Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Potato Salad

A version of this recipe is featured on The Fruit Guys website.

Please meet my new favorite way to prepare Brussels sprouts: shredded. What a delightfully easy way to make a very healthy salad, using something other than your standard issue salad greens.

I first came across this method in the Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food cookbook. Their version (which I made and wrote about here) includes bacon. Which, in so many ways, makes me so happy. But, I've found that I need to cut back on the pork products (oh wait, I have a rack of pork ribs in the oven right now....). Therefore, I've created a new recipe using the shredded Brussels sprouts in not only a vegetarian recipe, but also a vegan one. A girl's got to keep her sleek physique and all of the lovely recipes I've been writing have begun to add up on the I-think-my-pants-shrunk-in-the-dryer meter.

The potatoes are the only cooked item in the whole shebang. You can either roast them, dice them or fry them, just do whatever you prefer. And, I didn't include how many this recipe feeds. Seems that the shredded sprouts really go on for days. I've taken to shredding a while bunch of them and storing them in a zipper bag in the fridge. That way I can make any kind of salad I want whenever I want to.

Please do make this or the other recipe referenced above. It really tastes great and is a nice change in your salad repertoire.

Brussels Sprouts and Potato Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 1 to 2 cups shredded Brussels sprouts
• 2 cups potatoes in 3/4 inch dice, steamed, roasted, sautéed, or boiled until tender but not mushy
• 1 /2 cup fresh chopped carrots
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced finely
• ½ teaspoon minced tarragon
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

• Shred the Brussels sprouts.  You can use either a mandolin slicer or the slicer blade on your food processor. And, cutting them by hand is perfectly fine, just make them as thin as possible.
• Place the shredded Brussels sprouts, diced and cooked potatoes and carrots in a large bowl.
• Mix together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, sage, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.
• Add the dressing to the vegetables and mix well.

Avocados: Egg Smash-up, Smoothie and Guacamole

Years ago, when my parents were visiting from New York, I decided to serve them some avocados. Joe, my dad, was less than enthusiastic having only had unripe, unflavorful avocados up until this point.  He remarked upon how he stayed away from avocados at all cost because they were tasteless and held no appeal for him. His opinion was forever changed after I served him a California Haas avocado.

Once it was served up simply diced drizzled with some olive oil, pepper and salt, I thought his head was going to explode. I think he thought I was a magician of some sort because I had picked a perfect avocado.  The teacher in him asked me a million questions about why our avocados were so much tastier than any he had eaten before. And, how did I get that pit out so perfectly?

I figured it was because they are grown here and we are lucky enough to have a year-round variety, the Haas avocado, available at all times. The avocados we've had in New York are a harder, taller variety than the Haas. According to this website, I'm thinking Joe is getting something like a Zutano avocado. The taste is much lighter and not quite as creamy as the Haas.

I eat a lot of avocados. I'm also lucky enough to have a group of friends and co-workers who love food as much as I do. We don't work in the food industry, but we all love it. Whenever I'm trying to come up with a recipe for a particular ingredient, I tend to take input from everyone at work. I spend an equal amount of time working with them as I do working on this site, so it makes perfect sense that if I can make something they'll love to eat, we all win.

The egg smash-up is an Israeli dish, I think, that my friend Anastasia started making for us. It's really a simple mix of equal parts hard-boiled egg and avocado, with some salt and pepper. It's great on everything from toasted baguette to rice cakes. It'll keep you going for hours, too, so no need to worry about getting hungry anytime soon!

My friend Robby suggested the smoothie recipe. I was not always a fan of smoothies, but something about the combination of banana and avocado sounded good to me. You can use either regular milk or almond milk here. The almond milk gives it a nice nutty flavor. I don't recommend using rice milk, though, because it's almost too sweet next to the banana and honey. And, the combination of the almond milk, avocado and banana makes the smoothie smell like the beach.

