I get a kick out of eating Brussels sprouts.  In my mind, they are famous for being the most disgusting vegetable someone might ever threaten a child (or picky adult) with having to eat.

When I discovered that Brussels sprouts are not disgusting or gross, there was only one logical conclusion that I could make about myself:

I like Brussels sprouts, therefore, I am a bad ass.

Trimmed Brussels Sprouts

Before I continue to congratulate myself on my vegetable badassery, allow me to whisper the secret to enjoying Brussels sprouts if you don’t already know it.

**

The Quinoa Bowl

January 9th, 2014 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (2 Comments)

I love this term “quinoa bowl”.  It just sounds so… cozy.  Like we should nestle right in and rest our heads on pillows of soft, fluffy quinoa and take a little nap.

Sweet potato spinach quinoa with cumin

Or just eat it.  That’s fine too.

Over the holidays I tried my hand at Sweet Potato Kale Quinoa Cakes to take to a New Years Eve dinner party, but they were sort of a flop.  They tasted great, but they didn’t hold together very well.  Still, even though the quinoa cakes were a fail, the ingredients were a win and I was left wanting to make it as a dinner side – more specifically, a “quinoa bowl” that I’ve seen around the interwebs and have been excited to steal try.  A quinoa bowl is comfort food with benefits – warm and carby, but some nutritional perks you don’t get with rice or pasta.

Different Strokes

March 26th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Lunch - (14 Comments)

This is quite possibly the greenest lunch I’ve eaten all month. It might even be the greenest lunch I’ve ever eaten.  Like, ever ever.

Tuna and Pickle Sandwich

My dad reads the blog and sometimes he calls to comment on cute baby pictures or if I made something that looked appealing to him.

But the other day he called to ask me what the heck I was thinking putting carrots in chili. Carrots and beef are for meat sauce, not chili! He’s not the only one who’s questioned my recent approach to chili – someone else said that chili without beans is not chili, it’s meat sauce.

Today’s greens were just the same-old same-old roasted Brussels sprouts (paired with roasted sweet potatoes, my winter vegetable obsession).  What I really want to tell you about is this shredded pork roast we’ve been enjoying.

Crockport Pork  Roast with Brussels sprouts and sweet potato

It’s super easy – but more importantly, it’s super good.

I didn’t really learn to cook until after I was a vegetarian.  In fact, becoming a vegetarian is The Reason I learned how to cook. If we’re not eating meat, WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GONNA EAT?!

The Greener March Challenge, Day 4!

Today’s green round up started with an avocado (and spinach) smoothie that was so awesome I was forced to share.

Avocado Green Smoothie

I eventually had to get out a bib and strap him into his seat because this “sharing” of my smoothie was getting out hand.

Sharing My Avocado Smoothie

(We’re going to revisit this smoothie more closely tomorrow because it deserves its very own post.)

Some red leaf and green leaf lettuce was seen on top of a turkey burger in the afternoon, plus the last of the roasted Brussels sprouts from yesterday, topped with a little a garlic powder.

Day Three of Green

March 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Short or Sweet - (5 Comments)

It’s the end of Day 3 in this Month of Eating More Green Stuff challenge! Here’s a look at the greenery that showed up around here today.

The first green vegetable was spotted shortly after my (8 mile!) morning run. My favorite halved and roasted little green heads,

Brussels Sprouts Day 3

with some left over beef chili topped with a little shredded cheese and a few roasted sweet potatoes too.

Brussels Sprouts and Chili with Sweet Potato and Cheese

There was some unpictured, unexciting steamed broccoli consumed before running some errands this afternoon (“running errands” is code for “a trip to Wegmans”) and after a simple dinner of eggs and Ezekiel toast, I sipped on this green smoothie while putting together this post.

QUICK! Go get your grocery list!

I’ll wait.

Cream Cheese Brick

Add cream cheese to the list.

(I’ll wait.)

It turns out there’s more than one good place to smear cream cheese.

Like a bagel? That’s one.

Cream cheese frosting? Why not.

For cheesecake? Getting my fork…

And how about into an omelet?

Sneak Peek Cream Cheese Omelet

Yes, please!

This fantastic cheese omelet idea is thanks to:

1.) the brick of cream I bought for a recipe but didn’t end up using

It’s cold here.  (Like, really cold.)

It’s so cold that it’s possible some mornings I turn the oven on before I even turn the coffee maker on.

Just kidding.  (Let’s not get ridiculous.)

But it’s true that it’s cold, and it’s also true that cooking in the morning is a great way to warm up my chilly kitchen.

Chilly kitchen.  Chilly morning.  (Can see where I’m going with this?)

Brussels Sprout Truce

November 18th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (3 Comments)

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

Bag of Brussels sprouts

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.

Slow Then Fast Food

August 28th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (9 Comments)

As we were first settling into our new life as a family of five, there was a lot of snack food consumption going on around here. Pretzels, granola bars, tortilla chips, crackers… I loaded our cupboards with quick and easy foods because well, they were quick and easy. I stuck with foods that weren’t awful, but I wouldn’t classify them as The World’s Healthiest Foods either.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. We were fortunate to have friends and family bring us plenty of meals in those early weeks, but it’s possible there were afternoons where we had air popped popcorn and graham crackers smeared with almond butter for lunch.