All posts tagged sides

memorial day, part two: the recipes.

by shannon on May 28, 2013 in mains, salads, sides with 22 Comments

memorial day: the recipes.

As promised, here are some of the recipes from Memorial Day, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed. None of them requires much in the way of ingredient-purchasing or time committment, which is great when you’re putting things together on a lazy weekend. There’s a few strategies I employ for weekends like this past one, where I want to relax and not spend my entire day in the kitchen; I know some of us really enjoy hunkering down into a flurry of cooking and baking, but during the warmer months, I find myself wanting to do other things as well. It’s important to never feel trapped in the kitchen while everyone else is kicking back outside, and these tips will help you do just that. Continue reading →

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peeled pear + winter greens salad with dill vinaigrette.

by shannon on April 8, 2013 in brunch, mains, salads with 24 Comments

peeled pear + winter greens salad with dill vinaigrette.

This post may either bring us closer or cause some unsubscribes, although I hope it doesn’t do the latter. Because it’s a post about a salad, but it’s also a post about a very polarizing public figure.

Gwyneth Paltrow.

Don’t go away; let’s just sit down and talk about this for a few minutes. She’s been getting a borderline crazy amount of flak over her new cookbook, It’s All Good: Easy Recipes that Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great. At first, a few people popped up with some mean little reviews, but now it’s everywhere; and you know what? It’s gotten pretty nasty. I’m not a huge fan of that, even when I don’t particularly like someone, especially because there’s really no call for it. This is not the latest Thomas Keller cookbook masterpiece; nor does it claim in any way to be. Do I think Gwyneth is a little crazy? She sure is, but I think lots of us are a wee bit off the deep end with things we like to do; we’re just not all famous, so no one hounds us about why we’re doing a juice diet for a few days or why we tried Bikram yoga. Because hey, guess what? Those things were considered to be tremendously weird at one time, also. Continue reading →

greek panzanella salad + a new series: farmers’ market mondays.

by shannon on April 30, 2012 in breakfast, brunch, mains, salads with 19 Comments

It seems as though there’s a general theme out there right now with my fellow baking (and cooking, sometimes) bloggers: we feel poofy. We could lose a few pounds. We need to eat better. And isn’t that like, exactly what happens to everyone around this time of year, right? It’s warmer, winter’s officially over, some of us are scheduling our summer vacations and thinking “holy, crap; I have to actually wear that swimsuit in public at some point.” And I have an almost-2-year-old. What does that mean? You guessed it; more photos than some countries allow anytime she’s in close proximity to my mother. What it also means is that when my wee one is photographed, she is often photographed with her mother’s thighs in the frame. *sigh* Continue reading →

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anthony’s slaw.

by shannon on February 9, 2012 in salads, sides with 2 Comments

Listen to me say the word “slaw” and think about the first thing that comes to your mind. Does it bring to mind small bits of shredded cabbage, maybe bits of carrot here and there? Is it overdressed in a creamy, flavorless mayonnaise-y sauce or has it been drowned in vinegar and oil? Is it curiously devoid of any basic seasoning, like salt or pepper? Does its wilted presence in your brain make you feel sad? I’m sorry.  Continue reading →

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smoked potato salad + horseradish cream.

by shannon on January 11, 2012 in salads, sides with No comments

It’s safe to say everyone has “their” potato salad. Maybe it’s not yours, exactly, but it’s always someone in your family who gets credit for “the” salad. Our family is guilty of the same thing. I don’t say “mom, can you make the german potato salad that only bears passing resemblance to traditional german potato salad?” No. Rather, I say “mom; can you make Grandma’s potato salad?” to which she answers “you mean the german one?” and I say “yes.”  Continue reading →

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vanilla bean sweet potatoes.

by shannon on December 9, 2011 in sides with No comments

I’m still reliving Thanksgiving. I don’t mean to, it’s just that we had so many things to eat I’m finding it impossible to get through them all fast enough. And…since so many things you make on Thanksgiving manage to reappear throughout the winter holidays, I think it’s ok. I’m in the midst of a cookie-baking frenzy right now, so anything “un-cookie” looks appealing to me, even more so than it normally does. Hopefully you feel the same.  Continue reading →

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spiced butternut, arugula + pine nut salad.

by shannon on November 13, 2011 in salads with 1 Comment

The thing about writing this blog is it gives me a massive (and fairly valid) excuse to make whatever I feel like, whenever I want. Like two kinds of stuffing in one day. or seven-layer bars because I wanted chocolate. or a giant orange Bundt cake. twice. Because I felt the glaze could be better. You get the point. And since I don’t live in some sort of commune, or have 15 teenagers, most of the time I have quite a bit left over. I freeze what I can, but that leaves me with two choices: a freezer at max capacity or orange cake for lunch. dilemma.  Continue reading →

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cornbread dressing, two ways.

by shannon on November 10, 2011 in sides with No comments

And welcome to Thanks-vember, when all I do is think about how delicious this year’s Thanksgiving celebration will be. To the first of two holiday food months, I thought I’d start with something I’ve never tried before: cornbread stuffing dressing. I’m also working to correct calling anything with cubed bread and seasonings “stuffing,” as I recently learned that the titles aren’t necessarily interchangeable. Whatever. We grew up calling it stuffing, in or out of the bird, and it’s a hard habit to break. Continue reading →

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chopped apple salad + pomegranate vinaigrette.

by shannon on November 1, 2011 in salads with No comments

…dedicated to all of us who desperately need to recover from Halloween candy overindulgence.

Salads, when you make them for yourself, often feel as though they’re just not as good as if someone had made it for you. And by “someone,” I mean a restaurant. You go out and order a salad: it’s lovely. You make it yourself and it feels vaguely like you cleaned out your fridge. I want a bona fide, “I’m out to lunch/dinner” salad  but without having to go out to get it. Attention: this is that salad.  Continue reading →

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smoky sweet potato + apple soup.

by shannon on October 19, 2011 in sides, soups with No comments

Out of nowhere, the temperature took a nosedive. I was lamenting the indian summer we were having, and poof: gone. Replaced with highs in the 50′s and a constant feeling that it’s going to rain. Too late for us to have any real fall leaves to peep, but better late than never, because it’s time for soup. Continue reading →

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