(You will understand the title of this post if you also could recite Sandra Boyton books in your sleep).
We do not eat enough vegetables around here. This is due to two factors. First, although I love to eat salad, I find it so ridiculously tedious to make. You have to do all that the washing, or, if you get the bagged salad, picking through and tossing the nasty bits. Then there's the scraping. And the chopping. And the tossing. And the extra salad bowls to wash. And after all that work, it's not even the main dish, or something you can freeze so you have it on hand later! Grrr - irritating to me. So we do not have a salad with dinner as often as we would like. Actually, this is one of the things DH loves about eating at my parents' house - not only do they always serve salad, but my mom puts things like onion and hearts of palm in her salad, which never make an appearance in any salad of mine.
Which leads us to the other problem with vegetables in our house. DH and I don't like the same ones. Yes, there are the basics that we generally agree on: lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, and lima beans (with the caveat that they must be perfectly done and salted just right or I will not eat them, whereas DH will eat them cold right out of a can which just about makes me want to vomit). But these start to get a little boring after a while, and we diverge dramatically when it comes to other sections of the veggie aisle. DH will eat a green pepper like it's an apple, whereas I can't even eat one to be polite. I love broccoli, and he will grudgingly take a small bite if it's raw and covered in ranch dressing. He likes squash, I think it tastes like feet.
One of my all time favorites is brussels sprouts. I love them. To me they taste like the essence of how a vegetable should taste: earthy, slightly bitter but not terribly so, hearty enough to stand up to the meat on your plate but not so overwhelming that they take over your whole palate. They just taste green and fresh to me, and I would eat them once a week. Except for the little problem of a husband who not only will not eat them, but hates the smell of them and complains about having to be in the same room as them.
So last night, when DH was working, I made a huge batch of roasted brussels sprouts. I was so, so pleased with myself as I sat there munching on them like they were Halloween candy, until it dawned on me that this is what life has come to: finding happiness in a crunchy, salty brussels sprout.
I really need to get out more.
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
1 package of brussels sprouts (approximately 20-25) (I say one package because our grocery stores don't sell them loose - only in those net-like bags. Have not tried frozen brussels sprouts for this)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat oven to 400. Wash brussels sprouts and trim bottoms. Cut each one in half. Toss with olive oil and salt, spread on half sheet pan. Roast for 35-40 minutes until brown and crisp. Serve right away.
