Brussels sprouts are healthy, easy to prepare, and pair well with so many foods! Here is a delicious, super easy recipe the whole family will enjoy!
I started with the roasted sprouts and ended up with a fabulous pasta dish!
Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs. brussels sprouts, halved
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 lemon, squeezed for juice
Fresh grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat.
Add pressed garlic and cook for a few minutes.
Add cumin and brown sugar.
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Place brussels sprouts on foil lined cookie sheet.
Pour frying pan mixture over brussels sprouts.
Squeeze lemon and sprinkle with salt and pepper .
Cook for 16-20 minutes, until softened but firm. (Test by piercing with a fork.)
I think these would be fabulous on the grill!
I had 8 more ripe Roma tomatoes, so I made a pound of pasta and tossed it with the chopped tomatoes, the brussels sprouts, and 2 tbsp. olive oil!
Of course, always top with fresh grated Parmesan! Enjoy!
What an easy dinner! The sprouts have almost a candy coating!
Try saying that one five times fast! My foodie friend @NickyDCooks is responsible for my dinner tonight! She made zucchini blossoms for dinner and her action photos on twitter got me in the mood! I had to make some form of fried zucchini!
I grew up with this simple side! My grandma made fried zucchini all summer every summer!!
Parmesan Pecorino Panko Pan Zucchini
Ingredients:
2 zucchini, sliced 1/4 inch thick rounds
1-1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt/ pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Directions:
Slice zucchini into 1/4 inch thick rounds.
Set up an olive oil plate to dip zucchini.
Set up a little assembly line! Dip in olive oil, then cover in Panko mixture, then throw them into the pan!
Mix the Panko breadcrumbs with chopped rosemary, freshly grated Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese, salt and pepper.
Using Panko breadcrumbs gives the zucchini a crispy finish. I always season my Panko crumbs. Unseasoned Pankos are crispy, but so blah!
Set up breadcrumb bowl.
Dip zucchini slices and flip in olive oil to coat.
Dip zucchini slices in Panko breadcrumb mixture and flip to cover both sides.
Heat your biggest pan on medium heat.
Add coated zucchini rounds to the pan, flipping when golden brown.
I love when some of the coating gets a little burnt!! Golden is an ideal time to flip! 3-5 minutes per batch at medium heat.
Hola! We have just returned home from Riviera Maya, Mexico’s Ocean Coral and Turquesa H10 Resort and Spa in Puerto Morelos! Wow!
Just breathtakingly beautiful!
What an awesome trip! Great company, fabulous weather, and amazing authentic food!! Don’t let anyone tell you not to travel to Mexico because it is unsafe, you will get sick, or the food is bland. All not true, IF you spring for a great resort!
Kevin and I vacationed in Mexico 10 years ago and we were in the bathroom the ENTIRE trip, but we paid $600 each for the whole week all- inclusive with flights. Oops! We learned a valuable lesson on that trip and we laugh about it now!
One afternoon I had the pleasure of assisting the chefs who were making authentic Mexican guacamole! Here is the recipe!
Mexican Guacamole
Makes 12 servings
Ingredients:
6 Avocados- called aguacate in Mexico
3 Lemons, limon
4 Tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small Chile habanero- pepper
1 cup chopped Cilantro
1 cup pico de gallo
1/4 cup beer, Cervesa in Mexico
Salt and pepper- to taste
Directions:
Scoop out avocado and add to a large mixing bowl by cutting in half and pitting.
(Save avocado skins and pits.)
This was a first for me! I had never chopped, diced, scooped and mixed in a bikini before!
Add chopped tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.
Add pico de gallo.
Squeeze the lemons halved into bowl.
Mix well, smashing and smushing avocado.
The chefs told me to mix with my “flavor” which meant “get your back into it!” Use those hips!
Add pico de gallo.
Add finely chopped chile or habanero pepper.
(Shave some lemon flesh from a squeezed lemon onto chopped pepper to mute the heat.)
Mix well.
Add beer and salt and pepper a few splashes/pinches at a time to taste.(The chef’s “perfect consistency” was a bit runnier than I am used to. The addition of the beer maybe?)
Chef Marion says the mixing is the key. Reminds me of making homemade italian sausage. You can follow the recipe, but if it isn’t mixed well, forget about it.
Mexican Guacamole Secrets Shhhhh…
1. Keep the pit and leave it in the bowl. It keeps the avocado from browning.
2. Keep the avocado shell/skins to use as cute serving pieces. They are the perfect size for guests to fill with chips or a scoop of guacamole!
3. Mexican chefs keep gum readily available to chew while chopping onions. No tears!
4. In Mexico, their limons are our lemons. Small but green and sweeter. Mexican limes are much bigger and more tart. The chefs I worked with only used the small ones for the guacamole, equivalent to American lemons.
5. Mexican chefs? sip tequila on the rocks not in drinks. (Not sure what this had to do with making guacamole, I forget.)
B.C. (Before Children) this day meant big azz margaritas for all at Mad Mex!! Maybe a few tequila shots, too! A.D. (After Developing No Alcohol Tolerance) We still love to go out for this holiday, but on a Monday? Skinnygirl Margarita on the rocks at home for me, thank you.
Skinnygirl Margarita is Bethenny Frankel’s classic cocktail! Open and serve! That’s my kind of drink!
If you are staying in too, because it is a Monday, I have a quick and easy Cinco de Mayo dinner for you!
