Side Dishes

Caprese Grain Salad with Spelt

June 24, 2013 by Erica

Caprese Grain Salad with Spelt

Caprese salad is one of my summertime favorites. I love how the fresh flavors somehow make red, white and green seem not at all Christmas-y!

I usually make a layered version, with big slices of vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh mozzarella sprinkled with sliced basil leaves, salt and pepper, and drizzled with olive oil. But I also have a soft spot for mini things (I think this is hard-wired into females of all species?), and little baby balls of mozzarella are no exception. So this time I decided to make a mini caprese, focusing on the awesome textures.

Caprese Grain Salad with Spelt

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Simple Cucumber Salad

May 24, 2013 by Erica

Simple Cucumber Salad

I looove cucumbers.

There was a whole summer during college when my dinner almost every night consisted of pasta with olive oil and parmesan and a side of peeled, sliced cucumbers. It was the most “cooking” I could handle as a 19-year-old. Possibly not the most nutritious meal, but totally delicious. If I ever find myself eating that these days, it immediately takes me back. And then I hurry to add a beer or glass of wine to my meal, for old time’s sake. The summer I’m talking about was spent in Berlin, after all.

Simple Cucumber Salad

Given my love of plain cucumbers, it’s no surprise that I’ve always loved this simple cucumber salad, which my mom has made for as long as I can remember. It’s easy, tasty, and refreshing… and does anyone else think cucumbers are kind of fun to slice? It’s the perfect side dish for a Memorial Day barbecue or picnic.

And dare I say that it tastes amazing with steak tips?

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Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

May 1, 2013 by Erica

Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

Happy May!

I think this fruit salad is the perfect way to start off such a glorious month.

Fruit salad just screams “summer barbecue” to me. It doesn’t make an appearance unless you have warm weather, a grill, and enough friends present to make a dent in a huge bowl of fruit. Yep, it doesn’t get much better the kind of occasion that features fruit salad.

But I’m not a fan of what I’ve come to think of as the typical fruit salad: pineapple, melon, and grapes. Maybe I’ve eaten too many continental breakfasts, but that just does not appeal to me. It always seems to sit out too long, the pineapple is all sour and hard, and does anyone actually like the melon in that salad? If so, the world – or at least hotel breakfast buffets – needs more people like you. And fewer people like me, who pick out all the grapes for themselves.

So instead, I created this Thai-inspired fruit salad featuring my favorite spring and summer flavors. No melon required.

Thai-Inspired Fruit Salad with Lime and Thai Basil

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Roasted Vegetable Poutine

April 5, 2013 by Erica

Roasted Vegetable Poutine

Can I convince you to turn on your oven just a few more times before it gets too warm?

Roasted Vegetable Poutine

If you’ve ever had poutine, I don’t think I’ll have to try too hard to convince you. If all you have are the visuals, on the other hand, I probably have my work cut out for me. (Do you remember the Modern Family clip where Mitch and Cam serve poutine and Jay says “Well it looks like vomit, and I’m not poutine it in my mouth.”? So grumpy… so funny.)

Roasted Vegetable Poutine

Yes, poutine has a reputation for looking rather unappetizing. But didn’t your mama ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover? Potatoes, cheese curds, and gravy: Let’s think about those three ingredients, and how unbelievably hard it would be to go wrong with them. They make the ideal comfort food.

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Chipotle Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes

March 20, 2013 by Erica

Chipotle Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Guess what kind of food I have for you today?

Sweet potatooooooes!

Sometimes I’m so predictable.

BUT not just any sweet potatoes. Creamy mashed sweet potatoes with a kick of chipotle and a drizzle of honey. If you only eat sweet potatoes once in your life, make sure they’re these ones.

Chipotle Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Side note, does anyone know how to take a good picture of mashed potatoes? If I could have a guest photographer for all future mashed potato posts… that would be great.

Anyway, I’m kind of obsessed with the combination of chipotle/honey/sweet potato that I first came across in these tacos (my favorite!) from Naturally Ella. It’s good in everything! Well, that might be an exaggeration. But if I’m ever wondering what to do with some leftover sweet potatoes, that flavor combination always comes to mind.

These potatoes would be great with a pork chop and a side of green veggies… or just scooped straight out of the serving bowl (not that I would know anything about that!). I was also thinking of using them as a bed for a cauliflower steak with some sort of veggie gravy, which is probably what I’ll do next time. So many possibilities!

In other news, guess what I have for you tomorrow? Just a little sneak peak:

Coffee & Quinoa

And there won’t be any sweet potatoes in them, I promise.

Although, truth be told, I might choose these sweet potatoes over cupcakes if I had to make the choice… yep, there’s a very good chance that I would. Luckily no one in their right mind would make you choose between those two things. That would just be cruel! I’ll take sweet potatoes AND cupcakes, please.

Chipotle Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes

5.0 from 1 reviews

Chipotle Honey Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Hands-on time

5 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

55 mins

Author: Erica

Yields: 4

Ingredients

3 lbs sweet potatoes (about 3 large sweet potatoes)
2 Tbsp butter or Earth Balance
2 chipotle chili peppers from a can of chipotle chilies in adobo, minced
1 Tbsp adobo sauce (from the can of chipotle peppers)
2 Tbsp honey
¼ tsp kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400. Scrub sweet potatoes and pierce several times with a fork. Bake until very soft when squeezed with an oven mitt, about 50 minutes.
Scrape the sweet potato flesh into a large bowl and discard the skins. Add remaining ingredients and beat with a hand mixer (or mash by hand) until thoroughly combined.
Serve hot!

Notes

Inspired by Eat, Live, Run.

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