SAUTEED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

This is an easy side you can add to almost any meal.  Hmm... or you could even just eat an entire bowl as a snack or small meal.  It pairs especially well with steak!

Have you ever roasted whole, or even halved, brussels sprouts?  You know the tiny little leaves that fall off and then just get absolutely crispy and delicious?  This is like eating all of those at once.  YUM.

You can use your mandolin to shred/shave some brussels sprouts, OR you can take the easier route and get them pre-shredded from the produce section.  The kind they shred IN the store, not the mass produced, bagged kind.  Those are not the best.

First, heat your nonstick skillet over medium-high and add in some olive oil.  Once it shimmers, throw in your sprouts.

Toss them around to coat them in the olive oil, then DO NOT TOUCH!  You want them to get nice and crispy and beautifully browned.  Maybe 5 minutes.

Then, give them about 10 turns of the pepper grinder, and two nice pinches of coarse kosher salt.  Toss.  Keep cooking and gently tossing until they're to your desired doneness.  I like them a little bit crisp, so I don't cook them too long for fear of mush.  Maybe 5 more minutes.  Follow your heart.  And your eyes!

Sometimes I add a squeeze of lemon or a few splashes of balsamic vinegar.  My favorite way to enjoy them is with BACON, but of course we can't eat bacon every day.

ROASTED BROCCOLI WITH MUSHROOMS

Do you ever buy those bags of frozen veggie steamers?  They're actually quite good.  The veggies are bright, crisp and full of flavor.  However, it turns out you can do that yourself and make them taste even better!  Can you tell I lack experience cooking vegetables?  My friend Aaron was making fun of my blog posts due to the lack of fresh produce.  I explained that I simply do not know how to make them.  He told me that his wife, Emily, the lovely and talented pasta maker, taught him to become a veggie lover.  "She just throws olive oil and salt on them and roasts the crap out of them in the oven!"  Simple explanations are all I really need, people.  Feel free to share with me.

Apparently, the produce section and I have struck up a friendship.

Ingredients

2 broccoli bunches (sold next to the broccoli heads!)
2 packages sliced baby bella mushrooms (or whatever kind you like)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
coarse kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 450.  Wash broccoli and break into florets.  Place in large roasting or baking dish.  Add mushrooms.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on seasonings.  Using your hands, mix well until everything is evenly coated.  You don't need to use too much olive oil since the mushrooms will release enough liquid to cook both veggies without risk of drying out.  Bake for about 15 minutes, mixing veggies once halfway through.  When mushrooms look cooked down and broccoli starts to get a little color, take out of oven.  Serve immediately.

CRISPY BAKED SMASHED POTATOES

This is one of the first things I learned to cook when I became domesticated.  My other half has an obsession with potatoes: baked, fried, smashed, mashed, sauteed.  The only "recipe" I knew was chopping them up, shaking them in a bag with a packet of onion soup mix, and baking them.  Which is delicious, by the way!

Anyway, I had to learn new methods to make my man's favorite food.  I came across this recipe several times on different cooking blogs.  It's simple.  Cook potatoes until they're soft.  Place them on a baking sheet, smash them flat, drizzle on olive oil, season, bake.  The first step is up to you.  Do you have time to boil potatoes, or would you rather microwave them?  I've only done the microwave method, and they've been delicious each time.  Toppings are also up to you.  Salt and pepper, seasoned salt, cheese, bacon and mushrooms are all fine choices.  This is a recipe you can truly make your own.  Just make sure you salt the potatoes well, since salt is a potato's best friend.  You can also use whatever size potato you want.  The smaller ones allow you to eat several and be able to justify it since they're so teeny.  If you go big, you'll probably only be able to eat one or two without feeling shame.  

Ingredients

3-4 small potatoes or 1-2 medium potatoes per person
extra virgin olive oil
coarse kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
seasoned salt, shredded cheese, sauteed mushrooms, bacon, whatever you want to top these babies with!

Preheat oven to 450.  Wash and scrub potatoes well.  Poke holes in each potato with a fork.  Microwave potatoes on plate covered with a paper towel for about 8 minutes, or until fork tender.  Lightly drizzle a cookie sheet or the broiler pan from your oven with olive oil, so the potatoes don't stick during cooking.  Place potatoes on pan, then smash them flat with a fork or potato masher.  The skin will crack open so you'll have yummy soft potato, but also some crispy skin.  Drizzle each potato with about half a tablespoon of oil (enough so they won't dry out, but aren't soaked; use your judgement here) then generously sprinkle on salt and pepper.  Bake for about 25 minutes, or until potatoes are browned and crispy.  Serve immediately.