Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

I am a recent convert to Brussels Sprouts; I remember as a kid the thought of them used to make me cringe. (I'm forcing myself to write "Brussels" because that's the correct way, but it looks so wonky.)

Then one night at a fancy restaurant, Dan's dinner came with a side of the tiny cabbages, and they were incredible!

Turns out Brussels are only disgusting when prepared how everything was prepared in the 80's. Frozen and microwaved.

I typically roast them, but I was looking for something a little fancier for a New Years side dish (to go with this pork). Dan suggested we just do the recipe that was linked with the pork, and voila:

Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Walnuts

2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon walnut oil (I used Olive Oil)
4 slices thick cut bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and shredded
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
kosher salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste


Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, sugar, and oil; set aside.


In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon, cut or crumble into pieces, and set aside. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of drippings in pan (if there aren’t enough drippings to equal 2 tbsp, add a little butter or oil).


Heat drippings over medium-high then add shredded Brussels sprouts. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until just tender. Remove from heat and stir in bacon, walnuts, and dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.


We all loved them. I chopped all the Brussels by hand because I thought it would be easier than cleaning the food processor. Do not make this mistake. My fingers actually went numb from holding the knife so long.

FYI: I made this again a week later, just halving the Brussels, and it was just as good.

Party!

Now that our house is done, almost done, acceptable, it was finally time to have our housewarming party! Because we know that having a house full of people you’re trying to impress is the perfect time to try brand new recipes, right?

Our new chalkboard wall serving as menu!

So, I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of them, but in the very front you can see my Drunken Gummies! These babies were a huge hit. They take a bit of time (a little over a week to come together), but are definitely worth it! High Schoolers have all the best ideas!

Drunken Gummies at the booze table, and a fridge full of beer.

Chips and Dips in the Living Room

Cheddar Bacon Dip (Crack). Dayum.

This tasted exactly how it sounds. Cheesy, salty, bacon-ey (why not). It made a ton, and I through the rest into mashed potatoes the next night.

Hummus (store bought) and Veggies

Caprese Skewers

Sliders

Which tasted freakishly like White Castle's sliders!

And Veggie Sliders

There was also Mini Spanakopita which I failed to take a picture of--they were good, but IMO not worth the effort... just buy the things from Costco--and the Satan's Blood Chili from my previous post.

For dessert Dan made a Hot Chocolate Ice Cream, and a Cranberry Pomegranate "Sweet Tart" Ice Cream, which didn't survive for pictures.

I *think* everyone enjoyed everything. There was a ton of leftovers, but I chose to think everyone ate beforehand. I know the booze was a success =)

And a huge thank you to Dan, for cleaning everything up after I fell asleep the minute the last guest left.

Chili

Knowing how we love all things spicy, our good friends brought us back a special treat from their Honeymoon in Miami.




Yup, this is the stuff that rates 800,000 Scoville units. The stuff that idiots eat and post YouTube videos of their reaction.

So you know we had to use it. We made a chili (the worlds BEST chili), figuring we could freeze it to serve at our party later in the month, for everyone to try. This stuff is hot, like CRAZY hot. I tried a tiny little droplet of it on a bite of bread, and felt it for at least an hour. But, when we added the recommended 3-4 drops to the pot of chili, and it was the perfect amount of heat.


I'll admit I'm a chili novice. I usually just use canned beans and tomatoes, tossing a crumbled veggie burger in there from time to time if I'm feeling fancy. So cooking a real chili, a meat chili, was a departure. I googled "world's best chili" and came up with this recipe. 2,372 people can't be wrong.

It was the bomb. The big fat chili bomb!

Here's just a cut and paste of the recipe. We followed it to the letter, except we used regular canned beans because we have no flippin clue what "chili beans" were, and neither did our grocery.

2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
3 (15 ounce) cans chili beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can chili beans in spicy sauce
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 green chile peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 (10.5 ounce) bag corn chips such as Fritos®
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese


Directions

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.

2. Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green and red bell peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover and simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

3. After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper, and chili powder if necessary. The longer the chili simmers, the better it will taste. Remove from heat and serve, or refrigerate, and serve the next day.

4. To serve, ladle into bowls, and top with corn chips and shredded Cheddar cheese.

Yes there is a LOT going on. Just do it. It's totally worth it.

It's not easy being green

(green) Poached Chicken with Spinach and Couscous

A tad of a mishap adding Rosemary to my poaching liquid resulted in a rather green meal. Very tasty, and easy, but no exactly something I'd serve to company.

The chicken was poached in water seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic and a crap-ton of Rosemary.

The spinach was sauteed with garlic and oil, and I added the water couscous directly to it. Easy cleanup!

Crockpot Chicken

As you can see I've been getting a ton of use out of my crock pot. I like to run it during the weekend to cook up an extra meal for the week.

This one really was just a "dump and run".

I chopped an onion and green pepper and tossed them into the crockpot, and topped with chicken thighs and jarred tomato sauce.

I left it on high for about four hours, then shredded the chicken.
Served over pasta topped with cheese.

Cauliflower Leek Soup

We are officially moved into our new home, which means back to grocery shopping and back to cooking more "me" foods.

Here's one of my first creations: Cauliflower Leek Soup

(because apparently Dan likes to pick up produce that I've never cooked with before). Leeks? Really?

Well, leeks are delicious!

I sauteed one bunch of leeks with one head of cauliflower (both roughly chopped) with garlic in olive oil until they were soft. Added 1 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of white wine and let it simmer until it came to a boil. I used my new favorite thing ever, the immersion blender, and pureed until it was smooth and creamy.

Voila!

Very tasty, and a beautiful color! I imagine it would be even better if I Paula Deen'ed the damn thing and added a ton of cream and butter.

Weekend Eats!

A good friend's wedding made for a jam packed weekend of eating. Sorry, no pictures from the wedding itself; the food, especially the cocktail hour was amazing, but I was too busy dancing (ok, drinking) to take pictures.


The day before the wedding we arrived at the hotel, to find that it doesn't serve lunch. We set out searching for a generic pizza place, but couldn't find it. We spotted a deli, and were making our way towards it when we noticed a bar across the street. We picked the bar (duh!), which turned out to be The Stanhope House! Score, a blues club, and legendary BBQ joint.

I had the The BBQ Chicken Sandwich, and Dan the Smoked Brisket Sandwich

Oh yeah, fries, coleslaw and HUSH PUPPIES!

Sorry, I got excited. I hate that this place is so far from us, cause I could eat here every farkin week.

After our amazing lunch, we basically partied all weekend, and topped it off by finally trying the new(to us) Sonic on the way home.

Now it doesn't really seem fair to complain about fast food, because it is, well, fast food. But this was a major let down.

I don't know how service can suck at a drive-through, but it did. Service aside, the food was just meh.

I had the Grilled Chicken Sandwich (for someone who doesn't really eat red meat, this was the only option. The website lists veggie burgers, but they weren't on the menu here.)

Which was at least a true (albeit tasteless) chicken breast.




And a side of "Ched R Peppers". Ok, these were pretty good in a greasy, eat after a weekend of hard drinking way, as evidenced by my eating three before taking the picture.

Dan had a Double Cheeseburger, which looked pretty fancy, but tasted exactly like a McDonald's Burger.



I did enjoy the drinks, Dan had a super-thick vanilla milkshake, and I had an Ocean Water (Sprite + Blue Coconut flavor).

So, in sum, Stanhope house--worth the forty minute drive; Sonic--not worth the five minute drive.