Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Butternut Squash

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Um two days from now it’s November. WHAT? How did THAT happen?

First of all, don’t forget to change your clocks back Saturday night/Sunday morning. I’d like to go on the record here and state how incredibly STUPID and pointless daylight savings time is. I read an article a few years ago about how it’s pretty useless now and more of a pain than a benefit and we should do away with it. I 1000000% agree and could rant for a good 3 paragraphs here butttttt I’ll spare you 🙂

Next, THANKSGIVING! (side note, did you all hear about REI being closed on Black Friday? Read about it here. I wish every store would follow suit but that’s another topic I could go on a rant about and again, I’ll spare you, you’re welcome 🙂 )

Now serious time. It’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving day menu!! Some families make the same items year after year after year. And hey, there’s nothing wrong with that! But if you’re like me and physically can’t seem to make the same thing twice, then you probably get so excited to try new recipes every year!!

There are some flavors that scream fall and cold weather and family comfort time to me. Rosemary, sweet potato, pumpkin, sage, brussels sprouts, cranberry I could go on. Not to say I don’t eat those flavors throughout the year but you know what I mean. Turkey usually get to be the star of the show but for me, I’m obsessed with the sides. Stuffing, potatoes (yes both, you can’t skip either one) veggies, cranberry…

whoooaaa. I’m drooling.

But fo’ realzzzz that’s where flavors can shine! Turkey, meh, turkey can be good or bad (best Turkey I ever had was one that had been brined and then roasted….ohhhh mamma it’s to die for. Do it…) but it generally stays the same from year to year no experimentation. Sides! You can mix it up all the time. Different types of stuffing, different flavors in your potatoes, different roasted veggies and a million other things.

A few weeks ago I came across these BEAUTIFUL fresh local brussels sprouts and wanted to try a new flavor mix up. Enter this healthy and delicious fall flavored side dish. It’s packed with flavor, super easy to make, and healthy/low fat! I eat brussels sprouts like they’re going out of style but this is a great way to maybe sneak some into your menu and try to trick those that are too afraid to try them “don’t like them”.20151007_184353ALWAYSSUMMER (3)BEFOREOMGGG so good. Look at that roasty goodness.The cranberries get a little bit caramelized/chewy in the oven and every single thing about this dish is perfection.

I hope you make this (even if not for Thanksgiving) and enjoy it! Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo669058772380712020613

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Butternut Squash

Salted Caramel Popcorn

Salted Caramel Popcorn

20150925_180539So if you know me at all, you know I’m OBSESSED with popcorn.

Obsessed is probably not even giving my love of popcorn justice but I can’t come up with a stronger adjective right now 🙂

My favorite popcorn topping is nutritional yeast (ummm wipe that look of your face, it’s delicious). But truth be told, I’ve never met a popcorn I didn’t really like.

One day when I was working browsing through Pinterest (but seriously how can I get a job doing that?) I came across a post on caramel popcorn. I’m more of a salty and sweet type of girl so I thought why not make salted caramel popcorn?

Well point for me! Because it turned out amazing. One tip (careful of unpopped kernals! If they’re mixed in with your caramely clusters you could hurt your teeth! ( I didn’t do that or anything…)  Enjoy!!
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ALWAYSSUMMER (2)3546Call me cliché but I made this and ate it while watching Scandal. It was a perfect night! 🙂

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All Whisked Up! {Choripán Recipe}

 {Choripán}

Our fave (1)This week’s post is extra special!

Also a little longer than normal (bear with me)….let me explain!

Recently I became a member of a blogging group called Wisconsin Whisk. It’s a group of food bloggers in the great state of Wisconsin. The main goal is to connect bloggers in Wisconsin together with each other as well as with local producers, sponsors, advertisers to really nuture a community of support. As of right now, there are close to 40 blogs that are members! The majority are located around the Madison, Wisconsin area but there is certainly an impressive footprint of Wisconsin covered, from Eau Claire all the way down to Milwaukee and everywhere in between. Here is a list of members. Check them out! And if YOU are a food blog located in Wisconsin, consider joining!cropped-banny3_1A month or so ago, we had a first sort of ‘meet and greet’ event where some of us close to Madison got together to meet each other face to face and briefly cover what the goals of Whisk are and brainstorm ideas and discuss what members wanted to see Whisk help them accomplish.

One of the things we discussed was a sort of secret santa recipe swap if you will. The idea would be that if you wanted to participate you could put your name in a virtual bucket and you would be then be assigned another blog to go and research and find a recipe of theirs you wanted to try. You would make the recipe and document and photograph in your own style. Then those participating would unveil their “secret” recipes at the same date and time! We decided to call the event, All Whisked Up!

None of us know who is assigned our blog until posts are published (that’s today!).

My ‘assignment’ was to check out Kristin over at Everyday Celebrations.

