Category Archives: Side Dishes

31 Dec

Favorite Healthy Roasted Vegetables Recipe

Want a natural and "real foods" detox for 2013? This easy and healthy recipe is my favorite side dish of choice several times a week! It's light in calories, yet filling, steamy and spicy comfort food. Using onions, garlic and sweet potatoes adds the perfect ying and yang of sweet and savory flavors, too. Turmeric ground spice is a powerful antioxidant to add even more healthy goodness to this meal. Vegetables chosen all support great thyroid function, too.With this as a large side dish on 3/4 of my plate, it ...

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24 Jul

Roasted Spiced Chickpeas, Squash and Asparagus Medley

If you don't have ground cumin and turmeric in your spice drawer right now, run out to the store and buy it! There is nothing quite so interestingly fragrant as this spiced dish roasting in the oven. The easiest part --- It's a one dish, one pan, pop it in and forget about it kind of meal. Another bonus is it is very low in calories, yet absolutely filling ...

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16 Jul

Kale Barley Soup: Skinny Food for Comfort

I was really in the mood for a spicy, comforting, highly nutritious soup to serve as my vegetable side dish with dinner. Unfortunately, most soups offered at restaurants, specialty food stores, grocery stores or the processed kind in those god-awful canned varieties contain way too much sodium. Innocent victims think they are eating healthy by having "soup", yet wake up the next morning with puffy eyes and bloated bodies. No thanks!This fresh and clean Kale Barley Soup ...

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06 Dec

Skinny Baked Mac and Cheese Comfort Food

What could be more comforting to eat on a cold winter day than a steaming plate of Mac and Cheese? An easy Skinny version! This simple and innovative recipe is adapted from Cooking Light magazine, but tweaked with my own touches for a whole grain and pure Skinny style. By using cottage cheese as a smooth and silky sauce and crispy panko topping for an added crunch, it provides all of the cheesy pleasure, with no toll on ...

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04 Dec

Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas

Roasting brings out the sweetness of the vegetables, while giving a hearty nutty flavor to the chickpeas. Even my meat-eating “where’s the beef?” dinner companions loved it as a main dish paired with steamed green vegetables. Use as a piping hot main Vegetarian course or as a side dish. It also tasted fabulous for my lunch the next day as a cold salad! As an added bonus, it's about 43 cents per serving, so beat ...

Main Course Recipes, Recipes, Side Dishes | 1 Comment

03 Dec

Jennifer Aniston’s Favorite Quinoa Salad

Unlike many celebrities, Jennifer Aniston is a true testament to clean and healthy living in your 40s. This clean and pure main dish or side dish salad combines the high quality protein and whole grain of quinoa with the healthy fat of avocado and olive oil, along with filling and quenching vegetables.Jennifer writes, “This is a really simple salad, but so delicious, and all these beautiful, healthy ingredients, make it one of my favorites.”As ...

Lunch Recipes, Main Course Recipes, Recipes, Side Dishes | 2 Comments

23 Nov

Easy Skinny Sausage Apple and Cranberry Stuffing

Happy Thanksgiving Eve to my Easy Skinny Lifers out there! As most of you may know from my Facebook posts, I absolutely adore homemade stuffing with my holiday meals. This recipe for Sausage Apple and Cranberry Stuffing is hands-down the best tasting side dish that I have ever prepared. Although I am typically a traditional purist with my stuffing preference, I was shocked ...

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22 Nov

Skinny Side Dishes: Roasted Spiced Cauliflower

This holiday season, I plan to pile my plate high with filling, great tasting side dishes, so I can indulge in a few of my absolute favorites. My strategy: Pick a Main Carb indulgence among all of the rich starchy sides to have with my healthy turkey and save most of the others for leftovers.For instance, I plan to skip the baked sweet potatoes and creamy mashed potatoes served with our holiday meal and have a generous portion ...

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30 Oct

Skinny Side Dishes: Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Apples and Pears

One skinny trick that keeps me lean is my hatred of peeling. There are no creamy mashed potatoes served here except for special occasions or holidays, so the easier and healthier baked or roasted versions of sweet potato or red skinned potatoes are the norm. I take my dislike of peeling to the fruit family, too. If a recipe calls for it, I move on to the next one. Who has time?This easy, no-peel fruit and vegetable side ...

Recipes, Side Dishes | 1 Comment