How to Make Boring Food Taste Amazing

Buy the Right Brussels Sprouts

The old way: Sauté them with bacon or pancetta.

The new way: Go ahead and cook these vegetables with the smoked meat of your choice, but use baby Brussels sprouts. Since a vegetable's flavor tends to intensify as the plant matures, younger versions often taste less bitter and are more tender (thus needing less cooking). Melissa's sells baby sprouts in neat clamshell packages (check Melissas.com to find a store near you).