Roasted brussel sprouts

Have you ever wished your parents would've sat you down and force fed you crap you didn't like when you were a kid?  Me neither.  My parents actually did do that, which is why the tiny ledge inside the underneath of the dinner table had chunks of petrified meat and vegetables lodged in it until I found a piece one day when I was back from college and couldn't believe they didn't know I did that!  I guess I did get away with something when I was a kid...

Anyway, I never used to be a veggie person but now I crave them just as much if not more than meat.  Brussel sprouts are my most recent discovery and I can't believe I've gone this long in life without them! In Mama K's defense, Big Dan didn't like them either so she wasn't going to force 3 people to choke them down.  I made brussel sprouts to go with the chicken last night but I love them so much I thought they deserved their own post.  I was nervous to try them the first time (they just sound like a scary veggie), had no idea how to prepare them, but I now could eat them every night of the week.  If you've never had them, or never had them how I'm going to tell you to make them, you have to at least give them a shot!

Last night I took the easy way out, I didnt want to waste much time (as I said, I am arm eating hungry when Im done with my long run of the week).  So I drizzled a Tablespoon of olive oil on them (covering the pan with my trusty Pam before hand so they wouldn't stick), threw on a bunch of fresh cracked salt and pepper, and some thyme. 

By the way, as you've seen in plenty of posts, I use disposable tin baking dishes a lot.  A HUGE bag of them was left at the house (undoubtably purchased at Sam's or Costco) after a party we had and I started using them.  I sometimes wash them out and keep them if there's not to much sludge baked on too, so I'm not totally un-green. There's no going back.  Cutting down that much on dishes during the week is a must, especially when the dishes I'm saving myself from are the ones that are baked with crud from something I made in the oven and the dishwasher doesn't begin to scratch the surface on.  Invest in these, they will make you happy.

Toss them around a little bit and put some tin foil on top before throwing them in the oven to roast for 15 minutes.  Take them out and remove the tin foil, toss them around a little more to pick up the spices and the olive oil, and throw them back in the oven for 5-10 minutes and you are good to go.  I swear they taste hearty enough I could eat them for a whole meal, and that's saying a lot for this carnivore.  Take them out, and serve!

If you have a bit more time....I have a recipe from a friend from high school named Bert who works at Prime Steakhouse in the Bellagio in Vegas (shoutout to my homie).  He sends me pics of his food that make me want to quit my job and go to culinary school.  Anyway, I had mentioned on FB that I didn't know how to go about working with brussel sprouts and he came to the rescue.  These were amazing! 

First you cook some bacon (this is starting out well, isn't it).  It cant be turkey bacon becuase no grease cooks off of the fake stuff...this has got to be real down home sliced Wilber.  Toss the sprouts into the bacon grease after you take the bacon out of the skillet to cool off.  Saute them until they are starting to brown up.  Then you get a Pam'ed up baking dish and throw them in there with the bacon all ripped up in smaller pieces.  Flavor with cracked salt, pepper, and thyme and roast for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees.  This cooking method of frying veggies in bacon grease should be nowhere near a skinny kid recipe blog but these are too good not to share.  He said to add roasted pears as well but I've never gotten that far....here are the bacon fried lovelies that make my mouth water just with the thought of them:

If you're calorie counting, I would stick with the first method of sproutology...I promise they are just as good! Now go forth, and try a new veggie!