Brussels Sprouts? Seriously? Why?

God Bless my In-Laws for stocking our freezer with fresh, beautiful, Wild Salmon, not just once, but several times each year! Yesterday was one of those days, and tonight, we ate well!   But that aside...this post isn't really about the Salmon, it's all about the side dish - the vegetable portion of our meal.  Brussels Sprouts.  Now, before you go running from the room..let me explain.  These darned little things have been staring me in the face every time I've perused the produce section of our Co-op for the past 4 years.  I've stopped on occasion, looked, even reached towards them...then veered right -- to get a fist full of Green Beans.  I know Green Beans, we are good friends.  There's a stigma attached to Brussels Sprouts, and I'm not sure where it came from exactly.  For me, it has been gained from movies, or whatever...but I'll call myself on it... and chalk it up to a very sad case of ignorance, and food fear.  Ouch!  I'm 36 now dammit, and a self-proclaimed disciple of all things healthy eating, so what's up with this silliness I ask myself?  So, Alas, this morning - I hit the brakes hard and fast in front of those darling little Brussels Sprouts...and bravely shoved handful after handful into the bag, and into my basket.  And then I paid for them, and brought them home with me, afraid no more.

They really are the cutest little things.  Trim the bottoms of the stems, rinse them off really well, then halve them.  At least that's how I did it - after consulting zero recipes.  I'm a bit of a terror in the kitchen, rarely measuring anything, but rather - "keeping with the romance" of cooking I say.  Measuring everything just seems to kill it for me, unless of course it's someone else's recipe, then I'll at least attempt to keep on track - but often still go my own way.  My husband and kids will attest to that fact for certain.  There are failures, but many and most times - great tasting success!

So I cut those Brussels in half, coated my Cast Iron (I use only cast iron for stove top cooking) pan with my go-to cooking oil, Coconut Oil, tossed in about 3 cloves of fresh pressed garlic, a few pinches of Celtic Sea Salt, Fresh Ground Pepper, and a few shakes of red pepper flakes.  Stir it around for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat, then add half of a Red (or orange or yellow) Bell Pepper for the last minute, and you are done!

See!  Doesn't it just look Beautiful!  My husband and I had never eaten these before, and both were very curious. He made a funny face at me when he snitched one from the pan.  He likes to make me nervous.  Then he proceeded to gobble it down, and gave me that satisfied smile, that lets me know that I don't completely suck.  :-)

Here is the finished product.  Kinda pretty, eh? And we now have a new friend in the vegetable world.  If you'd like to learn more about our new friend, Google Brussels Sprouts, and find out more reasons why they might be awesome for you and yours as well!  Cheers!