Oh my gosh, now here is a gorgeous, delicious vegetable side dish that I absolutely adore. This is one of my mom’s recipes, and I think could eat an entire plate of this buttery corn for dinner. She whipped it up for us this weekend and I knew I had to share it with you guys. What makes this corn so special is that it’s got the best of both worlds. It has that wonderful creamy quality of creamed corn, but the corn itself is still crisp and fresh like it’s straight off the cob. Perfection.

Start with six ears of corn.

Shuck the corn by peeling off the outer layers.

And snap off the husk.

Pull any remaining silks off the corn and rinse under cool running water.

In a large bowl, cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife.

Start in the middle and work your way down.

Then flip over to get the other side.

Check out these knife skills, getting every last kernel of corn!

It was nice to be able to just stand back and photograph this recipe!

Once you’ve cut off all the corn…

Scrap up the cob with spoon to get the milk.

The creamy corn milk is completely worth it.

Here’s what the cob will look like after.

Next, combine three tablespoons of flour…

Two teaspoons of sugar…

1 teaspoon of salt…

And sprinkle in about a quarter of a teaspoon of pepper.

Dump all of this into one and a half cups of water.

And stir with a fork or a whisk to combine.

Melt three tablespoons of butter in a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium-low heat.

When the butter is melted, swirl to evenly coat the bottom of the pan.

Add the corn…

Then pour in the flour and water mixture.

Cook this over medium-low heat for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Here’s what it looks like after 45 minutes, a lot of the liquid has been absorbed.

Gorgeous.

This beautiful, buttery, creamy yet crisp corn is such a treat.

Make some. I know you’ll love it!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2011. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

This is one of my all-time favorite side dishes. It’s colorful and sweet and really easy to put together. Some nights I don’t have a whole lot of time to put too much thought into a side dish, so it’s nice to have these vegetables on hand and know I can just throw them together. The colors look great on a plate and the vegetables complement everything from fish, chicken, to steak. Plus.. they’re delicious! :)

Start with equal parts of diced zucchini, bell pepper, red onion, and corn kernels.

You can cut the corn fresh off the cob, or use frozen kernels like I have here. In fact, one of the reasons why I love this recipe so much is because you can use all frozen vegetables. I have so much zucchini in my garden this year, I have been picking it as it gets ready, dicing it, and keeping it in the freezer for when I need it. Same with the bell peppers. And the red onion, I almost never use an entire onion all at once, so I just dice it all at the same time and freeze the leftovers. I use a mandolin and cut-proof glove to dice my vegetables. Makes the task quick and easy. When I get ready to use them, I just pull my ziploc bags out of the freezer and mix everything together. No thawing necessary. Turns out great and it’s so nice to have them on hand!

For two people, I go with a 1/3 cup of each vegetable.

Your choice of color on the bell pepper, btw. I like red because then I have something red, yellow, green and purple on the plate. :)

Add some minced garlic while you’re at it…

Plenty of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper…

And just enough olive oil to coat. Stir gently to mix everything together.

Throw everything in a baking dish- one that’s big enough to arrange the vegetables in mostly a single layer. This is an 8×8 dish here.

Roast the vegetables at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins.

And serve! The sweetness of the corn & bell pepper and the freshness of the red onion really make this side dish shine.

Try it this week with our favorite salmon! ♥

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

These baked beans aren’t just any baked beans- they are manly baked beans. They’re meaty, mouth-watering, and topped with bacon. They’re perfect for parties, pot lucks and 4th of July. They also are an excellent accompaniment to this Perfect Pulled Pork.  Not only is this scrumptious side dish sure to please, it’s also quite convenient- you can make it up a day ahead and pop it into the oven when you get ready to make it. If your goal is to win friends and influence people at your 4th of July party- make these right away. ;)

