Side dishes provide variety, balance in your dinner

Does this look like you when you’re making dinner?

You come up with a main course, usually a meat. You pick a starch — potatoes, rice, pasta.

At the last minute, you realize you need a side dish. So you dump frozen peas or broccoli in boiling water, or you toss bagged salad in a bowl. Again.

If your aim is healthful, balanced and affordable, you may have missed a big chance. Again.

Dietitians see you do it. When they have clients keep food logs, they often see no fruits or vegetables during the day. And all that missed nutrition isn’t being made up at night, either.

“We tend to think in food groups,” says Elisabetta Politi, the nutrition director at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center in Durham, N.C. “‘Tonight, I’m going to have chicken, I’m going to have pasta.’ It shows people don’t think too much in terms of balance.”

Melissa Herrmann Dierks, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator in Huntersville, N.C., tells clients to generally aim for 2½ cups of vegetables and at least one piece of fruit a day, with a cup being about the size of a light bulb. Politi suggests more, 2½ cups of vegetables for adult women and 3 cups for men, plus 2 cups of fruit a day.

That doesn’t sound too hard, does it? Brace yourself: The Centers for Disease Control released a report Sept. 10 that looked at fruit and vegetable consumption by state. Not one state did well in meeting the goal of eating vegetables three times a day and fruit twice a day.

“A lot of people skip breakfast or get a sausage biscuit,” says Dierks. “At lunch, it’s fast food or Chinese or a pizza.” By the time we get to dinner, it’s our last chance.

Missing out

Doing bagged salad or frozen broccoli every night is a start, but you’re still missing something else important: Variety.

“The bigger variety that you eat, the bigger variety of vitamins and minerals you’re going to get,” says Dierks.

Yes, it can be expensive to keep fresh fruits and vegetables around.

“Aiming for a variety is great, but we want to be watchful of waste,” says Politi. “People stop buying if they think they’re throwing away.”

But there are ways to keep it affordable and even fast. Both Dierks and Politi push the importance of meal-planning — including side dishes.

“Emphasizing side dishes can help you plan what to buy at the grocery store,” says Politi. Fresh is great, but there’s nothing wrong with stocking up on frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. They last longer, they’re on hand when you need them, and if you plan, you can stock up on sales.

With an eye toward affordability, variety and speed, we dug into our own files of great side dishes, the ones we rely on to fill out the plate. All of them use things that are easy to add to your grocery list.

“People who spend at least 20 minutes planning the grocery list eat healthier,” says Dierks. “Get those foods in the house, otherwise, you’re not going to eat them.”

Oven-Roasted Green Beans

Serves: 8 (4 if you use 1 pound green beans).

Adapted from “Desperation Entertaining,” by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross (Workman, 2002). This never fails to get raves whenever I serve it. It’s just as good at room temperature or slightly warm, and you can make it with the most tired midwinter green beans. You can halve or increase the amount of green beans depending on how many people you’re serving. For the onion, I’ve used thinly sliced shallot, red onion, sweet onion or yellow onion. I’ve skipped the garlic, and I’ve even added thinly sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms (fabulous).

2 pounds fresh green beans (see note)

1 large onion (see note)

8 cloves garlic (see note)

2 tablespoons olive oil

About 1 teaspoon salt (crispy sea salt is great, table salt is fine too)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 F. Rinse and drain the green beans. Trim off the stem ends, leaving the green beans whole.

Spread the green beans in a mostly single layer in a wide, shallow pan, such as a roasting pan or a jelly roll pan. Peel the onion and cut in thin slices. Separate the rings and scatter over the green beans. Peel the garlic cloves. (Place cloves on their side on a cutting board, place the flat side of a knife blade on each one and hit it with your fist to break the skin.) Cut each clove in half and scatter over the green beans.

Drizzle olive oil over all. Shake the pan a little to distribute everything. Place in oven, uncovered, and roast for 10 minutes. Use tongs to stir it all around. Roast for 10 minutes longer.

Remove from oven. Immediately pour balsamic vinegar over everything. Serve immediately, or cover the pan with foil and let stand up to 1 hour before serving.

Freezer Edamame Succotash

Serves: 6.

2 cups frozen shelled edamame

2 cups frozen yellow corn

1 cup frozen cut green beans

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup diced yellow onion, red onion or green onion

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)

1/2 cup half-and-half

Place the edamame, corn and green beans in a colander and rinse under cold water to begin thawing a little.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat just until the foam subsides. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes.

Add all of the frozen vegetables, breaking up chunks with a wooden spoon if needed. Raise heat to medium-high and cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder, if using.

Add half-and-half and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has cooked away but everything is still moist. Serve hot.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

Serves: 6 (1 cup).

Adapted from allrecipes.com. It doesn’t have to be a Southwestern meal. This adds color and variety to any plate.

2 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans

2 cups frozen yellow corn

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 tomato, cored and diced, or 1/4 cup roasted red pepper, diced

1/4 diced green onion, or 1/2 cup diced red, yellow or sweet onion

Place black beans in a colander and rinse. Add corn and rinse again to begin thawing.

Whisk together lime juice, olive oil, salt, garlic, cumin and chili powder in a large serving bowl.

Add black beans and corn to serving bowl. Add tomato or roasted red pepper and onion. Stir gently with a rubber spatula to mix well and coat everything with the dressing. Can be made a day or so ahead and refrigerated. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Wilted Spinach

Serves: 4; Preparation time: 5 minutes; Total time: 10 minutes.

Adapted from “High Flavor Low Labor: Reinvent Weeknight Cooking,” by J.M. Hirsch (Ballantine Books, 2010). This would be even better sprinkled with crumbled blue cheese.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

About 1/4 cup roasted red pepper, drained and sliced (optional)

10 ounces baby spinach

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add roasted red pepper, if using.

Add spinach and stir around to coat with oil. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, just until the leaves are wilted. Add lemon juice and salt and cook briefly. Serve immediately.

Seared Red Cabbage Wedges

Serves: 6-8.

Adapted from “The Very Best Recipes for Health,” by Martha Rose Shulman (Rodale, 2010).

1 small head red cabbage

2 to 3 tablespoons olive

Salt and pepper

Juice of 1/2 orange

2 to 3 tablespoons toasted chopped walnuts

Remove any outer leaves of cabbage with brown spots. Cut the head in half from the top through the core. Leaving the core in place to hold the slices together, cut into wedges about 1 inch wide (the size of the first digit of your index finger).

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add as many wedges as will fit in a single layer. Cook about 3 minutes. Using a flat spatula, turn each wedge over and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes. (The wedges may fall apart a little, but they’ll still taste good.)

Remove from the skillet to a serving plate. Squeeze the orange half over them and sprinkle with toasted walnuts. (If you want, add the walnuts to the hot skillet and cook them briefly, but don’t let them burn.)