Recipe: Brussel Sprouts, Apples and Bacon

Brussel sprouts have always been a bit intimidating to me. Sounds silly, but my mom doesn't like them and therefore never cooked them for us, so I had no one to show me how to make them. Recently, thanks to my brother's girlfriend, I've gotten over my fear of brussel sprouts. And thank goodness...because they are soooo good!! The following recipe is one of my favorites. I found it on Pinterest (if you aren't aware of this website already, you better catch up. It's amazing!). Hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

3-4 slices of bacon, chopped

4 pints brussel sprouts

1 apple, cored and diced

S&P

3 tsp red wine vinegar

The original recipe says to start by cooking the bacon in the oven on 425 degrees. I used microwavable bacon, so I didn't do this step. I have to confess that I actually used Morningstar bacon for this recipe. I'm obviously not a vegetarian, but I like the Morningstar products and I eat the bacon for breakfast sometimes so it's what I had on hand. Real bacon would be better (of couse), but it was still excellent with the faux bacon.

To prep the brussel sprouts, you peel off the first couple of leaves and cut the bottoms off. For this particular dish, I halved them as well, but that's not always necessary.

Once they're prepped and ready to go, I like to cook them in boiling water for about 5 minutes. The recipe doesn't mention this step, but I like to do this so they soften a little before I roast them. Once you remove them from the boiling water, toss them in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at about 450 degrees. I put them on a foil-lined sheet pan to make clean up a little easier.

They'll roast for about 10-15 minutes until they just barely start to brown. Then add your diced apples and put them back in the oven to continue roasting for another 10 minutes or until they brussel sprouts are browned and the apples are softened. Once you remove them from the oven, toss them immediately in the red wine vinegar and salt (if it needs more) and serve!!!



Delicious!!!!

 ~Kris

Review: Green Dog Café

On a recent Sunday morning, my good friend Peppy (no, that's not her "real" name) and I decided to go out to brunch. We had a few too many drinks at Stanley's (in Columbia Tusculum area) the night before and decided to take a cab home and leave her car there. When we went to pick her car up the next morning, we noticed the umbrella tables sitting outside at Green Dog Cafe right around the corner and decided to give it a try.

When you first enter the restaurant, you go to the counter and place your order, and you're given a number to put on your table so they can bring your food to you. If you've ever been to a Noodles & Co., it reminded me a little of that set up. Although the decor is way more interesting and fun. It's contemporary and very colorful with bright abstract artwork throughout.

Green Dog Café has a wonderful menu focused primarily on using quality, local, sustainable and organic ingredients. They have plenty of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, which Peppy- who is a vegetarian - definitely appreciated. Although the restaurant itself is pretty casual, the menu is creative and the food is delicious. The dining experience is far nicer than you'd expect with a walk-up ordering system and casual seating. 

Peppy decided to try the "Rossz Kutya" burrito. This was quite a burrito! It was filled with organic eggs, black beans, fried poblano and red peppers, green and red salsa, white cheddar cheese, potatoes and sour cream. Peppy said it tasted just as good as it looks. The ingredients look and taste very fresh, and even their salsas are homemade. Yum! Peppy even had half leftover to take home and share with her family.

I chose to order the Bacon and Roasted Tomato Omelet - ordered with egg whites only. I started ordering egg white omelets to save on fat and calories when I did Weight Watchers a few years ago, and I decided I actually liked it better than regular omelets! It's one of the few healthy things that I don't consider a sacrifice, so I'm going to stick with it! This omelet was absolutely wonderful. It was filled with chevre cheese (which tasted very similar to goat cheese), rocket (arugula), roasted tomatoes, and pieces of crispy bacon. All the elements combined to make a a wonderful flavor and texture combination! I'd highly recommend it!

The side of potatoes was my one and only complaint. They had the potential to be very good; however they were cold and you could tell they had been sitting a while. They had a good flavor to them and were clearly freshly cut, homemade potatoes. I wish we'd had them fresh out of the oven.

Peppy happened to know one of the guys working in the kitchen, so he sent us out an order of their signature, fresh "cathead" biscuits with jam and honey butter. This was soooo good. It was nice and warm and flaky, and I love that they serve it with honey butter. Such a simple upgrade to add honey, but it's so much better than regular, old butter.

Peppy and I absolutely loved this place. I have nothing but good things to say about the food, the service, the decor and the overall concept of the restaurant. I would highly recommend giving them a try...I know I'll be going back to try their dinner menu in the near future! Oh, and I almost forgot one of the best parts....you can bring your dog with you if you're sitting outside! Oh yeah...and they have Jeni's homemade ice cream shipped in from Columbus! I'll be trying the Salty Caramel next time I go back!

