5 Easy Side Dishes for the Holidays or Anytime

Traditional side dishes are perfect for each holiday. Many people look forward to the green bean casserole, and sweet potatoes. And many families have a particular family recipe for side dishes that they make each year. However, if you are looking for something different, or perhaps something in addition to your regular traditional side dishes, look no further. These are five absolutely awesome side dishes for anytime of year, but are particularly good for holidays.

You can make these dishes with your traditional side dishes, or you can supplement tradition with something new. Enjoy the new side dish recipes.

Delicious Almond Green Beans Side Dish

You will need:
2 pounds of thin green beans, trimmed
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 cup of whole almonds with skin, coarsely chopped
1-1/2 tablespoons of finely grated fresh lemon zest
1 large garlic clove, minced
1-1/2 cups of coarsely chopped parsley leaves

What you do:
Begin by heating the olive oil in a large skillet over low to medium heat until it is hot but be sure it is not smoking. Add almonds and toast. Stir constantly until they are golden brown in color, approximately four minutes. Transfer the almond mixture to a small bowl and stir in freshly grated lemon zest and the minced garlic clove. Allow mixture to cool. Add parsley. If you want some extra seasoning, add some salt, pepper or other seasoning. Set aside. Next, Cook the green beans in a pot of boiling salted water until they are tender, approximately eight minutes. Drain the water from the green beans and place in serving dish. If you want to season the green beans, do so now with salt, pepper, or any other seasoning. Add some of the almond sauce to the green beans. You can serve the rest of the sauce on the side. Makes 8 servings.

Herb and Butter Vegetables Side Dish

You will need:
1-1/2 pounds of assorted baby vegetables, trimmed
2 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon of butter
Freshly ground pepper
Salt

What you do:
Begin by steaming vegetables, until tender, approximately ten to fifteen minutes. Remove the vegetables from the steamer and place in serving bowl. Next, stir in chopped basil, chopped cilantro, butter, and seasoning, salt or pepper to taste. Toss the veggies so they are well coated. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Ham & Cheese Mashed Potatoes Side Dish - This recipe can be made with homemade mashed potatoes or instant mashed potatoes. Either way, it tastes the same and is awesome!

You will need:
2 cups of mashed potatoes
3/4 teaspoon of garlic salt
1 cup of fully cooked ham, diced
1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup of whipping cream, whipped

What you do:
Begin by combining the potatoes and garlic salt in a medium sized bowl. In a greased baking dish, spread the potatoes in the bottom. Add ham by sprinkling it all over. Fold the cheddar cheese into the whipped cream. Spoon it over the ham. Bake at 450?, uncovered for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 4-6 servings.

Really Easy Stuffing Side Dish

You will need:
1 one pound loaf of white bread
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon of seasoning
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of ground black pepper
1/4 cup of water

What you do:
Begin by moistening the bread with as much water as needed to make it moist. Next, add the chopped onion, seasoning, and the salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix together. If you wish, you can place inside the turkey, however I prefer the tin foil method. Place the entire thing in a piece of tin foil and wrap it up. Cook for at least one hour. This is the easiest, most moist stuffing our family has ever had. Makes 5-7 servings

Garlic & Butter Mushrooms Side Dish

You will need:
2 dozen large mushrooms
1/2 cup of butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
1/2 cup of parsley, minced
lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

What you do:
Begin by removing the stems and cleaning the mushrooms. Then, combine the butter, minced shallots, minced garlic and minced parsley. Mix well. Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl - you will only need about half of the lemon juice from one lemon. Also add the salt and pepper. Mix again. Put the mushrooms in a baking dish and fill each mushroom with about a half to full teaspoon of the garlic butter mixture. Bake at 400? for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes approximately 6 servings.



By Nicole Humphrey

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Crock Pot Cooking Chicken Recipes

Orange Chicken with Onions 6 chicken thighs

1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp of Chinese 5-spice seasoning
1 tsp of brown sugar
? tsp of ginger
3/4 tsp of salt
1/3 cup of orange juice
1/3 cup of chicken broth
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with enough cold water to form paste

In a bowl or cup, mix soy sauce, orange juice and chicken broth. Pour mixture into the crock pot. Add sliced onions into the pot.In a small bowl, mix ginger, 5-spice, and salt. Sprinkle mixture over chicken. Place the chicken, seasoned side up, into the crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 6 hours. Transfer chicken thighs to a plate. Add cornstarch and water mixture to the liquid in the crock pot, stirring vigorously with a fork until dissolved.

