is soup. Soup is an excellent way to toss all three components in a pot and call it dinner.0 -
My kid pleasers include:
-sweet potatoes, roasted til soft then mashed with margarine, a little honey, orange juice (they fight over this). You can roast the yams the previous day.
- baby Bok Choy pan fried with soy sauce and sesame oil. Great over rice
- Ratatouille. Eggplant, pepper, tomatoes, zucchini, tomato sauce, a little basil, pepper, oregano. They have no idea they are eating eggplant...evil mother that I am.
My fav book is Homestyle vegetarian by BAy Books.
Bon appetite!0 -
Oh man, soup season is the BEST season. Neither of the boys are huge soup fans, though, so I've taken to just getting my soup fix for lunch, lol.
Thanks for all the tips, everyone! I'll look around. I've heard brussels sprouts are great when cooked properly, but I've been so trepidatious of them.0 -
Brussel sprouts mixed w a little olive oil then with roasted until they are crispy on the outside and then drizzle a little high quality balsamic vinegar over them. Yummy! However this had not been a good year for brussel sprouts where we are. Last year they tasted a lot better.0
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Are you set on a main dish, side dish style of cooking? There's a lot of options out there for one pot meals that will meet all of those food group requirements.0
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I'm in the same boat, lol. Frozen veggies are my friend... Sometimes I roast or sautee veggies or make mashed cauliflower, but yeah... lots of frozen veggies... and I get so sick of frozen veggies...0
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I wasn't thinking about soups or casseroles actually, but things like
chicken cacciatore - my mom's version has celery, carrots, and peas which she served over egg noodles
Irish chicken - where you brown the chicken and then bake it over a bed of seasoned cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers etc.
I will make a Dal and add tons of vegetables to it according to what I have in the fridge, and serve over rice (or not)
These are not specifically low calorie recipes, just some examples of what you can do, with edits, that is different than a meat/salad/rice type of meal.0 -
I wasn't thinking about soups or casseroles actually, but things like
chicken cacciatore - my mom's version has celery, carrots, and peas which she served over egg noodles
Irish chicken - where you brown the chicken and then bake it over a bed of seasoned cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers etc.
I will make a Dal and add tons of vegetables to it according to what I have in the fridge, and serve over rice (or not)
These are not specifically low calorie recipes, just some examples of what you can do, with edits, that is different than a meat/salad/rice type of meal.
These are good ideas. I make shepherd's pie or chili too and they include veggies. But it's tough with kids because mine typically won't even eat the 'one dish' meals.0 -
Try cooking vegetables different ways. Grilled or roasted for a change. Stir fry. Make vegetable noodles (zoodles)
Try different vegetables. Cabbage, spinach, parsnips, zucchini, sweet potato, cauliflower, bok choy
Put vegetables in your main dish. Add mashed/grated vegetables to burgers, meatballs or meatloaf, use as pizza toppings, add to sauces, casseroles or soups/stews/curries.
Combine vegetables in different ways. Tomatoes and green beans, broccoli and mushrooms, stuffed potatoes or peppers, carrots with coconut and lime. Combine fruits and vegetables- add berries, oranges, apples to salad.
Use garlic , herbs and spices to make things more interesting.
Look at different salad recipes. Vegetable salads, bean or lentil salads, pasta salads
I find food ideas on pinterest.
http://www.skinnytaste.com
http://www.budgetbytes.com
http://molliekatzen.com/archives.php
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/course/side_dish/0 -
I wasn't thinking about soups or casseroles actually, but things like
chicken cacciatore - my mom's version has celery, carrots, and peas which she served over egg noodles
Irish chicken - where you brown the chicken and then bake it over a bed of seasoned cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers etc.
I will make a Dal and add tons of vegetables to it according to what I have in the fridge, and serve over rice (or not)
These are not specifically low calorie recipes, just some examples of what you can do, with edits, that is different than a meat/salad/rice type of meal.
Oooooh awesome, thanks! I'll check those out.0 -
I wasn't thinking about soups or casseroles actually, but things like
chicken cacciatore - my mom's version has celery, carrots, and peas which she served over egg noodles
Irish chicken - where you brown the chicken and then bake it over a bed of seasoned cabbage, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers etc.
I will make a Dal and add tons of vegetables to it according to what I have in the fridge, and serve over rice (or not)
These are not specifically low calorie recipes, just some examples of what you can do, with edits, that is different than a meat/salad/rice type of meal.
These are good ideas. I make shepherd's pie or chili too and they include veggies. But it's tough with kids because mine typically won't even eat the 'one dish' meals.
Sometimes they can be finicky. These are all dishes that my kids eat, but my son will eat just about anything if you put marinara sauce over it.0 -
A chick pea salad is a good starch option. No cooking required, which is a bonus. Just add your favorite salad dressing and shredded cheese. You can modify it any way you wish...onions, minced garlic, etc. You can use other beans too. Or change the sauce.0
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http://www.persnicketyplates.com/buffalo-cauliflower/
http://www.ciaochowbambina.com/sweet-potato-fritters-sriracha-mayo/
http://www.melskitchencafe.com/summer-corn-salad/#_a5y_p=3883902
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2009/01/recipe-for-roasted-green-beans-with.html
http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2015/4/7/sauteed-cabbage.html
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