Adding variety to side dishes at dinner

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!!

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).

Change the spices:
Here is a recipe for garlic and ginger green beans:
http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/146-string-beans-with-ginger-and-garlic

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.

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.

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...

lyttlewon wrote: »

gramarye wrote: »

lyttlewon wrote: »

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.

Oh no, not at all! I tend to make soups and occasional casseroles, but not very frequently.

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.

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.

Lounmoun wrote: »

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

I'm drooling over the sweet potato fritters.

Have not yet read all the responses but we also have sweet potatoes, quinoa salads and sometimes wild rice mixes.
We are also big into roasting veggies! My kids (5, 7, 17) love when I buy heirloom carrots and/tomatoes or anything that's a new color

We do roasted veg with different spices, my kids will not eat peppers, onion or asparagus (which I love), but anything else is fair game. Our go to is rosemary and fresh pepper with olive oil. We also do fresh veg with dip, or build your own salad, which I like for my kids. We set up a variety of ingredients, adults eat everything, and kids have to pick at least 2 veg. My 10 year old goes for tomato and avocado, 7 year old likes lettuce/spinach and cucumber.

Basically...how do you roast veggies? I know this sounds dumb but I always just steam them so it is getting boring. I hate mushy veggies so tell me how to do it without it getting soggy please.

DanaLark wrote: »

Basically...how do you roast veggies? I know this sounds dumb but I always just steam them so it is getting boring. I hate mushy veggies so tell me how to do it without it getting soggy please.

Oh you're in for a treat! Basic recipe is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry your vegetables (best if they're washed way ahead of time so they're really dry). Cut the veg into chunks if necessary. Toss in a bowl with a little olive oil and some kosher salt. Place the oiled veg in a single layer on a baking sheet or roasting pan (I like to line the pan with parchment paper for easy clean-up). Roast for about 15 minutes, until cooked through and a little crispy. Turn veg half way through if you want.

Vary this by adding herbs and spices if you want. You can also do it at lower temp for longer time (for instance if you're roasting a chicken at 350 degrees, you can roast the veg at the same time), but they get crispy best at a high temp.

Try this with broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, beets, carrots, etc. Asparagus takes less time but is wonderful when roasted.

For a real treat, roast garlic. YUMMMM. Take a whole head of garlic and cut off the top including a little bit of each clove. Drizzle with olive oil. Wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil, and roast. The garlic becomes soft. You squeeze out each clove of garlic and can spread it on bread. Did I mention YUMMMMMM? <fanning myself> Or you can use roasted garlic as an ingredient in many dishes (try it with homemade hummus!)