This is my new favorite side dish.  I've come up with a way to justify my not-so-healthy diet.  As long as I serve something healthy along with the sinful it evens out, right?  My husband who is healthier than me really would be a vegetarian if I went along with it.  But I'm a meatatarian. I can't help it.  So  I try to balance.  If I'm going to serve beef I try to serve something green.  Hence the beef and broccoli we've had 3 times in the last month. My other big dietary issue is I'm a southern girl and I sometimes crave those authentic southern foods.  A couple of nights ago I wanted to try to make beef short ribs.  It seems they're all the rage right now.  I decided some cheesy grits perfectly accompany them.  I needed a green side dish.  I had a bag of spinach and decided it would work.  I read a couple of recipes and decided that I liked the Neely's take on sauteed spinach.  I made a whole bag thinking it would surely be too much but it wasn't.  It was just enough for two people.  And I think my husband could have eaten all of it by himself.    But did I take any pictures? No.  But I knew I had to share this recipe.


Then last night I made (cringing) chicken fried steak fingers, mashed potatoes, gravy.. and you can guess.  I needed something green.  So I asked my husband if he'd mind if I made the spinach again.  He was excited!  It was sooooooo good!!!! 

My advice is have everything ready to go.  This cooks in less than a minute and you will not have time to go search for what you need.  I didn't even have time to take a picture of the cooking process.

Here's what you'll need:

1 bag of spinach (or more)
onion diced, I used about 1-2 Tablespoons
one small garlic clove, minced.  
Olive oil and or butter
salt and pepper
balsamic vinegar

Wash your spinach well and give it a whirl in the salad spinner to get most of the water off.  It can be damp.

P.S.  Look at my ancient salad spinner.  It's so old it's getting brittle.  I bought this at Crate and Barrel around 1990.  I'd say I got my money's worth!

 Get your pan ready.  I went ahead and used both olive oil and butter.  It may have been overkill.  But it was good.

Heat your pan on high or med-high.
As soon as your butter is melting go ahead and add your onion and garlic.   In a few seconds add your spinach. 

My husband snapped a photo for me and now the truth is out... I am an alien.  It's true.  The proof is there in this picture.  He caught me flicking some sea salt into the pan.  
By the time you toss the spinach to distribute the olive oil it will already be wilting.  You can turn off the heat now. You are done.  Time < a minute.  After you turn off the heat add a few drops of balsamic vinegar. 

If you like cooked spinach at all I think you should make this.  The flavor is incredible and we ate a whole bag of spinach!  I could never eat a whole bag of spinach any other way.  
This will be a regular side dish from now on in our house!  

Ok, so I'm a little late.  This was supposed to have gone on here before Thanksgiving.  But I ask you... is stuffing only for Thanksgiving??? NO!  Do I ever make it any other time? NO! haha  But really why not?  It would certainly go with a roast chicken.  And some people have a special meal for Christmas.  If you're planning to make ham or turkey, consider this... It is good and good for you!  (I can justify just about anything). 

Kale has been growing in popularity and people are discovering that it is not only nutritious but it's easy to cook with.  It doesn't have a strong flavor like collard greens.  I think it's got an even milder flavor than spinach.  So if you haven't tried it this is a good way to give it a test run.  
Here's what you need:
2 large white or yellow onions (about 4 cups)
4 ribs of celery
1 stick of butter
1 large bunch of kale (about 10 cups)  
4 cups of cornbread ( I just use 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread)
Jimmy Dean hot breakfast sausage
Salt & Pepper
Poultry seasoning
Might need chicken broth- but then again.. you might not! 
I like my stuffing to be- not dry but not the consistency of bread pudding.. if that makes sense.


Before you begin remove stems from kale and give it a rough chop. I like to put mine in my salad spinner.  I wash it really well with cold water and then spin it dry a couple of times. 

In a large sauce pan or stock pot melt butter and saute the diced onions and celery.  I add salt, pepper, and 1-2 tablespoons of the poultry seasoning.  
You don't want to brown the veggies just soften them up a bit.  

Then begin adding the kale a handful at a time.  Just slowly toss to incorporate with the veggies.  It will look like a ton of kale but it will wilt and believe it or not you will use all of it! When I think there is room for another handful I'll begin working it in.  

After a few minutes this is what you'll have!  This is a whole salad spinner full of kale.  
At this point go ahead and take a little pinch out to taste it.  If you need to add more salt and pepper go ahead and do it.  I almost always add more and I end up adding more poultry seasoning too because sage is one of my favorite spices.

This is so cool.  I'm in love with this product.  It's hearty crumbles.  :)   You can use what you need and seal it up and freeze it.  For this recipe though I dumped the whole bag in there.  The spicy isn't all that spicy to me.  Don't be scared.

meanwhile... you've cooked your cornbread and let it cool.  crumble it up into large chunks.

Add cornbread to the veggie mixture.  If it seems like it's a little too dry for your taste you can always add a little bit of chicken broth.  
Then you're going to cook the stuffing just like you normally would.  You can actually use it as a stuffing inside of a turkey or chicken.  Or you can put it in a covered casserole dish and heat it in the oven until it is warm.  

While visiting the kids one weekend in Norman we went to eat at a neat little restaurant at Campus Corner called 7 fortyseven.  On the appetizer menu they have shoestring fries.  I was sort of leaning towards the potato nachos but Amy's friend recommended the shoestring fries so I ordered those.  My life has never been the same.  We literally inhaled these fries.  We went back the next day for brunch and ordered them again.  And then on our next visit we went back and ordered them yet again.  I'm hooked.  They are the crack of the food world.  I've been calling them crack fries ever since because I'm obsessed with them.  So much so that I decided I can't live without them.  Having them on random weekend trips to see my kids is not good enough.  I must have them whenever I want.  Nothing good can come of this I promise!

