Making Meals with Meka! is live! Holiday Sides!

Welcome to making meals with Mika live. I hope that everyone is having a wonderful hump day and I'm going to give people time to kind of trickle in and I'm just going to get all of get everything that I need for today. So I just want to make sure we have all our ingredients. Let's do an ingredient check today. We are making some delicious sides. These sides are going to be perfect for the holidays. Okay. Thanksgiving is coming up. Christmas is coming up. New Year's is coming up and this is a time for family and friends to gather. People have friends giving. They host events and I just want to give you guys an alternative to the traditional holiday side. Hi. Hi. Welcome Jeff. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for being on time. Every time I go live, it's like hosting a party, right? You tell people, people are definitely going to come, but no one wants to be like the first person to come to the party. So Jeff, thank you very much for being on time. I hope you're taking some notes because I am giving you guys some delicious sides that are, they're not going to be the traditional sides, but they're going to be delicious and gourmet and they're not going to be expensive. Nowadays with everything that's going on, you know, people are trying to save as much money as possible. So these are going to be very inexpensive side dishes that you can make for your family and you can bring to events. So I'm so happy everyone's here. Hi little brother. Thank you for attending. Hi. I have to say hi to my little brother. He has been, well, he's, he's like my little big brother. Like he's, if you see him, he's like, like really like that big, but I, but he's my baby brother and he's on here every single week. So thank you for attending. Let's just do an ingredient check. We are, it's all about sides today. Okay. So we're going to start with a roasted cauliflower and I have taken the liberty to go ahead and wash the cauliflower and break it down. Oh, okay. You guys listen. So I'm going to be reading some of the comments. Jeff, there's a friend named Jeff. We went to high school together and he brought up one of my old nicknames. You guys, I used to be called yellow Y E L L dash. Oh, like jello. And people still call me yellow today. So I'm blushing because I can't believe you brought up that name. That is hilarious. So let me focus. So we are starting with some roasted cauliflower. This is one head of cauliflower. Hi Steve. You guys please say hello to Steve. Steve has been on every single live. He supports every single thing that I do and he's my boo. Okay. He's my boo. Say hello to Steve. Hi Steve. Back to the cauliflower. So this is one head of cauliflower. This is a small head and I'm just, cause I'm making this just for myself, but this is a small head of cauliflower and I went and I've already taken the liberty to cut it down into florets and I've washed it. Cauliflower is so underrated. It is such a delicious vegetable. It's easy to prepare and I feel like it gets like the side treatment compared to like broccoli. Like broccoli is like the bigger, you know, more important, more, uh, you know, popular older cousin to, to cauliflower, but do not sleep on cauliflower. We are going to season this cauliflower up with some beautiful seasonings. We're going to roast it. It's going to be easy, delicious. That's the first dish. And then the second dish is we are doing some Brussels sprouts. So we are going to saute these Brussels sprouts and we're going to make a balsamic reduction. And I know that sounds really fancy and it is actually delicious, but it really isn't hard at all. So let's get started. I have preheated my oven at 400. Okay. So the oven is at 400 and then I have my cauliflower. You guys, I'm telling you, this is going to be the easiest dish like you ever, you've ever made. And for those of you that are just tuning in, hi, welcome. Welcome. You are making meals with Mika. Hi, Mary. Thank you for, for hanging out. You're just in time. We are going to get started on this cauliflower. Today is going to go really easy. I'm going to teach you guys these dishes and you're not going to believe like how easy these dishes are. So we have a clean washed head of cauliflower that I have broken down into florets. I do not suggest using frozen cauliflower for this. We're not using frozen cauliflower. Okay. We are using a fresh head of cauliflower and we are going to sprinkle a little oil. You guys, this is avocado oil. I really like avocado oil, um, and also olive oil, but this is a great alternative to olive oil because it has a higher burn temperature. That means that you can cook it at a higher temperature and it won't burn avocado. Um, I'm sorry. Olive oil has a pretty low burn temperature. So I've switched out and this is a healthier oil for you. If you want to, I'm always going to give you alternatives. If you're not a big fan of oil and you want to use