December 27, 2013

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Color schemes are so intimidating!!! I'm trying to plan out my sitting room, it's the trickiest. The couch pillows have green and blue in them, and I've decided on super pale blue for the walls. 
I don't want to go green, because the couch is a very in-between color (grey-green-light taupe) and I don't want to bring out more green in it, I'd rather bring out the grey-taupe. But then what do I do for the carpet/rug? More blue? Or is that too matchy-matchy? Grey? Brown, or is that too much brown?? I don't want it all one color, or even two, but I have no idea what colors work together! 

This, to me, is too matchy. Not what I'm going for.

I love this, but is there too much going on? It would let me add touches of red, which are my favorite... What do you think?? I'm starting from scratch here, any advice would be welcome!!
What do you think?? I'm starting from scratch here, any advice would be welcome!! Help me decorate my house! My next step is a rug, so I need to decide what colors are good options. Help!!



Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon (adapted from The English Kitchen)
Printable Recipe

4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
1 pound fresh brussels sprouts
1/4 red onion, diced small (or a shallot or two)
2 tsp fresh thyme
1 Tb butter
salt and pepper

First, prepare your sprouts. Rinse, cut off the ends remove the loose outside leaves. Slice sprouts in half (or more if they're large).

Heat a pan on medium-high heat.  Add bacon, and cook till it starts to get crispy. Add onion and butter, and cook till onion is softened. Add sprouts and thyme, and cook till the edges just start to brown. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, and serve!
Yep, this is a re-post, but the original pictures were atrocious!! In-season brussels sprouts, well-prepared, are seriously becoming one of my favorite vegetables. Before I started experimenting, I had only ever had them steamed. But now I've had them sauteed, steamed, broiled, even deep-fried! Oh man, the fried ones were insanely good... Anyway. This is our go-to. Our favorite.
Every winter, when we see the stalks of fresh sprouts start appearing in the grocery stores, we start getting excited! Now I know why they're a classic British holiday side. They can be so yummy!! Even my boys like them! And bacon makes everything awesome, doesn't it?
Salty bacon, sweet caramelized onions, roasty toasty sprouts... So good! I tend to claim leftovers, even if they get all floppy, they still taste scrumptious!

5 comments :

  1. I don't like matchy-matchy rooms either! I'm no decorator, but I think an oriental-style rug makes a beautiful foundation for a room. If it feels too "busy" for you, maybe you could find a tweed pattern that includes the colors you want to use. Or you could go with the taupe you like, and add your red and blue and whatever else in the accents. Maybe you could find a site with one of those "tools" that lets you plug in different colors in a setting to see how well they go together? - like HGTV, Lowes, BH&G or one of those places. You could put together your own "design board" with color and pattern swatches to see what combinations please your eye (maybe you can even do it online somehow).

    Remember it's YOUR home and you probably don't need to worry about Martha Stewart showing up with a critique of your design choices. Go with what you love and can live with! And good luck!!

    Marty in PA

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  2. There's a site www.colorcombos.com that has dozens of color combinations to check out. #191 under Gray reminded me of your pillow, but I think you can mix & match your own combos as well. I found it through a new blog from Brenda of Cozy Little House (who really likes red!); there's a link from CLH and the color blog has other links for color sites. Actually you could get kind of lost just checking out other blogs from the CLH site, I often do!

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    Replies
    1. Wow, thank you so much, Marty!! These websites are awesome!! Those color combos help a lot, and I'm going to be spending hours on CLH. Thank you for the help!
      ~April

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  3. You're welcome, glad I could help! And yes, those sites can be quite addictive. Happy surfing!

    BTW the Brussels Sprout recipe sounds awesome.....

    Marty in PA

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  4. Bacon makes everything taste better April! It really does and it goes with anything! I am not great with decorating. I have never lived in a house where I was allowed to do much of anything to the colour scheme, except for the one my ex and I built together. I always liked the look of wall paper on one wall and then paint on the other four. Dated I know . . . Love you! I am sure it will look lovely no matter what you do! xxoo

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