Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts With Dried Cranberries & Sunflower Seeds

This week is the second of five weeks for themed recipes, all inspired by October. The next five days are all about cozy, feel good fall foods. With rainy weather and low temperatures, these recipes will be a great for warming up your belly. I wanted to kick this week off with a favorite side dish of mine, pan-seared Brussels sprouts with dried cranberries and sunflower seeds.

I fell in love with Brussels sprouts several months back, but felt that they needed a little extra texture and flavor. That's how I decided to add dried cranberries (a favorite of mine) and sunflower seeds. When coming up with new recipes, one of the greatest ways to pick ingredients to add to a basic dish is to start with what's already in your pantry. We keep dried cranberries and sunflower seeds in stock at our house, and turns out they make a great addition to your typical vegetable. 

• What You'll Need
• A bag of fresh Brussels Sprouts (not frozen)
• Dried cranberries
• Sunflower Seeds
• Garlic Salt
• Olive Oil

• What You'll Do
• In a skillet, swirl around about one tablespoon of olive oil. Put on low to medium heat.
• Wash the Brussels sprouts then cut off the end. Next chop them into the bite sizes you prefer. I cut mine twice to get four pieces per Brussels sprout.
• Add them to the skillet along with a sprinkling of garlic salt. Let them cook until they begin to brown. 
• Once the Brussels sprouts are almost done, add the dried cranberries. Add as many as you'd like. Typically, 1/4 cup or less. 
• Then add the sunflower seeds, as many or as little as you'd like. 
• Stir well and add just a dash more of garlic salt if desired. Remove from heat and serve once the cranberries and sunflower seeds have had time to warm.