Yellow Squash and Orzo Pasta Sautee

Here is a quick and simple side dish to accompany any seafood or chicken entree. It's also a healthier alternative to mashed potatoes and baked potatoes and french fries and potato gratin and...

Ingredients

• 1 C orzo pasta, cooked
• 1 medium yellow squash, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1/4 C parmesan cheese
• 3 T light olive oil
• 3 T fresh dill

Directions

• Heat olive oil over medium heat
• Sautee squash rounds, until tender and sides are golden brown
• Quarter each round for bite-sized pieces
• Toss squash, pasta, parmesan and dill
• Garnish with a litle dill on top

Mom's Fried Rice

Here is a recipe for authentic Vietnamese Fried Rice. As a disclaimer, I say authentic because it's my mother's recipe, and she is Vietnamese. So to all the haters out there, keep a lid on it.

Ingredients

• 2 servings of cold cooked white rice
• 2 green onions, chopped (green and white ends)
• 2 pieces cooked, crispy bacon- crumbled
• 1/2 cup cooked green peas
• 1/4 cup diced carrot
• 1 scrambled egg
• soy sauce (to taste)
• tobasco sauce (to taste)

Directions

Sautee all ingredients together until warmed through

Alton Brown's Southern Biscuits

These are a great side for fried chicken. I love them with a little butter and honey, but they are great alone as well. Simple, affordable, delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.