Tasty Thursday: Asparagus Month!

A whole month dedicated to my favorite vegetable! I always knew that May was when I could expect to find fresh asparagus picked at local farms. I did not know that some strange powers that be dedicated a whole month to it. Kind of weird but I’ll share a recipe that is my new favorite way to make asparagus.

Balsamic & Carmelized Onions Asparagus

olive oil
salt & pepper
1 pound of asparagus
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced (I recommend slicing & then cutting the rings in half)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
crumbled blue cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425. Clean your asparagus, cut off the woody ends and toss lightly in olive oil with a bit of kosher salt & black pepper and lay them out in a single layer on a cooking sheet. (Tip: I lay foil down on the baking sheet to make clean-up easier.)

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet on medium high heat. While the oven is preheating add your onion slices and saute. This will take at least 10 minutes because you want them nice and caramelized, maybe even a little crispy on some edges. Stay at the stove and move them around regularly.

3. When the oven is preheated slide the tray of asparagus in for 9 minutes – a minute longer if the stems are thick.

4. Your onions should be nice and brown and caramalized and delicious by the time your asparagus is ready. Turn off the heat on your skillet, add one tablespoon of balsamic to the pan and stir it around. Pull the asparagus out of the oven and immediately top with the balsamic vinegar/onion mixture. Toss it around and then toss with the crumbled blue cheese. How much blue cheese? As much as you like but at least 1-2 tablespoons.

Note: If you have a bottle of really good balsamic this is a recipe where you’ll notice the difference since you add it right at the end. This turned out so well that the second time I made it, I made two pounds of asparagus and every piece was eaten. So yummy! And now that I think about it…. I bet some crumbled bacon tossed in with the blue cheese would be a nice addition too.

In conclusion, go get some fresh asparagus and make this for dinner.

Cinnamon Waffle Cookies

I don’t know where I saw it but today (March 25) is International Waffle Day! This holiday originated in Sweden and its official name is Våffeldagen (I don’t speak Swedish but I’m going to wish everyone a Happy Vaffledagen today because its fun to say even if I am mispronouncing it). The holiday coincides with the Feast of the Annunciation and is also considered the start of spring in Sweden. It became a custom for Swedish families to celebrate the two events by making waffles on this day.

I don’t know what waffles have to do with the Annunciation or spring. I’m not Swedish. My church does celebrate the 25th as the Feast of the Annunciation. And I love anything having to do with waffles. So I’m going to celebrate this holiday!

I thought about making waffles for the kids for breakfast but then decided it would be more fun to surprise them with non-breakfast waffles. There are cookbooks dedicated to using your waffle maker for non-breakfast items. I don’t have one of those but I had a couple of ideas in mind. So I did what I always do when I have a recipe notion… I searched the Internet to confirm my assumptions. And then I picked these for our after school snack:

• 1/2 cup of butter softened (two sticks)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of cinnamon chips

In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar at medium speed for three minutes.

Scrape the bowl and add eggs one at a time. Continue to beat on medium for another 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as necessary.

Set the mixer to stir and spoon in the flour. The finished batter should have the consistency of a sticky cookie dough. Stir in the cinnamon chips by hand.

Preheat your waffle iron and lightly coat with cooking spray. Place generous tablespoon-sized scoops onto each section of the waffle iron. Bake for about 90 seconds – until golden brown (you’ll know after the first batch if you need a little less or more time, I baked mine for 1:40).

Remove and place on a wire rack to cool (they will crisp up on the rack).

Tasty Throwback Thursday

Yes, I’m mashing together two memes today to bring you the first recipe I ever posted on this blog nearly five years ago. It’s still something that is made in this house every few weeks and it’s as tasty as ever:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Ingredient list:
2-3 ripe bananas
sugar
butter
lemon peel
flour
baking powder
salt
egg
chocolate chips

First, mash 2-3 bananas

Then if you’re lucky enough to have a stand mixer, get this started (if you don’t have a stand mixer, you’ll probably want to measure & get everything out before you start mixing):
2/3 cup sugar
6 TB butter, softened
3/4 tsp lemon peel

While that’s mixing – lightly mix together (I toss it all in one 2 cup measuring cup to minimize the clean up)
1.5 cups flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt

Your butter & sugar should be creamy now so go ahead and add 1 egg and the mashed bananas. Once it’s all mixed together add the dry ingredients in about 3 parts, beating until smooth between each.

Take it off the mixer and stir in approx 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 for 52 minutes. YUM!

You prefer muffins you say? Here’s the recipe adapted for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.

Tasty Thursday: Butternut Squash Lasagna

When I make my grocery list each week, I comb through my recipe binders and cookbooks. This week a recipe fell out that was torn from a newspaper over four years ago and yet was one I’d never made. I’m not sure why because it looked delicious. I made a tweak here and there, added the ingredients to my shopping list and the results were wonderful! It would be easy to adapt as a vegetarian meal. It was hearty but not heavy. I can’t wait to make it again. What a wonderful alternative to traditional tomato-sauce based lasagna!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

1 medium butternut squash
1 quart of chicken broth
1 pound of ground sweet Italian sausage
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp garlic
2 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 pound of lasagna noodles
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Roast the squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and lay flesh side up on a baking sheet. Place a tablespoon of butter on each half and season with salt & pepper. Roast for 25-30 minutes until flesh is soft enough to pierce with a fork. Let cool.

2. Brown your sausage over medium high heat. Remove and place in a bowl lined with paper towels (helps to remove some of the grease) and pour off most of the fat from the pan, reserving just enough to brown your garlic & onions. Cook the onions & garlic for about 10 minutes until the onion is translucent and lightly browned. Place in the bowl with the sausage. (Don’t forget to pull out your paper towels!)

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook your lasagna noodles according to instructions. At this time also put your chicken broth on to simmer.

4. While that’s happening, scoop the flesh of the cooled butternut squash into a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the eggs, ricotta cheese and seasonings. Blend until smooth then mix with the sausage & onions. This is your filling.

5. In a lasagna pan or 9×13 dish, layer your lasagna. Alternate noodles, filling, a generous sprinkle of parmesan and a ladle full of broth. End with noodles, one more scoop of broth and more parmesan on the top. Bake, covered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes until the top is golden and the edges are a bit crispy.

We served this with some grilled asparagus alongside (toss one bunch of asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes and grill on a lightly oiled grill pan for about 10 minutes).

Tasty Thursday: Ham & Asparagus Strata

I’ve been doing breakfast for dinner on a more regular basis lately. It’s easy on the budget but I also like it because casseroles like this one are easy to warm up on those busy nights where we’re not all together at the same time. Instead of a hearty (heavy) casserole, an egg strata is a lighter alternative and a good way to work in some veggies.

Ham & Asparagus Strata

8 pieces of bread, cubed
8 eggs
3 cups of milk
2 cups of shredded cheese (any kind, I tend to go for a pepperjack or swiss for this recipe)
1 bunch of asparagus chopped into small pieces
8oz of diced ham steak

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Place the bread cubes in a greased 9×13 baking dish. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and milk – pour over the bread. Spread the asparagus & ham over the bread and top with the cheese. (I usually mix it slightly in the pan too, just to make sure everything is sitting in the egg mixture.)

3. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Note: I like to make this in the morning and stick it in the fridge until dinner time on a busy day. The time in the fridge seems to help the ingredients all meld together a bit more. You can refrigerate it overnight if you’d like or bake it right away. It’s nice to have a recipe be flexible like that, don’t you think?