Not yo mama's brussels

Ok, so first let me start by saying that I am the *the* pickiest eater. I don't like things simply if other people don't like them. So I guess you can say that I never gave brussels sprouts a fighting chance.

Then one night, at dinner with some friends -- they came as the side with hubby's entree. He didn't have a choice of sides and I am soooo incredibly glad! They were crispy, crunchy with just the right hint of flavor. I was instantly obsessed. Lucky for me, the girl we were with happens to be a personal chef and am amazing cook, and she had a recipe for me! I couldn't wait to give it a try :)

You will need:

Brussels sprouts (obviously) I always make more than I think I will need because I always eat more :)
Olive oil
Minced garlic
Salt & Pepper
Balsamic glaze -- I love the one from Trader Joe's

Now - I use my cast iron skillet to make these, they just get so much crispier.

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

2. Trim the ends, and cut in half length-wise, don't worry if some "leaves" fall off when you cut them

3. Heat up your skillet to medium-high  with some evoo and minced garlic in the pan

3. Add your sprouts and stir them around until they are bright green!

4. Transfer the whole skillet to the oven -- and roast them for 15-20 minutes, or until they are crispy. You can also stir them around once or twice so they are evenly crispy.

5. After you remove the skillet from the oven, transfer to a serving dish and drizzle with balsamic glaze.

This recipe is adapted from Bobby Flay's "Roasted Brussels Sprouts" recipe -- he adds pancetta to the evoo and garlic mix and it is ahhh-mazing that way as well. I just don't always have pancetta on hand, so I usually make it without. You can find that recipe here.

After several months of making them this way, I found a new recipe on (where else?) Pinterest and made it tonight! ohmygosh --- so excited to share it with y'all. I did adapt this slightly because I didn't have ricotta cheese, but I think I liked it better this way.

All my ingredients 

Trimmed and sliced in half length-wise

Blanching them for a couple of minutes -- to get that bright green color

After they are blanched, they are super easy to core out -- perfect for stuffing!

Don't waste the insides! Chop them up really fine, and pan fry with garlic and evoo

In the bowl is the chopped sprouts, mixed with mozzarella, parmesan cheese, a tad bit of milk and broth

Stuffed and ready for the oven!!

Roasted to perfection!

All done!!! Drizzled with balsamic glaze :)

I took this recipe from here  and I want to make sure that credit goes where it's deserved :) These were so amazing, and while a little bit of prep went into making them, it is WELL worth the time! 

So tell me -- do you have a favorite way of making brussels sprouts? I'm excited to get my hands on more recipes!!

Selling Home

As a follow-up to my last post, I thought I would share the finished product, how our place looked after we cleaned and staged it. We really wanted it to sparkle and shine, so that when people walking in, they wanted to buy it! Mission accomplished :)

Panoramic shot when you first walk in

Love how open the living space is! Can you spot Gunner? :) 

Dining Area

Bedroom #2 aka the Man Cave

Our entry table 

Bathroom, we redid the floors last summer and they made a HUGE difference!

Bathroom Vanity 

Bedroom

I love our kitchen! The floors, a few accessories (don't judge my multiple bottles of wine) and some pops of color made it stand out. 

Not bad for a small space :) 

As you all know, we did sell our place very quickly -- and have been house-hunting like crazy people! So stay tuned for photos and details on potential houses!

Highs and Lows of House-Hunting

Our plan has always been to get engaged, get married, buy a house, have babies and live happily ever after.

To this day, we've accomplished the first three things and are pretty blissfully happy. After the wedding, we set our next goal on buying a house in the spring of 2013. We've saved and planned and dreamed of this home.

We love the space we live in now. Keith bought it when we were first dating, and it was his "bachelor pad" til I moved in the following summer. And while it was plenty big enough for us in the beginning, over the past few months we've rapidly outgrown it. We knew we wanted to sell the condo, and move to the suburbs. We were anxious for a house with two bathrooms and enough bedrooms for the babies we hope to have. We especially wanted a yard for Gunner, who at almost 4 years old, was definitely a "city" dog.

I think we went into the process thinking that we were prepared. But honestly, we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into. And we kind of did things backwards in that we started househunting and fell in love with something before we had even listed our place to sell. Needless to say, we didn't get that house and we were devastatd. Then it happened again. And again. You'd think we'd have learned our lesson the first time --- don't fall in love with something that you realistically can't have!

Finally, this past week our place went on the market. It took days and hours to get it ready! We staged our home to highlight it's selling features and moved all our extra crap into storage. Then we scrubbed and scrubbed til it shone!

We had our first open house on Saturday and four hours later we received a call from our realtor that we were getting an offer! Holy $%&@! How did that happen so fast?! Being on such a high we were convinced that this was going to be so easy. Ha, oh how much we did not know. The potential buyer had a 75lb lab mix. Our condo association does not allow pets over 30lbs without approval, and we instantly got 3 no's. We were devastated. How dare our neighbors stand in the way of us selling our home?!? (Unrealistic viewpoint #22)

An hour goes by .... and my realtor calls. The potential buyer refuses to give up and asks that the association meet her dog before making a decision. So there I am, three glasses of wine in, banging on our neighbors doors asking them to reconsider. And they agreed!! Hallelujah!

That was yesterday. Today we finally receive the official offer from the buyer. Another low point. The offer was much, much less than what we had expected -- especially from a buyer who it seemed would do anything to buy our place! Hrmph. To the negotiating table we go!

In the meantime while all of this was going on, we had fallen in love yet again with another house. Having this potential buyer meant we had a good shot of our offer being approved -- but it slipped through the cracks as well. Because we weren't able to get the association to approve the dog immediately, we weren't able to put our place "under agreement", and we missed the deadline for the ranch on Hobson. I think that Keith is more devastated than I am. I'm trying to save my energy now since I realize how long this road is going to be, and how many more bumps and turns and ups and downs we'll face. But I have faith. We'll get there. This process is all about timing, and we are just trusting that the right buyer will come along at the right time. And the house we end up buying will be our dream house, because it will have been worth all the stress, waiting and aggravation!

Stay tuned as we continue on this exciting journey :)