butter, feel free to use butter on this cauliflower as well, but you're going to use butter. You're not going to use margarine. Okay. Margarine is not a real thing. We're not using margarine, but you can substitute the avocado oil for olive oil or butter. Those are the only substitutes. Okay. So we're going to just drizzle. I'm going to put, that's approximately one tablespoon of olive oil that I've drizzled on this cauliflower. And it's important to put that on here first because we need everything else to stick. The olive oil is going to, well, I'm sorry. The avocado oil is going to adhere to the, to the vegetable, to the cauliflower, and then we're going to season this up. So we're always going to use salt. Okay. In this container, I have some sea salt. So we want this to be nice and seasoned. And you guys, so easy. We're going to use some salt. I'm going to do black pepper. Now I do have my pepper mill right here. So we're going to crush some fresh pepper into here. And I love pepper. So we're just going to season this up with some pepper. We have salt, black pepper. If you guys know me, you've been following me, you know, I'm going to use garlic powder. Garlic powder is amazing. It adds such a wonderful flavor to pretty much everything. So we're just going to put some garlic powder on here. And this vegetable can take these seasonings. Cauliflower is really nice and meaty and it really does love seasoning. So we have salt, black pepper, garlic powder. And I want to add some color to this because we eat with our eyes first. I am going to add some smoked paprika. You don't have to use the smoked one. If you don't want to, if you just want the color and not the smoky flavor, feel free to use regular paprika, but it's going to add that color that you want. And you guys, that's it. We're going to take this. I'm going to mix this with my hands. All right. I like to get down in and become very comfortable, familiar with my food. And mixing this with your hands is going to ensure that every single piece of cauliflower is seasoned, right? You want your cauliflower to look like this. Okay. Your hands are going to look like that too. Perfect. And then, then what we're going to do is we're just going to put these in the oven. Okay. I have a baking sheet right here and I have layered it with parchment paper. I feel like parchment paper is like a cook's best friend. Bakers have been knowing about parchment paper, but if you are someone that's starting off cooking or you do a lot of baking, parchment paper is amazing. I love this so much more than aluminum foil. Parchment paper. Okay. So we have our baking sheet, the parchment paper, and we're going to just spread our cauliflower out on this sheet. Now, if you're doing this for a lot of people, you could easily triple or quadruple this recipe. It is the easiest recipe ever. So we just have our cauliflower, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. I mean, come on. And it smells amazing. I'm telling you, it already smells good. So we have this, we have these. Okay. And then we're going to put this in the oven. I have it on bake at 400 degrees. Okay. And then we're just going to put this in there. Let it do its thing. My oven is ready. See, I was preheating the oven. My oven just told me that it was ready. Did I time that perfectly or what? And I didn't even mean to do that, but I kind of timed that perfectly. If you guys are just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika and we are making delicious sides that's perfect for the holiday season and they are not going to break the bank. We just put our cauliflower in the oven and it is roasting at 400 degrees. And now we are going to get started on our Brussels sprouts. Okay. Now for the sake of time, I've taken the liberty to go ahead and clean the Brussels sprouts and I cut the Brussels sprouts. Hi, Jay Rich. Welcome, welcome, welcome. You guys say hi to Jay Rich. He is here every single week. You don't have to apologize for being late. I appreciate you attending. You're a perfect time. If you're just tuning in, we are now going to cook some delicious Brussels sprouts. I like to get the smaller Brussels sprouts. Sometimes you see the real big ones. Those are really dirty. I get the smaller Brussels sprouts and I have taken the liberty of washing them and cutting them in half. But let me just show you how I prep the Brussels sprouts for those of you who don't know how to prep Brussels sprouts. If you are a fan of Brussels sprouts, give me a thumbs up in the comments. Let me know if you like Brussels sprouts or not. I feel like it took me getting to become an adult until I really appreciated Brussels sprouts. My mom would make them when I was a kid and she would boil them and they would be like soft and not delicious. So I really did not like Brussels sprouts growing up. It wasn't until I tasted them as an adult in a restaurant. I'm like, oh my God, these are delicious. Like what? They've