Roasted Brussel Sprouts Recipe

It's Easter Sunday and I am in a cooking kind of mood. I just posted the recipe for roast Pork Loin with Pineapple-Mustard Glaze over at my Southern Cooking site at BellaOnline and now I'm about to go make it for Sunday dinner. (That would be lunch to y'all Yankees.) I haven't actually done much cooking this month. i am fortunate enough to live with a good cook who takes up the slack when I'm busy. So roast pork loin and maybe some baked Brussels Sprouts. This is the recipe you make for people who turn up their noses at Brussels Sprouts. The recipe turns them into lovely, spicy morsels that are as addictive as junk food.  Really.  I promise.  (There are people in this world who will try to convince you that if you mash up steamed cauliflower it takes like mashed potatoes. I am not one of those people. But believe me when I tell you that the first time I made these, they didn't even get to the table--people were eating them right off the pan, standing over the stove.) Yummy and good for you!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F).

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray or linen with aluminum foil that's been lightly coated with olive oil.

1 1/2 pounds fresh Brussels Sprouts (You use frozen but fresh sprouts are dirt cheap, so why not use fresh?) 

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Herbes de Provence

1 tsp. salt

tsp. (or more) Crushed red pepper flakes.  (Can also use 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper)

Combine spices with olive oil in a big Ziplok bag and shake up. 

Cut the tough ends off the sprouts and remove any wilted leaves or yellow spots. Cut in half or in quarters and shake with the seasonings. (Don't worry if any leaves fall off, they'll cook up nice and crispy.)

Spread the seasoned sprouts on the cookie sheet and bake for 40 minutes until they're crisp at the edges and tender on the inside. If desired, sprinkle with more salt before serving.

Serve hot.  

The word you're lookiing for is "pay"

Samuel Johnson once famously wrote that "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." These days, writing for non-paying markets is just part of the landscape of marketing your work, and there's no shame in it.
My attitude toward the issue of paid versus unpaid is embodied in a quote from the movie Honeysuckle Rose. "I did it for the love, but I was not above the money." (And if I'm not ashamed to admit that I paid money to see Honeysuckle Rose, I'm certainly not going to blush at admitting I sometimes give it away.
What annoys me, however, is the way some sites try to sugar-coat their non-paying status. My favorite is when, rather than admit it's a "4-the-Luv" kind of a deal, they point out you'll get "lots of exposure" and virtual "clips" you can then use to get a better (one that pays) gig.  I'm not talking about a site like BellaOnline, which doesn't pay but which does provide its editors with incredibly useful training, a lot of support for their side projects, the opportunity to put advertising on their pages and much, much more. I spent a year as a BellaOnline editor and it was a fantastic experience and I'll do it again if the right topic becomes available. (Right now BellaOnline is looking for editors to cover dozens of topics from adoption to African-American lit to Water Gardens and Women's Sports. If you're interested, go here to learn more.)
I'm talking about the brand-new literary magazines that promise pay as soon as the revenue starts rolling in. In the meantime, though, "we can't afford to monetarily compensate you." 
Whenever people use two big words in place of one small one, I start to worry. (And don't get me wrong. I am a huge word snoot. I delight in the more ornate words out there and relish precision of their use. But often, when overly flowery language is used where plain speaking should be, the writer is a) trying score points by making whoever they're talking to feel dumb; b) trying to hide something. (It's the old "baffle 'em wiht bullshit" ploy.)
If you want to say that you don't pay your contributors, just say it. You don't have to use fancy words. I'll get the message.

Feminist Friday--the blog edition

Taking a break from fiction this Friday to look at a bouquet of blogs celebrating women and their passions. First up is SheBiz, which bills itself as looking at life from the "passionista's" perspective. The work of Renee Daniel Flager, and assorted sister-friends of the blog, the site has invented teh motto "KIC" (Keep it Confident), which is a great thing to remember, kind of the modern variation of "Never let them see you sweat."
The site has a badge from the Lady Blogger's Society on it, so check them out too. They seem to be a support group, a social networking site and a job source all in one.

On confabulicious, I found a post called "This List of Top 10 Blogs by Women will change your life."  Among those cited are Ree Drummond's Pioneer Woman; Rosalind Gardner's Net Profits Today (helping real people make real money online), and Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project." (For the full list, go here.)
What I love about so many of these cited sites is that they are powerfully empowering, going way beyond the "mommy blogger" stereotype.