Simple

When I left my full time job at the end of October, I thought that I would want to cook a gourmet meal every night of the week. While I have spent my fair share of time experimenting in the kitchen, there are definitely those nights where spending hours cooking is the last thing I want to do. Not to mention, eating a big meal every night added to all of the holiday festivities isn’t the healthiest thing for us!

Sunday night, after spending the day volunteering out in the freezing cold and then organizing closets, I was not in the mood to think about food. The result? I made a meal of a bunch of veggie sides. It ended up being fun because of all of the different flavors in one meal, and it was a nice break from eating meat and fish.

The first course: Cherry, Honey Goat Cheese, and Italian Greens

I started with jarred Morello Cherries from Trader Joe’s, draining them and rinsing them off before serving. I hate fruit in syrup!

I added several scoops of cherries to some bitter lettuces and a generous portion of Trader Joe’s Chevre with Honey which is a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

The second course: Sweet Potato “Fries” with Sriracha Aioli

I simply cut a few sweet potatoes into fries, coated them in olive oil, and roasted them at 425 for about half an hour. Served with a blend of Sriracha and mayo, these truly satisfied my recent fry craving.

The third course: Garlicky Green Beans

This is a holiday dish in my sister’s house, and it is a perfect way to get in some green veggies with a kick. Fresh green beans dressed with olive oil, LOTS of ground black pepper, and garlic powder, yep powder, sautéed until they are cooked to your liking. I could eat, and have eaten, a huge bowl of these all by myself. I am hoping to see them at Christmas dinner!

A dinner of sides was the perfect, simple way to use up some of the food in our fridge, get some much-needed veggie nutrition, and to have some good food on the table without much effort and without ordering takeout! I love eating tapas-style, so I could eat like this everyday.

I am really excited for the blogger event at Whole Foods tonight. See some of you there?

Do you have a favorite side dish? Do you enjoy eating lots of appetizers/small plates, or are you more of a main course with all of the fixings type of eater?