What are some of your favorite side dishes that you can whip up in 5
minutes or less?

Mine is Tomato and Cuke salad:

Peel two long cukes, seed and slice medium-thick. Coarsely chop two
large tomatoes, add a little chopped basil, Italian dressing of
choice, a dash of celery seed, and freshly ground black pepper.
Sometimes I throw in chopped green bell pepper and a chopped green
onion or two. Voila! Tasty, healthy and done in a flash.

Next?...

-L.

On 17 Jan 2004 21:09:56 -0800, (-L.) arranged random
neurons, so they looked like this:

>What are some of your favorite side dishes that you can whip up in 5
>minutes or less?
>
>Mine is Tomato and Cuke salad:
>
>Peel two long cukes, seed and slice medium-thick. Coarsely chop two
>large tomatoes, add a little chopped basil, Italian dressing of
>choice, a dash of celery seed, and freshly ground black pepper.
>Sometimes I throw in chopped green bell pepper and a chopped green
>onion or two. Voila! Tasty, healthy and done in a flash.
>
I was just served the following by my aunt last night and the DH asked
for the recipe (he *never* asks for recipes - he also likes peanut
butter and butter sandwiches, so be warned). It's one of those 50-ish
type recipes that "real" cooks eschew, but I would bet a lot of us use
from time to time (with shades drawn, secret hand shakes and aliases):

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

Cheese Potato Casserole

vegetables

1 frozen package O'Brien potatoes; thawed
1 stick Butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups cheddar cheese; grated

Combine all in 11" x 13" Pyrex and bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Contributor: Aunt Minnette

Preparation Time: :15

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA

"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret
had been as old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had
been as full as the waitress', it would have been a very
good dinner." Anonymous.

To reply, remove replace "shcox" with "cox"

(-L.) wrote in message om>...
> What are some of your favorite side dishes that you can whip up in 5
> minutes or less?
>
> Mine is Tomato and Cuke salad:
>
> Peel two long cukes, seed and slice medium-thick. Coarsely chop two
> large tomatoes, add a little chopped basil, Italian dressing of
> choice, a dash of celery seed, and freshly ground black pepper.
> Sometimes I throw in chopped green bell pepper and a chopped green
> onion or two. Voila! Tasty, healthy and done in a flash.
>
> Next?...
>
> -L.


Two ideas :
1. Tortellini Salad
Cook 8 oz of tortellini (4 - 8 servings depending on what/how much you
add)
Toss in some combination of artichoke hearts, chopped tomatoes,
olives, peppers, herbs, onions, and possibly even cheese (small cubes,
not shredded!)
Any veggie seems to work. Potatoes and string beans even work ok.
Dress with good vinegar and oil, or a vinegarette.

Give it a few hours for the flavors to blend. If you cooked a whole
pound of tortellini, spend the next few days eating left overs.


2. Stuffed cherry peppers
Stem and seed a jar of cherry peppers, cutting only the area where the
stem is/was. Reserve the liquid from the jar. Stuff with cheese and
pepperoni. Also works well with cured ham. Put stuffed peppers back in
reserved liquid.


Dean G.

My favorite is white rice mixed with a can of stewed tomatoes.
NancyJaye


"Terry Pulliam Burd" > wrote in message
...
> On 17 Jan 2004 21:09:56 -0800, (-L.) arranged random
> neurons, so they looked like this:
>
> >What are some of your favorite side dishes that you can whip up in 5
> >minutes or less?
> >
> >Mine is Tomato and Cuke salad:
> >
> >Peel two long cukes, seed and slice medium-thick. Coarsely chop two
> >large tomatoes, add a little chopped basil, Italian dressing of
> >choice, a dash of celery seed, and freshly ground black pepper.
> >Sometimes I throw in chopped green bell pepper and a chopped green
> >onion or two. Voila! Tasty, healthy and done in a flash.
> >
> I was just served the following by my aunt last night and the DH asked
> for the recipe (he *never* asks for recipes - he also likes peanut
> butter and butter sandwiches, so be warned). It's one of those 50-ish
> type recipes that "real" cooks eschew, but I would bet a lot of us use
> from time to time (with shades drawn, secret hand shakes and aliases):
>
> @@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format
>
> Cheese Potato Casserole
>
> vegetables
>
> 1 frozen package O'Brien potatoes; thawed
> 1 stick Butter
> 1 cup chopped onion
> 1 can cream of chicken soup
> 2 cups cheddar cheese; grated
>
> Combine all in 11" x 13" Pyrex and bake at 350° for 1 hour.
>
> Contributor: Aunt Minnette
>
> Preparation Time: :15
>
> Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd
> AAC(F)BV66.0748.CA
>
> "If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret
> had been as old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had
> been as full as the waitress', it would have been a very
> good dinner." Anonymous.
>
> To reply, remove replace "shcox" with "cox"

Steve contributed:

> 8 minutes - Parsly and/or chive egg noodles. Boil noodles until
> al dente, fry in butter with salt, pepper, and parsley or [dried]
> chives.

For a Central European meal, I make something similar, only with poppy seeds
instead of the parsley/chives.

Here are a few other quick sides:

Get one of those bunches of enoki mushrooms and saute it until it just
starts to turn golden. Remove and sprinkle with soy sauce. (I avoid saying
what fat you saute it in; it varies according to what else is in the meal.)

Wash a bunch of spinach and put into a pan over medium-high heat with a bit
of bacon grease and garlic. Cover pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove
cover, toss, and cover again. Cook another 30 seconds. Remove cover again:
If spinach is wilted, it's done. If not, toss again, cover again, and cook
until spinach is wilted. Add salt, pepper, and vinegar of choice to taste.

Put about a quarter-cup of apple jelly into a saucepan over medium heat.
Cook, mashing the jelly until it's melted. Add a can of sauerkraut and stir
until the sweet stuff is mixed throughout. Add caraway seeds or juniper
berries if you feel like it.

If you've got good-quality bread and a toaster oven, bruschetta also make
good side dishes, but that's a huge topic, so I'll just mention it as an
option without giving specifics.

Bob