In Defense of Brussels Sprouts

This is a food-heavy post, so here’s an appetizer … well, really it’s just an excuse to post the BEAUTY that was my Whole Foods hot bar box last Friday (the night before I started Making the Cut, explained in more detail later in this post).

Oh my … tempeh and tofu noodles and broccoli salad and hummus and sausage and peppers and couscous and sweet potato and curried veggies and and and and and …

Onto the entree. I don’t have anything against food snobs — aka picky eaters — I just don’t understand them. How can you know if you like something or not if you never try it?

I hear people say “Ewww” to things like lima beans, brussels sprouts, coconut and more, and I think — do you really not like it, or have you just never tried it? Or, worse, have you had a badly prepared version of it and now you’re unwilling to taste it again?

So, today I’m defending brussels sprouts (and for the record, I could easily have picked one of the afore-mentioned, much-maligned foods like lima beans), because they are amazingly good and extremely good for you.

And, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll notice I have professed my sprouty love here here and here.

But guess what? Once upon a time, I thought I hated brussels sprouts. I remembered them being slimy and bitter. Then, I went to one of the best restaurants in the world — Seasons 52 — and my world changed. I had roasted, garlicky brussels sprouts, covered in bread crumbs. They were crispy and crunchy but still tender and somehow, without butter, they tasted buttery!

Since then, I have probably not gone a week without eating the green goodies. I like them sweet, savory, roasted, steamed, sauteed … I like them, Sam I Am.

Here’s the trick. Prep, prep and more prep. Again, regular readers of the blog know that I am a stickler for prepping my foods ahead of time, so that when I come home from work (sometimes, after two jobs), I can throw delicious, slow-cooked-tasting foods together in a flash.

Here’s my brussels sprout prep in pictures:

The price sticker is just to show you how cheap these are when they’re in season. I often advocate buying frozen veggies but NOT in this case. Fresher is better in this case. The next pictures show you the mess the prep can make. Here’s what you do:

1. Cut the stem end off of the sprout. Just the end, and as TEENY TINY as you can make the cut! You will probably have some outer leaves fall off — that’s good.

2. Depending on your cooking method, make your next cut. I prefer little bite-sized sprouts, so I often cut the guys in half, and then in half again so I have quartered brussels sprouts. That leaves lots of surface area for flavor. Yum. The other way I sometimes prepare the sprouts, especially for steaming, is to cut an X, or criss-cross, in the stem end after I’ve done the trimming.

3. Get rid of any loose or bruised leaves. Take a look in the pictures at how many leaves I lose when prepping the sprouts — that’s okay. You only want the nice tender inside. A big package of brussels sprouts will end up fitting in a small container.

Now to cook ‘em! Again, I have plenty of recipes, so if you want one, leave me a comment and I’ll send you some of my faves. But feel free to try different ones. I’m partial to roasting. In the case of this week’s sprouts, I roasted them with olive oil, LOTS of garlic, some onions and kosher salt. That’s it. Throw all the ingredients together, put them in a hot oven (400-425 degrees) for anywhere from 35-50 minutes, depending on how brown you like them.

Try them, pleeeease? If you do, and don’t like them, then we’re square. But if I could cure the world of their bias against brussels sprouts, I would be a happy girl.

Okay, enough lecturing … let me show you the rest of the brussels sprouts dinner. I am trying to be better about posting recipes, but because I am in the middle of Making the Cut and am following a meal plan, I really can’t post them without violating copyright. But I can post pictures and let you guess!

Did you notice the spaghetti squash in there? Another veggie that people THINK they don’t like but really don’t know how to cook.

If you’re interested in doing Making the Cut, stay tuned! I’m a week into the program, and will post a full review when it’s done. So far, it’s the best workout program I’ve ever followed, and I’ve followed many. Here are some other AMAZING meals I’ve had, courtesy of Jillian Michaels.

Fennel, Chicken, Olive Salad

BBQ Chicken Burrito

Caribbean Seafood Salad

Apples and Pistachios (snack)

And prepped for tomorrow’s lunch — White Asparagus and Shrimp Salad

For me:

And for Lucas (awww):

Here’s how I’ve been making the plan work — every night, during/after cooking dinner, I cook and box up the next day’s breakfast and lunch. That way, I grab and go in the morning … which is good, because the program calls for a very intense workout plan, which I do in the morning before work. Without the prep (sense a theme?) I wouldn’t be able to get it all done.

And because I can’t go to sleep when the kitchen is messy:

The dishes, drying after all of my hard work — this is pretty much what the counter looks like when I go to bed. Phew! At least Lucas puts them all away.

Travers says — see you next time for more Biggest Loser thoughts, other foodie finds and more!