Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

This easy side dish is a favorite of mine.  You chop, dump, mix, and let 'em roast. 

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

• 1 1/2 pounds small red or white skinned potatoes

• 1/8 cup olive oil (or dump and mix until coated)

• 3/4 tsp. salt

• 1/2 tsp. black pepper

• 1 Tbsp. or 3 cloves garlic
•  2 Tbsp. fresh minced rosemary leaves

Preheat the oven to 400°.

Cut the potatoes in quarters and place in a bowl with the olive oil.  Toss until potatoes are coated.  Add olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary.  Toss until spices coat potatoes.  Dump the potatoes on a baking sheet and spread out into 1 layer.  Roast in the oven for at least 1 hour or until browned and crisp.  Flip twice with a spatula during cook time.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rosemary-roasted-potatoes-recipe/index.html

Pesto Pasta Salad

When I decided I was going to cut my basil way back and make pesto the other day I was researching pesto recipes.  I thought this would be a good side dish, a little different from normal pasta salad.  We enjoyed it.  I liked the tomatoes, peas, and pine nuts in it.

Pesto Pasta Salad

• 1 box spiral pasta

• 1/4 cup pine nuts

• 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted 

• 12 oz. cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)

• Several fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• Mozzarella cheese (or substitute with cheese of your choice)

(You can add other vegetables if you want!)

1.  Cook pasta according to box.  Remove from heat and strain when pasta is cooked, but still firm (al dente).  Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in a small pan over medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until they begin to brown (no longer than 8 minutes).

2.  Put pasta in a large bowl.  Mix in pesto and pine nuts.  Gently mix in cherry tomatoes, peas, fresh basil leaves, olive oil, and cheese.  Salt and Pepper to taste.  Chill or serve at room temperature.

Source: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pesto_pasta_salad/

Grilled Corn

This was our first time grilling corn.  Until recently I haven't heard much about grilled corn - but this year and last year I keep hearing people talk about it.  I was really impressed with it and think I'd prefer it to regular boiled corn.

I didn't research what to do until after I'd husked it, so I ended up wrapping them in foil.  They were so good!  Even though I want to try grilling them with some of husk on, I'd do it like this again.  We really liked the flavor from the olive oil on these.

Grilled Corn (out of husk):

1.  Husk the corn.  Heat grill to 350°.

2.  Brush with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any other herb or sauce that you want.  Wrap in foil and twist the ends closed.

3.  Grill for 20-30 minutes over med-low heat.  Use an oven mitt to hold them.  Unwrap and enjoy! 

Roasted Carrots

Roasted carrots... pictured here with couscous and half of a
"salmon garden burger" from Giant Eagle.

This is quite possibly the easiest way to make cooked veggies.  It was the first time I have ever made carrots like this, and I would definitely do it again.

Ingredients:
• Carrots (either baby carrots, or carrots cut into 2-inch pieces)
• olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.  In a rimmed oven safe dish toss carrots with olive oil to coat.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast until tender and golden, about 20 minutes, tossing halfway through.

Source: Everyday Food (Martha Stewart) March 2011

Taco night and refried beans

I really enjoy tacos.  I had some hard shells and decided to pre-make them before Nick got home from work so that all we'd have to do is open them up, eat 'em, and throw away the foil.  I didn't completely think through what would happen when I did this.  So I took some shells, put some refried beans on the bottom, meat, cheese, lettuce... then wrapped them real nice in foil and stuck them in the oven for about 20 minutes on 200°.

Taco Bell usually disgusts me... so this reminding me of Taco Bell was not good.  Did you know if you fill a hard taco shell with some fixins and wrap it up and let it sit in the oven it will get mushy - like a soft shell?  Nick liked this... I did not.  Sometimes I just don't think things through... then they make sense later.

Anyway, I made some refried bean dip.  You can eat it as a dip with chips or as a side dish.  We ended up only putting it in the tacos and not eating any plain.  It was good.  We're planning to eat tacos again to use up the rest of our shells (and eat them how I like, as hard tacos...) so we will eat it then.  If you like refried beans I would recommend it.  If not, probably not.

The recipe is from the Tasty Kitchen blog, and can be linked to here.  It takes the beans and makes them into a creamier bean mix.

I need to go grocery shopping (translation: I did not have all of the ingredients) so I just threw some things into a pot with the beans and heated.  If I were to make this again I would probably use cream cheese since that's what the original recipe calls for.

Refried bean dip:
1 can refried beans
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream
1 tsp. taco seasoning
1 tsp. sugar
sprinkle garlic powder to taste
pinch salt
1/4 cup chicken broth


Source: Tasty kitchen recipies, from CindyLu,
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/sidedishes/mexican-refried-beansdip/