Recipe Copycat: Shredded Sprouts Salad and PB Shake

Tonight I will review 2 recipes borrowed from other blogs.

Last night I cooked up a little brussel sprouts recipe (Shredded Sprouts Salad), thanks to this recipe over at How Sweet it Is.  I ate a little bit of it last night, and brought the rest for lunch today.

Check it out.  Here are the ingredients:

• 2 cups whole brussel sprouts
• 1/2 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 slice bacon, fried and crumbed
• 1/2 ounce grated asiago cheese
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Brussel Sprouts in the food processor - Before

After

My food processor really chopped the sprouts into tiny shreds; I don't know how to chop them less.  Despite having some chopped into tiny tiny pieces, there were still a couple bigger chunks left in there, which I just took out and cut with a knife. 13 sprouts was too many for our little 2-cup capacity food processor; I had to split the sprouts into 2 shifts.

I couldn't be tempted by buying a whole package of bacon in the fridge.  I last bought a package of bacon about a month ago, and I don't want to get into a regular habit of buying tasty bacon.  So, I got one thick slice of ham from the deli to add a little of that flavor; not quite the same though.

I'm also all about short cuts, and let's face it, sometimes it's easier to take a little scoop of garlic out of jar than it is to peel and chop a clove of garlic, and end up with a stinky garlicky hand.  So, that's what I did.

In the pan.

In my bowl (After the addition of balsamic vinegar).

It was pretty good last night! And actually I ended up eating it cold for lunch today.  I skipped on the cheese as I didn't have asiago on hand, and I didn't know that it needed cheese.  I am enjoying expanding my brussel sprouts horizons.

Today I was feeling a strong urge for junk food.  At work, this meant having a mini Snickers bar stashed in my desk.

When I got home, I was very tempted to grab something greasy and delicious from the nearby pizza place.  It doesn't help that they appear to pump garlic out of their air vents in the direction of my apartment!

After dinner, I made a shake a la Superficial Endeavors.
She had referenced a shake she tried with PB, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Honey.  I decided not to use honey.  I had Edy's Slow Churned Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream (Vanilla w/mini PB cups and a PB swirl).

I cracked open my new Trader Joe's peanut butter- and sampled some.  It's good.  And I used the Vanilla almond milk in the fridge.

Final result: delicious!  And very airy.  Of course, not like a real milk shake though. Since I used light ice cream and not-whole milk  That's how you make a real one.  I liked this (how could I not?) but next time I'd add more PB, and maybe use 2% milk to be a little thicker.

Fun Fact: My first real job in high school was working at an ice cream place!

Sorry for the funky formatting. I tried fixing spacing and captions multiple times but my changes aren't saved when I publish...