(10 seconds each to read and are almost that quick to prepare)
By Lisa Messinger
Food and Cooking at Creators Syndicate
Don't shove your sides aside if you have leftovers. Usually entrees are not only the stars of meals, but of leftovers the next day, too. Don't shun your sides, though. In fact, they often can do double-duty and easily transform into the centerpiece of an entirely new meal.
When you are dealing with vegetable-based side dishes, the news gets even better. You can energize a main dish with the effortless inclusion of an array of already prepped, nutritious produce. For the broccolini, cherry tomato and kale super skillet below, I took "Best Green Eats Ever" author Katrine van Wyk's advice for its second outing: I heated it lightly and then gently tossed it with cooked, hot pasta for a savory main dish.
Here's another type of situation you could emulate. I took a mushroom, sweet pepper and onion side dish, and the next day I lightly pureed it (still leaving somewhat of a chunky texture) and folded it into ground beef and formed it into three-quarter veggie burgers that I grilled. Add a bit of egg or whole-wheat bread crumbs if it's not fully holding together on its own. Ground poultry could also be used.
Following are a few other save-the-sides ideas:
Make it Soup the Second Time Around: Puree a carrot-ginger dish and serve as a hot soup with shredded rotisserie chicken breast in it.
Salad is a Slam Dunk: Gently reheat sauteed spinach and serve as a warm "wilted" entree salad topped with grilled shrimp, toasted walnuts, crumbles of feta cheese, diced pear and honey mustard dressing.
Stuffing Fills the Bill: To roasted sweet potato or russet potatoes, add diced onion, garlic, freshly ground black pepper, golden raisins and pistachios. Heat stuffing. After chicken breasts are fully cooked, carefully slit to make a pocket. Add a bit of stuffing. Drizzle entirety with warmed store-bought chutney as a sauce.
BROCCOLINI, CHERRY TOMATO AND KALE SKILLET
4 to 5 broccolini
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 red onion, sliced
4 cups chopped Lacinato kale
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
1 cup halved and sliced zucchini
(Preferably sea) salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Yields 4 to 6 servings.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a steam basket. Place broccolini in the basked and steam for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove broccolini from heat and set aside.
Carefully add the olive oil to a medium-hot skillet and stir in the garlic, continuing to stir as the garlic flavors the oil. Take care not to burn the garlic. Add in the red onion and saute for 3 minutes; then add the kale. Saute for 1 more minute, or until the kale has wilted. Add the cherry tomatoes, zucchini and steamed broccolini. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the dish.
-"Best Green Eats Ever"
QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK: Dee McCaffrey, author of "The Science of Skinny Cookbook," has an idea for you for a quick and nutritious lickety-split "banana split." She advises to, "Switch up your morning routine by having dessert for breakfast...Organic Greek yogurt is thick and creamy like ice cream." To emulate McCaffrey's results, split a banana and top, to taste, with preferably organic plain Greek-style yogurt, 100 percent fruit preserves, unsweetened shredded or flaked coconut and a sprinkling of chopped raw almonds, pecans or other nuts.
Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food and nutrition writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the National Council Against Health Fraud and author of seven food books, including the best-selling
The Tofu Book: The New American Cuisine with 150 Recipes (Avery/Penguin Putnam) and
Turn Your Supermarket into a Health Food Store: The Brand-Name Guide to Shopping for a Better Diet (Pharos/Scripps Howard). She writes two nationally syndicated food and nutrition columns for Creators Syndicate and had been a longtime newspaper food and health section managing editor, as well as managing editor of Gayot/Gault Millau dining review company. Lisa traveled the globe writing about top chefs for Pulitzer Prize-winning Copley News Service and has written about health and nutrition for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Reader's Digest, Woman's World and Prevention Magazine Health Books. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.
