Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving. Possibly.

                 

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound fresh brussels sprouts
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or bacon fat
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Red-pepper flakes to taste

Preparation

1.

Preheat oven to 400. Trim the ends of the brussels sprouts, and remove all yellowing exterior leaves. Put the sprouts in a large bowl, and toss with the oil or bacon fat, and season well with salt and pepper.

2.

Pour the sprouts onto a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally to brown the vegetables evenly, until crisp on the outside and tender within. Sprinkle a little more salt on them and, if you like, red-pepper flakes.

YIELD

2 servings

Recipe and photo from here.

 

This year my Thanksgiving tasks are to bring a hot vegetable and a green salad. I think I'll do something bold, or boldish, and bring Brussels sprouts, probably the country's least favorite vegetable. Here's what one random commenter on one random website said about them:

 

I think they taste like rage and hatred.

 

I thought that was a hilarious comment. And so fitting for a family holiday. Not all, of course. The cliché about family dysfunction at the holidays is sometimes true, as the blogger  Stargazer sadly reports. But at many gatherings on Thursday there will be only low-key resentment or irritation or tsk-tsking -- normal, day-to-day emotions for humans, don't you think? If not, I need to work on my attitude.

 

Chicken, ready to eat plus left-over chicken salad.

 

Is this too obvious to mention? You can get a whole chicken at Giant, and other grocery stores I'm sure. It will be good for dinner for 2 or 3 days, then you can remove the remaining chicken, chop it up, add chopped celery (which you can buy at Giant already chopped up), a little mayonnaise (there's too much in the picture above I think), and some defrosted frozen chopped onions (optional of course). Add salt and pepper, and maybe some sliced almonds, and you've got chicken salad for sandwiches for several days. You could freeze some of the meat also in case you don't want chicken for that many days in a row.

 

(Thanks to Anne Vajda for the prepared chicken idea.)

PB&A.

Adorable and healthy and easy AND cheap.

Acorn squash with parmesan. (See end of post for report on how this turned out for me.)

 

 

 

Slice squash in half and scoop out seeds and fibers.

Make slices and place them on a baking pan that's been buttered or sprayed with Pam.

Season with salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 40 minutes at 425 degrees.

 

Done!

 

PS: I tried it. It's HARD to cut up an acorn squash! And although the finished product tastes good, you can't eat the hard rind even after 40 mins of cooking. At least, I couldn't eat it -- too tough. Doug ate each piece whole but I noted that he didn't eat more than a couple of pieces -- not sure he even liked it. Next time I make it, and I will, I'm going to bake each half of the squash whole and forget about slicing it up. It will take longer to cook probably. I might add the cheese near the end of the cooking time so it doesn't get overcooked.