Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

One of my boys complained to me about eating the same vegetables for dinner. Well, heck I cooked something else for him if he'd eat it! I'm always trying stuff and he turns his nose up to it. I made these one night and had to make him put them on his plate. LOL This morning I asked him if he liked them and he said they were okay. Then I asked would you eat them if I made them again. His answer "I don't know, maybe." Thank goodness I don't just cook for him or we'd never have brussel sprouts or asparagus.  As for my oldest he ate them the first time, but couldn't bring himself to eat them the second time. No that's not really true. He was trying to eat them, but was gagging on the second bite. Now he has an excuse. He's autistic and some things just don't look appealing (green or white) or they don't feel right in his mouth (soft). He'll eat green beans right out of the garden, but not cooked.  He won't eat mashed potatoes, but prefers vanilla icing (who doesn't). When it comes to him I never know until he tries it, so I always put a small amount on his plate just to see if he can eat it. You notice I didn't say will eat it. When it comes to peas I have to mix them into his rice otherwise he gags. Here's how I made the Brussel Sprouts and yes I'll make them again just for me.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

2 tbls Olive Oil
1 med Onion chopped
4 slices of Bacon sliced
2 tbls Maple Syrup
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the Olive Oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Chop the onion and add it to the skillet. Cut the Bacon into 1" slices and add that to the skillet. Cook until the onion is a golden brown. Remove the onion and bacon to a paper towel on a plate leaving the drippings in the skillet. I was using my cast iron skillet and had to add a little more oil to the drippings. If you are using a non-stick skillet you may not need to do that.  Add the brussel sprouts to the skillet and cover. Allow them to cook covered without turning for about 5 or 6 minutes. Add back the bacon and onion tossing it around and cover. Let them cook for about another five minutes stirring once in while. You want them tender not soggy. Once they are nice and tender drizzle the maple syrup stirring them to coat them real good. Salt and pepper to taste or leave it out.

Try them on your kids. If they still don't like brussel sprout then make them for yourself. I know they were good, because my brother had seconds.

Happy Belated New Year!

Yes, I know it's been several weeks since I've posted anything, but only because life has taken control of my life.  Hmmm Sounds crazy right? No? Well then you know what I'm talking about. The holidays were wonderful. My mother came over and spent Christmas with the boys and myself. My brother and sister that live here had gone to Florida to visit family, so it was a very quiet holiday for us. Because it was just the four of us for Christmas we decided to have Rib Roast. I have never cooked a Rib Roast because of the cost, but let me tell you it was wonderful. I also sauteed Asparagus in Olive Oil with just pepper for seasoning. Most of the time you see people using some form of salt to season roasted or sauteed vegetables, but I didn't want to use salt of any kind. My mother has had to cut out salt and I was doing my best to help her diet as well as my son's diet. Needless to say it turned out yummy. I think I liked it with the pepper more than salt.

Now during the Christmas holiday my car decided to give out and this is what I mean by life taking over. I had been hoping that I could get it to last a few more months until I got my tax return and had something for a down payment on another car. Brrr car payments... My car was paid off and I haven't had a car payment in 11 years, plus it had been my father-in-laws car before I had it.  It had more sentimental value than monetary value to say the least. Being without my car during the holiday break wasn't that big a deal until the boys went back to school. I take one to school and pick both up after school on a daily basis.  On top of that my oldest son is Autistic and it's nothing for his teachers to call me and say we need you here right away. Last week I was able to use my brother's truck because he was out of town. This week was a different story all together. He was back and he needed his truck for work himself. I did have to use my next door neighbors car once to get the boys from school, but mostly I just prayed that my oldest would make it through the day. Car shopping stinks when you HAVE to have a vehicle right a way. It took a day and half to find something that my brother felt was going to be a reliable car, so I'm no longer car less thanks to my brother. Sometimes I don't know what I'd do without him.

Anyway back to cooking. Got a little side tracked didn't I. The other day I made these Brussel Sprouts that were so good even my oldest ate them. I plan to make them again and take a picture so you can see how they turned out. So keep an eye out for that to be posted soon.  I made my Cinnamon Blueberry muffins one day and they just didn't come out at all. That had me concerned, because I'd created that recipe before I had my scale to measure out my flours. So I wasn't sure if my flour amount was a little off or if the frozen blueberries had too much liquid. As it turns out it was the blueberries. I decided to make them again without the blueberries and they came out just fine. I had run into this problem once before while making banana bread with bananas that I froze, so I wanted to make them without the blueberries first to see if there was too much liquid and not a problem with the flour amount. If you remember I had been using my liquid measuring cup for everything and I would shake it back and forth to level it out. What I was really doing was leveling it out, but also compacting the flour thus using more flour than I thought I was using. I do love my scale and it has made life so much easier. Now that I know how many grams I need for lets say brown rice flour I just put a bowl on the scale and spoon it in until I get to whatever grams amount I need. No more measuring in a cup and leveling it out. Believe me it's a lot faster this way.

Christmas Day

My New Year Resolution was to get back to baking! My son likes my bake things a lot more than the store bought stuff and it really is less costly in my mind. On top of that I enjoy being in the kitchen. I do hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday season no matter what holiday you celebrate.