I first tried this recipe out when I wanted a sweet potato casserole but didn’t have the oven room for another dish. Using the slow cooker is the perfect solution. If you’re looking for another side to add to your Easter dinner, but don’t want something that will take a lot of effort, this is the dish to add to your menu. It takes minimal prep and then you just dump everything in the slow cooker – it couldn’t be easier.

This sweet side goes really well with ham.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes with Applesauce
(slightly adapted from Betty Crocker)
Serves 6, as a side

2 lbs. sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
3 T. butter,  melted
1 t. ground cinnamon

Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray and spread sweet potatoes over the bottom.

In a small bowl, mix together the applesauce, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Pour evenly over sweet potatoes.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours until potatoes are very tender.

I love carrots. Mark likes carrots – as long as they’re raw. I almost never make cooked carrots because it’s a lot easier just to put a bowl of raw ones on the table.

I ended up with a lot of leftover carrots from another dish and decided to try out this recipe since I’d had it bookmarked forever. They were awesome and I had to stop myself from eating too many out of the pan before they were done.

Mark wouldn’t touch them but I’m okay with that – more for me.

Honey-Glazed Carrots
(from Martha Stewart)
Serves 6

1 T. vegetable oil
2 pounds carrots, thickly coin sliced
1 c. water
1/2 c. honey
2 T. red-wine vinegar
2 T. unsalted butter
Coarse salt and ground pepper, to taste

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the carrots and cook for 2 minutes, until beginning to brown, turning once.

Add the water, honey and vinegar to the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover, cooking for 10 minutes. Remove cover and cook for an additional 8-10 minutes, until the honey mixture is thick and syrupy.

Remove skillet from heat and add butter. Stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

I really love grilling in the summer – it’s so nice to not have to turn on the stove to make dinner in the heat. I’ve bookmarked tons of main-dish recipes but grilled side dishes are a little harder to come by. I’ve got green beans growing in the garden, so I knew this would be a great dish for us.

These are super easy and have such nice, fresh flavors. The perfect option for a grilled side!

Grilled Green Beans with Garlic and Lemon
(from Michael Ruhlman)
Serves 4-6 as a side

1/4 c. olive oil
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t. red pepper flakes
1/2 t. cumin
1 lb. green beans, stem ends picked
1 lemon for zesting
Salt to taste

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.

Whisk together the olive oil, garlic, cumin and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Add the green beans and toss by hand till they’re uniformly coated. Put them in your hot grill basket and cook until tender, about 7-10 minutes.

Remove to a serving dish, season with salt and finish with freshly grated lemon zest

My friends are big fans of potluck dinner parties. It always seems that when we start figuring out who is bringing what, vegetable dishes are always the last ones suggested – even though we have vegetarians in the crowd. Pasta and salads just always seem to win out.

For our most recent dinner, I wanted to make a vegetable dish that would work with the meal (ham, salad, macaroni and cheese) without taking a lot of hands-on time once the guests had arrived. This asparagus totally fit the bill – I was able to prep it earlier in the day and pop it in the oven a few minutes before we were sitting down to dinner.

The recipe suggests opening a window or two and turning on the exhaust fan while you reduce the balsamic vinegar. Do it! I tried to skip this step because it was 20 degrees and raining out and the fumes quickly overwhelmed the kitchen.

Balsamic Parmesan Asparagus
(from Leite’s Culinaria)
Serves 8-10 as a side

1/2 cupdecent quality balsamic vinegar or just a few drops of truly top-notch balsamic vinegar
1 T. salt, plus more to taste
2 lbs. asparagus, tough ends snapped off
1/4 c. olive oil, divided
1 c. (about 4oz.) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175˚C).

If using ridiculously pricy, top-notch balsamic vinegar, skip this step. Otherwise, throw the windows open and turn on the exhaust fan. Then place the vinegar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, swirling the pan occasionally, until the vinegar is reduced by half, anywhere from 7 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the saucepan. Remove from the heat.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon of the salt and the asparagus and blanch until barely tender, about 1 minute for spears of average thickness, more for thicker spears and less for skinnier ones. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Pat the asparagus dry with paper towels. (You can keep the asparagus at room temperature or refrigerate it for up to several hours.)

Place the asparagus in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or, if necessary, two sheets. Sprinkle the spears with salt to taste, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil, and turn to coat. Shower the asparagus with the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Bake until the spears are tender and the cheese is browned and almost bubbling (it won’t actually melt), about 5 minutes.

Use a spatula to shimmy the asparagus from the baking sheet to a platter. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the reduced balsamic vinegar or a few drops of the really top notch stuff and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Serve immediately, with the remaining reduced balsamic vinegar on the side.

I love green bean casserole. It’s always been one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving dinner. Over the past year and half, I’ve been making an effort to cut out processed food and our classic green bean casserole is the epitome of that – canned beans mixed with canned soup.

I jumped at the chance to make a version with fewer processed ingredients. It still uses canned fried onions, but the rest of the ingredients are fresh.  I didn’t think it was possible to love it more, but I totally do. And my husband who was never a huge green bean casserole fan loved this version too. It’s completely worth the extra effort.

Green Bean Casserole
(from Brown Eyed Baker)
Serves 10-12 as a side

For the Topping:
4 slices white bread, each slices torn into quarters
2 T. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. ground black pepper
3 c. canned fried onions (about 6 ounces)

For the Beans and Sauce:
2 T. salt
2 lbs. green beans, ends trimmed, and halved
3 T. unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 T. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 c. heavy cream

Pulse bread, butter, salt and pepper in food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with onions; set aside.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees F. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add 2 tablespoons salt and beans. Cook beans until bright green and crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Drain beans in colander and plunge immediately into ice water to stop cooking. Spread beans on paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain.

Add butter to now-empty pot and melt over medium-high heat until foaming subsides. Add garlic, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper; cook until fragrant. Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth and bring to simmer, stirring constantly. Add cream, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until sauce is thickened and reduced, about 12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add green beans to sauce and stir until evenly coated. Arrange in an even layer in 3-quart (or 9×13-inch) baking dish. Sprinkle with topping and bake until top is golden brown and sauce is bubbling around edges, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.