Green Beans with Roasted Nuts and Cranberries

I love green beans. I love them sauteed, boiled, fried, steamed, roasted, raw. You get the picture. They are good. I've had this green bean recipe forever. I got it out of a magazine, but don't even know which one or when I got it. So, I decided to make it. And I also decided to toss it. Gasp! I never thought I'd throw away a recipe for green beans (except for cold green bean salad, which is just creepy - green beans were meant to be eaten warm).

The recipe is basically blanched green beans tosses with craisins, roasted nuts, and a touch of olive oil. Sounded good. Looked beautiful. Tasted blah. So, adios recipe - you've wasted space in my notebook for too long.

Southern Glazed Sweet Potatoes

I love sweet potatoes. My favorite way - cubed and roasted with nothing on them. Don't get me wrong, I love them with cinnamon. With brown sugar. With marshmallows. But, they are so sweet, they just don't need anything else.

Except these Southern Glazed Sweet Potatoes were divine. It really could be dessert - because it's bathed in butter and brown sugar. So, I'll keep this recipe as a special side...but stick to my plain low fat version.

Indian night - Tandoori Chicken, Masoor Dal, and Shahi Tukri

Dal with rice, Tandoori Chicken, and Tandoori Naan

Shahi Tukri

I'm not a fan of Indian. It's spicy and yet plain. I don't care for curry. I don't love mint and yogurt...especially not together. So, when we studied Ancient India in school I decided to branch out with my cooking. I bought lentils. Not so exotic so far. Fresh ginger. Yup, done that before. So far, no big deal. Then on to the spices: garam masala, turmeric, cumin, cardamom. What the what?! At least there was no curry.

I looked up recipes from allrecipes.com. Here they are:

Tandoori Chicken
Masoor Dal
Shahi Tukri 

The verdict: Tandoori Naan (the bread)- fantastic. But we've had that before.
Tandoori Chicken - just ok. Won't make again and won't keep the recipe.
The Dal - loved it! I surprised myself here. I am keeping the recipe and will make it again. My girls (picky as a couple are) even loved it.
And now...my favorite part of just about any meal: the dessert. Shahi Tukri. Fancy (and Indian) name for sweet fried bread. Those 3 words in just about any ethnicity are delightful. Sweet. Fried. Bread.

Cheesy Artichokes, Cauliflower, and Red Pepper

This recipe had me at "cheesy". And I love artichokes and red peppers. Cauliflower? Not so much. However, I decided to try it since my endeavor with fried cauliflower went so well at the beginning of this year (trust me, even those who hate the white broccoli would like it deep fried). And I was not disappointed. It was a little on the rich side since I used Gruyere cheese. But, delicious and I will be making it again.

It actually looked like the picture on the recipe. Go figure. And here's a better picture of the recipe (albeit not as cute as the one where my kid is holding it):

Notice how I still snuck my kid in the corner there?

Grilled Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Salad

Amazing. Fresh. Delicious. Just a few of the words to describe this recipe. I've had this recipe in my notebook for a long time. I'm not sure where it came from other than a magazine.

My wonderful grill-master of a husband grilled the corn and the red peppers. The whole salad was a little time consuming since you grill the veggies, then cut the corn off the cob and take the skin off the peppers. But, it was so worth it. After cutting the roasted peppers in thin strips, I tossed the veggies with salt, pepper, olive oil, and cilantro (or other fresh herb of your choice). Perfect for a summer meal.