What's For Dinner: Brussels Sprouts and Potato Gratin

Brussels sprouts, potatoes, spinach, a little bit of cream, and a whole lot of cheese make for a delicious holiday side dish. Long story short, you need this Brussels Sprouts & Potato Gratin in your life. 

Thanksgiving is two days away – and if you're on your game you've likely had your holiday menu planned for several weeks. If you're still scrounging around for menu inspiration, have I got a great side dish for you.

This delicious vegetarian side dish features thinly sliced Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced potato rounds, onions, leeks, and spinach. But what makes it ultra-delicious is the addition of cream (well, technically half-and-half), a dash of nutmeg for comforting fall flavor, and plenty of Gruyère cheese. And a layer of bread crumbs on top gives this dish just the right amount of crunch.

Long story short, if there's any room left on your holiday table, you should plan to make this dish to share. It reheats like a dream, so you can even make it in advance and just warm it right before serving. That's a winning dish in my book!

Brussels Sprouts and Potato Gratin
makes 8-10 servings

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 pound red potatoes, cut into 1/8" slices
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut into 1/8" slices
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced leek (white parts only)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces spinach leaves, stems removed
freshly ground black pepper
pinch ground nutmeg
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 cup fresh whole-wheat bread crumbs (2 slices of toasted bread processed into coarse crumbs)
1 cup grated Gruyère cheese
Hungarian paprika

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil spray and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the sliced potatoes and Brussels sprouts and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, leek, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes.
4. Stir in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Stir in the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt, several grinds of black pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and the half-and-half. Stir to thoroughly combine and then carefully transfer to the prepped baking dish.
5. Top with an even layer of bread crumbs and grated cheese. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and just beginning to turn golden. Serve immediately.

(adapted from a recipe in the vegetarian cookbook The Heart of the Plate by Mollie Katzen)

Made From Scratch: Slow Cooker Maple-Bourbon Applesauce

Take a lot of apples, add in a little maple syrup and a shot of bourbon, and with the help of your slow cooker, you'll make some really delicious applesauce.

One of my favorite fall activities is hitting up one of our local apple orchards and picking a peck of apples. This year we had the foresight to visit our favorite orchard on a weekday afternoon, which meant we weren't tripping over crowds of other people, or, perhaps more importantly, have to wait in long lines to get tasty apple treats.

Because, okay, yes, I'm there for picking apples ... but I'm also there (okay, maybe mostly there??) for the delicious freshly-baked apple treats, including apple cider donuts (a must!). This year we started our apple orchard visit with some sweet sustenance – I had a slice of caramel apple pie and hot apple cider while Dustin enjoyed an apple dumpling and hot coffee. Fully satiated, we grabbed a bag for our apples.

This year we picked a peck of cortland apples, which have a sweet and slightly tart flavor – perfect for applesauce. Once back at home, I made a couple different batches of slow cooker applesauce. Each of the batches produced about 2 1/2 pints of applesauce. Instead of canning, I opted to freeze the applesauce I made. It should keep in the freezer for up to three months. Though theoretically you can use glass canning jars in the freezer, I've had bad luck with breakage in the past, so I've been using these plastic freezer jars from Ball instead.

Slow Cooker Maple-Bourbon Applesauce
makes just over 2 pints

4-5 pounds apples, any variety
1/2 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon bourbon
pinch fine sea salt
3 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks

1. Wash the apples. Core, peel, and slice each apple. (I love my handy dandy apple peeler/corer/slicer machine.)
2. Place the sliced apples into the bowl of a slow cooker.
3. Pour in the cider, lemon juice, maple syrup, and bourbon. Sprinkle with salt and stir to combine. Add in the cinnamon sticks. (I like to bury them in the apples.)
4. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours. Stir occasionally.
5. Use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce to a smoother texture if you prefer. Spoon the applesauce into freezer-safe containers. Let the sauce cool slightly before placing the lids on each container and placing them in the freezer. Applesauce can be kept frozen for up to 3 months.

What's Baking: Sugar Cookies with Eggnog Icing

Why serve eggnog with your cookies when you can serve eggnog on your cookies?

A friend of mine recently hosted a cookie exchange and I opted to try something new. Rather than a standard simple vanilla icing, I replaced the milk with eggnog, and voila! Instant holiday flavor.

This sugar cookie recipe, flavored with a hint of almond, hits it out of the ballpark. This recipe is easily doubled, if you plan to bake up cookies for a crowd. I find that a single batch (made with the recipe below) provides plenty of cookies for sharing and still enough to keep around the house. There's nothing more depressing than baking a bunch of cookies to share, and not leaving enough for yourself!

Cutout sugar cookies are definitely a holiday classic – what's your favorite type of cookie to bake this season?

Sugar Cookies with Eggnog Icing (printer-friendly version)
makes about 3 dozen, depending on size of cookie cutters

For the cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

For the icing: 
2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 tablespoons eggnog

sprinkles for decorating, optional

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attached, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions. Stir in the almond extract. Using low speed, stir in the flour mixture in batches. Stir until just combined.
3. Divide the dough in half. Place one half of the dough on a square of plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Cover with the plastic wrap. Repeat with the remaining dough. Chill in the fridge for at least two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Remove one disc of dough from the fridge. Roll the dough out on a lightly-floured surface until 1/8" to 1/4" thick. Cut with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased baking sheet (I like to line mine with a silpat). Bake for 6-8 minutes, or just lightly browned around the edges. Remove immediately from the baking sheet and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
6. While the cookies cool, make the icing: in a medium bowl, stir together the powdered sugar and eggnog. Use more nog for a thinner icing or more for a thicker icing.
7. Pipe, dip, or spread the icing onto your cookies however you like. Decorate with sprinkles. Icing will set to a soft, but not completely dry, consistency.

What's For Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Given that we have a freezer full of whole chickens, a week doesn't pass when we don't have leftover chicken in the fridge. My favorite way to use up leftover cooked chicken is in a soup recipe. And given that our temperatures up here in the Northwoods have been below zero more often than not of late, that soup needs to be hot and spicy.

Enter this recipe for chicken tortilla soup. It's filling, it's warming, and it's spicy without being overwhelmingly hot. I made this in my slow cooker, but you can just as easily make it on the stovetop for a quicker version. A garnish of tortilla strips is always a good idea and gives the soup a little extra crunch ... you could sub in crumbled tortilla chips or, if you have 10 minutes and some soft corn tortillas on hand, you can easily make a batch of your own. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup (printer-friendly version)

makes 6-8 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

3/4 cup chopped red pepper

1 tablespoon minced jalapeño

1/2 cup chopped white onion

2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes with juices

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups shredded chicken

1 can black beans, rinsed

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

For garnish:

tortilla strips

fresh cilantro

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped green pepper, red pepper, minced jalapeño, and chopped white onion and saute until softened, 7-9 minutes.  

2. Stir in the diced tomatoes (and juices), chicken broth, shredded chicken, black beans, and frozen corn kernels. Add the chili powder, ground cumin, and ground coriander and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes. 

3. Garnish each bowl of soup with tortilla strips and fresh cilantro before serving.

You can also make this in the slow cooker! After sauting the peppers and onion, add to the bowl of a slow cooker. Add in the diced tomatoes, chicken broth, and shredded chicken. Then stir in the chili powder, cumin, and ground coriander. Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 2 hours. Twenty minutes before serving, stir in the black beans and frozen corn kernels and cook until warmed through. Serve immediately.