Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts....a kids worst nightmare, but a foodie's tiny morsel of deliciousness....when cooked right.  I grew up hating them, but it turns out that steaming them, cutting them open, and jamming a pat of butter between them like an ice cream sandwich is not the way to do sprouts. Now this isn't to say that I would have eaten then any other way as a child either, but I know I would not repeat that knowing how delicious they can be.

I have tried a couple of roasted and sauteed Brussels sprouts (yes it's capitalized because they're named after the city) and have been pleasantly surprised.  So when Mom and I were visiting my brother a couple of weekends ago in Wisconsin and he took us to brunch at a local joint called Houdini's and I spotted them on the menu I had to give them a try.

They were amazing! And because I can't just eat a good side dish and be done with it, I decided to recreate it.

*based on the Brussels sprouts appetizer from Houdini's Escape Gastropub

What You Need

6 slices thick cut bacon, crumbled

1lb Brussels Sprouts, quartered or halved

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup 100% pure maple syrup

1/2 cup Buffalo Sauce (I used Moore's)

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

How to Make It

1) Cook bacon in a skillet. I chopped my bacon into thirds and cooked it all at once, so they'd all fit in the skillet. When bacon is crispy, remove from pan, but leave the drippings.

2) Saute Brussels sprouts in bacon dripping over medium high heat, adding just a pinch of salt and pepper. When sprouts are tender and begin to char, they are ready. This takes 10-12 minutes.

3) While the bacon and sprouts are cooking, prepare the sauce: Combine maple syrup, buffalo sauce, butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan, and heat to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the mixture begins to boil, turn the heat down to medium low and simmer 3-4 minutes. I let mine sit on the stove on very low heat until it was time to mix it all together.

4) Once your sauce, sprouts, and bacon are ready, you can assemble the dish. Place the Brussels sprouts in a serving dish. Pour sauce over the sprouts and mix until they're completely coated. Top with bacon and Gorgonzola cheese and serve immediately.

For anyone who is wary of the spiciness, it's not spicy at all.  The maple syrup and butter balance out what little heat the buffalo sauce provides and you're left with delicious and very complementary flavors!

I'd love to be able to say that I nailed this recipe on my first try but as you can see, that was not the case. I was not thinking about it when I was purchasing my ingredients, and bought a bottle of hot sauce, NOT buffalo sauce. As they tell you in elementary school, some things are alike, but they are most certainly the same. Buffalo sauce and hot sauce are prime examples.  Let's just say that my first attempt was way too spicy for Eric to even try.  Luckily I had the presence of mind to not pour it on the Brussels sprouts immediately, and thank goodness there is a Walmart 2 minutes from our house! It was $12 well spent to get some buffalo sauce and another bottle of maple syrup (because I used the entire 1st bottle trying to de-spicy the hot sauce concoction). Live and learn....

...and laugh at yourself on Snapchat!

Happy 240th Birthday America!

Who else is for adding July 5th to the list of national holidays? Anyone? Surely we can get a petition started on this one. Ok then, only if the 4th falls on a weekday...surely this needs to be done. My little booty is dragging this morning for sure!

We did some serious celebrating for the 4th of July this year.  We were in town for the second year in a row after several years of being out of town and we had a blast! It was ridiculously hot all weekend...100+ degrees with heat indexes of 110+ degrees all 3 days....and no rain in sight. As much as I would have liked to stay at our house and swim in the pool, the water felt like a hot bath so it wasn't cutting it.  Instead, we opted to head down to the river where the water never gets above 80 degrees, and the scenery is hard to beat.

It doesn't get much prettier than this!

Saturday we had a crew with us, but Sunday it was just Eric and I so we took the boys with us and those puppies had themselves a time....splashing and playing in the water all day long! Eric went back on Monday to fish and stayed most of the day. I needed a break and had some things to do around the house so I joined him for a couple of hours that afternoon.  We didn't stay too long because we planned to head to Montgomery for fireworks with some friends. We spent the evening outside listening to a band play underneath some giant oak trees and ended our night with a fantastic fireworks show. I hope this becomes a tradition for us because it was so much fun!

