Cooking 4 My Girls: Belgium and Butter Night

I am calling this meal a “Belgium and Butter” meal because of the Brussel sprouts, but I understand that is a stretch to say the least. Anyways, you might be saying, “Your girls ate Brussel sprouts!?” And the answer to that would be, yes we made them try at least one bite. For the most part they like them, but that was because of the excitement that I created before presenting them at the table.

When I came back from the store with my fresh Brussel sprouts, I called the girls together and I showed the sprouts to them and how they looked like little lettuce heads. They thought they looked so cute. This was around 3:00 and they kept coming downstairs hoping that it was dinnertime so they could have the Brussel sprouts. You have to do what you have to do to get your kids to eat healthy, right.

This meal looks/sounds healthy from the listing of food that is included, but it has a decent amount of butter when you combine all three. Maybe that is why it is so good! For the chicken, I took wheat-chex cereal, fresh basil, and oregano and put it into a food processor. I used this instead of breadcrumbs for the coating. I made an egg wash to dip the chicken in before rolling it around in the chex mixture. I set the oven at 350 degrees and put one stick of butter in an 9x12 inch pan and put it in the oven. Once the butter was melted, I put the chicken in a single layer and cooked it for 30 minutes. (Depending on the size of the chicken times will vary.)

The chicken was extremely moist, as it should be considering it was baked in a layer of melted butter.

I did not do anything special for the baby Yukon potatoes. Just boiled and salted and of course stirred around some butter!

Grade: A

Brussels Sprouts Recipe

INGREDIENTS

· 1 lb fresh brussels sprouts

· 4-6 Tbsp butter

· 1/2 onion, chopped

· Salt and Pepper

· 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice, fresh squeezed

· 1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

METHOD

1 Remove any ragged or old-looking outer leaves on the brussels sprouts and discard. Parboil the brussels sprouts (or steam them) for 3 minutes or until just tender. They should be almost cooked all the way through (split one in half to test). Strain the hot water and place the sprouts in a bowl of ice water, this will keep their color bright green. Cut the sprouts into halves.

2 Heat 2-3 Tbsp of butter in a large sauté pan on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add 2-3 Tbsp more of butter and the brussels sprouts halves. Increase the heat to medium high and cook for several more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste, while the brussels sprouts are cooking. Do not overcook! Overcooked brussels sprouts are bitter and are the main reason why some people don't like them.

3 Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and half of the toasted almonds. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in serving dish and garnish with the rest of the toasted almonds.