been like this forever. So you just have to learn how to cook them. So these are nice and washed and all I do is I just cut the stem off. And then we're just going to slice that in half. And it's okay if you lose some of the leaves. It's okay. Just put them all in your bowl. We're cooking them. All right. So let me show you guys that again. We just take the stem. You're just going to cut the stem and you're just going to slice the Brussels sprout in half. And we get these gorgeous halves. All right. And that's it. Now I have about a pound of Brussels sprouts because I'm just cooking for me. If you're cooking for a large group, like a family of five or a family of eight, you know, you want to get two, three, four pounds and you are going to have to prep them, but it's okay. It's a labor of love. And also if you look, sometimes the Brussels sprouts, like they have dirt and things in there. You can either just like cut that or pull that out like that and just cut it off. But you do want to make sure you go through and clean your Brussels sprouts thoroughly. All right. These are nice and clean. Let's get cooking here. Okay. All right. So I'm going to pull my little burner out. Then we have our pan. Hi, you guys. Welcome. Welcome. For those of you that's just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika and we are at a wonderful part right now. We are cooking our Brussels sprouts. Steve Reyes just gifted me. Thank you, Steve Reyes for the gift. I appreciate it. If you are here right now and you are having a good time, please go ahead and give me a thumbs up. Go ahead and like this, like if you are not following me right now or subscribing, go ahead and click the subscribe button. We are here every single Wednesday. We are making meals with Mika and today we are doing some beautiful side dishes that are not going to break the bank. I have some roasted cauliflower in the oven and I am heating up my pan now because we are going to cook these delicious Brussels sprouts. Okay. I don't know what you guys' history with Brussels sprouts is, but I didn't really appreciate Brussels sprouts until I became an adult. And right now I absolutely love them. So we're going to make these Brussels sprouts delicious and we're going to top them off. I'm just waiting for my pan to get warm here. Welcome everybody. Welcome. Thank you for the thumbs up. I appreciate it. What is everybody else cooking today? What is everybody cooking on this Wednesday? You guys, this is my dinner. When I go live and I cook, I eat that for dinner. Today I'm going strictly vegetarian, well, not quite strictly vegetarian because we're going to add some bacon to these Brussels sprouts, but this is going to be my dinner today. What is everyone cooking? Oh, hot wings. Oh, you cannot go wrong with hot wings. I love hot wings. You're cooking leftovers today. So Deontay is hot wings. Jeff said he's cooking leftovers and Jay Rich said a frozen cheap pizza. I mean, we all got to eat. Jeff, what kind of leftovers are you cooking? Leftovers can be really delicious. I just want to say that. Okay. So my pan is heating up. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. All right. Now this step, you can totally omit this step. Okay. But if you want your Brussels sprouts to have maximum flavor, you will not omit this step unless you are a vegetarian. We are first going to saute some bacon. All right. You guys are just tuning in. You are just in time. I am going to saute some bacon. Now I have taken three strips of bacon and I have diced them because the bacon is going to be the bacon grease or drippings. That's going to be what we are going to cook our Brussels sprouts in. Now, if you don't eat pork or you don't eat meat, then you can omit this step and you can just use some olive oil, right? You can use olive oil. You can use any type of oil that you like, but this is going to ensure that your Brussels sprouts have delicious flavor. So I'm going to use bacon. All right. Because bacon is delicious. Jeff says, make your own dish. Oh, okay. Oh, that sounds delicious. So last night he made a rice bowl. White rice, black rice, shredded chicken, tortillas, and mixed greens. Oh, that sounds delicious. Lovely. Someone, right. Someone said vegetarian bacon. Yeah, there's no vegetarian bacon. Okay. Bacon is delicious. Now, if you guys are one of those people that eats turkey bacon, some people, they message me with different alternatives for meals. Turkey bacon. I don't think turkey bacon is going to work in this recipe because we want the fat drippings from this bacon and turkey bacon doesn't have fat drippings. Now, if you want to add turkey bacon just for some texture or some additional flavor, you can, but I'm just going to say, if you're not using pork bacon in this dish, just don't even use bacon at all because it's not going to give what it's supposed to give. Okay. We need straight up pork bacon for this recipe. Oh, we have someone else here. Hello. Hello. What