<p>There was a discussion of roasted cauliflower in another thread. One of my wife’s favorites is roasted green beans - roast with garlic and red onion and then toss with balsamic vinegar (and mustard if you want but try first). It’s both savory and slightly sweet and is better cold. (You need a little oil to toss for roasting. And of course kosher salt helps. But it’s really low in calories and the beans become a complete protein with all the other stuff you eat at dinner.)</p>
<p>It’s just me but one of my favorite meals is cut up vegetables - like celery and cucumber and maybe whatever color pepper is around - with a few cans of cannelini and some other bean (like black beans) - mixed with some garlic sauce (which you may not have around you because it’s a middle eastern specialty but gently cooked garlic is just as good) - and tossed with a vinaigrette. I have some on my plate as I type this. If you want to do extra, hard cook some eggs and slice them to eat with or to put on top. Or as I have now, sprinkle with some feta and a little hot pepper, which completes the protein in the beans and adds tang.</p>
<p>Stoplight Salad (so named for the red, green, and yellow colors)</p>
<p>2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
2 cups corn (roasted corn is especially flavorful, but frozen or canned will do in a pinch)
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cups canned black beans, drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced</p>
<p>Prepare quinoa according to package directions; cool. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, corn, peppers, fresh cilantro and black beans. In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic. Pour dressing over salad and toss gently. Stir in quinoa. Salt and pepper to taste.</p>
<p>This dish is gluten-free, high fiber, and reasonably high protein.</p>
<p>Southwest variation: add oregano, cumin, chili powder, and cayenne pepper, and substitute fresh lime juice for balsamic vinegar.</p>
<p>I was actually thinking of making my broccoli slaw salad for Thanksgiving since everyone in the family likes it. It is easy to buy a bag (or more) of the broccoli slaw in the produce department at most grocery stores, add dried cranberries, and toss with dressing (equal parts greek yogurt, honey, EVOO, and rice vinegar). Add slivered almonds when ready to serve. I love the crunch of this salad!</p>
<p>Will second MaidenMom’s “Cowboy Caviar”. Have prepared this often and it is a real crowd pleaser. I do it as a stand alone dish without the tortilla chips. I have served it at barbecues and more formal get togethers. Never any left at the end of the party!</p>
<p>Roasted vegetables. Great at room temperature.</p>
<p>Cut red/orange/yellow peppers into strips. Cut peeled onions into large rings (yellow or red). Snap the stem ends off green beans but leave whole. </p>
<p>Line a couple of shallow, rimmed baking sheets with aluminum foil. Place them in the oven and preheat to 500F. In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, coarse salt, lots of freshly ground black pepper, and some minced garlic.</p>
<p>It is essential that your vegetables fit in the baking pans in close to a single layer, although some doubling is fine. The point is that you don’t want them to steam.</p>
<p>When the oven and pans are up to temp, quickly scrape the vegetables evenly over the pans and roast until beginning to blacken a little. Remove from oven and dump into a large shallow pan to cool. At this point, you can crumble some herbes de provence or similar herb (like Greek oregano) over them and sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar, but that’s optional.</p>
<p>An easy and delicious way to fix roasted Brussels sprouts -</p>
<p>1 pound Brussels sprouts
1 large apple (use a variety good for baking)
1/2 medium onion
4 slices of bacon
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper</p>
<p>Chop apple and onion into coarse chunks. If you have larger sized sprouts, cut them in half. Cut the raw bacon into one inch chunks. Put it all in a baking dish and toss with just enough oil to coat everything lightly. Use a pan large enough so that there is only one layer. Salt and pepper to taste. Roast at 400 degrees until done (stir at 20 minutes), about 40 minutes (more or less depending on your taste and the size of the pieces).</p>
<p>Ina Garten’s Orzo with Roasted Vegetables. (Am I allowed to post links to recipes? I can’t remember the rules here…)</p>
<p>Amazing flavor, but I find that Ina uses a bit too much dressing on almost every dish. Follow the dressing ratios but cut the quantities. And use far less feta cheese than she suggests, cutting cubes much smaller than indicated. Otherwise, the flavor is unbelievable. I think of this as a summer dish but it should satisfy your hosts.</p>
<p>Make a box of Near East Mediterranean Curry Couscous
After you take if off the stove to “sit” - add 3/4 cup of diced carrots, 3/4 cup of diced red/green peppers and 1/3 cup of pine nuts. (You could really use any vegetables that you wish). Fold vegetables gently into the couscous. Let sit in the covered pot for 5 to 10 minutes.</p>
<p>Can serve at room temp or refrigerate for later.</p>
<p>Grilled vegetables is certainly a possibility. I’ve made Martha Stewart’s warm (room temp) winter salad some years. She has you boil vegetables in batches, but I do them all at once, putting the ones that cook longest in first, or I roast them. Cook till just tender.</p>
<p>5 peeled carrots, in 1/2" or so discs
potatoes (red, purple, Yukon) 7-9 small ones
2 pint boxes of Brussel Sprouts</p>
<p>Dressing</p>
<p>1 egg (not critical)
3 TB cider vinegar
2 TB Dijon mustard
1 TB celery salt
1 TB walnut oil (optional)
3/4 vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
salt and pepper to taste</p>
<p>2 scallions finely chopped</p>
<p>Whisk dressing together and pour it over the warm vegetables. Sprinkle with scallions. I think toasted walnuts or chestnuts are also good.</p>
<p>Grilled cauliflower is delicious.
My go-to cold veggie is broccoli, steamed lightly, dressed with rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil and ginger. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds or nuts before serving if you want to be fancy.</p>
<p>Grilled asparagus is great at room temp. I just roll it in a little olive oil, coarse salt, and black pepper. Actually, I sometimes serve it as an hors d’oeuvres. Essential that it get a little blackened. :)</p>
<p>Asparagus blanched until just tender then shocked in ice water is also great cold with an Asian sesame/ginger/soy dressing such as that suggested by dragonmom. For this purpose, I cut it into pieces in the Chinese way: make an angled cut, rotate, make another angled cut, and so forth.</p>
<p>I’m going to have to try that roasted kale. I keep reading about it, I love kale, and I’m always looking for something I can eat to satisfy the urge for a salty snack that is very low carb and not too calorific. One can eat only so many almonds without blowing the calorie budget. </p>
<p>Another thing that is good at room temp is a corn salsa/salad made with black beans, diced red pepper, scallions, minced jalapenos, and so forth. You could just add some good spice salsa as the dressing.</p>
<p>At parties, I sometimes serve little cups of cold pureeed vegetable soups as an hors d’oeuvres. I go for a variety of colors: beet/red pepper for pink, carrot coriander for pale orange, curried asparagus for green, etc.</p>
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