STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jacL · Coach

Side dishes

ILoveChoo · Hermes

rice and beans with some corn thrown in
couscous wih chopped tomato and cucumber and some mint and a squeeze of lemon juice
roasted veggies
baked potato/ sweet potato "fries"

NCshopper · Hermes

I almost always do a salad just cuz it's easier. My salads generally have three elements besides the greens: fruit, cheese, and nuts. For fruit, I use dried blueberries, figs, strawberries, dried cherries or cranberries. For cheese, I use either feta, bleu cheese crumbled up or (my favorite) goat cheese. And for nuts, I alternate between walnuts, pinenuts, and almonds. For a dressing, I stay away from bottled dressings and I just use olive oil and vinegar (either balsamic or red wine vinegar).

Other side dishes:
Green beans with some slivered almonds
Couscous--the easiest thing EVER since it takes five minutes to cook. I'll add whatever I have around the house and sounds good: feta, olives, red bell pepper, almonds, basil. Seriously couscous goes with everything.
Gnocchi--we buy the whole wheat gnocchi from Trader Joe's and that stuff is awesome. We'll add some parmesean, basil, or canned tomato to it and it's so good.
Baked potatoes
Black beans
Sweet potatoes (ooh--I make a good sweet potato dip--just throw black beans, sour cream, and cumin in a food processor til it's dip-consistency and it's SO good for sweet potato slivers)
Brown rice--usually DH cooks it in chicken stock and it's a lot tastier that way.

Elle · Hermes

Alot of the meals I make are one-dish sort of thing that don't really require a side dish - if I can work it all in to the main dish I will so do it!

If I am making a side dish, I don't like to do ones that take a long time or require a whole other recipe/chopping session to do. Simple is good for me! Here are some quick favorites:

Goat cheese crostini
Broiled garlic crostini
Roasted grape tomato bruschetta
Sauteed dark greens (with some lemon or vinegar and some garlic)
Brown rice (I usually do instant)
Baked sweet potato 'fries' (awesome with chili powder, S&P on them!)
Steamed veggies (zucchini, asparagus, broccoli, etc)
Zucchini fritters (baked instead of fried)
Salmon cakes (also baked instead of fried)
French onion soup
Beet and cucumber salad w/bleu cheese and balsamic vinegar

mikacat · Coach

rice
steamed asparagus or brocolli
sweet potatoes
baked apples
homemade applesauce
baked balsalmic asparagus
vege stirfry with a little soy sauce and ginger root
sauteed spinach
sauteed zucchini and onions

cahabo · Kate Spade

Sides dishes almost always consist of a veggie or mixed veggies-usually from frozen and once in a while from a can. Sometimes we do green salad with an variety of toppings/dressings. (I like feta cheese and sundried tomato dressing on my salad.) I also like to do bread. Depending on what we're having it could be Texas toast, rolls, or corn bread. To me side dishes aren't supposed to outdo the main dish, so my sides are pretty basic.

Suasoria · Chanel

Elle said what I was going to say, which is side dishes aren't usually on the menu because our meals are vegetarian and they're not meat course + starch course + vegetable course = meal.

We don't eat canned or frozen veggies except I've usually got some frozen corn and peas for recipes. We eat what's in season when it's cheapest and best, and spice/dress them simply. We have a vegetable garden too so we're good on that stuff during some parts of the year. Here are some other ideas on the veggie side:

Right now is a great time for asparagus. Spray baking sheet with olive oil. Arrange asparagus in one layer. Spray lightly again with oil. Grind salt and pepper over it and broil for 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on it and move them around with a spatula once or twice. How easy is that? I almost never make asparagus any other way anymore.

Zucchini is great in the summer. Cut into 1-1.5 inch rounds. Arrange on a dinner plate. Apply olive oil, butter or margarine lightly. Sprinkle with paprika, garlic powder, assorted dried herbs. Microwave or broil for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Parmesan optional.

I also cut zucchini, eggplant, and/or bell pepper longwise into half-inch strips and DH grills them. There are many, many uses for grilled veggies. Or I dress portobellos in soy sauce and canola oil and vegetarian Worchestershire or steak sauce and throw them on the grill. Or I slice a yam, microwave it for 5 minutes, wrap it in foil with bits of grated orange peel and ginger in between the slices, and throw the packet on the grill. Or corn on the cob cooked on the grill (this we have not mastered).

Fennel is delicious and elegant enough for a dinner party when braised. Cut the bulb into chunks (about one bulb for two people), saute in a little butter or olive oil for a few minutes, add a glass of white wine and slap the lid on fast. Turn the heat way down and braise covered for 10 minutes or so. You can throw in shallots or a leek, too, just to impress people.