Return chicken and cook for an additional 30 to 60 minutes on high, until sauce is thickened.

Serve over rice or noodles. Chicken thighs can be substituted with boneless pork chops

Boneless Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

2 lbs boneless chicken thighs or breasts
1 tsp cumin
1/4 to ? tsp chili powder, depending on your tolerance for heat (may be omitted)
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Your favorite BBQ SauceMix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Liberally sprinkle over chicken. Place chicken in crock pot on low for 6 hours.

Transfer chicken from crock pot to a large plate or cutting board. Using two forks, begin pulling and shredding the meat apart. Place shredded meat into a bowl. Stir in BBQ sauce until thoroughly coated and moistened to your liking. Serve on sandwich rolls.

Serving suggestions: serve with a side of cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans or garden salad.

Chicken Tortillas

1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
1 packet Sazon Goya seasoning with coriander and annatto (con culantro y achiote)
1 cup chunky salsa
? small onion, diced
2 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Soft flour tortillasOptional toppings: sour cream, sliced olives, lettuce, tomato, peppers, guacamoleSprinkle Goya seasoning packet over cubed chicken. Add chicken, salsa, diced onion and cheese to the crock pot. Stir. Set on High for 3 to 4 hours, or low for 5 to 6 hours.

Place two tablespoons of chicken mixture onto flour tortilla. Add toppings and wrap. Serving suggestions: Serve with Spanish rice or fried plantains.



By M.S. Beltran

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More Easy Spanish Recipes

Did you enjoy the delicious recipes I recommend in my last article? If you are still hungry, here I bring you more, learn easy ways to cook Spanish dishes.

I would like to talk to you about a dish that is perfect for the winter, with hearty pork and legumes that makes your tummy warm and ready for a nap on the couch. El Cocido is a bunch of meats and veggies and legumes boiled all together. The taste comes from the quality of the meats, the seasoning and the love you put on it.

El cocido varies depending of the area of that comes from. This old dish was the main recipe for Spanish people living in the country, they killed one pig every year to provide meat for the winter. Now like then, all parts of the pig are used, and the best meats are put together. In the North of Spain, in

, big parts of the pork are salted for conservation. That gives the Cocido Gallego a specific taste. We have to soak in water the salted ribs, ears, feet and tails for twenty four hours, al least, to make them ready to cook. And we can't forget one of the traditional items from the

's cuisine, el lacon. This is the upper part from the front leg of the pork, similar to the ham. And has to be soaked carefully, because can be very salted. When all the meats lost their salt, we put them to boil, covered with water. When they cook for a while we add the rest of the meat ingredients: chorizo (the popular pork and paprika Spanish sausage), a piece of fatty and tasty beef (chuck is good), and a half of fresh chicken. Later, we add potatoes, medium size cut in half. And when everything is almost done, we add the legumes and the veggies. I love to add garbanzo beans, soaked for twenty-four hours, and with them, I use cabbage. If I go traditional, I choose grelos, a typical Galician green, with a sour taste very similar to the collard greens. However, you can use all the legumes and veggies you want. I love to have the boiling water as consomm? before the supper, and the legumes and veggies served with the rest of the meats and potatoes.

In Madrid, and other most centered areas of , the meats used for el Cocido are not salted. Fresh pork ribs, piece of beef, half chicken and sausage are used. For cooking in the US, where the imports of pork can be a problem, you can make a pseudococido: Put to boil all together some fresh bacon, fresh side pork, half of chicken, three or four kind of sausages, (like polish, bratwurst and a hot link), pig feet, ears cut in little pieces, and some corn beef. Add later the potatoes and the veggies and legumes you prefer, and again, voila. And if you check in Latienda.com, or Amigofoods.com, you can find cured ham, chorizo and different Spanish dishes with tolerable quality.

The morning after this wonderful dinner, you can make what we call opa vieja (old clothes). Put together all the meats, and cut them in little pieces. Mix them in a big bowl. Add a red onion cut in tiny pieces and from two to three tablespoons of virgin olive oil, depending of how much meat you have. Add sweet paprika to cover all this, and serve cold. It is awesome! And the veggies and legumes you have left, warm them up and use them as side dish. Alternatively, you can use the meat to cook croquetas. This very traditional dish is easy, but requires a good spirit and patience:

- Cut all the meats in very tiny pieces.

- In a good non-stick skillet, drop a couple of tablespoons of butter or margarine.

- When the butter is almost melted, start adding All Purpose flour and bate it until makes a ball.

- Add milk to soften the ball.

- Keep adding flour and milk until you have a compact but soft dough, cannot be dry or too moist.

