I'm having a hard time with side dishes. :(

try adding different seasonings to them... you can use the spray butter and mrs dash and grill them or bake them since they are picky eaters as these are the same veggies they like just cooked in different ways.

check out skinnytaste.com some great sides.


enjoy

I have started making one dish meals....I found a few good ones on readyseteat.com
kids love them, i love they are consuming HEALTHIER calories, and they are getting full!!!
But it is portion control....

My husband is just like having a child. He doesn't like vegetables that aren't out of a can. There is one thing I make that he loves. I dice up some carrots and sweet potatoes, add brown sugar splenda blend, and spray butter. Then I just bake it in a small casserole dish till they are tender. He loves it. Goes great with pork and chicken.

I sometimes make a salad with chick peas, green pepper, onions and dress it with a little olive oil and rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper...delish and everybody at home loves it. Lowfat, high in fiber and have antioxidants too. Enjoy

I use a glaze over all vegetables in the winter as they don't taste as good.

For example, I will cook onions, add frozen green beans, with a little water, put a lid on the pot. Steam the green beans for 5 min. When they are cooked, I add the glaze and mix it up to give it a really nice taste.

Glaze for 1 serving. 1/4 c orange juice(cold is best) 1 tsp corn starch. Mix well to make sure that the corn starch is diluted . Pour over veggies, mix wekk and letsauce thicken. You can add a few drops of wine vinegar, or soy sauce to change the tast.

I think quinoa is great for a side dish...it is straight protein but it feels like a grain or carb.

I cut 2 pieces of bacon up and stir fry brussel sprouts in the bacon and grease. It actually isn't bad calorie wise and it is one of our favorite dishes. I'll do that with asparagus, as well. Here is a similar recipe with a caloric listing (I don't add the chicken broth to mine):
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brussels-sprouts-bacon-50400000116749/

We eat salads and occasionally I will put crunchy things, like croutons or fried onions, on the table for people to add. We also like the yogurt dressings which are very savory without the calories; we get blue cheese and ranch and poppy seed.

Love sweet potatoes and I guess I have never bought into the white potato=bad theory. I cannot eat bananas so, I love potatoes for their potassium. I also cook brown rice and quinoa and sprinkle with season salt.

roasted veggies in the oven are always good. I throw garlic, olive oil, and freshly grated parm on my broccoli and roast until browned on the edges. Delish.

Same can be done to carrots... eggplant... etc (nix the parm).

Mmm. Yes. Roasted carrots are great as is roasted cauliflower and asparagus. I like cumin with the carrots and a little fresh lemon juice with the asparagus. You can buy the bags of frozen stirfry veg and saute them up with whatever seasoning you like...teriyaki sauce is good, so is lemon pepper or light Italian dressing. (Toss the warm veggies with the dressing off the heat.)

Fruit salad can be nice for dinner too. Sauteed apples or applesauce from the jar are great with pork. Or you can make something like fajitas that doesn't really need a side...everything is already there!

If you are having something spicy for dinner you might consider a cucumber salad with a yogurt dressing. Or a lowfat carrot pineapple salad. We like fruit salsas with chicken, and if you are broiling salmon you can broil frozen corn until it is glossy and sweet. We also like polenta, whole wheat pastas, and quinoa for a change of pace from rice.

Not sure if someone already said it for me but you could do whole wheat pasta, brown rice and whole wheat breads. When I started going healthier I started small by switching to more whole grain or whole wheat. I started adding in brown rice with the regular white rice, so that my guy didn't complain too much as he dislikes just brown rice. I also began making my own pizza dough to make homemade pizza. I used wheat flour instead of white all-purpose. I do this with homemade garlic bread too. When I make pasta I only use healthy noodles that are whole grain or whole wheat. Finally decided on Ronzoni noodles for that one. Taste just like regular noodles too and my friends can't even tell the difference. You can use them to make homemade mac and cheese and a million other pasta dishes. Healthy doesn't mean giving up what you love.

Roasted red onions with balsamic vinegar are a favorite of mine.
Also, yam fries (either homemade or Alexia spicy sweet potato fries, which are amazing).

Quinoa as an "under" (rather than "side") for a flavor-filled ANYTHING is pretty good. It's an incredibly neutral grain.

I'm having corn tortillas a a side tonight, and will either dampen them and then bake them until they're crunchy, or microwave the damp tortillas until they're crunchy (because I'm happier making baked chips at 1.49 for tortillas than eating them at 4.29 for a bag of baked chips)

I've also been using barley as a side. My kids are always pretty happy with noodles, too, and I can cook those without eating them, so it makes all of us pretty happy.

You can still have 4 oz baked Potatoes or 1/2 cup mashed, 1/2 cup of rice, 1 cup of pasta, it's about portion control not deprivation. You'll never stick to it otherwise. Make them fit into your day.

Carbs usual leads to cravings because they turn into sugars in your body. So, stating that it's all about controlling your portions is good on paper but some people just can't control themselves around carbs.

Here's what I like to do:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cherry-tomato-corn-salad/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-vegetables/detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-cranberry-spinach-salad/detail.aspx

Try making the mashed potatoes replacing half the potatoes with celeriac, boil as normal and mash together. It's tasty plus celeriac isn't as starchy.