Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts

While shopping at Costco recently, my husband suggested we purchase brussels sprouts! Amazing! This is a guy who a year or so ago refused to even think about eating brussels sprouts.

I have a couple of brussels sprouts recipes that we love. There's this one, given to me by son and this one I found on the internet! I wanted to make something different this time. I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks, Heidi Swanson's wonderful blog!

These are delicious and so easy to make!



I am sharing this with all of the other Foodie Friday participants over at Designs by Gollum. Check them out, there's a ton of great posts.

Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts
24 small brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for rubbing
fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated cheese of your choice - I used Robusto

Wash the brussels sprouts well. Trim the stem ends and remove any raggy outer leaves. Cut in half from stem to top and gently rub each half with olive oil, keeping it intact (or if you are lazy just toss them in a bowl with a glug of olive oil).

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in your largest skillet over medium heat. Don't overheat the skillet, or the outsides of the brussels sprouts will cook too quickly. Place the brussels sprouts in the pan flat side down (single-layer), sprinkle with a couple pinches of salt, cover, and cook for roughly 5 minutes; the bottoms of the sprouts should only show a hint of browning. Cut into or taste one of the sprouts to gauge whether they're tender throughout. If not, cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Once just tender, uncover, turn up the heat, and cook until the flat sides are deep brown and caramelized. Use a metal spatula to toss them once or twice to get some browning on the rounded side. Season with more salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a dusting of grated cheese.

Western Iowa Wine Trail - Outdoor Wednesday's

Last Saturday was a beautiful sunny day. We spent the day along the Western Iowa Wine Trail. It was their Mardi Gras celebration. There are 7 wineries on the trail. We went to 5 of the 7. Each winery had a Mardi Gras food dish and wine tasting! While Iowa wines aren't the traditional wines, each has their own characteristics and made for a fun day of wine tasting.

The day ended with this beautiful Western Iowa sunset. Stop by Outdoor Wednesday's to find links to all of the other beautiful Outdoor Wednesday pictures!

Buttermilk Cornbread

Have you ever made cornbread from scratch? I must admit those little blue Jiffy Mix boxes have been in my cabinets for years. Not the same boxes :)

In my never ending quest to "Use It Up", this weeks leftover ingredient was buttermilk. I found this recipe on All Recipes.

This recipe makes a delicious, moist cornbread. It's easy to put together and I think if you didn't have buttermilk, regular milk could be substituted. Of course, we'd have to change the recipe title!

Buttermilk Cornbread
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square pan.
2.Melt butter in large skillet. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk with baking soda and stir into mixture in pan. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3.Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

One Year Ago - Mint Brownie Pie

Sugar Cookies - SMS

This week's Sweet Melissa Sunday's recipe was chosen by the talented Nina of Nina's Cupcakes. You make a sugar dough that can be used for pie crust or cookies. I thought it was very interesting this recipe didn't give the time or temperature to bake the cookies. Several of the SMS baker's felt this recipe was lacking in flavor. I followed their advice and tried to add some more flavor. I added lemon juice and a little extra sugar.

This sugar cookie dough is chilled and then rolled for cutouts. I have a plastic storage container filled with cookie cutters. As I was going through it trying to find a cutter to use, I found lots of Halloween, Easter, Valentines Day and Christmas cookie cutters. Guess I need to get a few any occasion cutters. I used my medium sized round biscuit cutter. I should have rolled this dough a little thicker, the cookies are too thin.

I baked them at 350 for about 10 minutes. I gave one to Tim to taste. "Kind of blah? What are these?" I decided to turn these into an easy version of black and white cookies by dipping them in chocolate. Doesn't chocolate make everything taste better?!! The chocolate did add some much needed flavor but still I don't think I will make this recipe again.

Shame on Me! No Chocolate With Francois.

Okay you know how you belong to a baking group and you're allowed to opt out of posting a couple of times? Well...this is it for me! To make it worse, I am the leader of this group, not much of a leader, am I?

This reminds me of when my son Justin was in middle school, maybe 7th grade. He had a HUGE school project, Language Arts is Colorful. Amazing how I remember the name, 20 some years later. The night before the project was due, he tells me about it. Had he started it? Nope! We spent hours that evening working on this project. I don't remember what all I did but I am sure it was more than I should have. I still have the project in a drawer and smile everytime I see it.

Well you see this is what I did with the Chocolate Paris Brest, this month's recipe chosen by my blogging pal, Susan of Baking With Susan . I've known about this recipe for months. Why did I save it to the last minute? Shame on me!

Do I have any good reason for saving this to the last minute? (I think I must have asked Justin that, too.) Well...I don't own a pastry bag, it's on my list to buy but haven't gotten it done. I've been sick this week with a horrible sinus infection. Not great reasons but the best ones I have!

You can find the links to my dedicated and better planning CWF blogger buddies here.

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon

I've started buying vegetables in bulk at Costco. The prices are so reasonable. The challenge with buying in bulk is making sure you use them up. Otherwise, your good deal is no longer a good deal.

I love soups! I am always looking for new soup recipes. I found this recipe on epicurious and it got rave reviews. Tim came into the kitchen and asked what I was making. Carrot Soup??, turning up his nose. I knew I'd get this reaction, as I've mentioned many times on my blog, Tim's a meat man!




Instead of chicken stock, I used homemade vegetable stock. I love the beautiful color of this soup. This is a hearty soup with a nice mild carrot flavor. The addition of the lemon juice and zest gives it a nice kick.

Carrot Soup with Ginger and Lemon
Recipe courtesy of Epicurious
Yield: Makes 4 Servings

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/4 pounds medium carrots, peeled, chopped (about 3 cups)
2 tomatoes, seeded, chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt broth
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons sour cream

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes. Add ginger and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add chopped carrots, tomatoes and lemon peel; sauté 1 minute. Add 3 cups stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly.

Puree soup in batches in blender. Return soup to pot. Mix in lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)

Bring soup to simmer, thinning with more stock, if desired. Ladle into bowls. Top each with sour cream and grated carrot.

The Best Presents

Last week I celebrated my birthday. We took a weekend trip to see our friends Karen and Larry in Kansas City. We hadn't seen them since October. The snowy December weather kept up from making a trip to Kansas City at Christmas. This picture was taking during our Saturday brunch at Lidia's, Lidia Bastianch's wonderful Italian restaurant. The gnocci is the best I've ever eaten and such an inspiration.




On my birthday, I received a big box from my son Justin. Justin created this picture from these. I am going to hang it in the bar area of our recently finished basement. What a perfect present! I love it! Thanks, Justin!!!

During our recent trip to the Caribbean, Tim talked me into purchasing a chameleon sapphire ring from one of the many jewlery stores in Cozumel. He said this can be your birthday and Valentine's Day present. :)

On my birthday, Tim brought me home these roses. As they opened, they became even more beautiful. Thanks, Tim!!!

What great birthday presents but the best presents are my friends and family! I love you all!