 Friday night at Chuck's Marina: Top: sunset from the new top deck! Bottom Left to Right: 1) Chimney Rock Pizza...totally worth the hour and a half wait. I promise! 2) Refreshing beverages taste better on the lake...I'm sure of it. 3) The boys watching the band below. They have built on to one of our favorite summer spots on the lake and it's so much bigger now!  We all agreed they could add some fans upstairs, and we cannot wait for the new pizza kitchen to open up! 

Where else can you find glassy water on 4th of July weekend?! And that sunset over the cotton fields? Swoon!

 Clearly we're dog people. As if you couldn't tell.

Hawk and Peanut attempted to show Beau the ropes at the river, but he was a little intimidated.  Top Row: Beau's favorite place to ride (besides curled up on my lap) vs. Hawk and Peanut's favorite place to ride.  Bottom: Hawk and Peanut playing in the water vs. Beau "playing" in the water. In his defense there was a dog there that nearly drowned him trying to play with him when we first got there so he was a little hesitant.

 Boat ride with my guy!

 4th of July band before the fireworks show! They were fantastic!

The end of a fantastic holiday weekend!

Hope you had a great 4th!

Magic Cups

Happy Friday!!! And happy 4th of July Weekend! I've tried to be patriotic with my work attire all week, and I think I have successfully worn almost every red white and blue color combination outfit I own. #teamamerica

This week have been sooooo much less crazy than last week...thank goodness! I don't think I could have taken another week like that. And even though I didn't make it to the gym a single day, I stayed busy so I'll call it a win...I even cooked 3 out of 4 nights!

I'm sure by now you've heard of the ridiculously priced YETI Tumblers that everyone is obsessed with. The 30oz cups run $40 a pop, and while they are fantastic cups....it's just a cup. A couple of months ago I heard about Walmart's Ozark Trail version of them that are only $10, and people have been going nuts about them because in side-by-side comparisons, they do the same things the YETI cups do at 1/4 of the price. Needless to say every Walmart and Walmart.com was sold out of them for weeks. I figured that they might restock after Father's Day and last week they finally did! I was able to snag 3 of them for us.  I initially bought just 2, but Eric took both of them on his trip to the beach last weekend, and although I threatened to not let him back in the house if he didn't come home with both cups I went and bought one more as an insurance policy for myself.

via

I can honestly say I am impressed with the cups.  I take water everyday to work, but I drink it on the way there and leave it in my car (because I take my coffee cup inside with me and I don't have enough hands for 2 cups plus my keys and phone and purse and whatever else I'm hauling in that day). It stays in my car in the parking deck all day and is still full of ice when I leave.  My Tervis I used to use would be cold, but no ice left. And if I ran errands at lunchtime the water in my Tervis would be hot. The other day I went to lunch with some coworkers and my car sat in the parking lot of the restaurant in the hot (100+ degree) sun for over and hour. When I got back in I looked in my cup and the ice was STILL intact! And I had cold water for my drive home!..which came in handy because I got stuck in traffic because of a wreck on the interstate that had me sitting for 2 hours! I leave work at 3:30 and have a 45 minute commute anyway, but that night I didn't get home until after 6pm....I was not a happy camper.

And in case you're wondering....he DID bring both cups home so I let him back in the house =)

So yeah those cups are basically awesome and totally worth it.  Looking at the 100+ degree high temps we're supposed to have this weekend, I know our cups are going to come in quite handy.

I am also happy to report that the boys are all back to normal...well if you call having 3 pups normal then we're normal, I guess. Needless to say we did not come home to any messy surprises this week and everyone was able to eat normal food and no doggy meds!  Do we still have a ridiculously rambunctious puppy? Yes. Do we still have 2 sweet boys who are still just "tolerating" said puppy? Yes.  I can't blame them though; a 13 week puppy has more energy than you can imagine. I got him a rope/tire toy at Walmart the other day and we've spent at least 30 minutes a night playing tug with it. He will fetch it up, and bring it right back but then he just wants to tug and tug and tug. Hawk and Peanut don't mind it because they get to enjoy the break from him biting their ears/tails/etc.

Little brothers are the worst! 

I hope everyone has a happy and Safe 4th of July Weekend! Go eat some cake (or drink some beer..whatever floats your boat) and celebrate!