cooking ala mel

healthy recipes and the occasional craft

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Caramelized Beer Brats

There are these chicken and apple sausages from Sam’s Club – Member’s Mark brand, and we eat them all the time.  There pretty much isn’t a way we haven’t made them.  We bake them, grill them, sauté them, cook them in liquid.. They’re delicious every way.  One of my favorite ways we’ve made them, by far, was in beer.  It caramelized and pulled out all these juices and flavors..absolutely succulent.  The onions were probably my favorite part.

Let’s get cooking!

Steamy..

Mmm and caramelize!

We served ’em up with some sautéed asparagus.

Caramelized Beer Brats
1 pack (5 sausages) chicken & apple sausages, sliced
1 can of beer
1 small onion, chopped

Slice up the sausages and chop the onions.  Add sausages and onions to large skillet and pour beer over them.  Heat over medium high heat until the liquid has cooked down and is thick and sticky.  Serve warm.

Pan Seared Tilapia

I usually don’t make fish, so cooking with Alex has enlightened me quite a bit in regards to that.  We’ve made a bit of salmon, and now we’ve also done up some tilapia.  We pan seared this using a whole wheat flour, which gave it a bit of a nutty flavor, which was new and interesting.

And…flip!

 

With some roasted potatoes and broccoli.  Yum!

Pan Seared Tilapia
2 tilapia filets
about 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-2 tsp black pepper
salt, to taste
olive oil spray
lemon juice

Heat skillet over medium heat, coated with olive oil spray.  Mix the flour, pepper and salt.  Coat each filet with flour mixture and add to skillet.  Cook until each side is golden and add lemon juice.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I’m sure there are a lot of skeptics out there in regards to brussel sprouts.  Most people boil them to death so they have an extremely bitter flavor.  When roasted, though, these little babies are delightful.  I can’t have enough of them.

Served up with grilled asparagus and chicken & apple sausage with grilled onion
With baked kielbasa and roasted cheddar fries
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
yields four servings

1 pound brussel sprouts, rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.  Cut off the ends of the brussel sprouts and cut in half if large.  Toss with oil and balsamic in a mixing bowl (we’ve also been using our Misto and spraying the balsamic so they each are evenly coated).  Season with salt and pepper.  Place on baking sheet and roasted 30-35 minutes or until tender.  Serve warm.