If you need some new creative sides for the gathering season and the New Year, try these!

 

Fall gathering season is a chance to create tasty and healthy meals for your favorite people – at home. It’s not about cooking for days and days and then feeling exhausted. It’s about cooking for fun and keeping it simple with delicious flavors. Getting friends and family to help out is always a good idea. And, don’t overlook the younger generation because they are full of energy and desire to pitch in, too.

Coming up with easy and healthy recipes is a joy of life for a nutrition professional so I’ve collected quite a few favorites over the years. In this blog about creative sides, I chose two that can go with everyone’s gathering season menu, either on the big day or on a day in-between. When your menu is centered around a simple entrée, like baked salmon, roast turkey, grilled pork loin, or beef steak then wake it up with new sides that sparkle with flavor and color.

Easy Greek Potato Salad – 4 to 6 servings

Here’s a new twist on the classic Greek Salad that will delight everyone!

• 1 ½ pounds  Potatoes, baby or other small white variety, peeling is optional
• 2 tablespoons  Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1-2 tablespoons  Fresh lemon juice
• 2-4 ounces  Feta cheese from sheep and/or goat milk, crumbled
• ½ small  Red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• ¼ cup  Capers in brine, drained and rinsed with cool tap water
• 2-4 tablespoons  Fresh dill, rinsed with cool tap water and chopped
• 2-4 tablespoons  Fresh parsley, rinsed with cool tap water and chopped
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon  Black pepper, freshly ground

1. Place the potatoes in a medium to large pan and fill it with cool tap water to a depth of one inch over the potatoes. Place pan on a burner set to medium high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover pan with a lid, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes are tender but not mushy. Drain water and set potatoes aside until cool. Then, cut them all in half.
2. Get out a medium-large salad bowl. First add the EVOO and fresh lemon juice. Whisk.
3. Add the potatoes into the dressing and, next, the crumbled Feta cheese.
4. Next, add the chopped red onion, drained capers, chopped fresh herbs and freshly ground black pepper.
5. Very gently, stir the potato mixture to mix all ingredients. Add black pepper to taste.
6. Set aside potato salad for 30-45 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

Fresh Pear & Broccoli Slaw – 6 servings

Here’s a new twist on coleslaw that will tickle your tastebuds!

 Slaw ingredients:

• 1, 12 ounce bag            Broccoli Slaw
• 3-4 small                      Green onions, green and white parts, chopped
• ½ cup                            Fresh cilantro, chopped
• ½ cup                            Fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 large, ripe                   Fresh pear, skin on, core removed, cut into ½ – ¾ inch chunks

Dressing ingredients:

• 1 small                           Fresh lime, juice only, about 3 -4 tablespoons
• 3 tablespoons               Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon                 Honey
• ¼ teaspoon                  Sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon                Black pepper, ground

1. Prep and measure all the slaw ingredients, except cut up pear, into a medium-large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly.
2. Add cut up pear to mixed slaw.
3. Separately, combine all dressing ingredients in a small jar or cup with a whisk.
4. Pour dressing onto the slaw with cut up pear.
5. Gently mix everything taking care not to break apart the pear chunks.
6. Serve right away or cover and refrigerate for an hour or 2 before serving.

Approach the Gathering Season with New Strategies for Better Health

Fall gatherings can lead to stress-cooking and stress-eating. Rather than get tangled up in all the hype, try this: Be selective, go to only a few parties, and enjoy a plate of food; If you throw a party then ‘keep it simple’ and ask friends and family to help you; Be choosy about what you drink at a party and enjoy without overdoing it. These 3 strategies can make the fall gathering season more joyful, calm, and meaningful. If you grab the free Mediterranean Grocery Tips then you will also have a new resource for healthier nutrition before the New Year arrives.

What creative, new sides appeal to you the most during the gathering season?