about some fried chicken grease? Listen, I'm not going to tell you no. Okay. One of the viewers asked, can they use fried chicken grease? I mean, if you want your Brussels sprouts to have a hint of fried chicken flavor, go ahead. That's the great thing about cooking. You can use whatever you want. You can take a basic recipe and flip it and turn it and do whatever you want to as long as you achieve your desired taste and flavor. But for this dish, all right, for the Brussels sprouts that I'm cooking, I am using bacon. Now, I have seen duck bacon before, which is very lean and duck bacon is delicious. And I've even seen beef bacon. And I challenge someone to take the different types of bacon, either the beef bacon, or you can try turkey bacon or the duck bacon and try it in this recipe and see. You just want something that's fatty and flavorful and has a good aroma, which is bacon. Bacon is the candy of all meats. All right. So we're going to have our bacon. And while our bacon is getting crispy, some other ingredients you're going to need for this dish is you're going to need some balsamic vinegar, right? Balsamic vinegar, it is, it's a heavy, deeper, rich vinegar. And it's actually really, not really sweet, but it has a sweetness to it. Balsamic vinegar is perfect for a dish like this. Just think about like when you're making cabbage, these Brussels sprouts, they're in the cabbage family. When I cook cabbage, I always put a little apple cider vinegar in the cabbage. You want to have some vinegar for these Brussels sprouts and balsamic vinegar goes really, really good with Brussels sprouts. And you can use whatever balsamic vinegar you like, okay, to each his own, but it's going to give it such a beautiful flavor. All right. I'm waiting for my bacon to render. Hit that like button. Yes, everyone, if you are here, thank you for joining. You are making meals with Mika and we are making some holiday sides on a budget. We're cute on a budget. We're fancy on a budget. I have some roasted cauliflower. It's in the oven. It's cooking. And while the cauliflower is roasting, we're cooking our balsamic glazed Brussels sprouts. So go ahead and hit the like button. If you're not following, go ahead and follow. We hang out every single Wednesday right here in my kitchen and we make delicious food. And every now and then I look into the chat because we're hanging out. Okay. I'm just not here cooking. I like to hang out with you guys. So feel free to ask all the questions that you like and you guys can interact with each other. Okay. It's just not me and you guys. We're all here together. So feel free to interact with each other. Fun question. What is your favorite thing about cooking? Why do you love it so much? Oh my goodness. What is my favorite thing about cooking? My favorite thing about cooking is that you could take basic ingredients and turn them into just something spectacular and extraordinary. And just by changing one ingredient, you can make a whole different dish. So I like that I can be very creative when it comes to cooking. And why do I enjoy it so much? I enjoy cooking so much because it's a labor of love. Food to me is a universal language. There's so many different cultures and everyone has their own cultural food. But if you really study cultures, you'll see that there are some food items that are similar across cultures. I'll give you guys a quick example. I'm African American. My boyfriend is Mexican and I cook a lot of traditional African American dishes. He loves traditional Mexican food. One day, this was one of our first dates, we went out to a restaurant and he ordered something called a sope. And it's like this piece of corn that's like this corn cake and it's cooked and it's crispy and you top it with different toppings. And guess what you guys, when I tasted it, I was like, this is hot water cornbread. And he's like, what? I'm like, no, this is hot water cornbread. We eat this like in my culture all the time. And he's like, no, that's a sope. It was literally the same thing. We just ate it in different ways. And that happens a lot with food. Food crosses all different cultures. So that's why I love it so much. Okay. I hope that answered your question. You guys that are just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika live. Look at this. I am just crisping up some bacon because we are making some Brussels sprouts. Someone asked me in the chat, what is my favorite thing about cooking and why do I love it so much? So I just told them that. You guys, why don't you guys answer that question. For those of you that are tuning in, tell me what is your favorite thing about cooking? If you love to cook, let me know. Okay. So my bacon is done. I'm going to take this off. Someone says, I tell you, she loves to see people's reaction to the love she has. That is true. So Steve Reyes says, I love to cook because I love people's reaction when they eat my food. And that is true. When