Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts Salad

In the days after Brecken was born, my mom was in town and manned the kitchen for a few days, preparing fantastic homecooked meals while I literally sat on the couch not lifting a finger. There is nothing more special than having your mom take care of you while you figure out your first few days of being a mom!
By the time she left, my fridge was a state for sore eyes. It wasn't anything she'd done, simply the combination of leftover ingredients from meals she'd made combined with the miscellaneous things I'd bought at the grocery store the day before I headed to the hospital. As I started to feel a little more capable with each day that passed, I was itching to get back in the kitchen and finally decided to make something of some of the odds and ends remaining in our refrigerator.

As luck should have it, I had all the ingredients for this Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts Salad, a recipe I'd pulled from a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine. It was just the thing to ease me back into cooking, one week postpartum, because it took a total of ten minutes to prepare. A quick whirl of the vegetables in the food processor, tossed with a few other ingredients, and I had a simple side salad that Ryan and I enjoyed for lunches for the next few days. I think I'd been worried about how I'd ever find time to cook again and this recipe helped prove to me that so long as I choose the right kind of recipes, homemade food is absolutely still doable! You don't need long or fancy ingredient lists to make good food, as this simple but tasty salad demonstrated!

One Year Ago: Pork and Greens Stir Fry and Citrus Salad with Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing
Two Years Ago: Carrot Cake Bundt and Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream Sandwiches
Three Years Ago: Marbled Black and White Banana Loaf and Edamame Succotash
Four Years Ago: Chinese Chicken Salad and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies 

Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts Salad
from Cooking Light November 2013

Ingredients:
-1 lb brussels sprouts
-7 radishes
-1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
-1 tsp sugar
-1 tbsp Dijon mustard
-1/2 tsp kosher salt
-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. With the slicing blade of a food processor, slice the brussels sprouts and radishes.
2. Toss brussels sprouts and radishes with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, stirring to coat. Chill until ready to serve.