Moxy Thoughts

It’s September and that means football, chilly nights and winter vegetables all start to become regular fixtures in our lives.  Growing up, I wasn’t a huge fan of Brussel sprouts, but I can tell you the exact day that changed – Thanksgiving 2008.  Our oldest son was about 2 years old and although I absolutely love cooking Thanksgiving dinner, at the time it was too much to think about with everything else going on in our lives.  We decided that for the first time ever we would go out for the holiday and let someone else cook and clean for us – what a revelation!  While it’s not a tradition that we have upheld, it was a really fun and relaxing change to previous years, and we discovered a few new recipes that have become home classics in our household, including Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts.

Now that it’s officially fall, even though the temperature in our part of California doesn’t quite reflect that yet, I’ve started to put the Brussel sprouts in the shopping cart much more often.  This weeknight one-pan dish is a bit of a riff on the classic one that we discovered all those years ago.  Caramelized onions and halved Brussel sprouts with balsamic vinegar and bit of ground cumin and sea salt is a simple classic.  Over that basic combination, I add anything else that I have in the refrigerator that matches those flavors, parsnips, carrots, and a bit of chili peppers from the garden (or the dried kind from the jar when the garden is all finished for the season).

This type of dinner is one pan, takes no more than 30 minutes and somehow feels incredibly satisfying and comforting.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do and please share your versions of this easy weeknight meal!