More fun with Brussels Sprouts

Okay, so that sounds really odd to say because normally, Brussels Sprouts aren't considered fun.  In all honesty, it's also a little sarcastic because I, unfortunately, had to learn the lesson that Brussels Sprout stems + garbage disposal = clogged disposal.  I had a feeling when I was tossing them in there that it might happen, and sure enough, when I went to run it, I got lots of water and no disposing.  Oh well.  I think that I impressed Rick when I unhooked the piping and fixed it.  Obviously, that wasn't my first time clogging that bad boy up.

Last night, I was feeling rather lazy.  For the main dish, we grabbed a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken from Publix. I've been trying to get Rick to try Brussels Sprouts for a while now.  With his desire to eat superfoods, I thought that he would like to add them to our reportoire of dinner sides.  To cook them, I decided to add to Kelly's recipe a little bit.  Rick ended up liking them.  We are both fans of the "crunchy ones" (the crunchy leaves that result from roasting....I actually broiled them a little bit at the end to make sure to get some "crunchy" ones).

Here's what we did...

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Shallots

Ingredients
1 lb Brussels Sprouts
6-8 shallots (I used one of those packages of them that are found in the produce section)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Spice Island Garlic and Herb mix
Italian Seasoning Grinder
Sea Salt Grinder
Pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F.  Peel the shallots and place them on a square piece of aluminum foil.  Cover the shallots with a little bit of olive oil (around 1 tablespoon) and season with the Italian Seasoning.  Wrap them up in the foil and place in the oven.  Heat in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

While the shallots are in the oven, soak Brussels Sprouts in a medium bowl for 25 minutes.  Remove the Brussels sprouts from the water. Trim off the stems and remove any discolored leaves.  Cut each of the Brussels sprouts in half. Place them in a roasted pan and add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and herb mix, Italian Seasoning, Salt and Pepper to taste to the pan.  Remove the shallots from the oven and add them to the pan.  Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes.  Halfway through, remove from oven and toss with a spoon before continuing.

Enjoy!

Pork chops and potatoes

Publix had pork chops on sale again this week so I decided to do the Parmesan and Sage Crusted Pork Chops again.  This time around, we cooked them in olive oil to get a nice golden-brown crunchy crust, and then we baked them in the oven at 475F for 20 minutes until they were cooked in a baking dish.  Unlike the last time we made this recipe, the pork chops were pretty thick so they needed the additional cooking time in the oven.  For the side, Rick wanted to do baked potatoes again, but I wanted to try something different.  I was searching on myrecipes.com and came across this recipe from Cooking Light for roasted potatoes.  I changed it a bit by using 5 cloves of minced garlic.  Another change that I made was with the fresh herbs.  Instead of using flat-leafed parsley only, I used a combination of fresh flat-leafed parsley, basil, and sage.  Because I didn't have one, I omitted the lemon rind from the original recipe.  Rick said that he wasn't a huge roasted potatoes fan, but we both really liked these. Here's what we did.

Garlic and Herb Roasted Potatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1  tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 1/2  pounds of Yukon potatoes (about 4 cups), chopped into 1-2 inch cubes
• Cooking spray
• 1/2  teaspoon  sea salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of fresh sage, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 475°.

Combine garlic and oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes or until golden, stirring frequently. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. Drizzle remaining oil evenly over potatoes in a large bowl, tossing well to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 475° for 30 minutes or until potatoes are golden. Combine reserved garlic and herbs in a small bowl; sprinkle garlic mixture evenly over potatoes.

Enjoy!

Evilly Sinful Christmas Side: Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

Unlike at Thanksgiving, my mom and I actually cook for Christmas.  This year, Rick went home to visit his family, and I headed up to North Carolina to spend time with mine.  Since moving to the Low Country, I don't get to see a lot of snow, and I was happy to see that a little bit stuck around from last week.  As soon as I saw the snow, I called Rick from the road to tell him.  My dad suggested that I bring Rick a snowball home in a cooler so that he could experience it, too.  

I had to share a picture of the Nativity Scene that my mom made

for one the plays that she worked on!

Christmas for me has always meant Christmas Eve with my dad and Christmas with my mom.  For Christmas Eve dinner last night, we had a standing rib roast, and I encrusted it like the one that I did for Rick and I!  My mom and I do a lunch for us, and since it is just us, we have a ton of leftovers!  We pretty much have the same menu every year....ham and a turkey breast, Nanny's potatoes, green bean casserole, and stuffing. She also always does sweet potatoes in honor of my grandfather.  Last week, my mom asked me if I wanted to add anything to the menu, but I couldn't think of anything.  She said that she wanted to do macaroni and cheese, and my immediate thought was of a recipe for Cru Cafe's 4 Cheese Macaroni and Cheese.  I had made this recipe one time before for our church potluck dinner after finding it in an issue of Low Country Living magazine.  I emailed it to my mom so that she could buy all of that evil cheese that goes in it!  I'm happy to report, though, that Cru Cafe has the recipe on its website!  Here it is!

There are a couple of things that make this recipe one that I save for special occasions.  First, it is rather labor intensive.  Be prepared to grade some cheese.  Also, (and someone may have a suggestion to make this process go quicker..if you do, please comment!!!) it takes forever for the heavy cream to reduce. What I do to help it along the way is to use a sauce pan with a larger radius so that there is more surface area to heat the cream.  I also turn the heat up to a medium high for a little while to get the cream to barely boil and then reduce the heat back to medium so that I don't scorch the cream.  I swear it 3 hours!!!   Despite these complaints of mine, it is a delicious dish!


To reheat any leftovers, do it slowly on the stove while adding milk.  Be sure to stir while slowly reheating it (think low setting).  For ours on Christmas, we used elbow-shaped pasta.  Because my mom has sulfur allergies, she got us organic brown rice pasta.


Cru Cafe's Four Cheese Macaroni and Cheese
Ingredients
8 cups of heavy cream, reduced to 4 cups
1 pound dried orecchiette pasta
1 cup pepper jack cheese, hand grated
1 cup cheddar cheese, hand grated
1 cup fontina cheese, hand grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, hand grated
1/4 cup olive oil
For final cooking
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, hand grated
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, hand grated
1/2 cup fontina cheese, hand grated
1/2 mozzarella cheese, hand grated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Reduce cream to approximately 4 cups by
simmering over medium heat in a medium sized sauce pan.  Bring several
cups of well-salted water up to a boil over high heat and cook the
pasta until al dente.  Cool down rapidly in cold water then drain
well.  Coat the pasta lightly in olive oil to prevent sticking.  Set
aside.

Grate all the cheese, keeping them in separate piles.  Once the cream
is reduced, whisk in the four 1 cup quantities of cheeses.  Heat over
low heat until the cheese is fully melted.  Set aside.

In a big mixing bowl, combine the remaining cheese, pasta, and cheese
sauce.  Add salt and pepper to taste and mix well without breaking up
the pasta.  Pour into a casserole pan and bake until lightly brown on
top (about 20-25 minutes).