Eat Greens, Get Lean

My favorite part of our Thanksgiving dinner was the brussels sprouts dish that my mom made. It was the perfect side dish for turkey, but would be delicious with pork chops or steak. I cleaned up the original recipe from epicurious.com to make it more Paleo-friendy, replacing the butter with coconut oil and omitting the sugar. Turned out delicious!

Give it a try:

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1/2 pound shallots, thinly sliced
Coarse kosher salt
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts, trimmed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup water

Preparation:
Melt 3 tablespoons coconut oil in medium skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and pepper. Sauté until soft and golden, about 10 mins. Add vinegar and sugar. Stir until brown and glazed, about 3 mins.
Halve brussels sprouts lengthwise. Cut lengthwise into thin (1/8-inch) slices. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sprouts; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until brown at edges, 6 mins. Add 1 cup water. Sauté until most of water evaporates and sprouts are tender but still bright green, 3 mins. Add shallots; season with salt and pepper. Yield 8 servings.

Eat greens, get lean!

New Fruit/Veggie Day

I have set another mini-goal for myself. Each week I will try at least one new fruit or veggie (or a new preparation thereof) and blog about it here. I'm not talkin bazaar, Andrew Zimmerman stuff here. I talkin about the plethora of nature's finest that I have omitted from my menu for too long. Mostly because I was a "stick-to-what-you-know" type of girl, not because I have a picky palate. In fact, I think I've established that I love food. ;) Today, my new fruit is a Comice pear from California. I'm eating it raw in two parts for my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks (I'm pairing it with almond butter and turkey to make it Zone-friendly). And the results are in - its delicious! Sweet, juicy with a light crunch, its a prefect fruit to add into my rotation of apples, peaches and berries. This wasn't my first time eating a pear, but it reminded me of a recent episode of one of my favorite shows (and where I borrowed my blog name), Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Charlie eats a pear for the first time and has some interesting reactions: Ha! Love that show!