Quick, Easy, Healthy Side Dish

So over the weekend I had a great group of friends over to help get the house painted. To show my appreciation for all of their hard work I made dinner for everyone after we were done with the painting. One of the things that I made was a great healthy side dish that is really easy and quick to make. I hope that you give it a try.

Wild Rice Salad

1 package of Mahatma Long Grain and Wild Rice
1/4 cup of chopped green onions
1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/4 cup of toasted chopped walnuts or pine nuts
4 tablespoons of orange juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking mix all other ingredients in a bowl. Let rice cool slightly and mix into the bowl with other ingredients. Serve warm or chilled.

Moroccan Vegetables

I love making Moroccan Roast Chicken and never know what other than grains to serve with the chicken. So the last time I made my Moroccan Roast Chicken I began looking all over the web to try to find a veggie side dish, I didn't find one, but I learned more about some of the flavors and ingredients used in Moroccan cooking and came up with this really colorful and tasty dish.

Moroccan Vegetables
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large red bell pepper, diced in large pieces
1 large onion, diced in large pieces
Left over purple roasted potatoes
2 tea spoons of dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
The juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon of olive oil

In a large skillet heat olive oil to medium/medium high add in veggies, sprinkle with parsley and cumin and cook on medium for about 5 minutes or until onions are just beginning to turn translucent. Stir up the vegetables and squeeze lemon juice over mix, turn heat up to medium high and cook stirring frequently for about 3 minutes, remove from skillet and serve with Moroccan Roast Chicken.

Farmer's Market Surprise Meal

I call this a surprise meal because I was taking my son to a birthday party in Hampton, and low and behold there was a farmer's market going on right next to the museum. I found some little neck clams, shallots, and a wonderful baguette. All I needed to do was stop off at Total Wine and a meal was born. To make these great steamed clams, I diced two shallots, and cooked them for about 2 minutes with a small amount of butter, I then added a bottle of Kitchen Sink White Wine, the clams, some red pepper flakes, and cranked up the heat. The clams were open and ready to go in a little under 8 minutes, I garnished with some fresh parsley from the garden, and dinner was done. The only plus to this meal would have been if we could have gotten our 5 year old to try it, but that is probably an ambitious undertaking on our part.