Another recipe I received when putting together Jessica’s cookbook, from her mom, Julie Badger. This is a great and easy side dish. We often make some version of this with whatever vegetable we have on hand. And of course, it was a great accompaniment to Swedish meatballs.

Oven Roasted Green Beans with Garlic
from Julie Badger

1 lb. fresh green beans
1 cup sliced onion
4 cloves fresh garlic
1 Tablepsoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 13”x9” baking pan with Pam.

Rinse beans and trim ends. Add beans and sliced onion rings to pan. Peel garlic, cut cloves in half, and scatter over onions. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring briefly every 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, add vinegar, and stir. Serve hot or at room temperature.

I love cranberries so much I made them two ways for this year’s Thanksgiving – in cranberry salad, and this cranberry sauce. I love the cranberry salad by itself, but I love the cranberry sauce with turkey, on a sandwich, or topping the pancakes I’ll share with you soon that I made with the leftover sweet potatoes.

Honestly, I didn’t measure anything very carefully, but just tasted it and added things until I liked the flavor. But, it turned out so well, I at least wanted to have a record for next year of what I put in. I think this kind of thing is best made tasting as you go anyway, since what it needs will depend on the flavor and sweetness of your cranberries.

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First in a series of Thanksgiving posts. I know it’s way too late for this year, but in case you want to really, really plan ahead…

As I was looking for a new way to make sweet potatoes this year, I found this recipe from 101 Cookbooks, and I’m so glad I decided to try it. The coconut milk and ginger are a nice departure from the usual brown sugar and pecans or marshmallows, and they are just sweet enough but not overly so. I adapted the recipe slightly from the original, using hazelnuts instead of macadamias, and adding a bit of brown sugar. The leftovers were great in pancakes, which I’ll share sometime soon.
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I know this hardly counts as a recipe. But, I just really love the combination sweet and savory from the cinnamon and paprika seasoning, so I’m sharing it anyway.

1 package Trader Joe’s sweet potato fries (these aren’t just frozen sweet potatoes, since they are already coated in some kind of oil or something, and maybe pre-fried)
1/2 t cinnamon, or to taste
1/2 t smoked paprika, or to taste
1/2 t salt, or to taste
1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss (still frozen) fries with cinnamon, paprika, salt, and olive oil. Bake until crispy and browned, about 8-10 minutes. I like to eat them with barbecue sauce.

Now that summer is in full swing, we’ve been grilling at least a couple times a week.  I love how little preparation this often requires, and even more how little cleanup there is afterwards!  We have a charcoal grill, which does mean it takes a bit longer to “preheat” than when I cook inside.  Even if I wanted to spend the money though, I wouldn’t give up my charcoal grill for a gas one — I love the flavor that the charcoal smoke gives to the food, and it’s just never the same on a gas grill.  Yes, I know that smokiness is probably giving me cancer, but really, what doesn’t?  And it sure does taste good!

These grilled vegetables are a great easy side for some kind of grilled meat.  In this case we served them with the sausage left over from the sausage ravioli we made a couple weeks ago.  (No, they didn’t sit in our fridge two weeks before we ate them.  I’m just a little behind on posting…)  They take less than five minutes of preparation (other than the grilling), and what can taste more like summer than zucchini and squash, eaten al fresco?

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