Side Dishes | Gotta Eat, Can't Cook

Archive for the ‘Side Dishes’ Category

November 26th, 2024

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Side Dishes, Special Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner

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Fresh Cranberry Sauce and More Thanksgiving Help

Fresh homemade cranberry sauce blows the canned version out of the water and is as easy to make as boiled water

Only two days til Thanksgiving but no need to make yourself – or anyone else – crazy.

One of the best ways to make Thanksgiving Day as fun as possible is to get some easy dishes made in advance, like fresh cranberry sauce. Fresh, homemade cranberry sauce, with its rich sweet and sour flavor and mouth pleasing snap-pop, blows canned cranberry sauce out of the water, is no-kidding just as easy to make as boiled water and keeps fresh for weeks in the refrigerator.

Here’s all you need for ingredients. You’ll see a carton of orange juice in the picture below. Most cranberry sauce recipes call for cooking the berries in water. Instead of water, I like cooking fresh cranberries with fruit juice – orange juice as shown or apple or any other juice – for added flavor.

Click this link or any picture above or directly below for an easy to follow picture book recipe and/or…

…this link for a short step-by-step video.

You can also click this link or the picture below for the Gotta’ Eat Thanksgiving Help page that I’ve been updating with additional recipes to give you more freedom of choice.

January 24th, 2022

Blog, Fitness Food, Food & Health, Pasta, Side Dishes

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High Protein-High Fiber Pasta Picture Book Cooking Directions

High protein-high fiber pasta is an easy to make great addition to any meal routine

Last post showed how to cook great tasting, highly versatile wheat-based pasta to perfection. Future posts will show how to make fully flavorful easy pasta dishes, though you can certainly get a jump on that by clicking this pasta recipe page.

But, what if you’re wheat intolerant and can’t eat wheat-based pasta? Or, what if you want to add more fiber to your diet, which, as mentioned in another recent post, What is Fiber and Why Do We Need It in Our Diet?, is a great idea?

No problem.

There are now many wheat-based pasta alternatives in stores, and here are two that I use regularly, edamame (green soybean) and black soybean pasta.

Here’s how these pastas clearly separate themselves from each other regarding carbohydrate, fiber and protein content. Serving for serving, traditional wheat-based pasta has more than twice the carbohydrates, which is no problem if you live an active life, and…

…only a fraction of the fiber and protein content of high protein-high fiber pasta as shown in the nutrition label comparisons above and below.

Click this link or the picture below for easy to follow How to Cook High Protein-High Fiber Pasta picture book directions.

Next post will be a bit different: What is Mindfulness and What Can It Do For You? I’m a year into daily practice, and it has made a terrific difference. More soon!

January 20th, 2022

Blog, Cycling Food, Fitness Food, Pasta, Running Food, Side Dishes

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How to Cook Pasta to Perfection Picture Book Directions

Pasta: loved by most, goes with just about anything, and is incredibly easy to make.

First, what is “perfectly cooked” pasta? It’s pasta that’s cooked “al dente”, which is Italian for “to the teeth” and means that the pasta still has a little uncooked whiteness at the core of the cooked pasta piece, as (almost) shown below, which makes the pasta slightly firm, not mushy, to chew.

Here are the keys to cooking pasta to perfection:

Knowing how to measure pasta serving sizes
Heating water to a rapid boil before adding pasta
Using the correct amount of water and knowing how long to cook the pasta

Serving size: Plan to use 1 ounce of dry pasta per person as a side dish and 2 ounces of dry pasta per person as a main dish. To get a visual idea of what 1 or 2 ounces of dry pasta looks like in your hands as well as how much 1 ounce of dry pasta makes when cooked, see the photos directly below.

Here’s how rapidly boiling water should look before adding pasta: The photo on the left shows how real rapidly boiling water should look before putting pasta in the pot to ensure that the cooking time you use will give you the result you want. The photo on the right shows what I call a “soda fizz bubble” that is a clear sign the water is not yet hot enough to cook pasta.

Amount of water needed to cook pasta and pasta cooking time: I use about half the water recommended in the chart below – and have gotten the thumbs up for that from Italian cooks. I also subtract 1 minute from the pasta package recommended cooking time, even if the package cooking instructions, like the one below, specify an “al dente” cooking time, to ensure my pasta still has a “to the teeth” slightly chewy texture.

Click this link or any picture on this page for How to Cook Pasta to Perfection picture book directions.

November 24th, 2021

Blog, Chicken & Turkey, Seasonal/Holiday Recipes, Side Dishes, Special Recipes, Thanksgiving Dinner, Video & Picture Ebooks, Videos

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Two Traditional Thanksgiving Sides: Bread Stuffing and Fresh Mashed Potatoes – Made Easy with Picture Book and Video Directions

Fresh mashed potatoes and bread stuffing are most flavorfully enjoyed when made just before serving dinner.

Last post showed how to make fresh cranberry sauce: killer flavor and as easy to make as boiled water.

This post shows how to make 2 traditional Thanksgiving side dishes: fresh mashed potatoes and bread stuffing, which you can learn how to make on the fly with the picture book and or video directions shown below.

First, here’s what you need to make fresh mashed potatoes, which are best made just before you serve dinner.