I have a few poignant food memories going back to my childhood.  One involved liver and onions and requesting it as my birthday dinner just because I knew my sisters hated it and would HAVE to eat it because it was my birthday request.  Another involved my grandmother ALWAYS giving me a snack to eat in the car on my way home from her house.  After one particular visit, she had nothing to offer in the snack arena except for a couple of cold brussels sprouts.  Rather than break tradition, I opted to take her up on the brussels sprouts offer and proceeded to nibble on them all the way home.

Admittedly, brussels sprouts have a certain, shall we say, reputation. But I assure you that any childhood traumas caused by this poor veggie can be obliterated with one simple recipe – Maple Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts. We discovered these one year around Thanksgiving time, and haven’t looked at brussels sprouts in the same light since.

But before we get to the sprouts recipe, let’s talk quinoa again.  Because quinoa burgers were the main course to which the brussels sprouts served as a side.  Super simple burgers.  Tasty. Moist and yet hold together well.

Start by cooking 1 cup of dry quinoa as directed on the package.  After cooked and somewhat cooled, add cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, grated zucchini, eggs, flour, green onions, sugar, pepper, cumin, salt and garlic powder.  Your mixture will look something like this.

I actually made this ahead of time and left it chilling in the fridge all afternoon until dinner time.

Heat olive oil in large skillet.  Once oil is hot, reduce heat to medium or medium-low and drop the quinoa mixture by 1/4 cupfuls into oil.  Cooking longer on a lower temp will give them longer to have a good consistency without getting too brown.  I fry these about 4 minutes per side until they are golden brown.  It’s kind of the “pancake concept”  where your first batch won’t be as good as later ones until you get your frying temp just right.  For this reason, you may want to start out with just one patty and then when you have your heat regulated, you can do 4 – 5 at a time.

So now for the brussels sprouts . . . rinse your sprouts well and trim them.

Chop 8 – 10 slices of thick cut bacon into pieces and cook bacon until crisped and brown.  Remove your bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Put your brussels sprouts into your bacon drippings and cook, stirring frequently until they begin to brown.  Continue cooking until tender.  Add bacon back into skillet and add maple syrup.  Heat until syrup coats the sprout and they appear caramelized.

I love serving this great quinoa burger and brussels sprouts combo with sweet potato fries.  You can ues a chipotle mayo to accent the burger AND dip your fries.

For the Quinoa Burger Recipe, click here.

For the Brussels Sprouts Recipe, click here.