I googled truffle oil and found out where I could buy some.  Williams-Sonoma has it and so I promptly made a trip to get it.  

Ok, now don't faint.  This isn't cheap.  This little bottle cost $24.95 
It's definitely a luxury item.  Not something you'd use every day.  Thankfully, a little bit goes a long way.  I've made these fries twice now and I've still got half of it left. 

But this is a primary ingredient in the crack fries.








Because I have no desire to stand around meticulously cutting a potato into little matchstick size pieces I decided that I'm ok with store-bought fries.  I used the Ore-Ida brand restaurant style extra crispy fries.  

 

These are super easy to make!  Just bake your fries according to package directions.  Then season with kosher salt, all purpose seasoning, and crushed rosemary.  Drizzle with some truffle oil and toss to coat, the grate parmesan cheese over the fries and also add some shaved parmesan.  To shave the parmesan I just used a potato peeler.  And VOILA!   
These are so amazing!  I had to share.  This is definitely a good thing!!!

These beans are really good as a side dish.  You can use it to accompany a Tex-mex meal.  But this is also a recipe that stands on it's own.  It's good enough to be a main course!  We've been making this for years and I got my recipe from my big sister.  

The original recipe makes 12 cups of beans which is a huge amount.  I've scaled it down some and it still makes plenty!

Here is what you'll need:
5 slices of bacon cut into chunks
1 large yellow onion
4 cans of pinto beans, undrained.
1 can or bottle of dark Mexican beer (I only had a light beer on hand)
1-2 cups of beef broth
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 jalepenos, seeded and finely chopped
2 tsp of sugar
1/2 cup of chopped, fresh cilantro

And here is what you do:

Cut your bacon into pieces and brown in the stock pot

When the bacon is crispy remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside.

In the bacon grease saute the onion and diced jalapeno.  Cook until it is just tender, you really don't need to brown them.  
Then it's time to add all of the rest of the ingredients (except for the cilantro) 
Add beans, tomatoes, broth, beer, sugar, and bacon. 
Because it's all cooked you just need to let this simmer long enough to let the flavors blend. A few minutes before serving add the chopped cilantro. I don't like to add this too soon or it changes color.  Give you beans a taste and if you think it needs a little something extra you can always add 1 or 2 teaspoons of my secret ingredient:

 But you don't have to!  I made this recipe for years and didn't know about the pinto bean seasoning.  But it's pretty handy stuff!  If you come across it in the store I recommend getting some!  

I hope you all like this.  The beans have an authentic flavor and your guests will think you've worked over a stove for hours. You don't have to tell anyone you used canned beans.  

You have to watch this!  This man is adorable and I'm going to get some "Ov Gloves" this weekend!

This is a recipe I got from my friend Carrie.  It's a perfect side dish to prepare ahead of time when you're having guests over.  Then you can throw this in the oven at the last minute.  Every guest has their own little bundle.  It's like a gift from the asparagus gods.   
To begin with, I believe the selection of asparagus is what MAKES this recipe taste so good.  I prefer little skinny stalks.

I'm sure the reason I prefer the skinny stalks is because when I was little we had wild asparagus growing along our fence row by the pasture at our home.  The small stalks would be as big around as my thumb and they got even bigger.. They had a funny pungent taste and I was not a fan, to say the least!  Add to that the fact that mom would serve them steamed with a Hollandaise sauce globbed over it... it just wasn't appealing to a young kid.

But these little babies... oh they are crunchy and I love the way they taste. We often serve these just grilled or broiled with some olive oil, salt, & pepper.  
But what makes them EVEN BETTER is adding a slice of pepper jack cheese and wrapping them in a slice of prosciutto.
The prosciutto will cook to a crisp consistency and the cheese adds yummy flavor.  

Divide your asparagus into how many ever bundles you want to make.  This was one bunch.  For 8 people you'd need a couple of bunches.  
Trim the ends off of the bottom.  Wash and pat dry.
I used slices of pepper jack and used a half of a piece for each bundle, then take a slice of prosciutto and wrap it around and place it seam-side down on your baking sheet.  My prosciutto was hard to work with this time around. The sheets were very thin and kept ripping apart so it wasn't the easiest to wrap with.  

Brush the ends with olive oil and sprinkle the ends with salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.  
You can also cook these on a grill.  When I was cooking these I  ended up sticking them in the oven at 350 to let it cook with another dish.  I just left them in the oven a little longer and they turned out just fine.  

I love the other squash casserole recipe that I have posted on here... (it's in the old recipe section) but this one is so yummy and creamy!  It seems like every squash casserole I'd ever had was a Tex-Mex type of flavor and I think part of the reason I love this one so much is that it ISN'T. It's just cheesy and yummy.  mmmmm!!!

And how easy is this?  It has like 6 ingredients!
I googled recipes for a long time before I could find one to settle on.  This was a compromise between Paula Deen's recipe and some others that I saw.  
Here's what you'll need:

6 small-med yellow crookneck squash, peeled and sliced
1 large vidalia onion, diced
1 cup of sour cream
1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
1 tube of crackers (saltines, Ritz, Club..doesn't matter) 
Salt and pepper
1 T. butter

In a skillet, melt butter (I also added a little olive oil) and sautee onion and squash until tender. About 10 minutes over med heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
Then add the sour cream and cheese.
Pour into casserole dish (I sprayed mine with cooking spray).
The top with one whole tube of crushed crackers
Bake 350 until bubbly.  About 25-30 mins.

Note: Paula Deen's recipe called for 1/4 cup of grated parmesan and used less sour cream and cheese.  

Enjoy!!  We served this will grilled burgers and brats.  :)  The perfect thing for a summer evening!