Lastly, my other friend Ari makes a wonderful guacamole. I don't think mine even comes close. But, it does have a great fresh flavor and nice piquant onions to offset the smooth and tangy avocado.

I know when I'm in New York this summer, if I can find some avocados I'm going to break out these recipes and blow Joe's mind.

Avocado Smoothie

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced in half and removed from the skin
• 1 banana, sliced
• ½ cup milk
• ½ teaspoon honey
• Ice cubes

PREPARATION

• Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until the ice cubes have been completely crushed.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.

Cook’s note:  You can use almond milk or rice milk instead of regular milk.

Avocado Guacamole

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced into cubes and removed from the skin
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 small tomato, cubed
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

PREPARATION

• In a large bowl, mash the avocado until creamy.
• Stir in the onions, tomato pieces, spices and oil.
• Give the mixture one more run through with the masher.

Serves 4. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.

Avocado and Egg Spread

INGREDIENTS

• 1 avocado, sliced in half and removed from the skin
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

PREPARATION

• Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mash well with a fork.
• Serve on toasted bread.

Serves 2. Prep time, 5 minutes; cook time, 0 minutes.

I Love Chips...Oven-Baked!

As seen on The Fruit Guys website.

We love chips.

As I've mentioned before, I don't deep-fry foods very often. My fear is that I'll end up deep-frying everything, including candy bars at all hours of the day and night. Because of this homemade chips were seemingly out of my repertoire of dishes.

At about age two, my daughter Isabella was ready to eat all sorts of foods. I knew I had one shot at getting her to love all manner of root veggies. I chose oven-frying as my cooking method. As one of my sisters said "sure, you can get a kid to eat cardboard if you put some olive oil and salt on it and roast it until it's crispy."

She was right.

Isabella eats all manner of root veggies, prepared in any number of ways. She loves a good roasted veggie, especially brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes.

Oven-Baked Potato  Chips

This recipe will work for any root veggie: potatoes, brussels sprouts, sunchokes or carrots. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 to 6 potatoes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Thoroughly scrub the potatoes to remove any grit.
• Slice the potatoes into thin even slices.
• Pour the olive oil onto a baking sheet.
• Place the potato slices on the oiled sheet. Mix them around to coat all of the slices evenly with the oil.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
• They are done when the chips turn a nice golden brown.

Cook’s note:  To slice the potatoes you can use either a mandolin slicer or the slicer blade on your food processor. And, cutting them by hand is perfectly fine, just make them as thin as possible and make sure the chips are about the same thickness to avoid burning.

French Toast for All

My daughter loves french toast. When she was about 6 years old, she got a kids cookbook for her birthday. I had never successfully made french toast when she asked me if we could give the recipe in her book a try.

I was worried that it wouldn't work out, but she was very encouraging. So I persevered, and we made the recipe. Imagine my delight (and hers, too) when three perfect slices emerged from the pan on the stove. I still remember my feeling of relief (and pride) tha I have managed to master french toast.  Although I do cook a lot, I have certain things that always give me trouble: baking, frozen veggies and, until that day, french toast.

7 years later, I'm an old pro, even breaking out french toast for an early morning school day treat. I've even made it for myself using almond or rice milk and gluten-free bread. Take that difficult recipe....I have triumphed!

French Toast for One

Ingredients:

• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup Milk (you can use Rice or Almond Milk instead)
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 4 slices Bread (regular wheat bread, or gluten-free rice bread like Udi's)
• Butter for cooking

Method:

• In a shallow pie pan, mix all of the ingredients.
• Heat a flat griddle or pan on high heat.
• Soak each individual piece of bread until coated in the mixture.
• Lower the heat to medium, and add a pat of butter to the pan.
• Once the butter has melted, take one of your soaked pieces of bread to the pan.
• Cook on each side for about 2 minutes, turning the toast over only once you see the edges of the egg coating beginning to brown.
• Serve with maple syrup or powdered sugar.

*only the regular bread version is pictured, no gluten-free picture available!