You know I’ve been to Costco when you start to see recipes with pesto and goat cheese popping up frequently on the blog. I can’t help it. There are a few staples from Costco that I can’t be without and their pesto and goat cheese are two of them.

I have to admit, since trying the pesto from Costco I really haven’t made any at home – it’s that good (for store bought!) and you just can’t beat the convenience or price.

These Roasted Red Peppers with Pesto and Goat Cheese were inspired by my neighbor who made for us once and brought some over for me to try. He actually cooked his on the grill and wow, they were amazing. I could not wait to make them for myself. I wanted to try them on the grill, but honestly this past week here in Florida has been so brutally hot and muggy that the thought of standing over a grill “testing” a recipe just didn’t appeal to me. Roasting them up in my oven worked just as well, and I got to enjoy the a/c while doing it.

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We are officially in my favorite food season. All the fresh vegetables! I have to say, in Florida we are in this season most of the year, but when the weather is as hot as it is right now all I crave is cool, refreshing salads like this Cucumber Avocado Salad.

I have made this simple salad several times over the last few weeks and each time I make it my daughter and husband dish out the compliments. They are currently the only salad eaters in the family (in addition to me) although my oldest son does like his veggies, just served in a more deconstructed version and not in salad form. I’m good with it.

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Click here to Pin this easy Roasted Asparagus recipe!

You know it’s spring when you see bunches of asparagus popping up everywhere at the grocery store. After a long season of winter squashes and sweet potatoes (with all due respect), it’s one of my favorite sights to see in the produce section. I always associate asparagus as an Easter side dish, and rightfully so since growing up that was the one vegetable I always made sure was being served for Easter lunch. I don’t really remember it being an everyday veggie for our family, but instead one I looked forward to for our holiday meal.

Nowadays asparagus is everywhere. I like to make it like this, simply roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper. It’s also delicious sprinkled with a breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture right at the end of it’s cook time. (more…)

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With Thanksgiving this week, I wanted to share with you some of my go-to vegetable side dishes – these Roasted Green Beans with Almonds is one of them. I have been making this dish for as long as I have been contributing to our family’s Thanksgiving meal. It’s a great, fresh alternative to green bean casserole, if you are looking for something lighter to add to the table.

How do you cook green beans with almonds?

I like to roast my green beans in a 425 degree oven with a little sliced onion or shallot then toss with lemon zest and almonds. You can use sliced almonds or slivered almonds. I typically use sliced almonds but change it up every now and then depending on what I have. This time I used slivered almonds. I like to add my almonds to the green beans and have them toast up in the oven while the green beans are still cooking but you could also pan toast the almonds and use them as a topping for the green beans when they are done cooking.

These green beans are so easy to oven roast, but if you wanted to, you could easily steam them ahead of time and toss with same lemon zest and almond mixture in a skillet to save room in the oven. Don’t forget to squeeze some lemon over the green beans and season well with salt and pepper before serving! The lemon adds even more fresh flavor to the vegetables.

Side dishes for Thanksgiving

These roasted green beans with almonds and lemon round out our Thanksgiving table well. I am a big fan of side dishes on Thanksgiving and my plate is always filled to the rim with all the veggies, stuffing and cranberry sauce. My family’s traditional stuffing is this Italian Stuffing and I always make this fresh Apple-Orange Cranberry sauce every year.

If you need some last minute Thanksgiving side dish inspiration check out this post with 50 Thanksgiving Sides – you will definitely be hungry after browsing through all those recipes!

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Roasted Green Beans with Almonds

• Author: Aggies Kitchen
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: Oven

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Roasted Green Beans with Almonds is a simple side dish that is perfect for holiday entertaining or to serve alongside your favorite weeknight meal.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound green beans, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon zest
• lemon juice, from half lemon

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Toss the green beans in a large baking dish with the oil and sliced onion and season well with salt and pepper.
3. Roast until just cooked through and slightly browned, about 15 to 18 minutes. Combine the almonds and zest in a small bowl. Sprinkle zest and almonds over green beans and toss. Roast for another 3-5 minutes, careful not to let almonds brown too much.
4. Transfer green beans to a platter and squeeze juice from half lemon over green beans. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

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Click Here to Pin this Broccoli Salad recipe.

