I saw this recipe over at The Pioneeer Woman and decided to give it a try. I love the combination of flavors, especially the tartness from the cranberries. I also think it’s an impressive side dish to serve with just about anything. Did you notice that I keep posting cranberry recipes? I’m obsessed. hehe 🙂 Oh, and a quick note… remember to drizzle on the Balsamic reduction. It’s very sweet so you will want to add it to taste.
And Happy New Year everyone! I wanted to share my new year resolution with everyone, but I really don’t have just one big resolution. So instead I came up with a list of little things I want to do this year.
Here we go!
- Make curtains for the living room
- Make sushi
- Grow as many tomatoes as possible so that I can make sauces for the winter
- Take a small road trip with hubs, Mimi, and Emmett
- Drink more water
- Become more organized… come up with a daily routine
- Sew an outfit for Mimi or Emmett… or a blanket, toy…. anything at all
- Repurpose my old clothing
- Cook a lobster
- Buy a new camera and learn how to use it
- Buy a domain and create a new banner
- Do something spontaneous, crazy, wacky, insane…. or just something a little different 🙂
- Paint the trim in the house…. oh my gosh we’ve been putting that off forever
- Make croissants (yikes…)
- Backup, organize, etc. my computer (especially the pics and videos)
- Teach Mimi some French words
- Learn to like….. *gulp*….. parsnips… bleck!
- Make a fancy dinner and invite my parents over
- Stop procrastinating
- Learn more about meat… I mean thoroughly understand the different cuts of meat, the names, everything…. buy a book and study it
I REALLY wanted to add “make pottery” to the list because it’s really a dream of mine, but that’s an expensive hobby so I’m going to wait on that one (especially since I plan to work on my photography skills). hehe But hey… even if I accomplish nothing on this list, it will still be a great year. I am surrounded by my family and that makes each year amazing.
Happy New Year everyone!
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and Balsamic Reduction
Serving Size = 16 (I cut this down to 3 servings)
Original Recipe: The Pioneer Woman
- 3 lbs Brussels Sprouts
- 1/2 cup Olive Oil (EVOO)
- Salt, to taste
- 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar (I will reduce this to 1/4 cup next time, see the note below)
- 1 cup dried cranberries (I used fresh and increased the amount a bit)
Note: You could leave the sugar out of the reduction and it would work. I think it should be sweet, so I would add some but I think next time I will reduce the sugar by at least half.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Clean and trim the Brussels sprouts. Place onto a baking sheet (or dish) and toss with some oil. Sprinkle on just a bit of salt. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until brown.
- In the meantime, start the reduction. In a medium saucepan mix together the vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook until very thick (about 15 – 20 minutes). Click here for a picture of reduced Balsamic.
- When the Brussels sprouts are done, I throw the cranberries on top of them and let them cook 1 additional minute just to warm them up (the cranberries will break a bit).
- Before serving, drizzle on the reduction to taste.