As I sit here anticipating the future food coma and the Lord of the Rings marathon that define Thanksgiving for me, I can't help but get excited that Thanksgiving is so close. I know many of you have moved on to Christmas spirit, but the Turkey deserves its day. Thanksgiving means giving thanks, eating good foods, and cooking scrumptious traditional dishes. Even though I love the traditional dishes, it's fun to experiment and find your own signature dish.

This year, my new recipe is a take on the traditional green bean casserole, but with brussels sprouts. I've never attempted a brussels sprout casserole, and let me tell you, this is something I think I need to start making as a side for dinner regularly. This recipe will show all of those non-brussels sprout eaters how good a brussels sprout can actually be (I promise-- I am a former brussels sprouts hater myself)!

BACON BRUSSELS SPROUT CASSEROLE

Ingredients 3 cups of brussels sprouts 6 oz french fried onions 3 tbsp shallots 6 slices of bacon 2 teaspoons soy sauce 10oz cream of mushroom can cracked pepper to taste salt to taste 1 tsp of olive oil 1/2 cup of parmesan

Directions

Cook your brussels sprouts. I bought the steamable bags to make it easier, so as those microwaved, I let the bacon cook. When the brussels sprouts were done steaming, I chopped them up and put them in a bowl. Then I chopped one large shallot and combined it in the same bowl. After I mixed the sprouts and the shallots, I poured olive oil and salt over the mixture.

After this, you will cook the brussels sprouts mixture from above in the same pan you cooked the bacon. Drain the majority of the bacon grease before cooking in it, but keep some (1/2 teaspoon or less, a  tiny amount!) to add some extra bacon flavor to the brussels sprouts. Cook until the brussels sprouts start to brown. Now  you're ready to start the casserole part!

Remove the mixture you've browned, put it in a bowl, and add in the cream of mushroom, soy sauce, cracked pepper, cheese, and french onion. Leave some french onion and cheese to put on top of the casserole once it's cooked. Mix this all together.

Once mixed, you're ready to put it in the casserole dish. I put a layer of  french fried onions and cheese at the bottom just because I love the crunch. After this bottom layer, pour in the casserole mixture, then cook at 375 for 20 minutes. At the end of those 20 minutes, pull out the casserole, and top with french fried onions, pepper, and cheese. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Watch out, this will smell HEAVENLY. It's going to be hard to wait to eat until the actual Thanksgiving dinner, but patience luvvs, as soon as the turkey is cut, you can gorge yourselves on this delicious casserole.

I can't wait to see your gorgeous tables this Thanksgiving filled with delicious food! If you ever make a recipe, don't forget to tag Hello Luvvy so we can see your creations! Happy Eats My Sweets,