Winter "Deviled Egg" Brussels Sprout Salad

This might be the most difficult salad to name/title of all time. This side dish was one Chris (the husband) created as a riff on deviled eggs since it has eggs, paprika, celery and other aspects of my favorite picnic dish. But naming the ingredients together is REALLY off-putting. Blue cheese, egg, brussels sprouts. Or maybe it's just not ingredients you think should go together. And I'm going to tell you that you're wrong. This is beyond good. He is the king of flavor pairings so trust me on this (and I usually hate blue cheese). All of these things are parts of wonderful winter things. I want an egg on everything in cold months. I also am okay eating a ton of fresh brussels in December . Pecans need no explanation.

Nutrition wise you're getting three kinds of produce and lots of fiber. Now realistically, what makes this salad so crave-able is the cheese and pecans with the fact that these sprouts are pan roasted in a cast iron skillet. Other than that, these are just simple ingredients put together. It really makes you stop and think about what's possible with a few tweaks, huh?

Now I do kind of need to give some alteration back story. As you can probably tell from Instagram, we are REALLY busy with client photoshoots and projects in the best way possible right now here at Healthfully Ever After. So our brains sometimes forget little things. Like that this was supposed to have dill (remember that play on deviled eggs?). Or if we ate breakfast. But back to the dill: we remembered after we ate it. BUT it's still going to be good with dill. It's just not in the picture. We also wanted to do chestnuts instead of pecans but after pulling them out of the freezer from my stash of mixed nuts, slamming a cleaver into it and having mold dust explode in the kitchen....we didn't have chestnuts. Also, I'm still very confused as to how that happened, so if you know anything about chestnuts, indulge me. You can also make this side dish a bit heartier by adding hash brown potato cubes. Who doesn't like hash browns?

Winter "Deviled Egg" Brussels Sprout Salad 

serves 2

/// Ingredients ///

• small brussels sprouts, halved
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T cider vinegar
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1/2 stalk of celery, sliced into ribbons
• 2 T blue cheese, mild
• 2 T pecan pieces
• a sprinkle of paprika
• optional: dill, chestnuts, hashbrowns

/// Directions /// Cook hard boiled eggs. Prepare brussels sprouts by removing loose outer leaves from each head. Slice in half. Add brussels sprouts to a cast iron skillet over medium heat with 1 T oil. Stir occasionally until browned after several minutes. Once brussels sprouts are cooked, add dijon to the skillet and toss to coat brussels sprouts. Add cider vinegar and toss again. 

Plate peeled and halved cooked eggs, brussels sprouts, celery ribbons, apple, pecan and blue cheese. Sprinkle with paprika and add dill if desired.