Oven Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, and Onion & Lemon Parmesan Breaded Chicken

Oven Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, and Onion

Ingredients

1 pound of Brussels sprouts, trim of the bottoms and cut into half

1/2 a head of cauliflower, trimmed into florets

2 medium onions, sliced thin

olive oil

4 garlic cloves, smashed

Kosher salt and pepper

pecans, chopped

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 425. Placed all veggies into a 9x13 glass dish. Toss with olive oil, garlic, kosher salt and pepper Bake for 25 minutes. Toss veggies. Add pecans. Cook for 25 more minutes. Add additional salt and pepper, to taste. Serve toss with Parmesan cheese.

Lemon Parmesan Breaded Chicken

4 thin sliced, organic chicken cutlets

olive oil vinaigrette dressing

1 egg

milk

3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Kosher salt and pepper

1/2 lemon

Directions

In a medium bowl, marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes in vinaigrette dressing. In a 9x13 glass dish, lightly coat the bottom with olive oil. In a separate bowl, add an egg with a splash of milk and whisk together. In another bowl, combine Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Put chicken in egg wash and then into bread crumb mixture. Place into glass dish. Bake oven at 425 for 20 minutes. Before serving, top with a squeeze of lemon juice and lemon zest.

Smashed Cauliflower with Feta goes double duty as a Breakfast Faux-tata tomorrow!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am looking to add more diversity to my vegetables when grocery shopping. I never, ever buy cauliflower. So...I bought one. Now what to make with it??? Steamed? Boring. Steamed with cheddar cheese a la it's cousin the broccoli? Too suburban housewife of the 50's. I searched all types of recipes online and will be trying some unique ones in the future. I decided to keep it simple and make smashed cauliflower, similar to mashed potatoes. Chris is spending the night in Charleston, so I figured it would be a good night to try something different. The result - crumbly, nutty cauliflower mixed with salty feta and a hint of spring onion. Not as creamy as regular potatoes, but then again...this side has virtually zero carbs. Bottom line - nice & light. It also doubled as the base for my breakfast tomorrow!

Smashed Cauliflower

Ingredients

1/2 head of cauliflower

2 ozs feta cheese

2 spring onions, diced

Milk, splash

Kosher salt and pepper, optional

Directions

Cut the base and leaves off of the bottom of the cauliflower. Put into a shallow bowl with about 3/4 cups of water. Top with plastic wrap and microwave for about 8 minutes. Drain well. Pat dry. Add the feta, spring onions and a tiny splash of milk. Mash with a potato masher until your desired consistency. (You could transfer cauliflower to a food processor and puree until smooth.) You may have to pull out any long pieces from the stalks. Salt and pepper, to taste. Personally, I left mine without seasoning, as the feta added enough saltiness.

Knowing that Chris may not eat the leftover cauliflower, I was inspired by another recipe that combined cauliflower, feta and eggs. I whipped up a quick breakfast for tomorrow with the leftovers. FYI - a faux-tata is a makeshift frittata, without the fuss of putting in on the stove and then the oven.

Cauliflower and Feta Faux-tata

Ingredients

3 eggs, scrambled

Milk, splash

Leftover smashed cauliflower

Crushed red pepper flakes

Olive oil

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine 3 eggs and milk. Whisk together.

Grease the bottom of a small casserole dish with olive oil. Pour the smashed cauliflower mixture into the bottom of the dish. Add the eggs.

Top with red pepper flakes.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let set before serving.