Deb's green beans and lemony pasta

It should not have been a surprise to me that Deb makes cooking look so easy.  Like inspire me to make a two-layer cake easy.  When I was browsing smitten kitchen for dinner ideas, I landed on spaghetti with lemon and olive oil.  Mouth begins to water.  And in the post she mentions she served these green beans.  Mouth watering intensifies.



I know that making a meal with two dishes is no big deal for many people.  But I'm someone who might just eat chips and salsa for dinner if I can't be bothered to cook.  For me, this was on par with Thanksgiving.  (I actually did make these green beans for a thanksgiving potluck!)




Let's just say that the process wasn't too graceful. Things got a little frantic. But the result was pretty darn good!

deb's brussel sprouts

This is my first time making brussel sprouts, and I've only eaten them a few times.  I bought a bag of sprouts with the intention of making them as part of Christmas dinner, but with only two mouths to feed (mine and Jill's), we had more than enough food without them.  I followed a smitten kitchen recipe for dijon braised brussel sprouts.


The setup.  And yes, I'm starting to cook dinner at 8:30pm - gah!


Getting sauced. (And not because I have a whole bottle of wine minus half a cup to finish.)


The finished product!

At my first bite, I was a little skeptical; I like my vegetables on the raw side, maybe blanched, and these were a little mushy.  But some of them had pretty crunchy pan marks, and the shallots were so good, and the sauce was tasty, and the more I ate, the more convinced I became that I like brussel sprouts.  Which is a good thing, because I'll be finishing these off for a while.  I guess it's only natural to eat Christmas leftovers until New Year's.