I cook, it is a labor of love and there's nothing better than watching someone take the first bite of something that you've cooked and they just close their eyes and kind of savor it. That's the best feeling in the world. And it just warms my heart every single time. Someone says, go to restaurants. They will make food for you. Yeah, of course, but that defeats the purpose of cooking at home. But yeah, you're right. Okay. You guys, I am going to remove this bacon and I'm just going to put it in here. Put this on a paper towel. Do not throw this away. We're going to use this bacon later. Okay. We're not throwing the bacon away, but I am going to take it off for now and try not to eat pieces of it while I'm cooking. Okay. All right. So we have about this much bacon oil in the pan. That's a little bit too much for what I'm, for what I'm, the amount that I'm cooking. So I'm just going to empty a little bit of this out. Now, listen, let me, okay. Let me put you guys on the game real quick. I always share some secrets when I'm cooking. You guys see this? This is liquid gold right here. This is my little container of baking, bacon dripping. And I keep it next to the stove because you never know. So I'm just going to pour a little bit of this out. I do not pour away my bacon grease or as some people say, drippings. Drippings makes this sound more fancy. I don't throw them away. It's right here. Okay. So I just added more to it. My pan, I want my pan to still get hot. I'm checking on my cauliflower. It's not quite done. Okay guys. So we have this pan of bacon drippings. My pan should be hot. We're going to put our nicely cleaned and half brussel sprouts in this pan. Okay. And you guys are not going to believe how easy it is to cook these brussel sprouts. Now I have this on a high heat because I want these to cook pretty quickly. Okay. Let's see. Someone says, I love, I'm going to try to look at these comments. Okay. Jeff says he loves making smash burgers on Sundays. Okay. I don't think I've ever made a smash burger. Deontay says, I've loved cooking, especially during the holidays. I used to always cook with my mom. Yes. Oh, wonderful memories. You know, some of my, thank you for sharing that Deontay. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of me cooking with my mom and my great grandmother. My great mother was a person who taught me how to cook and I just love it. Like the smells and the sounds and the memories. It's amazing. So thank you for sharing that. I love to cook because I can adjust the food according to my taste things. What I like. Yes, that's exactly right. You can be creative, right? When you're cooking, you just take a recipe and you adjust it to your taste. Thank you for sharing that. That's exactly right. And then someone says, same here. My secret also, let's go. Thank you guys for interacting. If you're just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika. We have these beautiful Brussels sprouts. They are cooking in some bacon drippings. Okay. If you don't eat bacon, you can use a regular oil here. I would not suggest butter. Okay. We're going to use some oil here. And I do not suggest butter because we're cooking this on a high temperature because we want these to get nice and crispy. Butter burns really quickly. So butter would not be very conducive here. Okay. All right, you guys. So I'm going to go back here and get a pan. I didn't have it out. I got to get a pan so we can make this reduction. So you guys watch this for me. Okay. Watch this for me while I go get this pan. Just a small pan. Did y'all watch that for me? Is it burning? Okay. We're going to start this reduction too. We are multitasking. So I have my Brussels sprouts and I have my pan. This is going to get hot and I need to go to the refrigerator for one more thing too. All right. Watch my Brussels sprouts for me. Okay. I have to get my parsley. All right. I should have been prepping. Okay. Let's see here. Deontay needs to learn from you, Mika. Yes. Well, that's why we're all on here. Jay Rich said that Deontay needs to learn from me. That's why we're on here, guys. We're all learning to cook beautiful side dishes. And you see, these are getting nice and brown. That is the color that we want. We want a nice and brown color on these Brussels sprouts. I'm going to check the oven for our... Look at that. They're not quite done yet, right? But this is our cauliflower. That's delicious. It's not quite done yet. We want them nice and tender. These are, they still have a little bit too much crunch. We're going to put these back in the oven. But this is the cauliflower that we seasoned with salt, black pepper, garlic powder. What else did I put on there, guys? Some smoked paprika. Those are in the oven. Okay. Now it's time to season because you guys, if you notice, I haven't seasoned these Brussels sprouts yet. Not yet, but I'm about to. And this pan needs to get hot. So for the Brussels sprouts, we're going to