I'm not sure about your house, but in my home brussels sprouts are a deeply unpopular vegetable, the stuff of righteous and absolute refusal in any form. It is rumored that they were to be part of the food fight in Animal House, but were rejected on the grounds that no college student would have allowed them on their plate.

However, we now know that brussels sprouts are one of a handful of the superfoods sometimes known as "The Mighty Cruciferous" (which actually sounds like a losing sports team to me), and that they are worth eating, if only we can get them past our tastebuds.

Being somewhat distinctive in shape and texture, they are hard to disguise. I've cut them into tiny ribbons for salad, but as soon as my suspicious family took the first bite, the jig was up. Even I must admit, that salad was not my favorite.

I've tried battering them and sending them for a swim in the deep fryer, served up with a side of ketchup. This iteration was also soundly rejected, although I enjoyed the resulting 6 servings of leftovers more than I enjoyed eating the leftover salad.

Enter a food that even a picky toddler can love: bacon. Two years ago, scientists released a study showing that although the price of bacon had nearly doubled, consumption had remained constant. This is what is known by economists as inelastic demand. In other words, bacon has the economic properties of crack.

In my delicious preparation, you take an old cookie sheet lined with foil (because it's not "winning" if you have to clean up bacon grease), and lay down four strips of bacon. Turn the oven to 450 and put the bacon in (put the bacon in a cold oven - no preheating - win!).

Meanwhile, rinse the brussels sprouts, cut off the stem end, pull off any yellow outer leaves and cut each sprout in half.

Within 15-20 minutes, the bacon should be crispy, and the cookie sheet should be covered in fat. Remove the bacon (place it on a paper towel to dry) and put the brussels spouts and any separated leaves on the cookie sheet. Stir until they are coated in bacon grease, then put them back in the oven. In about another 15-20 minutes, you will have brussels spouts so delicious that you will struggle not to eat them all yourself. Salt lightly if needed, and serve.

The leftover bacon is a moral question that only you can answer. In a perfect world, it would be crumbled on top of the brussels spouts, adding extra crispy goodness to this most delicious of cruciferous vegetables. In the real world however, note that the spouts in my photos have no bacon at all.  Oops.

To recap my recipe for brussels spouts:
Family eating superfood: WIN!
Two ingredient recipe: WIN!
Easy cleanup: WIN!
Four leftover pieces of crispy bacon: WIN!

Go team cruciferous!

 ​​If you would like to see my recipes, tips and adventures in cooking every week go to www.ucancook.net and enter your email on the right side. Alternatively, email me at chrisd.williams@yahoo.com and I will set you up!
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When I moved into my first apartment, I thought it would be great to have a few pots of herbs on my balcony. I didn't know what I'd use, but somehow sage captured my imagination. I was lucky enough to purchase the last plant at the garden center and it grew large over the summer. By October, I had still not used my sage and so I decided to roast a chicken and stuff it with some homemade dressing.

I harvested my sage and chopped up what I thought was an appropriate amount. Stirring the sage into my dressing, I decided that it didn't quite have the taste I wanted, so I added more, and after another taste, more again. When my dressing was almost green with sage, I decided I'd added enough and stuffed my chicken. The chicken baked to a shiny golden brown, and I proudly served both the bird and its contents.

"What is this?" my husband asked, pointing to the dressing. "It's homemade dressing, with sage from our balcony." I replied. He tasted cautiously. "That's not sage." We both tasted, and confirmed that he was right. After looking up sage in a plant book, I confirmed that I had lovingly nurtured a weed which I had then used to stuff a roast chicken. Surprisingly (given that he is a decent cook himself) he continued to eat my food with no further reference to this potentially dangerous error. 

While this early attempt at raising herbs was a misstep, there is something to be said for having a few pots of them outside your kitchen door - and this month and next are a good time to start. Most herbs are basically weeds (my "sage" notwithstanding), and are very tolerant of Darwinian gardening. If you'd like to try growing an herb or two, buy some cheap clay pots, potting soil, and one or more of the following perennial herbs:
- Chive (onion taste, pretty edible flowers in the spring, can also be used in landscaping. Great on potatoes or eggs)
- Mint (extremely invasive - grow only in a pot!  Delicious in summer drinks or as a garnish)
- Rosemary (1 - 2' tall, bring indoors below 20 degrees. Try adding to grilled chicken marinade)
- Sage (pretty gray-green leaves on a 12" tall plant; try it in Butternut Squash Soup)
- Thyme (tough little 6" creeping plant; also great in grilled chicken marinade)

​​If you would like to see my recipes, tips and adventures in cooking every week go to www.ucancook.net and enter your email on the right side. Alternatively, email me at chrisd.williams@yahoo.com and I will set you up!