How To Make Kids {andtheirmom} Eat Brussels Sprouts

I strongly dislike brussels sprouts. That's being nice. I have never eaten one brussels sprout that I've liked. (Sorry, mom.)

Then, my boys saw these stalks at Trader Joe's. "Can we get these, mom??", they begged excitedly. And as awesome as they look still attached to their stalks, there's no way that'll make 'em taste any better. So I said, "Sure, but you have to eat 'em all!"

Fast forward to tonight. I had leftover cooked bacon, and NQ needed something to do. I don't know if you're supposed to take them off, but it sure was fun for my 2-year-old.

Then he helped me scoop out the acorn squash.

Now, after this was done cooking, I thought it looked pretty delicious. Maybe because I love miniature things, and brussels sprouts are basically miniature cabbages. But then I tasted it.

Yum.

And then I ate more. And more. And my 4-year-old tried it and said, "This tastes good!", and ate a decent serving at dinner, too.

NQ was very excited to eat something he helped make. He ate four pieces. Which isn't that bad.

Needs more salt, mom.

This is no unique recipe, but it was tasty and simple. And I ATE BRUSSELS SPROUTS, MOM!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon 

 1 stalk of Brussels sprouts (it was about 4 cups)
1/2 cup lard from pastured pigs (or butter)
1 tsp RealSalt garlic salt (or just plain sea salt)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 T butter
3-4 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled 

Detach sprouts from stalk. Wash them and cut them into uniform pieces. I halved and quartered the big ones so they would be the same size as the little ones that I left whole. 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the half cup lard into a 9 X 13 pyrex dish and put it in the oven while the oven preheats. That way the lard will be hot and the sprouts won't stick to the dish; they'll get nicely browned that way, too. (You can do the same thing for oven roasted potatoes.) 

Once the dish heats, add the sprouts, salt, and pepper. Stir carefully to coat all the pieces. Remember the fat is hot! 

Bake for 15 minutes; then stir, and reduce the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 25 more minutes. 

Towards the end of the cooking time, take the dish out and add the crumbled bacon and butter. Mix it all together well so everybody gets bacon!

That's all! It tastes kind of like a broccoli + kale chips hybrid.

But the best part, of course, is the brussels sprout sword (club? mace?) that you're left with.

Happy eating :)

-- Christine