Fluffy Italian rice cooked in chicken broth and then tossed with warm butter and generous herbs makes a terrific side dish for any meal.

This is a flavorful and hearty side dish that will nicely round out any weeknight dinner. And with simple, common ingredients, it’s easy to make extra.

Rice with Herbs

If you’re looking for a quick and easy side dish, this Italian rice recipe can be made in only twenty minutes. Paired with Lemon Garlic Tilapia or Spicy Chicken and Bacon Stir Fry, it’s sure to be a hit.

And the best part? This recipe scales easily, making it a great dish to prep in bulk for future meals. My kids love it anytime there is extra rice on hand.

We add it to burrito bowls, stir fry dinners, or toss it with a bit of leftover grilled chicken or taco meat. There really is no wrong way to use leftover rice.

Italian Rice

With minimal effort and simple spices, this flavorful Italian rice adds something special to any meal.

Don’t let the fact that this recipe is so easy to make fool you; this dish is packed with flavor. Chicken stock (or broth) gives the rice a hearty, rich boost; paired with a handful of herbs, this rice is going to take your weeknight dinner to the next level.

One quick note about the herbs used in this recipe: you can use fresh or dried herbs in this recipe (or both!).

When using dried herbs, add them to the saucepan as soon as you start cooking the rice. When using fresh herbs, wait until after the rice has been removed from the heat before stirring them in. Waiting until the end to add the herbs makes a big difference with fresh herbs.

Oh, and don’t make the same mistake I made when I first made this recipe.

Three different kinds of beans simmer in the crockpot with plenty of seasonings and hot sauce to make one of the easiest side dishes you can put on the table. These Spicy Baked Beans come together with barely five minutes of effort.

The first time I made these beans, my family devoured them in one meal. Serve them with Beer and Garlic Chicken and Memphis Coleslaw for an easy and tasty weeknight dinner.

Mexican Baked Beans

The inspiration for these Mexican baked beans hit me one day when I wanted to make baked beans, but I didn’t have any bacon in the house and the ground beef was frozen.

My family is full of self-proclaimed meat-loving carnivores and it’s hard enough to get a meatless meal past them, let alone a new variation on a much-loved meat-filled baked beans recipe.

I decided to bump up the flavors in the beans and see if the added spices could compensate for the “missing” meat. Sure enough, with some added Mexican spices and a generous pour of hot sauce, my guys devoured these beans.

If you happen to have bacon on hand, I’m always in favor of adding it to the recipe. But these accidentally-vegetarian beans stand on their own as a terrific side dish for any meal.

Spicy Baked Beans Recipe

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:

• light red kidney beans
• great northern bea

Filled with fresh vegetables, tangy Italian dressing, and delightful twirls of pasta, you’ll want to savor each bite of this California Spaghetti Salad.

Italian Spaghetti Salad

Like so many pasta salads that I love, this one is loaded to the max with fresh vegetables. I like to add about ¾ of a cup of vegetables to the salad for every ounce of pasta (i.e. 6 cups of vegetables for 8 ounces of pasta).

That might sound like a lot, but I promise this ratio won’t result in too many vegetables. This is the best balance I’ve found for maximizing the textures and flavors in this Italian spaghetti salad.

You can make this recipe with any vegetable you enjoy snacking on or eating raw. Just cut the vegetables into somewhat uniform, bite-size pieces. This ensures the maximum variety of textures and flavors in every bite.

If at all possible, try making this salad with homemade Italian dressing. It takes less than five minutes to shake this dressing together, and it makes a world of difference.

California Spaghetti Salad

Something magical happens in each forkful of this pasta salad. Crunchy cucumbers and juicy tomatoes balance the slight bite of red onions and bell peppers.

The dressing is a tangy highlight, with bright notes of lemon and the smooth richness of olive oil. It adds vibrant and irresistible flavor to this California spaghetti salad recipe.

Read more

The ever-popular and timeless Rainbow Fruit Salad combines a variety of bright and colorful fresh fruits with a tangy honey lime dressing to create a crave-worthy summer side dish.

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Fresh pineapple, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, oranges, kiwis, and blackberries come together fabulously in this flavor-filled Rainbow Fruit Salad.

Any combination of fruits will work nicely in this recipe. You’ll need a total of 8 cups worth of chopped fruits. When prepping the fruits, I like to use this simple homemade fruit wash.

The fruits are then tossed with fresh lime juice, honey, and a sprinkling of poppy seeds to create a side dish worthy of any occasion.

This fruit salad can be arranged on a tray for a stunning fruit tray rainbow, layered into rainbow fruit cups for individual portions, or tossed and served in a large bowl to deliver a rainbow of fruit colors in every spoonful.

I’ve served this all three ways, but my go-to option for family meals is a large bowl simply for the ease of preparation and serving.

Honey Lime Fruit Salad

The simple honey and lime dressing brightens the fruit flavors nicely. I’ve used this dressing combination in several fruit salads and it’s become a favorite way to dress up a bowl of fruit for snacking or for dessert.

The Winter Fruit Salad and the Summer Fruit Salad are seasonal favorites. And this Rainbow Fruit Salad is everything I love about both of these, plus even more colors and flavors.

Rainbow Fruits 

You’ll need the following fruits for this fruit salad:

• pineapple or mango
• strawberry
• red grapes
• blueberries
• oranges
• kiwis
• blackberries

Read more

Creamy and cheesy, with wonderful lingering heat, this green chile mac and cheese is a keeper, transforming the quintessential comfort food into a dish that is positively irresistible.

Macaroni and Cheese with Green Chiles

Did you know that you can make creamy, rich, and saucy stovetop macaroni and cheese with green chiles, from scratch in about the same amount of time it takes to cook a box of store-bought mac and cheese?

This easy stovetop recipe for mac and cheese gets made at least a couple of times a month in our house. So, it is past time for me to share a green chile variation.

Four years ago, I took my oldest son out to Rusconi’s restaurant (home of our beloved truffle mac and cheese) for a fancy dinner to celebrate submitting the last photos for my third cookbook. That night, he tried their green chile macaroni and cheese and has been hounding me to make a version of it ever since.

Side note: Are you wondering why I took just one kid out for dinner to celebrate? That would be because he washed every single one of the approximately 42,719 dishes that were used in the recipe testing and photographing of The Weeknight Dessert Cookbook. He was a rockstar of an assistant in the kitchen that year.

Green Chile Mac and Cheese

Famous love songs have been written based on my relationship with green chile. Not really