Roasted Brussel Sprouts with fruits (any Veggie actually)

Roasted veggies, fruit and bacon

Everyone raves about this brussel sprouts dish. Though I tend to make all recipes my own with my twists and variations, I rarely tweak this recipe from "The Splendid Table", an NPR weekly radio show. I subscribe to their free weekly recipe email www.splendidtable.publicradio.org/  (I have gotten a lot of great recipes from them!). I crave this dish, so I make it often.

I made it the other night. I had only 1# brussel sprouts and 1 1/2# green beans, which I cut in half. Only one apple, but 4 pears, and my onion was a red one. I also had some fresh rosemary from a Thanksgiving fresh herb pack, so used it along with the sage and thyme. Tasted great!

ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS

2 1/2 lbs brussel sprouts, halved if small or quartered if large (A key when roasting vegetables is to have a lot of the ingredients chunked about the same size) 
1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 apples (any kind, I tend to use Granny Smith), cored and cut in 1-inch pieces
2 firm ripe Anjou or Comice pears, cored and cut
2-4 slices bacon, cut in pieces
1/2 tsp each thyme and sage (fresh is always best if you have it, and use more)
5-6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp spicy red pepper flakes
1 Tb brown sugar (I use Sucanat - unprocessed sugar cane)
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss all together. (Sometimes I'll put the bacon pieces in the pan to start cooking while the oven is preheating and get it started.) Bake in a 450 degree oven in a very large shallow pan. You want the mixture to spread into a single layer. Stir it several times - baking about 40 minutes to an hour till nicely browned.