Side Dish

One of my favorite things to bring to a cookout (besides the meat!) is a good summer pasta salad. There are two stars to this salad – the giardiniera dressing and the Galileo® Salame.  Best part is that this can be made ahead of time and it’s good in the fridge for several days. I love that there are both cooked and raw veggies in...

This hominy macaroni and cheese may be the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever made.  The hominy makes it! What is hominy? Full disclosure, I had to look this up!  “Hominy is made from whole corn kernels that have been soaked in a lye or lime solution to soften the tough outer hulls. The kernels are then washed to remove the excess solution, the hull,...

This pasta with zucchini and corn is great not only in the summer, but in the middle of November when the temps start to fall. I deep cleaned my pantry yesterday.  If my daughter Hannah were still living at home with me she would have shaken her head. So get ready for lots of pasta dishes while I use up what’s in my pantry! What...

Butternut squash twice baked potatoes are so good!  A little sweet, a little spicy and would be the perfect side dish to your Thanksgiving table. Best part is these butternut squash twice baked potatoes can be made ahead. Simply stuff the potatoes and then right before broiling, add the cheddar cheese.  Now is not the time to use fat free cheese, please and thank you....

A great way to use up your farmers market bounty is to make this easy marinara with chicken sausage meatballs.

This carrot potato mash was a happy accident. I’ve been doing Mariano’s pick up groceries since I am not on Day 11 of no results yet of my COVID test.  The sweet girl who did my shopping called me and said “we don’t have any one pound bag of carrots, can I substitute a pound of baby carrots? Um, the question to that answer will...

I love when I can make one dish and morph it into a few things later in the week, like these pork and mushroom wontons. I love wontons so much because the possibilities are endless.  Have some protein and veggies?  Wrap it up in a wonton.  I bought 1/2 a pound of ground pork from Mariano’s – if you stick to chicken or beef, please...

These chicken sausage meatballs were the first dish I made living alone. After just a month of falling in love with a townhouse, and jumping through all the hoops with a realtor, attorney, lender, etc., my roommates (aka my daughter Hannah and my son-in-law Jacob) moved into their new home today. Hannah was quite nervous when the movers got here, making sure they took all...

I dreamed about these brown rice arancini the other night.  Fun fact: until I met and married my Italian (and 1/2 French Canadian) husband, I never heard of arancini.  I think we bought them at an Italian grocery store his Mom used to shop at.  We brought them home and deep fried them and they were spectacular. Arancini are traditionally used with risotto, which isn’t...

I am all about the tot life.  If it is on the menu, I will always get it.  If. I don’t see it on the menu, I ask anyway because you just never know! Whenever there is a holiday I rarely do a meal plan that week because I know there will always be leftovers.  Jacob has been making his way through the leftover ribs,...