Here’s what you’ll need. Wait. First let me say- since I made this for just me and Kevin, I halved my usual recipe. It normally makes an entire 9×13 dish of baked beans. Which, yes, of course I could eat the entire thing, all in one sitting, because they’re just that good– but anyway. Bathing suit season people. I halved it. The half recipe makes an 8×8 dish. If you want to double this recipe, double everything except the onion soup and the bacon. Still use just one package of onion soup and 1 lb of bacon, even if you double it. Got that? Alright. :) Here’s what you’ll need for the half recipe:

1/2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup water
1/2 tbsp white vinegar
1 pkg onion soup mix
1 (15 oz) can Van Camps pork & beans
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp prepared mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
1 lb  bacon

I start by cutting my bacon in half (to get it out of the packaging) and putting it in the bottom of a 9×13 dish. It takes two 9×13 dishes, and if it doesn’t quite fit, I just shove it in there anyway. :) There’s no way I’m using more than 2 dishes! I’m not even happy about using the two- but it’s *way* better than doing it on the stove.

Oh yeah! I’m doing my bacon in the oven these days. Turns out great! I’ve even got my *dad* doing it and he is the KING of frying bacon. I don’t mind doing bacon on the stove, it’s just that you have to stand there for 30+ mins and watch it the whole time. With the oven, you can just stick it in there and forget about it for at least 25 mins. Here’s how I do it- put the bacon in a cold oven, then turn the heat to 400 degrees. Check on it after 25 mins. If it’s not done to your liking, check on it every 3-5 mins after that. For this recipe, you don’t want it allllll the way done. It’s still going to cook for another 45 mins in the oven on top of the baked beans. So you don’t want it to be extra crispy or anything. But you do want it to be mostly done. (I did mine for 25 mins.) Got that?

While the bacon’s going, brown and drain the hamburger meat.

Then throw the hamburger meat, and all the other ingredients- the water, vinegar, onion soup, beans, ketchup, mustard (don’t skip this even if you hate mustard like I do :D), brown sugar, and garlic- into a large bowl. Now, I like to let my Kitchenaid mixer (with the paddle attachment, on low) stir this up for me. But you could certainly also just use a spoon, of course. :)

Whoops! Did you notice anything missing from the mixing bowl picture?? The BEANS! I forgot add the BEANS!! But don’t worry- I remembered and added them before I got to the dishing up point. :P

When the meat and beans mixture is combined, layer it in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish and cover it with plenty of bacon. Yes. I realize that doesn’t really look like an 8×8 dish. As it turns out, all of my 8×8 dishes were dirty. Along with the two 9×13 dishes I used to make the bacon in. I’m going to have a lot of dishes to do tonight. But anyway! Since I didn’t have an 8×8 dish, I used the next size up. Not quite as big as a 9×13 dish, but slightly bigger than 8×8. Oh, nevermind. Now at this point, I wasn’t ready to cook it, so I covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight. But you could definitely go ahead and make it right away if you wanted to.

Either way, when you get ready to make it, preheat your oven to 350, cover the beans with aluminum foil, and bake covered for 30 mins, and then uncovered for 15 mins, for a total of 45 mins cooking time. And when it comes out it’ll look crispy and delicious. :D

When it’s ready, dig in! And be sure and get plenty of that bacon. :D We had this tonight with Perfect Pulled Pork sandwiches. I’m happy to report that I tried the pulled pork in the crock pot for the first time today and it turned out great! For a 5lb roast, it needed at least 10 hours on low. I put it in at 8 this morning, and by 6 pm, my meat thermometer was reading 198. Usually I cook it to an internal temperature of 200, and then turn off the oven and let it cool for another couple of hours until it cools down to 170, but tonight I just couldn’t wait so I went ahead and pulled it at 198. It was perfect and literally falling apart in my hands. Just right. :)

Have some baked beans leftover? They make a *great* lunch- it’s got your beans and your meat all in one dish! :) I’m only slightly embarrassed to admit I’ve eaten this straight from the fridge- cold. It’s GOOD! :)

Whether you’re looking for something to make for a crowd or just a weeknight side dish- give these Ultimate Baked Beans a try! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

