Sides are the culinary accent in the dinner world that complete a meal. I almost never made side dishes aside from salads (basically consisted of taking it out of the bag and plating it) because making one thing for dinner was enough of a task! My thought process was that if I concentrated on one dish and it was edible then… SUCCESS! Holly: 1. Cooking: 40 billion.(That’s what you would call putting all my eggs into one basket.)
Now I find myself not being able to enjoy a meal without a side. (Cue the Twilight Zone theme song.) But I’ve discovered a few shortcuts that are easy and still turn out great- my secrets: roasted veggies and brown rice.
Hollyized Steps- roasted veggies:
Simply heat your oven to 425 degrees.
Either spray a cookie sheet with EVOO or coat it with foil and then spray with EVOO.
Wash and cut the vegetable of your choice into chunky strips or trim off ends.
Place veggies on the cookie sheet, sprinkle with EVOO and pepper.
Bake for 10 minutes. (Something like potatoes will need to be in for about 20 minutes.)
Hollyized Steps- brown rice:
Cook on stove according to directions. (Fancy, eh?)
The beauty of these two sides are that they are full-proof! Both are almost impossible to mess up, they go with any protein and they are done in less than 15 minutes. It definitely helps to have everything done at the same time… so restaurant-like!
I cooked my asparagus tonight for 15 minutes instead of ten so they don’t look so pretty. Just add a bit of ranch dressing and anything a tad overcooked will taste just fabulous!
you complete me
Hollyized Steps:
roasted veggies
- Simply heat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Either spray a cookie sheet with EVOO or coat it with foil and then spray with EVOO.
- Wash and cut the vegetable of your choice into chunky strips or trim off ends.
- Place veggies on the cookie sheet, sprinkle with EVOO and pepper.
- Bake for 10 minutes. (Something like potatoes will need to be in for about 20 minutes.)
brown rice
- Cook on stove according to directions. (Fancy, eh?)