season these with salt. Really easy. Okay. Black pepper. You guys got that? Salt, black pepper. You already know what's going to come next. I'm just going to put a little bit though, because this is not the star of the show. Just a little garlic powder, just a little bit. And then I have to come back over here to my spice rack and get onion powder. Now, typically I have, sometimes I have made Brussels sprouts with onions or shallot, but I don't want them to overpower this dish. So I'm using onion powder or granulated onion. That is a really, really good substitute for onion because onion does add a really nice flavor to most dishes, but sometimes it can overpower it. So we want the onion flavor, but not to over, it to overpower it. So we're just using the onion powder in here. Okay. Is that, is that Maurice, Patrick? Hi. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. It looks good. Thank you very much. All right. This pan is hot. Now, even though we're going to make this reduction over here, I'm just going to sprinkle just a little bit of balsamic on the Brussels sprouts themselves, because I want them to cook in that. And then to make the reduction, I am just going to put some in the pan. I'm, I'm literally just putting this balsamic vinegar in a hot pan. And we're going to watch this just get smaller and smaller and smaller. And that is a reduction, my friend. That's how you make a reduction. Just that easy. I know it sounds fancy, but it really isn't a lot of work. And right now it smells amazing in here. Oh my goodness. I wish you guys could smell this. It smells amazing. All these aromas together. You just know they go together. And that's another thing about cooking that I love. I just love all the smells and the sounds, right? It's very stimulating for our senses. You, you look at the food we eat with your eyes. You can smell it. You hear the sounds. It tastes delicious. And when you season your food, you're playing with it. So cooking incorporates all five senses. I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that. Do you hear me? Yes. Okay. We got bae in here. Hi bae. Brussels sprouts, baby cabbage, and it is. It's baby cabbage. Now I cook my Brussels sprouts a little bit different than my cabbage, but that's all Brussels sprouts are. Our baby cabbage, but I have found, and this is just my personal taste. I love a boiled cabbage. You know, you chop up cabbage and you boil it. It's delicious. I do not care for boiled Brussels sprouts though. I like to have my Brussels sprouts nice and crispy. It's just something about boiling them. They don't reach their full potential. We want them to reach their full potential. So this is what we're looking at. You want your Brussels sprouts to look like this. Look, they're still vibrant and gorgeous and green, but they have that char. That's what we want. We want that char. And then because we're talented and we're multitasking, we have our balsamic reduction over here. And all that is, is some balsamic vinegar in a pan getting thick. That's it. Let me check on our cauliflower. Cauliflower is almost done, guys. I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me. If you're having a good time, hit the like button, put a thumbs up in the comment section. You know, let me know you're having a good time, you are enjoying it. This is your time to ask questions. If you have any, I will try to answer as many questions as possible, but we're just hanging out cooking in the kitchen on this Wednesday, making some sides for the upcoming holidays. Okay, let's see here. And I'm trying to read everything, guys. Yes, these are yummy. All right, now let me, I have to try these out. Hey everyone, if you're just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika on this Wednesday. I am tasting our Brussels sprouts. So the texture we're going for here is, we want these to be nice and tender, but still have a little snap to it. We don't want soggy Brussels sprouts. Okay, so let's see. I don't know if you guys can hear that crunch, but they are, they're almost there. They are almost there, guys. And what I'm going to do is, you also taste, not just to make sure your texture is there, but you taste for your seasonings. I need a little more salt. This sea salt is less salty, in my opinion, than like a regular iodized salt. So you got to add a little bit more. Tune into DJ Mika, right? Look, I'm spinning on two. I got this. I am spinning on this table. Please believe me. I do need to add just more salt. That's it. No pepper or anything like that. My reduction, it's getting there. It's getting there, you guys. Be patient when you're making a reduction. Okay, be patient. Now, just for a minute, I'm going to set this to the side because our cauliflower is done. And this is the fun part about cooking too. I love the multitasking. I love to multitask. I'm just one of those people. So me, spinning the tables on two, and then I have something in the oven, I love