Nurturing my inner... time for change

Today, I made my very first picture calendar.  Of course, I had been meaning to do this for some time, but was lazy.  I had an email coupon for a free one if I did it in the next two days, so I ran out of excuses and had great motivation.  I had the day off as well, so I hunkered down for a couple hours this morning and made one for my mom.

It was really fun to choose the pictures and the captions.  I knew I wanted to do one for mom of the vacation we took with my brother last year.  Seeing as it's rare these days for all three of us to be together at the same time, especially for days in a row, I thought it would be a fun way for her to remember our trip and the time we spent as a family.

It's easy, upload pics and write captions.
They can be brief.

As I was creating the calendar, I was thinking about family and growing up.  Remembering how my mother always made us a complete, home cooked meal.  I'm very thankful for that.  We didn't go out for dinner unless it was a special occasion.  Times were very different then.  One thing we ate, that I thought was okay, was brussels sprouts.  Mom bought them frozen, boiled them and then added a little butter and salt.  That was it.  By no means did I hate them, but I wasn't really wowed by the somewhat soppy veggie either.  I just knew I could do something more exciting.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pancetta and Shallot

1 lb fresh brussels sprouts, sliced in half
1/3 lb pancetta, cubed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot, sliced
Sprinkle of sea salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

They come in a mesh bag, harvested off
of a stick like branch.

Brussels sprouts, which look like mini cabbages, have rough stems.

Sometimes bugs have taken a few bites of those
outer leaves.

They need to be trimmed and the tough outer leaves removed.

Out with the bad stuff.

They'll look much more appetizing after you clean them up.

Perfectly perfect.

Repeat the cleaning process for the entire bag.

Quite a few per pound.

I sliced them in half.  So many densely wrapped leaves in there.  From dark green on the outside to light yellow inside.

A green to yellow rainbow.

Slice every last one.  If you had particularly large ones, you could quarter them.

Bunches of them when you're done.

Add to a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and throw in some salt and freshly cracked pepper.  Toss.

Basic ingredients added will enhance the
natural flavor.

Spread them all out on a baking sheet in one layer.

No crowding.

I popped them into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.  About half way through, I used a spatula and flipped them over so the other sides would brown.  Then 10 minutes before the sprouts were going to be done, I took some pancetta out of the fridge.  Pancetta is an Italian uncured bacon.  I just asked the deli lady to cut me a thick slice or two to weigh in at about 1/3 of a pound.

This one was actually an organic version made
in the USA!

I cubed it and tossed it into a saute pan on medium heat.

The fat will soon form and your pancetta
won't stick to the pan.

In about five to seven minutes the pancetta will get crispy and browned.  I removed most of the fat with a spoon and put it aside to freeze and use in future dishes.  I try not to waste anything these days.

Cook out all the fat and crisp it up.

The shallot has become such a wonderful friend to me.  I use it often now in place of regular onions.  I find the flavor to be sweeter and more mild.

A good-sized one.

I prefer to slice it really thin.  I also like that they are small, so I use one shallot at a time and every time I cook, I get to start with a fresh one.

Use a sharp knife to slice super thin.

In to the pan goes the shallot and that will get cooked with the pancetta for another couple of minutes until the shallot becomes translucent.

Aromatic together.

After half an hour, the brussels sprouts were done, so I removed them from the oven.

Beautifully caramelized.

I put the brussels sprouts and the pancetta with shallots into a bowl and tossed it with just a splash of fresh lemon juice.

Give it a hearty toss.

I spooned some into a small bowl and had a great new side dish.  I can tell you that they don't taste like brussels sprouts.  (Well, not as you remember them.)  I can't tell you exactly what they do taste like though.  I'm not sure how to describe them.  But you are going to be in for a nice surprise if you make them this way.  I'll bet you find out that if you thought you hated brussels sprouts your whole life, you were wrong.  You just hadn't had them made the right way.  Moms do know best a lot, but once in a while, the kids can teach them something new.

Does that look soggy and mushy to you?
No way!

I'm glad my family took a trip last year to a part of the country none of us had ever been to before.  We developed a greater respect for the contributions of Lewis and Clark by hearing more of their history in detail, went to the top of the 630 foot Gateway Arch in this tiny five person pod, took a carriage ride around the city with a sturdy horse named Maximus, climbed through the wonders of Meramec Caverns, and of course, ate toasted ravioli, provel cheese pizza and Ted Drewe's Custard.  All local favorites.



Good memories that we'll have forever.


Families live so far apart these days that they don't see each other as often as they used to.  Even if your time with your family is limited, or they drive you crazy, (just sayin'), I hope you try to make the most of what time you do have together.  You never know how long you'll have someone and time really does fly by all too quickly.  Maybe now that you've gotten older, your parents will even let you teach them a thing or two.  Just don't get too lippy with them or they will still feel the need to ground you.