Meatless Monday - Delicious sides

One of our favorite meatless meals to enjoy has always been just fixing a few different vegetable sides and serving them together as a meal - especially during summer when fresh vegetables are in abundance. A meal like this can be as simple or as complicated as you want.

Today I'm going to share two wonderful side dishes. You can eat these together - paired with another vegetable or a meat - or just use them as a side to another dish. They both are simple-to-make sides, but they do take a bit of time to cook. And both are just as delicious the next day as leftovers!

First up - a delicious green bean dish. I'll call it Green Beans with Shallots and Tomatoes. A couple of notes...if you don't have shallots on hand, you can use onions in a pinch, but it really is better with the texture and garlicky-onion flavor of shallots. Second, I've used canned tomatoes instead of fresh before, and it isn't nearly as good with the canned. Fresh tomatoes melt down to a delicious mess in a way that the canned tomatoes don't. Go for fresh! Last, the recipe calls for a little beef bouillon. I like it better with the bouillon - it adds a nice depth to the flavor - but it isn't really necessary. You can skip the bouillon altogether or perhaps substitute a little beef broth and let it boil away if you'd rather not used processed beef bouillon.


Green Beans with Shallots and Tomatoes
1-2 lbs fresh green beans, stringed
2-4 shallots, minced (I go for 4, but if you are not enamored with shallots, go for 2)
1 large tomato chopped (I often add more)
1/4 tsp beef bouillon granules (or can use Better than Bouillon)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Steam green beans 5-10 min or until just tender and cooked through. Run cold water over beans to stop cooking and set aside.

Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add green beans, tomato, and rest of the ingredients. Cook about 10 minutes or until the tomato has cooked down. Enjoy!

Next, roasted potatoes with onions. I especially love this dish when I have itty-bitty new potatoes, but it works well with bigger red potatoes cut into chunks as well. If you'd rather keep this animal product free, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth


Roasted Potatoes with Onions
2 lbs small red new potatoes, unpeeled
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 cup chicken stock or broth

Preheat oven to 425 F. In a glass 13"x9" pan (or a roasting pan), combine the potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper. Coat the potatoes evenly with the oil mixture.

Roast the potatoes 20 min. Sprinkle evenly with the onion and chicken stock. Continue roasting, shaking the pan every 10-15 min to keep the potatoes from sticking, until they are brown and tender and the onions are caramelized - about another 45 min. Serve and enjoy!