Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots

Recipe Review- You'll forget these are vegetables they taste so good! Even people who don't normally like Brussels sprouts will gobble these up.

We never had Brussels sprouts growing up. I'm not really sure why. Maybe because of the connotations that Brussels sprouts are not kid friendly. I've heard them described as bitter before. I'm not sure what kind of preparation said sprouts are undergoing because since trying them in my adult life I've never met a Brussels sprouts recipe that I didn't like. Steamed, stir fried, broiled or baked I find them delish- but this quick prep is a crowd pleaser. Its only has a few ingredients and steps. Sometimes simple is the best. Plus- who doesn't like bacon! I'm pretty sure that shallots and bacon can make almost anything taste better.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Shallots
adapted from recipe by Rachel Ray

4 slices of bacon
1 large shallot
1.5 lbs Brussels Sprouts
Salt & Pepper
1 cup chicken broth

Place bacon on a cold pan and heat until crispy- flipping periodically. Remove from pan but do not drain grease. Coarsely chop bacon and reserve. Add Shallots to the pan and cook until light brown. Prepare Brussels sprouts by removing bottom and slicing in half. Add Brussels sprouts and season with salt & pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes and then add in broth. Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 10 minutes or until softened. Drain and transfer sprouts to a serving dish. Mix and bacon and additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve immediately.

printable recipe 

Sweet Potato Garlic Knots

Recipe Review: The sweet potato adds a unique flavor to these easy to make garlic knots.

After the success of my valentines day pretzel experiment I've suddenly found myself unafraid of making my own bread. The yeast and the rising and the kneading all sounded too many possible steps that I might flub. Now it just seems silly that I waited so long. Attach the dough hook to your KitchenAid and no kneading is necessary. Perfect dough just forms before your eyes. I've always wanted to make my own garlic knots, so they became my next project. A quick tastespotting search led me to a variety using sweet potatoes- yum!

Sweet Potato Garlic Knots
adapted from: kholercreated.com
yield: 16 rolls

1 cup warm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 cup sweet potato puree
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups flour
6 cloves minced garlic
1/8 cup olive oil

To make sweet potato puree: Wash and peel sweet potato and cut into 1 inch squares. Place in a large pot of boiling water and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until fork tender. Remove from heat, drain, and return to pot. Beat with hand mixer until smooth.

Pour warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer and add yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes, then add in honey, olive oil and sweet potato puree. Mix until well combined.

Attach dough hook to mixer. On lowest setting add flour and salt very slowly. Continue to mix until dough forms, about 5 minutes. Remove dough, rinse and dry bowl. Use olive oil to generously oil the inside of the bowl. Return dough to bowl and roll to coat with the olive oil. Place in a warm area, cover with saran wrap and allow dough to rise for at least one hour, until it has doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. On a floured surface roll them into 8 inch strips and tie into knots, tucking ends under each knot. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden. While rolls are baking mince garlic and combine with olive oil. Brush a generous coating onto rolls immediately after removing from oven. Lightly salt rolls with fresh ground sea salt. Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before serving.

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These were really yummy. Nothing beats fresh bread out of the oven. Spread them with some herbed butter and they are heaven. I can't wait for the fall when I can try this out using pumpkin puree. I brought these to a housewarming potluck, and I was surprised how quickly they disappeared. I want to experiment with making the dough in advance and then either freezing or refrigerating the knots. How awesome would it be to have them all ready and just pop them in the oven?

Last weekend out fridge broke down so we found ourselves frantically calling people on craigslist and ended up with a huge chest freezer for only 40 bucks! I'm actually excited because now we can really make the most of our costco membership. Also I now will have the opportunity to do things like cooking huge batches of chili and freezing it, or buying sale turkey's after thanksgiving. So if you know if any freezer friendly recipes, or tips or maximizing the freezer let me know!

Pesto Quinoa

Recipe Review: Great alternative to pasta or rice as a side. Was better cold than warm. Can also be made with pearled cous-cous.

It's been a little bit since I've made anything blog worthy. Life has been busy and I just haven't really felt like cooking anything major. Just as things were settling down and I was getting the bug I had a friend make a blog request! I had never had a blog request before so I was more than happy to oblige her request for me to try a quinoa recipe. Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa) is technically a seed- not a grain, it is very high in protein and fiber, and gluten free. When cooked it is lighter and fluffier than rice or pasta and has a mild, slightly nutty flavor. I used "regular" quinoa (if thats even the right way to describe it) I've seen both red and black quinoa at the store, but haven't had the chance to taste either. 

Eggplant with Caramelized Onions

Recipe Review: Versatile Side that's easy to whip up!

I have a love hate relationship with Mexican food. I love how it tastes, but making it healthy is a challenge. I made enchiladas for dinner (if you don't smother them in cheese they actually aren't bad for you!) and was searching for a non beans and non rice side dish to serve with them. I found a Rick Bayless recipe (we know that I love Rick Bayless) for Eggplant with Caramelized Onions. I absolutely adore caramelized onions, so loved the idea of this recipe.

Roasted Vegetables & Pineapple Stuffing

I like vegetables. Lots. Yummmm. Thanksgiving dishes tend to be pretty carb-y and starchy so I wanted to make sure we had some veggies to munch on too. Also I could do all my prep ahead of time, which was very essential this thanksgiving. I doubled this and made this for both of the thanksgiving's that I attended so I got two times to try different spices to come up with the right combo to blog about!

I knew I wanted to use butternut squash and Brussels sprouts as my base vegetables, and decided to throw in baby carrots, onions, cauliflower, and parsnips. (Mostly I just wanted to be fancy and say that I used parsnips in a recipe) What exactly is a parsnip? Wikipedia tells us that:

The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips resemble carrots, but are paler than most carrots and have a sweeter flavor, especially when cooked.

(I may allegedly be including this because when I was at the grocery store I thought I was purchasing turnips but they turned out to be parsnips)

Drunken Candied Sweet Potatoes

Quick Recipe Review: Easy to make, melt in your mouth decadent sweet potatoes with kick (kick provided by Jack Daniels) 

I'm still recovering from thanksgiving, and I have a whole lot of recipes to type up here. I'm going to try to make the effort to get them all posted this week, unfortunately I don't have photos for each dish, but I'll post what I've got. Starting off with Drunken Candied Sweet Potatoes.

Kevin had been subtly hinting saying that he wanted to have sweet potatoes for a few days before Thanksgiving. Each time I would say "Well should we make them?" "No no, we've got enough stuff to make already" The last straw was when we went to the grocery store Thanksgiving morning and there were some sweet potatoes improperly labeled as yam's and on sale for 50 cents a pound. (Check out this post for sweet potato/yam identity theft information) As soon as we got home and started cooking, Kevin mentioned the sweet potatoes and how good they were, again.