Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Brussel sprouts always seem to be listed along with broccoli as a nasty, nasty vegetable that kids have nightmares about. I'm sure I had some as a child and found them quite disgusting, and growing up they are not something I ever found on my plate at meal times. Well, considering that Justin and I love broccoli, I thought it was only fair to give brussel sprouts another chance when we were looking for a little more vegetable variety.

We tried some frozen sprouts, and they were ok but not spectacular. While looking around online for good ways to cook them, I heard a lot of talk about how delicious & crunchy they were roasted and was eager to give it a try myself. And they were right! If you've never felt love for the little sprouts, you've got to give roasting a try.



It's pretty simple ~ Leave the tiniest sprouts as-is and cut the rest in half (or even thirds, if they are huge). Arrange them on a baking sheet, along with all of the little leaves that fell off during cutting, and drizzle lightly with olive oil, tossing to coat. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 400 for 20 minutes...

At this point the scattered leaves will probably be quite brown, so you'll want to remove those to keep them from burning and flip all of the sprouts over while you are at it. Roast for about 20 minutes more (feel free to snack on those tasty leaves while you wait), until the sprouts are nicely browned on both sides. They should be soft on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside. (Last time we let them get very browned all over and they were still great)

It's a super easy side to whip up & bake alongside a casserole ~ delicious!