Do you ever have great ideas? Are you ever sure you are going to just WOW them?

Do you ever lay awake thinking: "this one is THE one; now my life feels right?" Well, this recipe started out something like that. But then it went someplace else entirely. As you'll soon see.

I'll let you in on a secret though. Everyone has thoughts like these. They have them in consideration of their jobs. They have them in consideration of sports (GO SAINTS). They especially have them in consideration of love.

Sometimes I even have these thoughts in consideration of SippitySup!

But really... SippitySup is a website. A blog. SippitySup is something I do that is outside my real life. Something that I do to express myself. Because in my real life I do not always get to express myself.

This is one of those recipes. You know the kind I mean. The “there’s nothing in the house and I must eat something” kind of recipes.

You see I have been traveling. I am just back from a great trip to Panama where I led a cooking demonstration for my new best friends at Boquete Gourmet. I am planning several posts about my trip so more details are coming. But if you want a sneak peek at my adventure CLICK here to read Boquete Gourmet’s post about our tremendous, fun filled evening of food from the classic restaurants of Hollywood. But then pop right back over here, ‘cuz I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.

Anyway, back to Los Angeles part of this story. Where was I? Oh yes.

Naturally I arrived home to an empty fridge. I am pretty good at emptying a refrigerator, especially right before a big trip. I hate to come home to a bunch of waste, so I had not done much shopping before we left. You see I have a mortal fear of those large, green and black hairy refrigerator monsters that always manage to sneak into my vegetable drawer when I am out of town.

Happy Halloween! In keeping with the season I have a tricky treat for you. This treat is in the form of a mini-horror film I call Brussels Sprouts: The Revenge Of Farmer John! Click here or on screen grab below to watch film.

You might call it Brussels Sprouts: All Smelly and Green. Because be they supernatural or merely tricky to cook. I say they are indeed a treat most any time of the year.

But it’s true many people are afraid of Brussels sprouts– even horrified because they are often prepared in a horrifying manner…boiled.

Boiling really does not suit Brussels sprouts. That is because they are technically a cruciferous vegetable. Which is a fancy way of saying cabbage. As we all know, boiled cabbage can be stinky and mushy. So too, Brussels sprouts. In fact, in French they are called les choux de Bruxelles, which means cabbages of Brussels. So all the mistakes people make cooking cabbage can be amplified in these “little cabbages”!

Have you ever tried to save left over garlic bread? Aren’t you always disappointed? Disappointed enough to consider just tossing that garlic bread in the waste bin.

Well just stop right there. Because I have an idea for what to do with that bread. Today I have a Garlic Bread Soup with Steamed Clams recipe for you.

Which may seem like a crazy concoction at first glance. But really it is not that radical. First off it is a great way to use up the leftover garlic bread from all those summer BBQs you have been having.

Garlic soup has a long and splendid tradition in Italy. There are countless versions from all areas of the country. There are Croatian, Spanish and Greek versions that I know of too. So there is plenty of room to squeeze my interpretation into the mix.

Even the idea of using bread as an ingredient in a soup is fairly common. Day old bread strewn as chunks into a soup is the basis for Italy’s classic soup Pappa al Pomodoro (tomatoes and stale bread soup). Other soups use bread as a “thickening” device. It’s a great way to achieve a velvety texture with just the simplest of ingredients.