I am *in love* with this simple, no-frills mac and cheese. :) My granny used to make this all the time- she knew it was my favorite and always had it ready whenever I came to visit. :)  It’s a delicious quick-and-easy side dish- no fancy or unnecessary ingredients, just pure, unadulterated mac and cheese. :D It’s definitely one of my go-to meals- I almost always have all the ingredients on hand- and the baking time / temp isn’t too picky so I can usually just pop it in the oven with whatever my main dish is. :)

The ingredients: noodles, butter, salt, shredded cheese and milk

Boil and drain noodles in salted water. Since it’s just the two of us, I boiled 2 cups of penne pasta. That’s enough for 2-3 servings as a side dish. Spray a baking dish with Pam and make layers of noodles, a healthy pinch of salt, and pats of butter.

Top with plenty of the good stuff- shredded cheese. My absolute favorite to use is colby jack.

Repeat layers of noodles, salt, butter and cheese until you run out of noodles. In my case I usually only make 2 layers. :)

Now the milk. The milk is very important, you don’t want to skip this step. :D Pour in the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time until your dish is about 1/3 full with milk. The reason why you want to do it a 1/2 cup at a time is because you want to give the milk a sec to settle before you pour more in so you don’t flood the mac and cheese with milk. Not that I’ve ever done that before. Tonight I poured in about 3/4 cup, and as you can see in the pic, the dish is about 1/4 full. I could’ve just gone ahead and poured in a full cup, but that’s ok. It was still good. :D

Bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes. If I were making this just by itself, I would do 400 for 30 mins. But usually I have something else occupying my oven so I just pop it in with whatever else I have cooking at the time. :) Anywhere from 350 – 400 degrees is just fine. :)

Oh, man, it’s so good. :) The perfect complement to any main dish. :D And in case you’re wondering, that’s Pioneer Woman’s Spicy Roasted Chicken Legs in the background. We both absolutely love them, they are so juicy and flavorful!! I make mine a bit different- I leave out the lemon and use a different seasoning than she does (I experiment every time!). I also cook mine for 20 mins on each side.

Speaking of seasonings, I love them. Tonight on the chicken, I tried 5, yes 5 different seasonings. I was going to do a taste test and see which one I liked best.

Montreal chicken, seasoned chicken, Greek chicken, chicken creole, spicy chicken… Guess what. I liked them all. I couldn’t decide. :P

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

Don’t you love those roasted carrots and vegetables from a pot roast? When I just need those soft, slowly simmered carrots and not the entire pot roast, I make these. They turn out so sweet they can hardly be called a vegetable. They’re delicious, and they make your whole house smell wonderful.

Here’s what you need…

About 4 carrots per person
3-4 cups of liquid (chicken or beef broth or stock)
rosemary
thyme

These carrots need plenty of time to roast and get soft in the oven, so start your carrots about 1.5 hours before dinner needs to be ready. Preheat the oven to 400 and start washing those carrots!

Now, I don’t peel my carrots. I’m trying to be all rustic like the Pioneer Woman, and she doesn’t peel her carrots. If it’s good enough for Ree, it’s good enough for me!

But if you want to, go right ahead.

After they’re all washed, it’s time to start chopping.

Then throw them in a glass baking dish and cover them with the liquid.

And pour over the carrots until they’re all covered.

Now it’s time to get serious.

Make sure the seasonings are minced fine, and toss in about a handful of each.

Throw ‘em in.

And stir it up. Put this in your 400 degree oven for at least an hour. Mine went for about an hour and fifteen minutes tonight and they were just fine.

© kevinandamanda.com, 2008. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!

Alfredo Tortellini is a quick and easy meal that can be ready in 15 mins or less for those nights when you’ve only got 30 minutes to prepare it and eat dinner before you have rush back out to take your obnoxious, degenerate of a dog to obedience school. Like tonight.

The rich, creamy sauce makes Alfredo Tortellini one of my favorite meals.

© kevinandamanda.com, 2008. | Link to this post | Comment on this post | Stumble This Recipe!