- Add the meats and mix.

- Put this dough on the fridge uncovered for twenty-four hours.

- Divide the dough in little pieces, like fingers, and soak them in raw bitten eggs and batter them in flour.

- Fry the pieces in hot olive oil for forty seconds each side.

Croquetas are a wonderful appetizer, snack or supper if you ad some salad or fries.

Moreover, talking about pork, I remember my long evenings in the restaurants in the little towns close to
Madrid. I want to cry thinking about the brick or stone ovens, and the small pigs (cochinillos) cut in half and baked. Slightly seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper and parsley, and rubbed with real pork grease, they came to my plate warm and toasty. They do not have a lot of meat, but they are tender and succulent, and the skin is crunchy and tasty. You can find small pigs in your butcher shop; ask him to cut in half, so you will have two halves with head legs and feet. Season it with garlic, salt and pepper, and rub it with shortening, or pork grease. Bake it in the oven until tender and crispy, and serve with fries and a huge mix Spanish salad, like this one:

-Cut a medium size butter lettuce, one red onion, three medium tomatoes and one medium cucumber.

-Add two boiled eggs cut in little pieces.

-Add tuna from a medium size can.

-Pour over some thick and good Spanish virgin olive oil, wine vinegar and salt to taste.

And remember, all this food must to be soaked with a good red Spanish wine, or sangria. In another article, we will talk about the best Spanish wines, desserts, and many dishes we can cook and enjoy.



By Lourdes Portela

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Three Easy Unique and Delicious Mother's Day Cupcake Recipes

Mother's Day can be stressful! Making sure Mom is treated like a Queen without losing your sanity can be tough. That's why I have for you three foolproof recipes for Mother's Day dessert that are simple but imaginative. They'll remind you and Mom of fond memories of childhood. Take a walk down Memory Lane this Mother's Day with these sweet treats!

S'Mores Love Cupcakes
Ingredients:
-1 1/3 c finely crushed Graham Crackers, plus more for sprinkling
-Chocolate Cake Mix
-Fluff
-1/4 c butter, melted
-2 T sugar

Directions:
- Prepare Chocolate Cake Mix as directed on Box, set batter aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine 1 1/3 cups crushed graham cracker, butter and sugar in a medium bowl, stir well to evenly distribute ingredients.
- Put paper cupcake liners in cupcake pans, should make about 2 dozen. Drop 1 rounded Tablespoon of Graham cracker mixture in each liner. Using your fingers press down the graham cracker to make one smooth layer on firm graham cracker, repeat. Bake for 12 minutes.
-Fill each cupcake liner with filling and bake according to package instructions.
-Allow cupcakes to cool then ice them with the fluff. Sprinkle additional crushed graham crackers on top immediately before fluff settles.

Banana & Nutella
Ingredients:
-Banana Bread/Muffin Mix
-Fudge Topping (Like you would buy for ice cream)
-Nutella
-Buttercream Frosting
Directions:
- Mix and bake Banana Muffin mix according to package directions.
- Allow to cool on rack.
- In a shallow bowl heat a few tablespoons of the fudge topping in the microwave until warm and liquid-y, about 30 seconds. One at a time, dip each cupcakes top in the fudge. You should have a thin layer of fudge on each cupcake. You will probably have to heat up more fudge, but using a small amount at a time ensures the topping is thin and doesn't make as big of a mess. Allow fudge to cool and set.
- To make Nutella/Buttercream frosting mix parts buttercream to 1 part nutella. Spoon the frosting into a pastry bag or ziplock bag (and cut the tip off one of the corners). Decorate each cupcake with the frosting in a hatch mark or spiral pattern. Ideally some of the fudge should show through you pattern.

PB&J Just Like Mom Used to Make!
Ingredients:
-White Cake Mix
-Buttercream Frosting
-Creamy Peanut Butter
-Your choice of fruit Jelly (I recommend Grape!)

Directions:
- Make and bake Cake Mix according to package directions (It's best to use White Cake Mix because it'll look like little white bread PB&J sandwiches when you are done)
- For Stuffing the cupcakes with Jelly you have two options
1) Fill a metal tipped pastry bag with warmed and thinned jelly. Stick metal tip into center of each cupcake and distribute about a teaspoon or two of the jelly.
2) Using a small sharp knife cut a conical hole in the top of each cupcake and fill with jelly.
- Make the Peanut Butter frosting by mixing two parts buttercream to one part peanut butter. Ice cupcakes.



