Rain-y Day Food

I love to be in the kitchen when it's raining out. Chopping veggies with the window open so I can hear the rain... it's just so comforting. And this dish was the perfect cozy weather food. It's filling, colorful, warm, and quick to put together with ingredients you may already have in your pantry and fridge. This skillet meal IS BRIMMING with veggies, but I evened that out with some turkey bacon and pure maple syrup. I had to, I couldn't help myself.

Look at that satisfying pile of veg!

This is easily made with substituted veggies, anything you have on hand or like.
And next time I might try a savory version with a balsamic vinegar or reduction instead of the maple syrup, and toss in some spices. Spices was something I over looked this time around, I was thinking about it afterward and a pinch of nutmeg would have complemented the dish well.

Maple Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Yeild: 3-4 servings
1 lb. brussels sprouts, quartered
1 large sweet potato, diced
6 strips (turkey) bacon or about 2/3 cup meat/substitute of choice (it would be great with beans for a vegan version)
1 large onion, diced
2 T maple syrup
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the turkey bacon and set aside. Allow to cool while the rest of the ingredients are cooking. When cool, chop into pieces.
(If you are making a vegan version, cook any meat substitute...even the beans! And set aside.)
2. Carmalize the onions in the bacon drippings that are left in the pan (for a vegan version use any oil you like, olive or even coconut would be great...you only need enough so the onions can caramalize and don't stick to the pan)
3. Add the chopped sweet potato.
4. When the sweet potato is still somewhat firm (does al dente only apply to pasta?) add the quartered brussels sprouts. Allow this to cook for a few minutes until tender.
5. Add the bacon or whatever you previously cooked back into the mix.
6. Drizzle the maple syrup over the cooked veggies. Stir, flip, mix the veggies...do whatever you have to to get that maple-y goodness distributed.
Salt and pepper to taste.
7. ENJOY

Cheers,
     Suzy