Kristin describes herself as : “A former teacher turned wife, mom of 5, and author of Everyday Celebrations. She shares recipes and tips for celebrating life’s memorable moments and everyday celebrations. Some days celebrate a certain food, idea, or activity. Sometimes a day is set aside to remember or to increase awareness of a need. Each and every day should be celebrated by spending time with family and friends enjoying whatever time we are given”

Personally I absolutely love the positivity and gratitude that is practiced through finding the good in every day and having little celebrations all the time! Not to mention my admiration for a mom of 5 finding time to blog!

While looking through Kristin’s blog one of her posts and recipes really stood out to me. Kristin had a post highlighting when she made Choripan and I couldn’t help but try to make it myself.

What the hellllllz is choripan you ask? Ohhhh, sit tight, you’re gonna want to pay attention.

Super high level: Choripan is a type of sandwich that is incredibly popular in South America, most notably Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, and a ton of others!

It’s name comes from a combination of it’s ingredients chorizo (chori) and bread (pan). It’s basically an fancy adult version of the american hot dog. Chorizo sausage grilled to perfection, split down the middle and served on crusty bread with chimichurri and pickled onions (that’s the most popular method).

Through my research I found that while most recipes you will see call for Chorizo, not all chorizo is the same. Normally when someone says Chorizo you think of mexican chorizo which has that classic red color needs to be removed from it’s casing and ends up as ground meat. But there are many different kinds of chorizo. Spanish chorizo even has many version all depending on the locale. But most notably, Brazilian and Argentinian Chorizo is made with pork sausage which is very closely related to italian sausage and has similar flavors with more heat and less fennel flavors.

I looked at every.single.type. of chorizo that was available at my grocery store and tried to pick the one that was like what’s described above. I decided to give two of them try for comparison. Both were actually very good but I would pick the Usingers brand over Klements. Probably just personal preference but I like the consistancy (less crumbly, more sturdy) and the taste (more robust) better than the other. Both were great and totally tasty though!
Our fave

flag_of_brazil_heart_sticker-rd0816af7c62d425787003e4c3b1597b1_v9w0n_8byvr_1024I have a special place in my heart for Brazil (Brasíl  ❤ ) from my travels there when I was in high school. And actually had choripan while I was there! This brought back memories for me and the chimichurri was like a walk down memory lane for my taste buds. This post and recipe was fun to make and even more fun and delicious to eat.

Kristin is keeping her recipe for her chimichurri on lock down 🙂 so we made our own version but stayed true to her vision. So without further adieu, here is our take on choripán!
20151004_164217444444 ALWAYSSUMMER (1)I pan fried my sausages
20151004_162423and made the chimichurri
20151004_163058and the pickled onions & tomatoes
20151004_163226it was such a beautiful spread I couldn’t help but snap more photos!
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20151004_162912Then you put it all together!

I slathered both sides of the bread with chimichurri and then placed the sausage on top, garnished with pickled onions and tomatoes and squished together.
20151004_16393722222And take a big bite
20151004_16432533333My favorite part was definitely the chimichurri. I actually used the leftovers a few days later on a baked chicken. Just stuffed some under the skin of the chicken and rubbed it down all over. It seriously tasted so good. You might will have some left over of this so experiment, have fun, and find another use!20151004_162630Whew! Done with pictures 🙂 This was really super delicious and Jake loved it, I loved it, so unique and flavorful. You should definitely give this recipe a try.

Also make sure to check out all the other blogs and member of Wisconsin Whisk! You can click on the little blue frog link down at the bottom to see all the other members who are participating in the recipe swap!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

xoxo

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To view all the other All Whisked Up recipes, click here:

 

*Here is the inspiration post from everydaycelebrations

Fresh 5 Minute Salsa

Fresh 5 Minute Salsa

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ohhh helllooo my fraaands.

Did anyone else have tomato overload at the end of the season? Like I ate cherry tomatoes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for about 2 weeks straight. I loved it, but just explaining the depth of my tomato haul.

After eating so many that I get a belly ache, canning and freezing…one of my favorite things to do is make SALSA!

My hubs and I eat ungodly amounts of salsa. Seriously I put it on eggs, rice, chips (duh) and way too many other things.

This salsa recipe is one of the easiest things a person can make. Cooking skill required on a scale from 1-10…

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I only say that because you need to be able to identify ingredients, other than that….easiest. thing. ever.

You need to try this out. Even if you don’t have your own tomatoes or aren’t drowning in any you need to try it.

It’s so good.

Like you know when you go to Mexican restaurants and they give you the house chips and salsa and you eat your body weight in them and then your meal comes and you can’t even look at it?

oh what? Don’t lie…you do it too.

Well this salsa is that good. So I’ll stop talking now and lets get to the good stuff!

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*drooool*

Hope you enjoy! Have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

xoxo

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