By bethios

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Easy Quick 4th of July Recipes for the Domestically Challenged

I don't cook much. It's not my thing. It's not that I don't know how, it's just not one of my favorite things to do. I will never be in the pages of Taste of Home or Better Homes and Gardens. If you are like me and need some easy recipes for your 4th of July BBQ, then I'm you huckleberry. This has got to be the all-time easiest meal I have ever made. It has made me look like freakin' Martha Stewart when one look at my house will tell you I am sooo NOT Martha Stewart. Because I'm the sharing, caring type I am happy to share my recipes with you, so that you too may be the Hostess with the Mostest (or Host, as the case may be, but then Hello!?! That wrecks the rhyme!) this year at your Independence Day festivities! The shopping list looks daunting, but don't let it scare you. This meal is going to be a breeze and I expect you to mention me in your Great Hostess/Host award acceptance speech.

Shopping List:
Chicken Breasts
1 Bottle of Italian Dressing - NOT Fat Free (your choice, I like Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian)
Baking potatoes
Milk
Butter
Sour Cream
Bacon
Green Onions
Grated Cheddar Cheese
Salt/Pepper
Green Salad in a Bag
Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Dressing of Choice, Croutons and other Salad toppings
Orange Juice or Citric acid (vitamin C tablets)
Chocolate syrup
Bananas
Apples
Pineapple chunks
Berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries)
Wooden Skewers

Chicken
If you are grilling, then this is a great and easy chicken recipe. Don't ask me about beef, my husband does the steaks and burgers. Put Chicken Breasts in Freezer size Ziploc Bag, along with entire bottle of dressing. Put in fridge for minimum 3-5 hours. Overnight is even better and will yield much tastier results. Don't forget to turn the bag over every once in awhile to marinate both sides of the chicken. When ready, place chicken on grill, cook until there is no pink in the center. Be sure to discard marinade, it has yucky chicken germs and you wouldn't want to make your guests sick. That would be bad. And very un-Martha Stewart. That's it!! Chicken is DONE!!
Twice Baked Potatoes
I found this recipe last year on Allrecipes.com. It's so good and simple to make. You can even cook the potatoes in the microwave if you're short on time!
INGREDIENTS:
4 large baking potatoes
8 slices bacon
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
8 green onions, sliced, divided

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake potatoes in preheated oven for 1 hour. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. When potatoes are done allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins. To the potato flesh add sour cream, milk, butter, salt, pepper, 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 the green onions. Mix with a hand mixer until well blended and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the potato skins. Top each with remaining cheese, green onions and bacon. Bake for another 15 minutes. Serve hot! These are so yummy, I could eat one all by itself for a meal!

Green Salad
INGREDIENTS:
Bag of Salad Greens
Dressing
Tomatoes, Cukes, whatever other salad veggies and fixins you want to throw in

DIRECTIONS:
Okay, seriously?!! You just cut up the veggies and throw everything in a big bowl. Right before its time to serve the food, you can toss the salad with dressing if you like, or you can let your guests dress their own salads. Martha would probably toss; I would probably not, but whatever. This is your gig.

And finally, in order to make it a complete meal, something sweet:
Dessert Fruit Skewers
INGREDIENTS:
Berries (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries)
Apple Chunks
Bananas
Pineapple Chunks
Chocolate Syrup
Orange juice or citric acid (crushed vitamin C tablets)
Skewers
I would place all the fruit on a huge platter and let the guests make their own skewers. But if you want to pre-make them (you are trying to show me up, aren't you!) follow these steps:

DIRECTIONS:
Cut apples and bananas and very large strawberries into bite-size pieces. Be sure to coat apple and banana pieces in orange juice or citric acid to prevent oxidation (browning). Slide fruit onto skewers and drizzle with chocolate syrup. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until time to serve. If you don't want the hassle of cutting up fruit and you want to shorten your shopping list, you could just do Root Beer Floats...nothing says God Bless America like ice cream and soda!! Either way, your guests will love you for your efforts to indulge their collective sweet tooth.

Because I'm not an ace in the kitchen, I would probably just go for lemonade or soda for beverages and do the whole self-serve thing. Again, this would be why I don't win any major hostess awards, but my friends and family leave well fed and happy, even if they did have to eat off paper plates.

So there you go, my quick and easy 4th of July BBQ meal for those of us who are domestically-challenged. Have a great and safe 4th of July and don't forget to think about our great country and our wonderful freedoms while you chow down!

Look for my other AC article to complete your Independence Day celebration: Best 4th of July Top Ten Song List Ever.


By Geri Chase

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