Chopped brussels sprouts salad with bacon

In my quest to eat more veggies, I've come up with a simple but effective little trick: chop them up! I can enjoy eating almost anything if it is chopped up small enough and mixed with other tasty foods. So if I'm not a fan of a particular vegetable, or clueless about what to do with it, I start mincing away. Take brussels sprouts, for example. The thought of gnawing away on a big old sprout kind of makes me want to throw up. But when they are chopped up, seasoned with some lemon juice, parmesan cheese and bacon, and thrown into a salad: Deliciousness! (A while back, I posted another great chopped brussels sprouts recipe, which is a great warm alternative to this one.)

I got the inspiration for this salad from The Arrogant Butcher, a restaurant in downtown Phoenix. My friend ordered their brussels sprouts salad, and I helped myself to several forkfuls (yes, I'm rude like that). We both were surprised by how yummy it was, and I kept thinking about it for days afterward. I remembered the main flavors, and so I experimented with making one of my own. I have to admit that while my salad recipe is an original creation, the dressing is not. The one I repeatedly turn to is Lucini's "Bold Parmesan and Garlic," but I'm sure any slightly creamy, garlicky, parmesan cheesy dressing would do.

Chopped Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon

Ingredients:

Brussels sprouts, chopped (I use about 3-4 per person)
Bacon (I use about 1 strip per person)
Lemon
Parmesan cheese (the kind you grate yourself is the best, but any old kind will work)
Olive oil
Salt
Baby spinach, chopped
Romaine hearts, chopped

Good dressing (see photo)

Directions:

Cook the bacon until crisp (I just use the microwave method). Let cool and crumble.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and lightly saute the chopped brussels sprouts until they're slightly tender, but not super soft (you want them to still have some crunch). Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice, and add some salt and a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese.

Take the brussels sprouts off the heat and let them cool. Then toss them together with the bacon, spinach and romaine. Add dressing and top off with some more parmesan if you wish.

A brussels sprouts dish I actually ate three helpings of

If you'd asked me yesterday morning how I felt about brussels sprouts, I would have said I absolutely hate them. If you'd asked me at 5:00 pm yesterday how I felt about brussels sprouts, I would have said they are my new favorite vegetable.

About two months ago, I clipped a brussels sprouts recipe out of the local newspaper. It was the only time I'd read a brussels sprouts recipe that looked like it might actually taste good. Each week since then, I've intended to make that recipe, and each week I have failed to do so - either because I didn't have time, didn't have the right ingredients, didn't have time to get the right ingredients, etc.

So I was delighted when I went to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, and discovered she had clipped the exact same recipe and actually made it! And then I was even more delighted to discover that it was fantastic! Seriously, I ate three helpings and I probably would have had more, except that I was starting to get embarrassed by my brussels sprouts consumption.

So if anyone is looking for a holiday side dish, or just a regular weeknight side dish, you must try this out! The recipe comes from the Chandler Tribune and was created by Scottsdale, AZ resident Cheryl Korwin.

"Cheryl's Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Lemon"

Ingredients:

1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pints fresh Brussels sprouts, shredded by finely slicing with a knife
1 large lemon (juice and zest)
4 tbsp butter
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until soft (about 5 minutes). Add garlic and mushrooms, and cook for about 1 minute. Add the shredded Brussels sprouts, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until sprouts are just tender (about 15 minutes). Add 1 tbsp of lemon zest and 3 tbsp of lemon juice. Also add salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan cheese.

Delicious!!!!