Brussel Sprouts = Yummy? Yes, Indeed!

I don't know about your family but my family DESPISES brussel sprouts. When my kids saw me buy not one, but two one-pound packages of brussel sprouts at the supermarket this week, they started gagging right there in the vegetable aisle. Begging me to put them back. Offering to do chores if I would please not torture them with those hideous mini cabbages.


Now, I happen to love brussel sprouts. I have other vegetables on my "I'll never cook them" list (well, only two--beets and turnips), but brussel sprouts are on my like list. Still, I wanted to find a way to make brussel sprouts that my kids would like.


Then I saw that impossibly-thin-for-the-food-she-cooks Giada de Laurentiis (seriously, how can anyone be that thin and eat ITALIAN FOOD? It's all carbs!) on the Today show, cooking brussel sprouts. She made a couple yummy looking recipes, which they didn't post on the site, but one involved bacon. I came across a couple variations of Giada's recipe in some magazines, and decided I'd try it.

So here's my version of what I saw. And guess what? They ate the brussel sprouts. No one complained. No one gagged. ;-) I feel like there's a little more health in my house. I LOVED them, and DH did too. I wouldn't say the kids were doing cartwheels, but they said they "weren't bad." For kids who were acting like flu victims in the aisles at Kroger a couple days earlier, I figured that was a ringing endorsement ;-).


Brussel Sprouts with Bacon


2 pounds brussel sprouts (frozen worked great for me)
8 slices bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, halved and sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper


Cook brussel sprouts in boiling water for five minutes until crisp-tender (I put them in a bowl of water in the microwave for five minutes). Drain. Cut bacon into one-inch pieces and cook in large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. Drain off all but one tablespoon of bacon fat from skillet.

Add olive oil, reheat pan, then add onions. Cook until onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Add brussel sprouts and cook, until brussel sprouts are heated through and slightly browned.

Add salt and pepper, cook one more minute, then add bacon and cook another minute, until bacon is heated through. Serve.


That picture is them in the pan, and the other is them on the plate. I don't think either picture does them justice, but then again, that's probably why I write books instead of take pictures for a living ;-)


Shirley