~Kris

Food: 4 (because of the potatoes)
Service: 5
Overall: 4.5

Tribute to Our Mamas!

In honor of Mother's Day this week (reminder – it’s Sunday!!), Kate and I are going to post a couple of our favorite recipes that our moms make. We got our love for food from them, after all, so we thought we should pay tribute.

My mom is a great cook, so there were a lot of options for recipes to write about. I ultimately decided on her butternut squash lasagna, which is one of my absolute favorites. For years, my mom has been experimenting with and combining different butternut squash lasagna recipes she has found online.  

When I asked my mom to send me her recipe, I knew this was not going to be an easy task for her. She cooks with “a pinch of this” and “a little of that” and the ingredients in many of her recipes vary depending on what she has on hand. I’m sure many of you can relate to this, but it sure does make it difficult to recreate any of her dishes! It was a little like pulling teeth to get this recipe out of her, but here it is!! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

¼ c. butter

¼ c. flour

1 ½ c. butternut squash, cubed and cooked until fork tender (boiled or steamed)

3 amaretti cookies crumbled (these can be tricky to find, but I usually get them at TJ Maxx)

3 c. milk

¼ c. fresh sage, minced

1 - 8 oz. container mascarpone cheese

Pinch of nutmeg

½ c. chopped walnuts

Salt and pepper

12 no boil lasagna noodles

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ c. grated parmesan 

In a skillet, melt the butter then add flour and stir to make a roux. Next add milk and stir until it’s slightly thickened. Add all the ingredients (except last 3 on the list - lasagna noodles, mozzarella and parmesan cheese) along with flour mixture into blender or food processer. Blend until thick and smooth. 

Spray a 13x9 pan and preheat oven to 375. Spread ¼ of the mixture on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Place 4 lasagna noodles on top of the mixture. Repeat – layering 3 times. Top with mozzarella cheese and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes covered, then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Feel free to play around with this recipe a little - I know my mom does all the time! One thing I’ve seen her try (and I really like) is frying the sage in butter before adding it to the blender.  You can crumble some of the fried sage on top of the lasagna before you bake it as well. It adds a great texture to the dish! I also wanted to point out that you can find cubed butternut squash at Trader Joe's. This is great because it takes a lot of work out of preparing the butternut squash. I'm all about simplifying!!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!

Recipe: Greek Stuffed Peppers

I’m always looking for good vegetarian or seafood dishes to prepare, especially during Fridays in Lent. I just came across a good one and thought I’d share. I found this on Eating Well online. The ingredients are pretty simple and there’s nothing complicated about the preparation.  

4 servings 

Ingredients:

-          4 yellow orange, yellow, and/or red bell peppers

-          ½ cup whole wheat orzo

-          1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed

-          1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

-          1 medium onion, chopped

-          6 oz. baby spinach, chopped

-          1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried

-          ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese

-          ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

-          1 tbsp sherry vinegar, or red-wine vinegar

-          ¼ tsp salt

Start by cutting the peppers in half – lengthwise through the stem. Remove all the seeds and membrane so the inside is completely clear. 

Arrange them cut-side down in a microwave-safe dish with about ½ inch of water in the bottom. Microwave until the peppers are soft, about 7-9 minutes. Let them cool slightly, drain them and set aside. (Of note, I cut the recipe in half, so I only did two peppers.)   

While you’re waiting for those in the microwave, bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and add your orzo. Let it cook for about 8-10 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water.

When the orzo and peppers are underway, mash the chickpeas until they make a chunky paste, making sure to leave some of the chickpeas whole.

Next, heat your oil in a skillet over medium heat and add your onions. Of course, I omitted this step since I hate onions; however, I did add minced garlic and crushed red pepper at this point. The recipe didn’t call for either of these, but I would highly recommend adding both of them – especially the garlic. I put garlic in just about everything I cook, and it definitely makes sense in this dish. After a couple minutes, add the chopped spinach and oregano and let it cook until the spinach wilts. Stir in the cooked orzo, chickpeas, ½ cup feta (save the rest for the end), sundried tomatoes, vinegar and salt. Cook for about 1 minute until it’s all heated through. Your mixture should look like this:

Grab your peppers and spoon the mixture into each one. Sprinkle the rest of the feta over the top of each pepper and serve!

There are a lot of possibilities with this dish, depending on the ingredients you have on hand. If you have artichokes, you could chop those up and add them to the dish. Also, if you want to add meat, you could finely chop chicken and mix that in. Fresh herbs like basil would be a nice addition. Experiment!  

This was delicious, easy, versatile and healthy! Enjoy!

~ Kris