This Dirty Rice recipe was originally posted on Dine & Dish October 2010. Photos and some text were updated April 2021.

I have a confession to make. Let me tell ‘ya…if I didn’t get kicked out of the food blogging world for the post about blogging success that I wrote yesterday, I’m sure this revelation will be what does it. I have a very, very difficult time with side dishes for our family dinners. In fact, Zataran’s, Uncle Ben, Betty Crocker…if we are going to have a side in addition to fresh fruit, veggies, and salad or some kind of potato, it comes from a package. Pre-packaged side dishes are what save my dinners when I need more substance on the table!…

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This twice baked breakfast potatoes recipe is all that and a bag of chips. I can’t wait to share! Before I share it with you, let me give you some backstory.

Weight Watchers changing to the the new Freestyle program has me thinking a lot about my friend Andie Mitchell’s cookbook Eating in the Middle. The new Weight Watchers Freestyle program seems to be a lot about practical balance. Those of you who follow Andie know this is exactly what she has been preaching for years. It’s not about elimination and deprivation, it’s about “wholesome eating, most of the time”. I really like that concept and think this cookbook is going to guide me well throughout my journey.

I’ve been cooking from this book since receiving it a year ago. I can’t believe I haven’t shared it on Dine & Dish with you. Now’s the time!

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Learn how the new Alexia Premium Vegetable Sides are changing the way we do dinner and enjoy this Easy Baked Shrimp over Butternut Squash Risotto recipe.

The Thanksgiving holiday is over and I’m sure many of you are like me and craving some healthy “re-set” foods. Let’s just say I went way over my points limits one too many times over the holiday weekend. Weigh in on Saturday was not pretty, but it’s done, and I’m back in a healthy mindset today.

You may be wondering why I would share a recipe that includes creamy, cheesy, delicious risotto if I’m back on the health focused train? Because, friends, this is butternut squash risotto, one of Alexia’s newest premium vegetable side dishes! This Butternut Squash Risotto is a much healthier alternative to the typical starches you find on our dinner table. Plus, it’s Gluten Free and only 3 points per delicious serving. You won’t miss the starch when you add these new vegetable side dishes from Alexia to your dinner table….

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Sometimes I forget why I started this blog. I get caught up in the business of it… the money making, social media-ing, sponsor touting, craft honing, etc. I forget that the reason I started Dine & Dish almost 10 years ago was to have a space on the web to leave legacy behind for my kids. I wanted to create a place where they could always turn to to get a taste of home, no matter how far away they were. My focus was not to see what special words I could use to get to the top of a google search, or picture I could create to get the most likes and shares on Facebook, but instead my focus was to an audience of 4…the kids I’m raising today.

So, when I share recipes like this roasted vegetables recipe, I feel a little silly. I mean, I understand roasted vegetables are not a difficult thing to make and many people know how to make them. However, my 4 kids don’t yet, and someday in the future they may want to know how their mom made the roasted vegetables we have so often for dinner, so I’m going to share it here….

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A flavorful Fall Vegetable Risotto recipe inspired by a dish served at the Chef’s Table aboard the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

I was thinking back this week to many of the most memorable dinners out I’ve had, and I discovered they almost all have included risotto of some kind. Apparently, I have a great fondness for risotto, which is odd because I rarely make risotto at home! Risotto is a simple (yet a tiny bit time consuming) dish that tastes good with so many different mix ins and foods.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I decided to try and perfect a fall risotto recipe I could serve as a side dish on our holiday table. What resulted was this creamy Butternut Squash and Mushroom Risotto recipe, definitely worthy of a spot on our table this Thanksgiving. …

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I struggle BIG TIME with side dishes. I can plan the main dish or dessert, but the side dish is often a second, absentminded thought at our dinner table.

I can open up and heat a can of green beans, toss a salad together, or steam some rice, but after all of the effort put into the main dish, I really don’t want to think much beyond that. Surely I’m not the only one, right?

It was only recently after seeing Gaby from What’s Gaby Cooking do some really simple “cook, open, toss” side dishes on Snapchat (I’m having a ball over there join me…I’m dineanddish) that I decided to up my side dish game a bit. In fact, lately I’ve been making some pretty awesome side dishes that could also easily be a main dish too! This Pasta with California Avocado Cream Sauce recipe is one such side dish super star. …

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Do you remember back in February when I wrote a post about Wolf’s “Reclaim the Kitchen” initiative? I’ve been thinking a lot about that ever since…about why families have been moving away from family mealtime. Growing up, eating at home as a family was the norm. Now? We have over scheduled our lives, and I believe, really over complicated family mealtime.

I know in my house, when we hit the drive through it’s because of my lack of planning. Maybe I didn’t set the meat out to thaw or forgot to grab the key ingredients for a recipe at the store. Either way, if I don’t plan, dinner at home doesn’t happen.

The other thing I have a BIG tendency to do is over complicate family mealtime. Especially as a food blogger, I’m always trying new recipes. Sometimes I forget that getting back to basics…returning to those simple recipes we grew up with… will do just fine. There’s no need for dinner to be a difficult, complicated, affair. There are so many resources at our fingertips with online recipe tools, magazines and cookbooks, we forget that our best recipes are the ones we rarely turn to… the ones our grandmas, our grandmas grandmas, etc. fed their families with for decades using staple ingredients they had on hand from their gardens and pantries. …

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Do you ever think about what your last meal request would be? I’ve eaten some incredible food in my lifetime, but I think for my very last meal I’d go with anything I can get at Chipotle. I especially love their Chicken Burrito Bowls, with black beans and rice, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. I think if I had a Chipotle burrito bowl before I died, I’d die happy!

We don’t have a Chipotle too close to us, but that doesn’t stop me from attempting to make food like theirs at home. In case Chipotle isn’t accessible when it’s time for my last meal, someone around me needs to know how to make my favorite food!…

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