3 Quick and Healthy Side Dishes

Happy Saturday!!! It’s a cool and crisp day and fall has definitely arrived! Yay! Time to haul out my favorite sweaters, scarves and boots.

This time of year, I’m always heading out to craft or farmer’s markets and I don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. So throw something on the bbq or in the oven and cook up one or two of these quick, easy, healthy sides. Two of these side dishes are roasted in the oven so no hands on time on the stovetop.

Roasted Parmesan Baked Green Beans

1 lb Green beans, trimmed
1 – 2 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp greek seasoning
pepper, to taste
2 TBSP fresh parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400F. Wash beans, dry and put on parchment lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, greek seasoning and pepper. Mix and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. This is my favorite side!

I still have quite a bit of kale in my garden.

Here is my favorite recipe for a healthy kale side.

Braised Kale

1 large Kale, deveined and chopped into strips (it will be a lot but it cooks down)
olive oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Heat heavy bottom large frying pan on stove on medium heat. Add olive oil and garlic. Add kale, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine with oil and garlic. Put lid on, lower heat and cook for 4 – 6 minutes. Delicious!

This was my first year growing carrots and although they were smaller, they were nice and straight. I didn’t get them in the garden early enough with all the spring / summer frost warnings!!!! I picked the last of my carrots yesterday. Here is a great recipe for fresh, garden carrots.

Roasted Rosemary Baby Carrots

12 – 16 baby carrots, Split down the middle
3/4 TBSP fresh rosemary or 3/4 tsp dried rosemary
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 – 2 TBSP olive oil
1 large, red onion, cut into 6 wedges

Preheat oven to 400F. In a bowl, combine carrots, olive oil, rosemary, red onion, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Place on baking sheet and roast until tender 15 – 20 minutes. You could also roast them on the bbq for the same amount of time on medium high heat.

Enjoy your weekend! 🙂