Tuesday Night...Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Chicken Cutlets and Mashed Potatoes - Cara Caras for Dessert!

Well, it is a gloomy Tuesday evening.  It has been raining on and off and I worked a little late tonight, so on my way home, I thought about what I might want to make for dinner.  I had picked up a 2-lb bag of fresh brussel sprouts over the weekend because I wanted to try roasting them for the first time.  I also had 3 red potatoes sitting on my counter and plenty of Perdue boneless chicken breasts in the fridge (they are on sale at Kroger this week for $1.99/lb...yahoo).  Even though I didn't get home until 6:00pm, I still had an awesome dinner on the table by 7:00pm.

I have wanted to try roasting brussel sprouts for a while now.  I like them steamed and knew I'd probably like them roasted as well.  I must say...I didn't like them....I LOVED THEM!!!  As soon as I got home, I cut the end off all the sprouts, halved them and tossed them in a few tablespoons of olive oil, sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.  I spread them out on a cookie sheet and popped them into a 400 degree oven and roasted them for 30 minutes until they were golden, dark (in a good way) and delicious.  While my sprouts were roasting, I cut up my red potatoes and put them in a pan to boil for about 10-15 minutes; when done I mashed them with a little butter, milk, fresh parsley, salt and pepper.  While all that was going on, I butterflied my chicken breasts, dipped them in some egg and milk wash (seasoned with salt and pepper) and rolled them in herb seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs mixed with some parmesan cheese.  I quickly sauteed them in olive oil in a pan on the stove until they were golden brown.  Literally, everything was ready within minutes of each other.  It was a delicious dinner and I'm glad I finally got to try roasted brussel sprouts!  Since it was a big meal, we are having Cara Cara oranges (by Sunkist) for our dessert.  If you haven't tried them before, you should....they have the most beautiful deep shade of orange-red flesh, they are seedless and they taste different than regular oranges -- I think they taste better.  Check out a few pics below.  Enjoy!

Brussel sprouts, halved and waiting to be tossed in some oil, salt and pepper.

Red potatoes in the pan waiting to be boiled and mashed.

Tossed in olive oil, seasoned and begging to be roasted.

Breaded Perdue chicken breasts, almost done cooking.

Just pulled out of the oven, all roasted and delicious.

Voila

Once more...check out those sprouts!

BOOM!

Cara Cara Oranges by Sunkist..."The Power Orange".  
According to Wikipedia: "The Cara Cara navel, or red navel orange is an early-to-midseason navel orange believed to have developed as a cross between the Washington navel and the Brazilian Bahia navel."  It further describes the characteristics as: "This medium sized navel is sweet and low in acid, the flavor is more complex than most navel varieties and has been described as evoking notes of cherry, rose petal and blackberry."

So pretty!

Check out the beautiful color

BOOM BOOM!