In the winter we eat a lot of beets. (Cut off all but 1 inch of the tops, wash, and put in a cake pan with a half inch of water. Cover tightly with foil and roast at 350 for about an hour. Let them cool enough to peel and cut up. Good to do ahead of time, and serve at room temperature with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and coarse salt and pepper.)

We also eat greens, usually chard or kale, just as Elle described - sauteed in a nonstick pan with garlic and balsamic vinegar and a leeetle bit of oil if needed. Or rapini/broccolini, sauteed in a little oil and massive amounts of garlic, no vinegar.

Some things I do with salads year-round:

Use the metal cheese grater or a mandoline to grate raw carrots, raw zucchini, raw yellow summer squash and radish into a vegetable salad or cole slaw with or without shredded red cabbage. Dress with oil/vinegar, herbs, etc. or your own salad dressing. Sesame seeds are good on this, especially with toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and a smidge of honey for "Asian slaw."

Or cucumber, red onion, green onion, and mint leaves with a sweet dressing.

Or add some of the grated raw veggies to your leafy salads. Or grate one of the leftover beets and throw it in. Or cut the leftover grilled vegetables into bite-sized pieces and toss them into the salad.

Or use half cabbage and half lettuce for more nutrition. Or half cabbage and half spinach.

I love tomatoes, and one of our favorite salads is cubed avocado or cucumber, cubed tomatoes, fresh basil and/or fresh mint in plain olive oil with salt and pepper. Or three kinds of heirloom tomatoes.

jacL · Coach

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! I usually do a meat-starch-veggie meal and I guess I should have specifed that. I am A-OK on the veggie portion but it was the starch portion I am always stumped about, and there is no bypassing it either (both BF and I need it!). Also, while I love black beans and can do so much with them, BF does NOT like them :(
Good ideas all around, though, so thanks again.

NCShopper, I was never a fan of couscous but SO is, so I would just always make a box version. I made "real" couscous with cilantro and scallions the other night and I really liked it!

janey831 · Kate Spade

Some Ideas:

orzo with corn, peas, any kind of veggie mized in w/ a vinegearette
naan
pita bread
risotto (TJ's has a frozen mushroom kind that tastes pretty good)

Suasoria · Chanel

jacL, maybe it would simplify things to think about it only once or twice a week - and eat virtually the same starch a couple of days in a row (just diguised/gussied up a bit).

So on Monday you could boil a pound of corkscrew pasta, and dish out a little with butter and garlic and parmesan. Toss the rest of the pasta with a little oil and put it in the fridge. On Tuesday you take a little more plain pasta, add some black olives and parsley and tomato and serve it as a cold pasta salad with some sort of dressing. On Wednesday you reheat what's left of the naked pasta in some pesto sauce and it's completely different again.

Same idea with brown rice or mashed potatoes - if you make a big batch all at once and do different things to it, it may hold you for a while. You can add raisins and almonds and curry powder to rice and it's a pilaf. Or stir in some tomato paste and bell pepper and it's Spanish rice.

If you put enough garlic and rosemary in the mashed potatoes, I think you can beat Betty Crocker!! To me the boxed stuff tastes very artificial - I think after a while without it the taste buds readjusted. The added sodium, fats, flavorings, etc. seem to be addictive or at least seductive.

But I like my foods spicy or at least strongly flavored and it's hard for me to imagine being bored by potatoes or whatever. I use a lot of fresh and dried herbs, garlic, olive oil, truffle oil, sesame oil, wine vinegars, rice vinegar, cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Bragg's, coconut milk, tahini, vegetable bullion/powder, pestos, tapenades, salsas, mustards, wasabi, tomato products, hot or BBQ sauces, honey, molasses, sesame and poppy seeds, dried mushrooms, dried onions, dried hot peppers, dried seaweed, along with spices like ginger, curry, turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, chili powder, paprika, cayenne, cajun seasonings. And so on. (I go nuts in ethnic markets.)

jrhampt · Kenneth Cole

I second the rosemary and garlic mashed potatoes, especially if you use fresh garlic and a press instead of garlic powder. Even with the powdered/dry herbs, though, I think they taste pretty good. If you want something more fattening, I also make cream cheese and chive mashed potatoes that are delicious -- just add a package of neufchatel (lower cals and fat than cream cheese) and a generous amount of chives.

Also, I don't think this is a starch, but I like to use a box of stovetop low sodium stuffing as a side and add coarsely chopped walnuts and raisins or dried cranberries to it. It's really fast and easy and everyone thinks it's homemade.