I don’t know what it is about the new year, but I always feel so dinner inspired in January. I’m always in the mood for basic dinner cookbooks, and this year I’ve been reading through Dinner the Playbook. (Two years ago it was Dinner A Love Story which I carried with me on our trip to Arizona like it was a novel.) I become re-obsessed with meal planning in January, determined to break out of any rut I might have been in. And suddenly in January there seems to be no shortage of new dinner recipes to try, and I’m always determined to make this a year round feeling for those other weeks in late summer or fall when I look at my calendar and have no idea what to make to get us through a week of dinners.
All that to say, this was a new recipe to us and it’s been one of my favorites so far this month.
I know I’m years behind on this, but cooking your brussels sprouts with bacon is absolutely delicious and I’m not sure why I didn’t do this before the year 2015. I actually feel kind of embarrassed by that (thanks to my mom for making brussels sprouts with bacon at her house and finally getting me on board). In the past I’ve only ever roasted brussels sprouts, and they are pretty good, but I think you have to roast them just right and you really do have to use a lot of salt to make the bitterness go away.
But bacon with brussels sprouts seems magical. The salty and smoked flavor of the bacon makes the bitterness of the brussels sprouts disappear.
And when you pair that with a pan seared chicken breast that finishes cooking by simmering in some chicken stock with the brussels sprouts, it becomes a dinner easy enough for a weeknight (and healthy enough for January).
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I love the sound of this! We started off the year with good intentions about meal planning but have already fallen off the wagon…This is a good reminder to get back into it!
This looks awesome. And it’s so funny you mention feeling re-inspired to cook and plan meals in January, because I’ve been feeling the exact same way since we returned from the holidays. I checked out Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes from the library and have been obsessively paging through it.