I’ve mentioned this in the past but I’m going to take a moment to emphasize how important simple, yet delicious, cooking is to me. Thus, today I’m going to share with you my new favorite hippie dinner: baked and broiled brussels sprouts, sweet potato fries and brown rice. Here are the super simple steps to hippie dinner perfection.
The ingredients are so simple, I don’t even need to vertically list them out! Just brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes (not yams!), brown rice, olive oil, nutmeg and some S&P.
Let’s start with the sweet potato fries. For some reason I blanked this time around and didn’t peel the sweet potatoes. But for you folks, I definitely recommend peeling those babies.
I don’t have a fancy tool for this, so I literally just put my horrible knife skills to work. Choppy, choppy, choppy. Those look like fries, right?
Spread out your fries on their own baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. The secret ingredient here is to sprinkle some nutmeg on them. But be careful! Too much and it will overpower your fries.
Let’s talk brussels sprouts. First thing first, blanching and shocking the sprouts is KEY to making them edible (yes, that does sound like a military term…BLANCH AND SHOCK BOYS!). Bring a pot of water to a boil and then dump the whole sprouts in and let them boil for two to four minutes (or until they are tender). After boiling, transfer the sprouts to an ice bath. I get lazy and just drench them in cold water which works fine as well. This blanch and shock technique cooks the sprouts on the inside, and the cold water “shocks” the veggie and prevents it from cooking any further. Mushy sprouts are never a good thing.
Once you’ve blanched and shocked, halve each sprout and spread them out on a baking sheet of their own. Toss with olive oil and S&P.
So here’s where I get extra lazy: I pop both sheets of veggies into an oven than has been preheated to 450 degrees. Because you have two sheets in at once and one is closer to the heat than the other, you need to pay special attention to ensure that you are flipping the veggies and ensuring they don’t burn. I’ll usually set a timer for 10 minutes and will rotate the trays within the oven, for a total cooking time of about 20 minutes. After those 20 minutes, I’ll switch the over to a broil on high to get that extra crispy top layer. Watch these carefully as they should take no longer than five minutes and broiling can burn your hippie dinner pretty quickly.
Add some brown rice and like that, you’ll have a delicious little hippie dinner that will make your stomach smile and your body will thank you later.
Happy Running!
P.S. Did you know that it’s actually “brussels sprouts” and not “brussel sprouts” (the extra “s”). Who knew?!
I eat roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato fries all. The. Time. Love. They are two of my favorite foods!
mmmm both of thses are staples for me…although blanching the b sprouts is new to me. i usually just roast them! and my fave way to eat sweet potato fries is smothered in ketchup. YUM!
I am not a fan of brussel spouts at all but this actually sounds really good. Thanks for sharing
Have you ever added a little sugar to your sweet potato fries? there is a place near me that makes their fries with sugar and salt and they are really good! I haven’t tried to make it myself but it seems like it might work well!
These are both things that I want to try to make, so thanks for all of the tips! I’ll be a healthy, hippie eater in no time. 🙂
I love brussels sprouts, but have never blanched them before roasting! I didn’t know you had to…would definitely cut down on the roasting time. I love to roast them in an 8×8 pan with mushrooms and soy sauce or worcestershire sauce. I also really want to make sweet potato fries one of these days. Yum!
I love love LOVE sweet potato fries. I’m not much of a cook (I prefer to bake), but this recipe looks so simple. I’m going to try it!
So healthy! Wish I could be good like you!
yum!!! i’ve put b.sprouts in soups before, but didn’t know what else to do with them! thanks!
xo! and happy blog bday!
LOVE BRUSSELS SPROUTS!!! That dinner looks delicious!
you had me at “sweet potato fries!” and i didn’t know about nutmeg! i’m gonna have to try it!
This whole meal looks delish! I love how simple it is. Also, totally did not know that about blanching/shocking the brussel sprouts. Erm, I mean “brussels” sprouts. Wow, that looks weird, haha!
I love me some homemade sweet potato fries!!
I’ve never tried the shock method with the brussels sprouts before. Will give that a go.