We love Mexican food!! And it is so easy! Try my chicken or pork crockpot tacos recipes! Just throw it in and cook all day! Shhhhh! They will never know dinner was that easy ; )
Lately, I have been experimenting with spices. My perfect storm right now is cinnamon, with cayenne pepper and cumin.
A little sweet, some spice, and the exotic flavor of cumin adds a jolt to any base, in this case, chili powder!
Orange Pepper Grilled Shrimp Skewers
For Skewers:
2 1/2 cups raw shrimp, thawed and peeled.
1 cup onion cubes
2 cups bell pepper cubes
2 cups orange slices
1 lime sliced or lime juice
Seasoning:
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. garlic salt
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper
Directions:
Heat your grill to medium heat.
Add peppers, onions, shrimp and oranges to the skewers in any pattern.
Don’t have skewers? Throw everything in a mesh grill pan or on foil! Just make sure you spray the foil with a nonstick spray first.
Sprinkle both sides with seasoning.
Add skewers to the grill.
I was in a wind storm while grilling this evening! My seasoning blew right out of the bowl!!!
Grill 5-8 minutes then flip.
Cook until shrimp are no longer transparent.
Dinner was ready in 30 mins! What an easy, quick, healthy and delicious meal!!
Serve with a squeeze of lime juice! Great idea, Angela!!
I grilled corn on the cob and steamed brown rice. This is so easy and delicious!
Hot right now for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between, are the quickly trending gourmet toasts! Chefs are getting extremely inventive with a new spin on what was mainly a traditional totally boring breakfast staple.
Started in 2012, the toast trend is picking up momentum and is showing up in big city hotspots like The Shakespeare in New York City! They offer an afternoon toasts menu!
Consider it the melting pot of appetizer and small plate chic, you cannot go wrong with a meal on a piece of toast. Call it portion control! For breakfast, indulge in almond butter on top of toasted whole grain bread smothered in bananas, a drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkle of coarse salt!
Julia Turshen, chef and coauthor of Gwyneth Paltrow’s “It’s All Good” cookbook shared her faves in People magazine’s April 28 issue!
BUFFALO
Toast country bread
Spread blue cheese
Top with celery
Drizzle with hot sauce
TAPAS
Toast country bread
Rub with garlic and a halved
tomato
Add slices of Manchego cheese
Top with a slice of prosciutto
Serve toasts as an appetizer or small plates for dinner while entertaining. Have kids? There are so many endless ideas with Nutella, peanut butter, almond butter, veggies, raisins, etc. Maybe even cookie cutter the bread into cool themes or seasonal shapes!!
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves of garlic,pressed
1 15.5 oz. can of garbanzo beans
1 35oz. can San Marzano tomatoes
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. rosemary(chopped fresh or flakes)
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. basil
1 cup curly kale, washed and chopped off stems
1 lb. of your favorite pasta
Directions:
Warm olive oil in a frying pan on low/medium heat.
Add pressed garlic. (Be careful not to burn!) If the garlic burns, throw it away!
Add tomatoes, garbanzo beans, all spices and simmer.
Want a little more spice? Add extra red pepper flakes!
Boil 6 quarters of water and cook pasta.
When pasta is strained, turn heat off and add kale to frying pan. It will wilt but you don’t want it to cook.
Mix well.
Pour over pasta serving.
Always top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
If you like greens and beans, you will love this dish! Enjoy!
Ciao!
Get home at 5 and have nothing prepared for dinner? We are all there multiple times per week! Relax, my 20 minute pasta dish is healthy, easy and quick!! Best part…It looks like you have cooked all day!
Yep…20 minutes!
20 Min.Gourmet Pasta in Pan Sauce
Ingredients:
2 cloves of garlic presses
2 tbsp olive oil
1 35 oz. can LaValle whole tomatoes
Salt/pepper
Choose what you have in the fridge! If none – move on there is nothing wrong with a pan marinara sauce! Today, I have a pepper and a bag of spinach.
1 pepper chopped
1 cup fresh spinach
1 pack Mushrooms sliced
1/2 cup Italian olives sliced
1 zucchini sliced
1/2 cup Pepperoni
Etc.
1 lb. of your favorite pasta- farfalle for us today!
Freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
Put hot water in a stock pot on the stove, add 3 pinches of salt and bring to a boil.
Heat your largest frying pan on medium/low heat.
Add olive oil
Add garlic
Stir with wooden spoon- remember no brown- if it is crackling it is too hot!
If garlic burns, throw it out and start over! Start over med/low heat.
Add peppers (raw veggies) put a lid on and cook 5 mins.
Add can of tomatoes.
Salt and pepper
Put a lid on and let it cook. Totally fine to boil and bubble. You want to quickly cook the veggies and let the flavors mix together.
Chop up tomatoes as you stir . We like to have some chunks of tomato!
When water is at a rapid boil add pasta and follow directions and cook until al dente. Perfectly chewy!
Add some salt to the hot water. Wait for a rapid boil! Relax, you have time!
Strain pasta in a strainer over the sink. Take advantage of the pore opening steam facial!!
I love it! Freshen up for dinner! Blot with a paper towel!
Add a few spoonfuls of sauce in a serving bowl and coat pasta so it doesn’t stick. Mix in spinach last!
This recipe is great! I never add more than 2 veggies! Peppers and spinach tonight!
Serve with a nice ciabatta! I happened to have one in the freezer! OR Make a quick garlic toast in your toaster! Toast bread, butter it and sprinkle on garlic salt and Italian seasoning!
