March Recipe of the Month

Getting my green on for St. Patrick's Day!

Since my amazing experience in San Francisco with my foodie friends, my palate has grown to encompass more vegetables that I thought I would never eat. Beets for example are something I really like now. Brussel sprouts are the other one. I know what you're thinking - seriously? Brussel Sprouts? I used to wrinkle my nose when I passed them in the farmer's market or make a gagging noise every time I saw one on a menu somewhere. I truly disliked them. Actually, I despised them. However, after you've had them prepared by Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, they seem like little pieces of candy that you cannot stop eating. 

So, for St. Patrick's day, in honor of the color that represents this Irish tradition, I decided to try my hand at cooking up these once despised-vegetables. Since I don't have much experience with cooking these things and I didn't want to search the Internet forever, I did the smartest thing I could think of - I asked my foodie friends. Kyra Bussanich, owner of Crave Bake Shop and K.C. Pomering, of G-Free Foodie, help me come up with this simple recipe that I found fun and tasty!

Bacon Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 4-5 slices of bacon, your choice of brand!
• 1 lb of brussel sprouts, rinsed and stems cut
•  Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional - parmesan cheese to sprinkle over them after they are cooked

Directions:
1. Fry 3-4 slices of bacon up in a medium-sized pan. I use a low sodium, hormone-free one like Applegate Farms. I really like their products.

2. While they are cooking, you can slice the brussel sprouts in half if they are fairly large.

3. Once the bacon slices are cooked, remove them from the pan and set aside. Place the brussel sprouts in the pan with the hot bacon grease and lay the remaining slice of bacon on top while the brussel sprouts are cooking.

4. Sautee the brussel sprouts until both sides are golden brown.Once they are cooked, crumble the bacon and toss with the sprouts then serve. You can also sprinkle some Parmesan cheese or goat cheese on top. The finished product may look deliciously similar to this:

ENJOY!