Vegetable Side Dish Recipes for Those Special Holiday Meals

This very simple cranberry and apple stuffed acorn squash recipe makes for a delicious, colorful side dish for that special holiday dinner.

This cheesy broccoli casserole recipe, also known as broccoli gratin, features two ingredients that were just meant for each other; savory cheddar cheese sauce and green, nutritious broccoli. This is a great side dish recipe for any meal, but works particularly well for large gatherings since the broccoli stays hot in the casserole dish for a good while.

This Brussels sprouts recipe is for the "I don't like Brussels sprouts" people. A super-fast stir-fry in butter and lemon retains the beautiful color, and the Brussels sprouts get the most wonderful sweet flavor, and tender texture. The secret is the thin slicing, and the quick cooking time.

Are looking for a super-easy holiday side dish recipe? Then this low-fat, highly nutritious buttermilk mashed yams recipe is for you. Three simple ingredients combine to make yam magic! You can also use sweet potatoes for a delicious variation.

This toasted almond green bean recipe is a holiday classic. It's also very simple to prepare and can be made ahead and reheated later. The almonds give the green beans a great texture, and make a basic vegetable side dish into something special.

The carrot recipe is an extremely easy, yet unusual, carrot side dish using one of my favorite "secret" ingredients; Chinese 5-spice. This spice mix was invented literally thousands of years ago, and is suppose to season food in perfect balance with the five elementary flavors of Chinese cuisine; sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savory.

This rich and decadent blue cheese and green bean casserole recipe is for those special occasion meals when you aren’t going to be counting the calories. This green bean casserole makes a wonderful side dish for a grilled steak, and is also great for those holiday dinners.

This colorful, healthy, and delicious roasted beet and arugula salad is a wonderful combination of tastes and textures. The earthy, sweet beets, the spicy greens, the tangy cheese, and the crunchy pecans all shine in this impressive salad recipe.

Leeks make a great change of pace from the usual vegetable side dish routine. This delicious warm leeks recipe is from Terry and his blog Blue Kitchen. These tender leeks with lemon Dijon vinaigrette would make a great side dish for almost any meat, poultry or seafood recipe.

This roasted cauliflower recipe is a great way to enjoy this very nutritious vegetable. Cauliflower recipes aren't usually the most exciting dishes on the table, but this butter-roasted version is as unusual as it is delicious.

Roasting asparagus in a hot oven is an easy, and flavorful way to enjoy these delicious green spears. The flavor is concentrated as the asparagus turns a deep, dark green. A topping of hazelnuts toasted in butter and olive oil finishes this earthy dish.

This step-by-step recipe is low in fat, high in flavor, and very easy. It's a great side dish for so many things; from those barbecued ribs in summer, to your Thanksgiving turkey in the fall.