Side dish

Cooking from the Pantry: Taste like Fresh, Easy Green Beans with Pork

March 24, 2019 by Becky Spoon

Easy Green Beans with Pork is always a go-to recipe for me when I don’t have fresh vegetables on hand. I only keep a few canned items in my pantry and green beans are one of them. I don’t like frozen green beans, they seem so watery, but I do like canned green beans in a pinch, and these really are delicious.

I like to use whole beans and I like the Libby’s Gourmet Whole Green Beans. https://libbys.com/product/gourmet-whole-green-beans. I served these the other day with my Cajun Seasoned Pork Roast: https://the2spoons.com/so-delicious-cajun-seasoned-roasted-pork/

Cooking from the Pantry: Taste like Fresh, Easy Green Beans with Pork

Here’s the recipe! Be sure you get Green Beans when you go grocery shopping!

Cooking from the Pantry, Green Beans with Pork

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 40

Total Time 30

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 cans quality whole green beans
1/2 onion, diced 1/2
1/2 cup salt pork, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
3-4 Thyme sprigs or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup water

Method

Saute the salt pork on medium heat in the two tablespoons oil until browned and the fat starts to render. Add the onions and cook a minute or two until translucent. Drain the juice of the two cans of beans into the pan with your salt pork, and add the water. Set the beans aside. Simmer about 30 minutes until your salt pork is tender. Add your beans back in along with the sprigs of fresh thyme and cook for an additional 10 minutes on medium.
Cooking the pork ahead of time until it is tender flavors your juices and your beans will resemble fresh green beans.

Roasted Pork
Stove Top Chuck Roast

Easy – Wilda Marie’s Lazy Potato Casserole

March 19, 2019 by Becky Spoon

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Love a Potato Casserole as a side dish!

Ok, I don’t know who Wilda Marie is, LOL! I purchased Slap YA Mama Cajun Seasoning https://slapyamama.com the other day and this recipe was on the back!! I’m a label reader! Yes!

I was making my Chef Paul Prudhomme Roasted Pork and immediately thought how perfect these potatoes would be with that roast, and I was right. This recipe does call for smoked sausage that I will add at a different time, but I didn’t want to add the sausage in the side dish I was using for my Roasted Pork. Creamy from the mushroom soup, loaded with peppers and onions, and of course those cajun spices. You want to add the cajun spices to taste because they do have cayenne.

Easy – Wilda Marie’s Lazy Potato Casserole

Serve these potatoes with my Roasted Pork or with other meat as a side dish. Add the sausage and it is a meal in itself!

Here’s the recipe. Enjoy!!

Wilda Marie’s Lazy Potatoes

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 10

Course: easy side dish, vegetable, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

4 cups diced potatoes, peeled
1 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup green onion tops
1 10 oz can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup water
1-2 cups diced smoked sausage
1/2-1 tbsp “Slap ya Mama” Cajun Seasoning

Method

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all ingredients in 3-quart casserole dish. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Potato Casserole
Roasted Pork
Roasted Pork

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

March 18, 2019 by Becky Spoon

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We love this Creamed Spinach! Instead of heavy cream, I add sour cream and a little cayenne to spice it up! This recipe is just for 2 so you can increase the ingredients and make it for more. You want to squeeze out as much water as you can to prevent your creamed spinach from being too watery.

This is the perfect side dish for your steak dinners at home. I served this with grilled steaks the other night, of which more times than not, I serve this when I cook steaks on the grill. Allen loves this too, which is always a plus!

Here’s the recipe for the steaks if you want a delicious steak recipe: http://www.the2spoons.com/lucies-oh-so-good-easy-steak-on-the-grill/

There is a restaurant in Dallas called the Celebration. In the 1970s or 1980s they served a spinach casserole that I developed this recipe from, and I think it is how they did it, including the cayenne that I add. That was probably one of their most popular dishes and I absolutely loved it!

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

What about the health benefits? Spinach is one of those foods that is so delicious and equally healthy! Even children love this spinach dish. Maybe it’s the cheese. None the less, this is an excellent way to get some vitamins into your dishes: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270609.php

Here is the so easy recipe for this Cheesy Creamed Spinach. It literally takes minutes!

Easy Cheesy Creamed Spinach

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 10

Total Time 15

Servings: 2 servings

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

8 cups raw spinach
2 tbsp sour cream
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 pinch cayenne peper
1/4 cup grated medium to sharp cheddar cheese
oil to saute spinach

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pour a thin coat of oil in a skillet and heat to medium. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Drain in a colander, pressing out as much water as you can. Return to a bowl and add the sour cream, salt, and pepper to taste and the cayenne pepper. Place in a buttered or oiled casserole and top with the cheese.
Bake until the cheese is melted.

Easy Cheesy Eggplant Slices

March 12, 2019 by Becky Spoon

This Easy Cheesy Eggplant Slices is my Mom’s recipe that she would make when we were growing up. I loved it then, and I still do! I make this recipe all of the time! I always wondered how she came up with such yummy recipes. This was a long time ago! No cooking channel, no social media, maybe from cookbooks and magazines. She was a great cook!

Easy Cheesy Baked Eggplant

I really do love Eggplant and there are so many recipes for its uses, like my Eggplant Parmesan. Here’s the link to the recipe: https://the2spoons.com/i-love-eggplant-parmesan/.

Want more Eggplant recipes? Here is a link for Real Simple to give you even more choices for this beautiful vegetable: https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/easy-eggplant-recipes

Here’s my newest recipe. Hope you love it like I do!

