Favorite Summer Sides?

[Cheryl J]

Thanks, Kayelle, and others for the recipes! I love summer sides, so much so that they sometimes end up being main dishes. I love sauerkraut too, but no one else in my family does. I copied your recipe, Kay. Thank you.

I love marinated cucumbers or asparagus, and use the same ingredients for both...just a mixture of rice wine vinegar, a little sugar, sliced onions, and let 'em marinate for a while. I love 3 (or 4) bean salad, sliced and grilled sweet potatoes, pasta salad with shrimp, noodle salads....guess I better get my faves out to post recipes. lol

One of my fave sides/salads is kades Asian Noodle Salad. Will get recipes together tomorrow.

 

[Aunt Bea]

One or more of these usually turn up at our family potlucks. I don't make them for myself anymore because they all contain a fair amount of sugar.

Claremont Salad Recipe

5 Cup Salad Recipe - Allrecipes.com

Fire and Ice Salad Recipe - Allrecipes.com

Corn Salad/Relish adapted from a recipe by Marion Cunningham.

4 cups fresh or frozen corn
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
6 ribs celery
2 onions

Pickle
1 cup sugar
2 t dry mustard
2 t turmeric
2 t celery seed
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup water

Chop the vegetables roughly the size of corn kernels. Put everything into a pot and bring to a boil, simmer for 15 minutes. Put hot relish into sterilized jars and refrigerate when cool. This will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks. You can also can it for long term storage by processing in a water bath canner for 10 or 15 minutes. I just put it into a covered dish and refrigerate it overnight, or several days, then serve ice cold.

 

[chiklitmanfan]

" French" potato salad. Not sure why this is called French. Basically cook sliced skin on red skin potatoes, stir in some sour cream, maybe a little yogurt but no mayo, stir in some sweet onion dice, green onion tops
and maybe some minced dill.

.

I've tried to prepare potato salad with sour cream or yogurt but it always turns out watery after putting out to serve. How do you keep the thick, rich consistency of sour cream or yogurt ??

 

[GotGarlic]

I've tried to prepare potato salad with sour cream or yogurt but it always turns out watery after putting out to serve. How do you keep the thick, rich consistency of sour cream or yogurt ??

Are you using Greek yogurt? It's been strained, so it has less water. Or you can strain regular yogurt in a strainer lined with cheesecloth over a bowl for a couple of hours.

 

[LPBeier]

I love corn on the cob and bacon wrapped grilled asparagus. We eat a lot of Greek and Caesar salad in the spring and summer.

I really love Kitchenelf's http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f20/moms-macaroni-salad-a-cookout-favorite-586-2.html. It has become a staple for our church's week long youth conference where we provide lunches and dinners.

 

[jabbur]

I make a kidney bean salad that never has left overs! It's really easy to make

2 cans dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
4 hard boiled eggs chopped
2-3 Tbs dill relish (can add more or less to taste)

Waldorf salad dressing
1 cup mayo
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cider vinegar

mix well together and add to beans mix

I generally don't use the whole salad dressing mix. It can be saved for another use later. The dressing tends to settle in the bottom of the bowl so be sure to stir well before you serve.

This is the basic recipe and I often double it and still can get rid of it all at a single meal.

 

[chiklitmanfan]

In the past have used regular plain yogurt but.....

Are you using Greek yogurt? It's been strained, so it has less water. Or you can strain regular yogurt in a strainer lined with cheesecloth over a bowl for a couple of hours.

....from now on we will use strictly Greek yogurt. We use it on everything else because of the superior consistency and flavor. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[cave76]

....from now on we will use strictly Greek yogurt. We use it on everything else because of the superior consistency and flavor. Thanks for the suggestion.

Greek yogurt is far superior to the slimy stuff of other brands. It's hard to find full fat ---- some stores don't sell it but it CAN be found.

