Making Easter a little more veggie

In my family, Easter has always been a holiday focused on meat, namely ham and kielbasa. But over the years, the number of vegetarians in the family has grown--first my aunt, then myself, and now my 15-year-old cousin who is following in our veg*n footsteps. Because of this, the meatless food options at family gatherings has improved, but it's still not guaranteed, depending on who's serving dinner.

This year, Easter was hosted by my aunt and an uncle who is a
big meater andhunter to boot.  This is the same uncle who
often tried to trickme into eating venison when I was younger.
I learned not to trust him when it came to food.  So it was
a no-brainer that I needed to bring a veggie dish to this
holiday dinner.

I knew my veggie aunt was making potato pierogis and
sauerkraut would be available, too.  But there was no
talk of vegetables by anyone else. :(  So I picked up
my new copy of Vegan with a Vengence, thoughfully given
to me by my sister for my birthday, and thumbed the
pages for a simple yet hearty veggie dish to pass.

My eyes rested on "Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Toasted
Garlic."  Mmm. Sounded good to me!  I also liked that there
were only four ingredients involved: the sprouts, olive oil,
garlic and sea salt. And, the book said it served 6, which
meant if I doubled the recipe, I'd easily have enough food
for everyone.

My experience with brussel sprouts in the past has been
pretty uneventful.  While I don't dislike them, they're not
one of my favorite veggies either.  Maybe that's because I've
only eaten frozen sprouts which were steamed?  I was
definitely up to the challenge of finding a more interesting
way of cooking sprouts, and this vegan recipe seemed perfect.

I made a few modifications to the recipe though: I used the
minced garlic in a jar instead of fresh garlic and opted for
fine sea salt rather than coarse, simply because it's what I
had on hand.

The recipe was uber easy to make.  Definitely a plus for
those who may not like to spend all their time in the kitchen.
The most time-consuming aspect was washing/cutting the
sprouts.

Best of all, it got rave reviews from everyone at the dinner
table...even my boyfriend, who doesn't like brussel sprouts.
He took a little nibble and said it was better than other sprouts
he's tasted.  I liked the fresh taste of the sprouts.  Definitely
a step up from frozen bags. However, I personally would like to
experiment with the recipe using different spices.  Definitely a
"keeper" tho and one to play with!