Whenever I buy this 2 pound bag of Brussels sprouts, some inner turmoil bubbles up inside me.

You see, I LOVE Brussels sprouts halved and roasted in the oven in some coconut oil.  

My better half, however, prefers them whole and steamed.

The thing is, Zak will pretty much eat whatever I make without complaint.  If I make halved and roasted Brussels sprouts, then it’s halved and roasted Brussels Spouts he’ll eat.

But whenever I’m slicing these little heads in half and throwing them into the roasting pan, I feel a little pang of guilt knowing he’d prefer them steamed and left intact.

One obvious solution to this is to prepare them both ways, alternating steamed and roasted. That sounds great in theory, but I like them better roasted, and I’m the one that’s cooking, and I’m the one that’s not eating them when they’re steamed.

I’m the one that’s sort of looking like a Brussels sprout brat right now.

The last few times I’ve made these guys, I’ve ended up getting out a sauce pan and the steamer basket and making them both ways at the same time. Sounds like a nice solution, and it’s really not a huge deal to wash one more pan when I’ve dirtied a whole mountain of dishes already.

But what if there was another way? What if we could reach a compromise?

How about roasted and whole?  This is not an earth shattering idea, it’s just a matter of knowing how to do it.

So today I went hunting this middle ground.  A better way. A Brussle sprout armistice. An olive branch, if you will. An olive branch that looked a heck of a lot like a stalk of Brussels sprouts.

You’ll need:

2 lbs (more or less as needed) of fresh Brussels sprouts
2 – 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
garlic powder, optional

Slice off any fugly part of the stem that remains, like so.

Before:

After:

Repeat 40 more times. (Give or take.)

I jammed every last one of these suckers into my roasting pan and was reminded of playing Don’t Break the Ice with Maxine this morning.

Turns out there were 66 in that 2 lb bag of Brussels sprouts.

Who knew.

Preheat the oven to 400 (vs. 375 when you’ve cut them in half) – once they’re all prepped, throw them (lovingly) into your roasting pan with some olive oil.  I love to roast vegetables in coconut oil, but for this version of Brussels Sprouts Tomfoolery it’s important to use a high quality, extra virgin olive because they’ll be roasting at 400 degrees F. We want to stay below the smoke point of the oil. Sprinkle with salt and a little garlic powder if you like.

Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, turning gently at the 15 to 20 minute mark.

Serve up and dig in!

I think that guy is Brussels Sprout Number 17.

Roasted! Whole! Compromise?

(He said he still likes them better steamed, I thought these were pure melt-in-your-mouth cruciferawesomeness.)

A perfect side dish for lunch, dinner or even a little snack.  These are so good, take care not to eat them all while your husband and baby are taking an afternoon nap together (or are otherwise away from the kitchen). Eating them all and leaving none for anybody else will only bring back that inner turmoil that we just got rid of.