it. My reduction is almost done. So I'm just going to turn this down and let's look at our cauliflower real quick. Now, you guys, I'm going to keep this on so you guys can see it a little bit, okay? That's cooking, but let's go ahead and check our cauliflower out. But let's get ready. Let's make sure we're ready for the cauliflower when it comes out. As I cook, one thing I always keep on hand is parsley. Tell me something that you guys always have in your refrigerator. If I was to come to your house right now, or a week from now, or a month from now, what is one thing you're always going to have in your refrigerator? I tell you right now, I always have cheese. I always have cheese. And I always have parsley in my refrigerator. A couple other things too, but those are two items that I always have. Oh, and I always have limes. I always have limes in that refrigerator and lemon. Okay. So for the garnish, we're just going to take this, and this is the best way to chop your parsley. Take it and just ball it up. Someone says ranch. Okay, ranch, hot sauce. I always got hot sauce too. Someone says, okay, Bae says cilantro and green onions. Bae, I feel you on that. I got green onions in the refrigerator right now. Oh, you see this? You see the similarities when it comes to cooking? So my parsley is balled up and we're just going to chop this. For those of you that are tuning in, we are chopping the garnish for our roasted cauliflower that we are about to pull out of the oven. So I'm just going to run my knife through this a couple of times. Okay, perfect. We're asking, what is something that you always keep in the house? Mommy says butter. Yes, for butter. Absolutely. Let's keep some butter. Deontay says eggs, milk, cheese, Japanese soy. Oh, I, yep. Check, check, and check. Look, you guys, I'm not even joking. I keep all that. I'm keeping some eggs in my refrigerator. Not milk. Okay. I don't keep milk, but I do keep half and half. Green onions is a must. Soy sauce, get out of here. It is a must. Do you hear me? We have Jada tuning in. Hi, Jada. Welcome. You are tuning in. We are just about to pull our cauliflower out of the oven. I just want to... Y'all see those Brussels sprouts? Oh, they're almost done. Don't even worry about it. I'm going to take these out in a second. I'm going to turn this down on low now. And then look at that. You guys remember how much I had in here? Now there's just a little bit, but it's okay because we wanted it to reduce. All right. Let's pull this cauliflower out. Oh, beautiful. All right. We have our cauliflower. When I say this is simple and delicious, this cauliflower just came out of the oven. We put some avocado oil on here, some salt, some black pepper, garlic powder, and then we also put some paprika on here. I put smoked paprika and it gives it this beautiful, gorgeous color. This is just going to be really easy, you guys. When you're plating this up, just find a nice bowl. Yes, I have mom hands, so I'm picking up the hot cauliflower. I'm doing it. I'm amazing. Step your cooking game up. I'm just going to take this and we're just going to put this in the bowl. Now, I'm cooking this for me. Just one person because I do not believe in food waste. I didn't need four or five heads of cauliflower. This is actually a very small head of cauliflower. But of course, if you're taking this to a Friendsgiving or if you're hosting Thanksgiving, you're going to want to probably triple this recipe, quadruple this recipe. We have our cauliflower and we're going to add a little greenery to this. We're just going to top it off with some parsley. I wanted it in a black dish because the contrast to me is beautiful. Remember, we eat with our eyes first, so I'm paying attention to all of that. We're just going to top this with some parsley. There you go, you guys. Roasted cauliflower, easy, simple, delicious, very, very, very inexpensive. If you want to jizz this up even a little bit, add a little zing to it, you can take some fresh lemon and squeeze some lemon juice over here. Forget about it. That's all you need. Simple, easy. Anyone can make this. There you go. That's done. Then let's focus on these babies right here. Believe it or not, these are done too, guys. These are the brussels sprouts. Oh my goodness. If you cook your brussels sprouts like this, you will love them. Very, very easy. Took the brussels sprouts, I cleaned them. I cut them in half. I sauteed them in this pan. Salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. I put just a little bit of balsamic vinegar on there, but I've also made this balsamic reduction. Did y'all see that? Y'all see those hands? I almost dropped my reduction. I would have been so hurt. You guys would have saw me cry out loud. I am cooking these in bacon drippings, but if you are not a bacon person, it's okay. You can cook this with oil. You see that? I know, see that? I know. Okay. Everything is going off. Let's plate these up because I'm doing way