Chillin' With My Brussels

"My pants are getting looser!"
I wasn't surprised one bit by The Wifester's discovery yesterday. We've been eating primarily plant based diets for supper for the last two weeks. We have only allowed ourselves poultry at supper, and confined that to twice a week. It has been a good couple of weeks, too. Only a couple of times did we go to bed and say, "I'm still hungry." But we weren't hungry enough to eat more of anything.
We found a few truly keeper recipes, too, like the Marinated Brussels & Kale Salad. And seriously, don't let the kale deter you. I hate kale. I've hated it with a passion every single time I've tried it. My sister in law, who is a phenomenal cook, made kale chips and swore that they were wonderful, and that is the only time I've honestly felt like she bold faced lied to me. I've always found kale to be bitter and disgusting, until now.
OH. MY. GOD!
I mean, I've loved brussels for as long as I can remember. I've talked about my love of the little, round, bundle of yumminess time and time again. Even after bouts of illness that I associated, or attributed to having eaten tainted brussels, I've come 'round and been jumping back in the saddle with the little boogers. I can't keep myself away from 'em. I'll gobble those little pillows of deliciousness every chance I get. But, oh sweet mother of all things edible, I never knew they could be so fantastic cold! I've eaten them steamed and roasted and grilled and broiled, but never in my life did I think to chill them.

On Mother's Day, The Wifester and I went to a Mother's Day picnic with The Wifester's mom, our sister in law, her mom, her sister in law, and a host of aunts. It's a yearly thing, and it's great. All the non-moms host it for all the moms, and it truly is a wonderful way to celebrate all those mothers.

Anyways our contribution was this super fantastic dish, whose recipe was requested more times than I can count, and then asked for again, and again. And since it was in such high demand, I thought I'd share it with you.

Marinated Brussels and Kale

Ingredients:
2 lbs Brussels sprouts
1 large bunch of kale, center stem discarded, leaves thinly sliced
3/4 cup olive oil
2 lemons,zested and juiced
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp honey
2 large shallots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup parsley, chopped fine
1 small sweet onion chopped
½ each red, yellow, green peppers
4 large garlic cloves, minced
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
*this recipe also called for 1/3 cup almonds, coarsely chopped – I used roasted sunflower seeds instead, due to The Wifester's nut allergy

Directions:
Combine lemon juice, honey, vinegar, shallots, garlic, sweet onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt + a pinch of pepper. Stir to blend well. Set aside.

Prep Brussels and slice the larger ones in half. Toss with kale. Bring ½ inch water to boil in a large pot, add Brussels and kale, cover pot and steam for 3-5 min. until just barely tender. Drain the sprouts and plunge them in a bowl of ice water. Leave them there for 1-2 min., then drain.

Whisk in the olive oil with the lemon juice mixture. Toss Brussels and kale with the vinaigrette to coat well. Add almonds or sunflower seeds. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving, best if made a day in advance. Stir mixture occasionally to ensure even soaking.

There you go. Enjoy!

Me and My Veggies

I've almost always loved my veggies. I mean, sure, when I was a young one, I put up a fuss over certain ones, like those evil green pebbles that call themselves peas. But broccoli, and cauliflower, okra, and brussel sprouts, collard greens, squash... zucchini? All good in my book. In my late twenties I developed a love affair with eggplant. I had to get grown and move from my parents to even experience such a fabulous vegetable, but once I did, I knew what it meant to live off the land, for I could surely sustain my every cell's nutritional requirement with eggplant. I even spent a few years avoiding anything that once had a face and blood all together. Opting for plants only. I felt much healthier then. Aside from all the chemicals that I was pumping into my body at a feverish pace, as though I was in a race to some junkie-only finish line, and only Keith Richards could lap me to take the lead. But I digress...
One of my other all time favorite sustainable, succulent sustenances are brussel sprouts. I love them. They may reek to high heaven when you're cooking them, but it's an aroma that makes my mouth water and gets me all a tither. Until, that is, a few months ago...when I got soooooo sick. Then just after I got over it, like a week later, it all happened again, in exactly the same way. symptoms and all, identical. The only thing I could attribute it to was the meal I had eaten the night of becoming so viloently ill each time. I had brussel sprouts. From the same store, from the same batch. They were frozen, steam in the pouch brussel sprouts, and honestly, I believe that they were tainted. Oh, they tasted fine, and if they smelled bad, well, how the hell would anyone have known? But a short time after eating...I was violently ill. We'll leave it at that. I didn't even relate it to the seemingly innocuous morsel nestled upon my plate, or else I'd have never seen fit to eat them again, as my symptoms subsided and I was able to move from clear liquids and on to solid foods again. I just thought vegetables always give me stregnth, I'll make some brussel sprouts! Bad, bad, bad idea.
So needles to say, I've been less than gung ho over the sight of those tiny cabbages ever since then. Wifester and I were at the store last weekend, and I saw the lovely brussel sprouts, bobbing their heads from behind the mist and beckoning me ..." come back into the light...just a try, this time will be different, we promise", And I, with all the strength I could muster, turned and walked away from them. Tempting as they may be, so was cocaine and every other chemical substance that I could snort and smoke and....well, let's just say I've learned that when something is no good for you, you just gotta leave it alone.
Likewise, my love of okra has been, er-um, squashed, due to the unfortunate "Memorial Day Experience", which is always said, now, with the quotation marks gesture, just for added emphasis. I went how many weeks without tomatoes because of the salmonella scare, only to find out they were safe all along! Meanwhile, I was chopping up jalapeños, who were responsible, left and right! I don't know how much more of this I can take. Please, stop ruining my veggies! I love my veggies. I don't want them taken away from me. When, where, for the love of all that's green and organic will this crazy madness end?