 

[msmofet]

Mac salad

Potato salad

Kidney & Cannellini Bean Salad

Pasta Salad

My version of Dragon Lady Sesame Noodles

BTW after the summer is over we will need to start DRAGON LADY'S SESAME NOODLES Rehab ..... again!!!

 

[Somebunny]

I must have been living under a rock. I don't recall any discussions regarding Dragon Lady Noodles.

Hey we must have been under the same rock Whisk, but I don't remember seeing you there, did you see me? Anyway the Dragon Lady noodles sound good. (Thanks for posting Kayelle) wish I had read the post before I cooked rice to go with our stir-fry, these might have worked with it.

We have lots of favorite Summer sides, we like all of the usual suspects and often Greek salad or veggie pasta salad as a side. One unusual one is Swedish Spaghetti Salad and another is a salmon pasta salad that a friend and I made up, I will post them later in the salad section, if I haven't already.

 

[Cheryl J]

msmofet....great pics! Looks so good!

 

[msmofet]

msmofet....great pics! Looks so good!

Thank you Cheryl.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

I've tried to prepare potato salad with sour cream or yogurt but it always turns out watery after putting out to serve. How do you keep the thick, rich consistency of sour cream or yogurt ??

Ach. I don't even like watery cole slaw. Invest in more slotted spoons?

My apologies. I inadvertently lied. I do use Mayo. 2-3 pounds new or red skin potatoes, 1 cup sour cream and a dollop or two of Mayo. ( S & P and some garlic powder, that's about it) It's a bonus if you add anything else to the salad. I use sweet onion and definitely green onion tops or parsley to garnish. Some snipped tarragon if you have it. And knowing me, probably celery and radish slices if there are any in the house. My notes say Ok to use greek yogurt, doesn't mean that I actually did this, maybe wishful thinking for "next time". Like wise, my notes say to add a spoon or two of horseradish. I don't really have a "real recipe", so consider this is it.

I have made this for parties, so it was made in advance and chilled. Maybe the sour cream got more solid again after it was thinned just enough for tossing. It has never gotten watery.

 

[Whiskadoodle]

Pesto. In or on anything. Pasta, sliced chicken, mixed in a veggie salad instead of dressing. Slathered on baguettes slices.

 

[Kayelle]

Pesto. In or on anything. Pasta, sliced chicken, mixed in a veggie salad instead of dressing. Slathered on baguettes slices.

How do you make your pesto Whiska?

 

[Whiskadoodle]

Since my memory is so good making a sour cream sauce, I typed the recipe verbatim this time. The original calls for pine nuts, but walnuts are more affordable and give an equally good texture and flavor.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f76/pesto-recipe-90116.html#post1369798

 

[TATTRAT]

For me, my go to is sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion or vidallia onion, fresh parsley, fresh basil, a little honey, a little balsamic, olive oil, cracked black pepper and crumbled feta. The longer it sits, the better it gets!

 

[CraigC]

When I'm "Qing or grilling", the sides go with the meal. Generally based on the style of what I'm cooking.

 

[mmyap]

Dressing
1/4 c EVOO
1/4 c Cider vinegar
Zest of meyer lemon
3 T meyer lemon juice
1 T honey

whisk together

4 c kale, chopped
1 c dried cranberries
1/2 c pecans, chopped
2 green onions, sliced

Toss, dress and chill.

Your Kale salad is on the menu tonight PF, with a few substitutions. I bought the kale but I forgot everything else on the ingredient list. I only had regular lemons. I used avocado oil, dried cherries and agave. Spiced pecan and goat cheese. I've been looking for a kale salad dressing that wasn't italian-y. I think the subs will work nicely. Thank you!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Your Kale salad is on the menu tonight PF, with a few substitutions. I bought the kale but I forgot everything else on the ingredient list. I only had regular lemons. I used avocado oil, dried cherries and agave. Spiced pecan and goat cheese. I've been looking for a kale salad dressing that wasn't italian-y. I think the subs will work nicely. Thank you!

Perfect! I've been using Avocado Oil since I found it, too!