A sandwich with a side of..... what?

All of your sides there are cold--try something hot for a change. Pasta of some kind in a sauce, lots of variation available; soup is always nice, and comes in many varieties; mashed potatoes (or just boiled potatoes, for the lazy) would be nice, and so would rice.

Soup is always good but we usually have that as a meal in itself a few days a week.

Rice and unfried potatos are a good idea. Maybe like some Spanish rice? Or some roasted new potatoes? Hmmmm!

What about apple salad and baked beans?

Cucumbers cubed in plain yogurt with a dash of sugar?

Peanut butter or cheese on celery would still provide the potato chip crunch as would baby carrots with a side of ranch for dipping.

or some roasted vegetables with dips

Beans!

I love beans! I have every kind of bean you can name. I usually make them into soups but I could probably adapt that style to something less saucy.

Cucumber in yougurt sounds good. So does apple salad -- how do you make that? Cheese stuffed celery would be great with panini!

I'm not a very good vegetable roaster unless I'm using the grill and for sandwich night I'm not sure I want to "cook" like that. Is there a good way to do them in the oven?

We don't spend much time inside this time of year and probably won't be back in for several months. I try to do my cooking in batches....

I usually plan my meals out like this: (I'll use this week's plan as an example). Tonight I'm roasting a chicken for dinner and when I go to bed I have a pork shoulder ready to go into the oven to cook overnight. Tomorrow we'll have bar-b-que pork shoulder for dinner. The next night will have chicken panini (or some kind of sandwich with the left over chicken). Then I'll use the carcas to make stock for some kind of soup to be eaten in a few days. Left over pork shoulder will be turned into sandwiches/burritios/something. The bone will go into a stock pot for future soup.

I love green salad in it's many incarnations and it goes so well with main course night and soup night that I don't have a problem. Sandwich night is a poser, though.

These suggestions are helping.

Thank you all!

Just thinking out loud, given it is a sandwich, er, carb heavy, I say as a person who doesn't shun them -


These are sort of simplistic, but off the top of my head -


steamed green beans with a buncha garlic and chili pepper, bit of salt, olive oil, served cold;

in august, sliced fresh tomatoes and olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic if liked.

no cheese on sandwich, but on the side, per taste. Same with olives, says the olive madwoman.

for those who like pickled veggies, I've been doing this odd trick lately, instead of doing my own from scratch, I'm putting chopped celery or carrots or whatever (I even sliced some bok choy stems) and put them into the leftover vinegar of a Mezzetta mixed veggie jar*. To me, pickled vegies have this tendency to taste alike, but I like them sometimes.
Of course, you can do your own pickled whatsis, and play with flavors.

Roasted cold veggies - anything from potatoes, squash, cauliflower, carrots, fennel, onion chunks, garlic, sweet red peppers, green peppers, anaheim chiles ----
I just cut up all this stuff and roast it with some olive oil and a bit of salt. You learn after a while what burns first (onion) and what takes longest, to put them in a pan together. I just put them in a 360 oven and check them once in a while. I just keep them in a casserole in the refrigerator; they tend to disappear in a week.

Soup - one of the easy soups that is adaptable to almost adding the drywall to it is potato-XXXX soup.

At its simplest, heat broth, add sliced peeled red potatoes and some veggie, salt and pepper, cook til veggie isn't yet dead but toothy, puree in blender, there you are. This is more of a winter maneuver.


* wash veggies well

Chips aren't boring when you buy some blue potatoes and red beets. Slice them very thin and fry in peanut oil in a heavy iron skillet until crisp. Drain and sprinkle with salt and ground pepper.

This is an Apple Pineapple Coleslaw recipe that works with most sandwiches:

1/2 c Sour Cream
1/2 c Mayonnaise
2 ts Sugar
1 tb Onion -- Finely chopped
1 t Lemon Juice
2 c Green Cabbage -- shredded
1 c Red Apple -- chopped
1 c Carrots -- shredded
3/4 c Pineapple tidbits -- drained
In small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients; blend well. In large
bowl, combine all salad ingredients; toss lightly. Pour dressing over
salad; mix well. Cover; refrigerate to blend flavors.

Try this if you are looking for some good taters.

Okay. Now I'm getting hungry!

The pickled veggies and cold roasted veggies both are great ideas.

I've been planning my spring garden and I have some new ideas of what to install!

Blue potatoes? I've grown purple carrots but I've never even heard of blue potatoes!

Your recipe for apple coleslaw reminds me that I used to make a lot of chutney type things with whatever fruits and vegetables were in the fridge.

I'm going to try that recipe!

I can find blue potatoes in my better grocery store. If you can't find them - grow them:

Fedco Moose Tuber's Organic Blue Potato Stock

I used to use those in a potato salad, as I like them better boiled than baked, and they are then so amazingly blue...

I used red potatoes, probably 3:1 or 4:1 to blues, both boiled to sliceabillity;

sweet red pepper probably 3: 1 re green pepper; tended to roast them, though I suppose not necessarily;
sometimes, if I have them, some sliced hot chile like Anaheim, not roasted.

big fat bella di Cerignola green olives, or similar tasty olive that is not virulently strong but also not wimpy

some regular black olives

cut up scallion leaves, or sliced purple onion

cut up basilico
cut up italian parsley, both of those at the last minute

a garlicky olive oil and wine vinegar dressing

with whatever addition was lying around, like bits of salami, and some chunked non-fresh mozzarella, like Polly-O, if available.

NOT a timid potato salad.


Um, something that can work with this too is the chartreuse broccoli, broccoflower, pre cooked to taste.

My Apple Salad (May be what others call Waldorf?)

Apples cut into 1/2 inch pieces
mayo (enough to coat everything)
pecans or walnuts
diced celery
raisins

Tater chips or macaroni salad and beer.

grilled zucchini with apple chunks.


Slice the zucchini length wise, and place on a med-heat pan with about 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.


sprinkle a little season salt + dried basil

flip over after about 5 minutes and sprinkle the other side same way
Sometimes, when I flip mine, I have to add a little more blasamic, mostly to keep them from sticking..


Dice an apple and sprinkle on top of the zucchini slices.

You can also vary shewolf's idea and cut zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and make 'em into little boats, roast them and fill with whatever.

Really good cucumber or tomato salad goes great with a sandwich.

Since I have to give my kids fruits or veggies with every meal - besides many of those mentioned - any sort of fruit - whatever is in season: watermelon or any melon or a combo, grapes, strawberries - any berries - to make berries more fun, I put some whipped cream on top.

I also like hummus with crackers - there are lots of varieties of hummus.

Salukis?

Are you an alumnus of Southern Illinois University?

I don't see why there has to be something WITH a sandwich.
A sandwich is a meal in itself...