Whenever we get together at my parent’s house with my family for a barbecue during the summer, you can usually count on my mom making this broccoli raisin salad. It’s one of our favorites. My mom’s friend Trish first brought it over years ago and since then my mom has made it several times for our family.

What I love about this dish is it’s simplicity. It’s filled with just a handful of wholesome ingredients and can be made ahead, which makes it great for summer picnics, barbecues or pool days. It’s the perfect combination of flavors from sweet carrots and raisins (have you tried the Jumbo Raisin Medley from Trader Joe’s? Game changer.) to crunchy walnuts – and of course, plenty of broccoli.

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There are two foods my kids are obsessed with right now – potatoes and rice. This is a new thing for us. And it’s keeping things interesting for me because before this obsession I really didn’t cook potatoes and rice regularly. Now I find myself bookmarking recipes like this homemade rice-a-roni from Heather because I just know it will be a hit amongst the fam.

Now if I could get sweet potatoes onto this obsession wagon I would be a very happy cooking mama. Something about the orange is making the kiddos turn away from their plate. If they only knew and remembered how much they loved that weird orange food just a couple of years ago when they ate them all the time.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

There are a million ways you can season and roast potatoes in the oven. This little roasted red potatoes with smoked paprika recipe has become quite popular on Pinterest. I’ve made it plenty of times, as I have already made this dill version a few times in the past month. I like to change up the shape of how I’m cutting them (crinkle cut is fun like in my perfectly baked Italian herb French fries) as well as the combination of spices every time I cook them.

When you are cutting your potatoes make sure you are using a strong, sharp knife (like a chef’s knife or santuko knife). If you’re looking for a crinkle cutter to change up the shape of your fries, there are some great ones out there!

You all loved these grilled bison burgers, and that made me (and my hubby) happy. We think you’ll also love these potato wedges that are perfect alongside any burger you cook up this summer.

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This post is created with America’s Dairy Farm Families and Importers, in partnership with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. However, the views and opinions included are my own.

With the holidays and holiday entertaining in full swing, appetizer recipes are in high demand right now. My favorite type of get together during the holiday is one that is laid back and full of finger foods and cocktails.

If you are a mushroom lover like I am, then you probably get excited when you see a plate of stuffed mushrooms included in the spread at a party. Not only do I love eating stuffed mushrooms, but I enjoy coming up with new ideas for fillings every time I make them. For these Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms, I kept it simple and used artichokes along with cream cheese and Parmesan cheese. Each bite is filled with cheesy goodness!

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Pin this Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe!

I originally posted this recipe in October of 2015. I have been craving roasted veggies so much lately and was eying parsnips at the store yesterday so I remembered how much we loved them prepared this way.

It’s my favorite time of the year – fall! So much to love about fall, but for me I really do love the shift in what we are eating. Summer food is fresh and fun, but fall brings in so many warm flavors to experiment with – wouldn’t you agree?

I’m really trying to change things up at home lately and introduce some new foods to my family. Carrots are obviously not new, but parsnips are! I’ve made them for myself before and loved their unique taste, and I couldn’t wait to try them again and try some new parsnip recipes on them.

To help my family (specifically my kids) be more open to trying a new veggie, I thought it would be helpful to pair them up with a vegetable they are very familiar with and already love – carrots. We eat roasted carrots almost weekly so it was nice to change it up just slightly with these Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe.

Like this parsnip recipe? Pin it here!

