Brussell Slaw

I read this idea in a health magazine, but my oh my is it a winner! Probably because they didn't intend on slathering it in a creamy mayo based dressing, but as I always say life is about balance, and this particular practically claimed that Brussell Sprouts are the healthiest thing going. I claim that they are darn tasty! Take a peek:

I have always liked my Brussel Sprouts, but for those of you who don't this is an awesome way to get yours in. And it is totally worth it because they are basically little parcels of healthy vitamins and minerals.

Salad:

5 cups of brussel sprouts
1 carrot
1/4 red onion

Dressing:

1 cup mayo
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
salt & pepper

I toss the carrot through the food processor on the grate option and then put on the slicer and put trimmed and cleaned brussel sprouts through along with the onion. Mix up the dressing ingredients tasting and adjusting as you see fit. Then toss the veggies through it. I always top my slaw with sunflower seeds, but only at the end otherwise they get all soggy.

Roasted Beet and Green Bean with Creamy Roasted Garlic Dressing


What to do with so much roasted garlic? Put it in a creamy, dreamy dressing and drizzle it over carmalized veggies ofcourse! You need to have balance right, healthy beets that can do funny things to the color of your pee and green beans make it feel alright to smoother creamy, garlicy goodness all over it, and it couldn't be any easier to make. *Bonus if you make extra, you can use it for any other salad later in the week.

Would you call this a salad? I'm not sure, when I was growing up I got alot of comments from my little friends about how my Mom didn't put lettuce in her salad, she thought it was just a filler, so our dinner salad resembled a greek salad with out the olives, and feta aka mostly chopped veggies so I suppose my view of salad may be different but it was delicious! Also I think out here in the culinary world lettuce doesn't mean salad, - You want to know a huge pet peeve of mine; people who call lettuce salad! Its not salad! Its lettuce!
Wow I didn't realize that I had all of this salad baggage... but it sure feels good to let it out!

Anyways... heres the recipe:

Roasted Garlic Salad Dressing

1/2 C Mayo
1/2 C Sour Cream
1 Head Roasted Garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
S&P

I just whizzed all of this up with a hand blender to emulsify the garlic, you can play with the amount of lemon juice until it gets to a drizzley consistancy but it should be 1 good lemon, maybe more if yours aren't so juicy!

For the veggies I chopped the Beet in half and then sliced into 1/2 moons about 1/4 inch thick, snipped both ends off the green beans (I think they look prettier this way, feel free to be lazy and only chop one end if you want) drizzle with Extra Virgin, sprinkle with S&P and roast in a 400 degree oven, it took my oven about 1/2 hr, just take them out when they are tender and carmalized, put them on a pretty plate, My Aunt made the one in the picture above, and drizzle with the dressing. Mmmm... here's another though sliced almonds roasted with the veggies, I'll give that a try next time!
Ta for now!

A Burgasm... yup I said it!

Purists look away!

My idea of an amazing burger has toppings. I do not come from the school of purists when it comes to meat and bun goodness, I always overdo it with the toppings and this was no exception.
A whole wheat kaiser bun toasted and topped with a roasted portobello mushroom, topped with a juicy roasted garlic burger, topped with Swiss cheese, topped with vine ripened tomatoes, topped with creamy avocado, topped with my version of a special sauce. This sucker is not for the faint hearted - Rachael Ray move over! This beef burger is sheer burgasmic!


The toppings were easy, slice the tomatoes, avocado, pop some portobello mushroom caps in the oven that have been drizzled in Extra Virgin and sprinkled with Salt and Pepper until roasted to golden delicious. The secret sauce is as follows:

1/4 c mayo
1/8 c Dijon mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
1/8 c diced onion
s&p

Once again I will tell you that I am not very precise on the measurements, I often mix it up, taste it and add what I want, and honestly for a burger sauce that's what you need to do, I think that for this burger though the Dijon is important because it cuts through all of the richness of the avocado, the mushroom well the whole damn thing is rich!

The Burger:

1 lb of ground beef
1 egg
1 clove of roasted garlic
2 tbsp minced red pepper
1/4 cup minced onion
salt and pepper
Swiss Cheese

Go on get your hands messy and mix all of that up, divy it up into 4 equal sections and cook as you like, on the BBQ or in a pan, melt some Swiss on top and assemble as follows:
Bun
Sauce
Avocado
Tomato
Burger topped with cheese
Mushroom
Sauce
Bun

Burger making tip: Seasoning you burger can be tricky, I don't like to advise on an exact amount because everyone likes it differently, a good way to test is to make a tiny little burger, a little taste tester, fry it up and give it a taste to see if you need more.

Serve with just a couple oven fries, trust me you won't have very much room left after you eat this sucker!