A Very Complete Meal

 

Side dishes are often an afterthought for me. My mom, on the other hand, never forgets them! She always discovers such fun, delicious, and amazing side dishes. Side dishes definitely make the meal complete.

Here is an example of a lovely Sunday dinner we had a few weeks back, complete with side dishes.

Honey Baked Chicken (Original Recipe)

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place chicken breasts into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Whisk butter, honey, mustard, salt, and curry powder together in a bowl until smooth; pour sauce evenly over chicken.

Bake in the preheated oven until sauce is bubbling and chicken is no longer pink inside, 30 to 45 minutes. An instant-read meat thermometer insterted into the thickest part of a breast should read at least 160 degrees F.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Brucejoy. You can find it here.

Honey Baked Chicken (Our Version)

Ingredients:

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 egg, beaten
2 cups Panko
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon curry

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Dredge the chicken breasts in the egg. Then coat with the Panko.

Place chicken breasts onto a foil-lined jelly roll pan. Bake until chicken is no longer pink inside, 30 to 45 minutes.

Whisk butter, honey, mustard, salt, and curry powder together in a bowl until smooth. Place in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Serve sauce on top of the chicken, or on the side for dipping.


Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Brucejoy. You can find it here.

Notes: My mom made the original recipe and it was a hit. However, my sister said, "This would be even better if the sauce was served over crispy chicken." Voila. My brother described this as being "delectable." Now, you know that means it has to be good! Oh, and it was!

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Grease a large casserole dish.

Place the olive oil and garlic in a large resealable bag. Add cauliflower, and shake to mix. Pour into the prepared casserole dish, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bake for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley, and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by SHELLERY. You can find it here.

Notes: I would never have guessed that this recipe called for so much garlic. This doesn't leave you with dragon breath. It is just so, so flavorful and tasty. This is a great recipe!

Stewed Celery in Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups celery, cut in 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 teaspoons flour
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup light cream
Dash of nutmeg

Directions:

Simmer celery in stock until just tender, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and reserve stock (about 2/3 cup).

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and stir in flour, using a whisk to blend well. Cook until it bubbles.

Combine the cream and stock, pour into butter and flour mixture. Simmer until thickened, about 3 minutes. Add nutmeg. Put celery back into the sauce and warm through before serving.

Source: RecipeSource. You can find it here.

Notes: This was tasty. The only thing I would change is that I would add more celery. The sauce to celery ration would have been better with more celery. We discovered this recipe because of a fun British television show called "The Supersizers Eat..." It is such an entertaining show. Basically, they pick a time period and then they spend a week eating exactly what the people of that time would have eaten. Some time periods look more fun than others. Beware though, this show has a fun time making a lot of food look seriously unappetizing (for instance when people would be served whole calf heads or a dormouse appetizer). Check it out on IMDB here. You can watch full episodes on IMDB or on YouTube.

Spicy Strawberry Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
8 cups mixed salad greens
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional (we substituted crumbled bacon instead)
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Directions:

Whisk together the oil, sugar, poppy seeds, garlic powder, dry mustard, and vinegar. Refrigerate until chilled.

In a salad bowl, combine the mushrooms and mixed greens; add drssing and toss. Sprinkle with strawberries and pecans (or bacon).

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Leslie Oscarson. You can find it here.

Notes: In the hunt for substitutions for nuts, my mom decided to use bacon in place of the pecans to add some crunch and saltiness to the salad. Everyone LOVED it. It was a nice way to mix it up. The salty and sweet combination in this salad was really good.

Spinach Caprese Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup baby spinach leaves
1 large tomato, sliced 3/4 inch thick
1 ball of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Spread the spinach out on a serving plate. Place the slices of tomato on the bed of spinach. Top each slice of tomato with a slice of fresh mozzarella. Sprinkl the basil over the salad and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by mcbeal. You can find it here.

Notes: We served this a different night, but I figured this was as good a place as any to post it! Sorry, no picture! A variation for this salad is that you can use grape tomatoes, cube the cheese, and serve it as a tossed salad.