Easy Cheesy Eggplant Slices

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Servings: 4 Servings

Course: easy side dish, vegetable, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

1 Whole Eggplant , sliced about 1/2 inch each
Flour for dredging
Salt and pepper
Cheddar cheese
Very thinly sliced yellow onions
Oil for frying

Method

Slice the eggplant, layer in a colander and salt all the slices. Let the salted eggplant sit in the colander for at least 30 minutes to release the water. This is critical because if you don’t your eggplant will soak up oil when you fry them. Rinse the salt off the slices and pat dry with a towel or paper towel.
Add flour and salt and pepper to taste to a dish for dredging. Dredge each slice in the flour. In a large skillet add oil and heat to medium high. Add the pieces to the oil in batches, cooking until golden brown on both sides. You may need to add a little oil, as they will absorb the oil, the reason why the salting ahead of time is crucial. When browned, remove and drain on a rack or on paper towel.
Layer your cooked slices on a sheet pan large enough to hold all of them in one layer. Top them with very thinly sliced onion. I just layer with pieces, not an entire slice. Top with the grated cheddar cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees until Cheese has melted!

Eggplant
I Love Eggplant Parmesan!

Twice Baked Potatoes, Easy and Delicious

March 11, 2019 by Becky Spoon

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I can’t make twice baked potatoes without thinking of a lifelong friend of mine. She and I would cook together every weekend – actually much more than that. Jan would make baked potatoes and add lemon pepper, cheese, and green onions, I think? They were delicious, and since then I always add lemon pepper because I loved her baked potatoes so much! These are loaded with other goodies, and of course lemon pepper. The lemon pepper makes these potatoes.

These twice baked potatoes are loaded with roasted garlic, green onions, various spices, sour cream, lemon pepper, fresh jalapenos, cheese, topped with bacon bits and green onions! I used a medium cheddar this time, but I’ve used many different kinds of cheese in this recipe.

I used large russet baking potatoes for this recipe. You could use a medium-size russet, but I do like the russet because they are less likely to tear while you are removing the potato. There are other great potatoes, but like a Yukon Gold, their skins are so thin, they aren’t my first choice.

Wondering which potato is the best for certain recipes, like mashing or french fries? Here’s a link that describes the best use for each type of potato. https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/what-types-of-potatoes-are-best-for-which-recipes/

These potatoes are the perfect side dish for my grilled steak. Here’s the recipe: http://www.the2spoons.com/lucies-oh-so-good-easy-steak-on-the-grill/

Twice Baked Potatoes

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Servings: 2 servings

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 Large Russet Baking Potatoes, baked until fork tender Bake the potatoes salted and oiled with no foil
4 green onions, diced, saving a little for garnish
1 tsp roasted garlic
4 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated cheese of your choice, reserving a little to top the potatoes
2 slices bacon, cooked and chopped for garnish

Method

As noted in the ingredients, do not wrap your potatoes in foil, instead rub them in oil and salt them and place on a sheet pan and bake until fork tender. Then remove the potatoes from the oven and leave your oven on. With your potatoes laying lengthwise slice a top portion of your potatoes (Not halfway down, maybe 1/4 down) and scoop out into a bowl your potato from that slice and from the entire potato, being careful not to break the skin. Place your potatoes back into the oven for maybe 10 minutes or so allowing them to dry out a little in the pulp portion and the skins crisp up a little, kind of like potato skins.
Add all the ingredients to the potatoes, mashing and combining. Remove the potato skins from the oven and load the potatoes with the mixture, top with a little cheese and place back into the oven until cooked through and the cheese on top has melted, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, making sure your cheese does not brown. Garnish with sliced green onions and chopped bacon.

Delicious – Two Squash Casserole

March 2, 2019 by Becky Spoon

I saw this recipe, Two Squash Casserole in the magazine Garden and Gun, which is full of old Southern recipes. It sounded so good that I had to try. I’m sure glad I did, because I really liked it!

This Casserole is Cheesy with a crunchy topping of crushed ritz crackers and crushed onion rings! Yum!

So when you have all the over abundance of squash this summer, try this recipe!

Delicious – Two Squash Casserole

This recipe would be a great side dish for my Meatloaf with a Creole Sauce: Here’s the link: https://the2spoons.com/so-good-easy-meatloaf-with-a-creole-sauce/

Hope you enjoy!

Delicious – Two Squash Casserole with a Buttery Ritz Cracker Topping

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Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 Lbs Yellow squash
1 Lb Zucchini
6 Tbsp Butter, divided
1 Large onion, diced
1 Bell pepper, diced
1 Cup Sour cream
1 1/2 Cups grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp Dora’s Savanna Seasoning
1 Cup Crushed ritz crackers
1/2 Cup Canned dried fried onions, crushed

Dora’s Savanna Seasoning

1/3 Cup Lawry’s seasoning salt
1/4 Cup Salt
2 Tsps Garlic powder
1 Tbsp Black pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put the squash and zucchini in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and simmer just a few minutes, until the squash is tender. Drain well and let it cool, then dry the squash between two towels or paper towels. (It’s important to drain and pat the squash dry, so the casserole isn’t too soupy.)
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until soft, 6-7 minutes.
Scrape the onions and peppers into a large mixing bowl. Add the squashes, sour cream, cheese, and seasoning and stir to mix well. Spread in a 9-by-7-inch or 8-inch-square casserole dish.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. In a small bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, fried onions, and butter and mix well. Sprinkle over the casserole and bake until golden brown and bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Delicious Two Squash Casserole
Delicious Two Squash Casserole

This Squash Casserole recipe came from the cookbook: A Real Southern Cook in Her Savanna Kitchen by Dora Clark. Here’s a link to her cookbook: https://amzn.to/2udlSxG