I sliced up the carrots and parsnips into “sticks” so they were more like a finger food. You can do this easily by cutting any long vegetable at an angle, then cutting again longways. As soon as they came out of the oven my kids gravitated toward them, first saying how good they smelled, then asking to try them. I could not keep them from eating them right off the baking sheet!

That’s always a good sign.

Don’t forget to sprinkle them with plenty of kosher or sea salt. It’s all good, trust me!

If you have any favorite roasted parsnip recipes, please share them with me, I would love to try more.

These roasted parsnips and carrots would be absolutely delicious served with Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaves or Cajun Baked Salmon Cakes. If you are craving more fall veggies check out these Maple Balsamic Roasted Vegetables, Fall Panzanella, or this Farmhouse Shepherd’s Pie with Fall Vegetables.

For those that don’t know, I contribute monthly to Produce For Kids blog. I love this organization! This Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots recipe was inspired while writing my latest article for them, a roundup of Roasted Root Vegetables for Fall – check it out for more ideas and links to recipes for autumn root veggies.

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Honey Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

• Author: Aggie Goodman

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Ingredients

• 4 parsnips, peeled, cut diagonally then into strips
• 4 carrots, peeled, cut diagonally then into strips
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine oil and honey at the bottom of a large bowl. Add carrots and parsnips to bowl and gently toss until all your vegetables are coated in oil and honey mixture.
2. Place vegetables onto a large baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with coarse salt and fresh ground pepper.
3. Bake for 15 minutes. Take baking sheet out and using a spatula carefully flip over carrots and parsnips. Bake for another 5-7 minutes until veggies are nicely and evenly browned. Season to taste with additional coarse salt and pepper.

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I’m pretty obsessed with grilling all the veggies right now. I have been loving experimenting with different veggies on the grill from this cauliflower to this grilled broccoli I made a couple of summers ago.

A few years ago, I picked up a simple little grilling basket/wok at Target. Since then, I’ve been grilling vegetables in it like crazy. I normally stick to peppers and onions or some kind of squash medley, but this grilled cauliflower is definitely one of my favorites.

Before throwing it on the grill I added sliced Vidalia onion to it and seasoned it up with some dried oregano, salt, pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil. During this time I made sure I was preheating my grill basket. Preheating your grill basket is like preheating your wok on your stove, it ensures your vegetables will get a good char and stay a bit more crisp. I just started doing this recently and love the results.

We loved how the grilled cauliflower turned out!

Honestly, we could have eaten just as is. It was delicious and a side dish that I will definitely be making again. But since I had some leftover quinoa in the refrigerator begging to be turned into a salad, I went that route. Using up some odds and ends in the fridge, this Greek Grilled Cauliflower and Vidalia Onion Quinoa Salad recipe was born.

It was light, fresh but still substantial enough to stand as a vegetarian meal (I enjoyed leftovers for lunch the next day!). We served it along some typical barbecue fare: grilled steaks, chicken sausages, corn, potatoes, a tomato and basil salad. It really worked well as part of our meal and would be a great addition to barbecue or picnic this summer.

Enjoy!

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Next month, this blog turns 9 years old. I seriously can’t believe I’ve been sharing recipes online for that long. I’ve been digging around in my archives, looking at some of the food and recipes we’ve eaten over the years and to be honest, it makes me feel so nostalgic! I started a little project of remaking some of the recipes so I can update the photography and clean up the posts. One of the recipes I recently remade was from June of 2008, the first week I started blogging. I’ve made these Mini Honey Mustard Meatloaves with Roasted Potatoes so many times over the years and it’s one of my family’s favorites – not only did I add new photos to the post, but a video as well.

While I was revamping that post, I uncovered a slaw recipe from Cooking Light that I had made with it…and decided to change it up a bit. I love slaw salads of all kinds…some of my favorites include this Asian Almond Slaw Salad, this Mexican Slaw Salad with Black Beans and one of my lunch time go-tos this Broccoli Slaw Salad I make with gorgonzola, nuts and balsamic vinegar. Good stuff!!

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