Eat Your Brussels Sprouts!

I have a dear friend who does not like vegetables. At all. None. Not raw or cooked. You too? Thankfully, I can eat most raw vegetables when they’re slathered in Ranch Dressing or Mexicali dip. I don’t particularly enjoy cleaning them and chopping them, but once they’re cleaned, chopped, and slathered, I’m all in. And really, that’s easy enough.

Confession: I do even better when I see them already cleaned, chopped, and arranged in a beautiful pattern on a trendy platter.

But do you start perspiring and growing faint when your host asks you to bring a cooked vegetable? Does panic set in? Do you suddenly feel nauseous? Take a deep breath and calm down! You can do this with some simple additions that will take your friends and family all the way to Vegetable Heaven!

The key is to season them and cook them properly. I’m going to share with you the way I’ve prepared even the dreaded Brussels sprout where people sprout wings of their own and begin their heavenward journey right there at the table.

All you have to do after you’ve cleaned the under-developed cabbages is to dump them into a heated and oiled (2 tablespoons of olive oil) iron or Teflon skillet. While they’re cooking, prepare the sauce. Yes. The Sauce. It’s literally 2 things that are probably just sitting there bored out of their minds in your refrigerator door or pouting in your dark and crowded pantry.

Release these 2 miserable and mostly useless items from their prisons! I’m telling you, these guys mixed, one that’s normally part of a deli sandwich and the other, a dressing for pancakes go GREAT together in creating a delicious sauce for your Brussels sprouts.

Drum roll please…Dijon mustard and Maple syrup. I’m not kidding. Mix 2 tablespoons of the mustard and 1/2 cup of the syrup together and dump it onto the sizzling sprouts. Let it cook for 2 minutes and voila! What was once a disgusting, bitter, and condemned ball of gaseous green is reborn! For an extra layer of amazing flavor, add some cooked bacon and sprinkle on top! (After all, everything is better with bacon) You’ll make it once a week! Heavenly.