Category: Side Dish

Ecuador!

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This post’s title is dedicated to Charles at Five Euro Food who posted a link to this video in his comments on our Ecuadorian beans. Since then, I cannot say the word “Ecuador” without yelling it in my head (or out loud) just like in the song. Fortunately it makes me laugh every time too, so I’m not annoyed…yet. But I’ll give you fair warning, if you listen to the song you will never hear the word Ecuador the same way again. Ever.

In addition to our bean stew on Sunday, we also made a wonderful fruit dish. This recipe is again adapted from Laylita’s Recipes and would be wonderful on a hot summer day. We also thought it would be a great complement to our hearty and spicy beans. (Translation – just in case I hated the beans, I needed something to fall back on!)

The dish is called Come y Bebe, or Eat and Drink. It’s a brilliant concept for a fruit salad. It’s basically an Ecuadorian drinkable fruit salad with a name that the kids loved to say! Especially Miss A who loves all things “baby,” never mind it didn’t mean that kind of baby. Continue reading →

Any Way You Want It

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I doubt that Journey was referring to Cornbread in their 1980 hit. 

Just look at that hair! I love it! LOL.

But back to cornbread. Cornbread is one of those dishes that you can easily customize to suit your own tastes. Personally Mike and I prefer it spicy and cheesy, but the kids aren’t big fans of heat. So while we were in Maine we created a version that they would find more appetizing.

This recipe is a blend between one that Greg over at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide created a few weeks back, and a the version that Mr. N and I made at his cooking class back in June. We started by mixing all the dry ingredients in one bowl – corn meal, flour, sea salt and baking powder. Then we mixed all the wet ingredients in another bowl – honey, eggs and buttermilk. Next we made a well in the dry ingredients, poured the wet ingredients into the well and combined.

For our “custom” ingredients we used what we had on hand, frozen corn kernels, Vermont two-year aged Cheddar cheese and chives.  Continue reading →

What’s Not to Love About Colorado

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Tonight we round out last night’s winning Colorado dinner with Balsamic Glazed Fingerlings, again adapted from Agriculture Colorado. I still can’t get over how successful dinner was – and even more surprising, how much the kids enjoyed it! Miss A asked for more steak on two different occasions today and was very distressed that we didn’t have any leftovers. Mr. N finished off the fingerlings tonight and has already asked that we make the potatoes again soon. He also wants to pass the recipe on to his Grandma to make on one of the night’s he goes to her house for dinner. Looks like this meal will become one of our family recipes!

We don’t say this often, but this is one recipe you’ve got to try. We’re sure you’ll love it – if not, send us the leftovers! 🙂 You start with dark balsamic vinegar, white oregano infused balsamic vinegar and honey. Bring it to a simmer on the stove and reduce the mixture until it’s syrupy, about 40 minutes. Continue reading →

Passin’ on the Love and Libyan Side Dishes

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Last night, after the kids were washed and bathed from creating a water slide on their new swing set that ultimately shot them out into a puddle of mud, we completed our cooking adventure in Libya. We made a fish dinner with a few Libyan side dishes. Tonight we want to share our sides as well as pass on the love for some awards we have received in recent weeks.

We are always humbled by and grateful for awards we receive from fellow bloggers, and Mr. N is always quite excited. We were recently honored with The Versatile Blogger Award from both Mandy at The Complete Cook Book and Mary at Inside a British Mum’s Kitchen. Both are wonderful food blogs with amazing recipes. Mandy is currently on a bread baking mission, which as a non-bread baker myself, I’m absolutely enjoying. One of these days I’ll make that my mission as well. I mean who doesn’t love a fresh loaf of bread?! (Well, except for Kay over at Pure Complex, but we’ll forgive her that since she was the first to pass along this award to us a while back. LOL! Love ya Kay!)

And Mary cooks for a busy family with teenage girls. She gives me hope that our kids will still want to hang around in the kitchen with us when they’re teenagers. She’s also the creator of our Libyan couscous dish from last night. It’s a wonderful couscous salad that’s full of fresh flavor and veggies. (Incidentally it got 4 spoons from me, 3 spoons from dad, and while Mr. N and Miss A weren’t fans of the couscous they did eat all the chickpeas they could find!) Continue reading →

Quick Cumin Couscous

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I just returned from a girls’ getaway weekend with my best friend. It was a fantastic, relaxing weekend – just what the doctor ordered. So since I’m stuffed from a weekend of wining and dining on some really good eats, my camera is still broken and I’m in need of some quality time with the family (Oh, how I missed Mr. N and Miss A – dad too of course!), I’m going to keep this one short and sweet.

This is the recipe for the Cumin Couscous we made and used to fill our pitas alongside the chicken (which I’ll post tomorrow). I found the recipe at Tour Egypt and adapted it slightly due to the fact currants aren’t available right now. The couscous would also stand on its own and is a wonderfully sweet complement to a spicy dish.

Continue reading →

One More for the Teachers

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Feliz Cinco de Mayo! We wanted to share one other dish that we whipped up for the teacher’s today. This one was again from The “I Don’t Know How to Cook” Book – Mexican by Linda Rodriguez, Green Beans with Pine Nuts.

We started by washing and cooking the fresh green beans. Continue reading →