too much. All right. Before we plate these up, let's read some comments. Yes. Someone said, can you shut up, please? Boo. Let's boo that person out of here. What? We don't do trolls here, guys. Now, remember I said we eat with our eyes first. We have these vegetables and I plated them on a dark plate for the contrast. Now we're going to switch it up. You can't go wrong with a white bowl. Just very classic, very elegant. It goes with everything. We're going to pull out a bowl and we are going to pour our Brussels sprouts right in this bowl. Yes. I consider everything when we're cooking. Okay. Because we eat with our eyes first. The Brussels sprouts are in the bowl and then I have my reduction. It's just a little bit because we reduced it. Now, if you were making this for a family of four or a gathering of 20, you're going to make a lot more reduction. This is just for me. So we're just going to drizzle, take some of this and we're going to drizzle this over the top. Okay. For those of you that are just tuning in, hi, you are making meals with Mika. We are garnishing our beautiful Brussels sprouts. We've already made our cauliflower and we're making holiday sides. That's not going to break the bank. And this is what you want to see. Do you guys see that? This is how thick the reduction is. It's sticking to the spoon and it just slides down. That is what you want. If you're having a good time, if you've learned something new today, go ahead and hit that like button. Go ahead and hit the like button. If you're not subscribed to the channel, go ahead and subscribe because we are here every single Friday, every single hump day, and we make delicious meals. So I have put the Brussels sprouts in here. I have drizzled with our balsamic reduction, but we are not done. Remember that bacon? You guys remember the bacon that I cooked these in? Let's go ahead and pull that back out. And we are going to just garnish with a little bit of bacon. Now, like I said, if you don't eat bacon, then you won't do this step. No worries. We're going to garnish with a little bit of bacon. And we have one more, one more thing. We have some fresh Parmesan cheese and we are going to, oh, this is when they become sexy. That's another thing I like about cooking is that it's so sexy. And we are going to garnish this with some freshly grated Parmesan. And all my followers already know when it comes to any type of grated cheese, say it with me, grate your own cheese. That goes for Parmesan too. You're going to thank me later. And you really can't put too much Parmesan on here. I mean, just put as much as your little heart desires. Okay. And because the Brussels sprouts are nice and hot, it's going to slightly melt the cheese, which is what we want. And then we're going to take a little towel. You can use a paper towel. And we're just going to go around the sides because we did do that drizzle. And we don't want the drizzle all over the sides because you guys, we eat with our eyes first. And look, there you go. Look at that. Look at that. Tell me this isn't a delicious looking bowl of Brussels sprouts and they taste delicious as well. Let me go in. Let me go on in for this taste test. And I want to get everything. I want to get a piece of bacon. I'm getting the cheese, everything. Look at that. It's delicious. Oh my goodness. That balsamic vinegar drizzled over the top, even though we put a little vinegar in it when we were cooking. The balsamic vinegar over the top is so delicious because as it reduces, it's going to get even sweeter. Balsamic vinegar is lightweight, sweet, but when you reduce it, it gets a little sweeter and it's so nice and thick. Look at that. So you guys, here we go. Do these look like the pictures that I posted earlier? They turned out exactly the same, right? So we have made some oven roasted cauliflower and we've garnished it with parsley and we have made some beautiful Brussels sprouts with a reduction of balsamic vinegar. These are two sides that you can make any time of year, but the holidays are coming. You want to do, you know, some, you know, not traditional, some untraditional size is really easy. That's really inexpensive. And it's going to wow your guests because this is gourmet. Okay. This is gourmet. Try these recipes out. I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me on this hump day. Every single Wednesday, we're here. We are making meals with Mika every single hump day. If you have not subscribed yet, go ahead and subscribe to my channel. Give me a thumbs up, hit the bell. So you'll know when I post new reels or, you know, new recipes, but I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me. And now it's time to eat. I need to eat this before it gets cold. So I'm about to sign off. I've had a great time today. I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me and I will see you here next Wednesday, 7 p.m. Central time making meals with Mika. You guys have a good night. Thank you.