Colorful Brussels Sprouts Salad

It’s been a very trying week for me, both physically and mentally.

For starters, my already “technologically impaired and totally non-performing” computer had gotten catastrophically corrupted after I’d installed the new Windows 10. I was faced with 2 options: get a new computer, or replace my hard drives, transfer all my data to one of them and do a fresh install on the other. I managed to change the first drive myself, the one with all my data, but had to resort to taking my laptop to the computer hospital for the second drive, the one that contains all of my operating system and programs; frankly, the operation was way beyond my skills. Hey, I’m no computer specialist and I was not about to risk messing it all up!

For 2 days, I was without a computer, and then when I got it back, I had to reinstall all of my programs. That much wasn’t so complicated, but it’s still somewhat time consuming… Plus, I’d neglected to write down my product key for Office, so I had to contact Microsoft in the hopes of getting it back from them, but sadly, they were no help at all, a complete waste of my precious time. I finally managed to extract the key from my old drive with the help of Magical Jelly Bean, a very useful tool that I downloaded.

This whole ordeal put me under so much stress, it’s not even funny.

The good thing is I now own what feels like a brand new computer and, to put it in the words of the tech who worked on my machine, I now have a veritable bomb in my hands. This thing is faster than the speed of light! HA! That’s quite a nice change of pace, and one that is most welcomed, too!

Now if only it also knew how to debug blog issues…

I also spent numerous hours this past week trying to figure out why, all of a sudden, my RSS feed won’t refresh. For those of you who currently subscribe to my newsletter, this explains why you haven’t received my latest posts by email. It took a couple of days for me to realize it, and then I didn’t have much time to seriously investigate the issue… Oh, because did I tell you that my mom also happened to get married on Sunday? Right on! Such a happy and exciting event, but one that also requires quite a bit of preparation, even when you’re not the one who’s getting married… So I also had that to take care of, you know. Hey, can’t miss my mom’s wedding to try and fix some Internet bug now, can I? Haha! No way Jose!

Oh, I hate dealing with technical issues. Hopefully I’ll manage to resolve that one soon. At least I got my feed to validate again, which it wouldn’t, for a couple of days. Now I only need to get it to refresh. Please, bear with me, things should get back to normal soon. In the meantime, you’ll have to think about visiting me without getting the friendly reminder delivered straight to your inbox.

Because hey, you wouldn’t want to miss out on beautiful recipes such as this Colorful Brussels Sprouts Salad now would you? I thought not.

So if you don’t mind, I’ll be quick in sharing this delicious recipe with you, and then I’ll get busy trying to solve the other s*… *ahem* stuff, you know… 

Gah! I need to find me a good web technician to handle these things for me. Right. That’s what I really need to do. (Hmpft, I’d much rather be cooking!)

For this salad, you want detach the leaves from the Brussels sprouts as best you can, and then steam them for a minute or two, just until the leaves turn vibrant green and slightly soften.

To make the leaves easier to detach, remove the stems from the Brussels sprouts, and try to use the larger specimens.

Be careful not to overcook your Brussels sprouts. The last thing you want is for them to turn mushy, brown and stinky on you. A few minutes is all it takes. As soon as they turn that lovely shade of vibrant green, you want to immediately plunge them into a bath of ice and cold water to stop the cooking.

Again, I know I say that all the time, but don’t skimp on the ice. Use 2 to 3 full trays. The heat from the vegetables will soon warm up the water if you don’t use enough ice and it will render the whole process totally useless. Don’t be afraid to use lots!

When your Brussels sprouts are good and cold, transfer them to a colander and let them drain and dry a bit.

While that’s happening, prep the rest of your vegetables and then make the vinaigrette: place all the ingredients in a glass measuring cup or similar container and mix well with a flat whisk until well combined and slightly emulsified.

Now place all the ingredients in a very large salad bowl.

Erm, yeah… about that: make sure that you use a large enough salad bowl. As you can see, mine was a little bit on the small side. It may look nice in picture, but it wasn’t very practical when came time to toss all them goodies…

Pour the vinaigrette right on top of everything else and toss delicately (make that VERY delicately if like me you picked a bowl that’s a size too small) until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

If time permits, and if you’re not too hungry, place your salad in the refrigerator to allow for flavors to meld.

Oh, and this is another one of those sturdy salads that will keep very well for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, so you can make it ahead of time, if you have to.

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Colorful Brussels Sprouts Salad

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 750 g 1.65lb Brussels sprouts
• 3 large carrots, peeled and finely julienned*
• 2 cups shredded red cabbage
• 1 tart apple, such as Cortland, finely julienned*
• 1/2 cup organic dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup dry roasted cashews

Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract store-bought or homemade
• 1 tsp Himalayan salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Remove the stems from the Brussels sprouts and then detach the leaves as best you can.
• Steam the Brussels sprouts for a minute or two, just so the leaves turn vibrant green and slightly soften; then, immediately plunge them into a bath of ice and cold water to stop the cooking.
• When the Brussels sprouts are good and cold, transfer them to a colander and let them drain and dry a bit.
• Meanwhile, prep the rest of the vegetables and then make the vinaigrette: place all the ingredients in a glass measuring cup or similar container and mix well with a flat whisk until well combined and slighlty emulsified.
• Place all the ingredients in a very large salad bowl, then pour the vinaigrette right on top and toss delicately until all the elements are evenly distributed.
• If time permits, place your salad in the refrigerator to allow for flavors to meld.
• This salad will keep well for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
  

Notes

*The use of a mandoline is strongly recommended

Author: Sonia! The Healthy Foodie

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