Roasted Asparagus

I looked back through the blog, and the last time I shared a recipe with asparagus was in 2011.  Honestly, that’s the last time I cut it and did anything with it.  I decided it’s been long enough I should do something with it again.  Actually, I discovered browned butter, and I thought it would be a good pairing.  I have done a lot of playing in the kitchen and I’m getting a backlog of recipes to share, but we’ll do this one before asparagus is completely out of season.

I tossed the asparagus in olive oil and put it on my roasting sheet.

Then I sprinkled it with dill and fresh minced garlic.

While I roasted it at 400°F, I made the browned butter.

I’ve never been a big butter person (I usually used margarine), but the idea of browned butter as a glaze intrigued me, so I tried it.

It’s easy enough.  I used 1/4 Cup of butter and just cooked it until it turned brown.  Seriously easy.

By that time the asparagus was done roasting (It was only about 10 minutes), and I drizzled it on there and turned it to coat it all.

Then I put it on the serving tray.

Finally, I added a sprinkling of feta cheese.

It wasn’t bad.  I am not an asparagus fan (obviously since it’s been eight years since I ate any), and this would have been better without the asparagus, but it wasn’t too bad.

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Egg Overload

The girls have really kicked the egg production into high gear.

Nugget and ladies

I can’t keep up with them.

I used to use one or two eggs each day for Snickers, but he’s on a canned cat food kick-specifically seafood.

Snickers

I keep forgetting to ask people at work if they’d like a dozen eggs.  Luckily, it’s spring salad time, so I’m making egg salad and every other kind of salad I can think of that takes eggs.  Today it was pea salad.

Mix together and refrigerate:

• 2 cups frozen peas (mostly thawed)
• 2 hard boiled eggs (diced)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 Tbsp. bacon bits
• 1/2 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Miracle Whip (or mayonaise)
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. brown mustard
• 1/2 tsp. parsley
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp. dill
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Yum!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole

Since my nephew and his wife were going to have their baby, I decided to make a casserole and leave at their house for when they got home from the hospital.  I even bought real meat for it.  I didn’t try it, but they said it was pretty good.

3 chicken breasts cut into pieces and cooked
8 slices cooked bacon, cut into pieces
3 cloves garlic
large bag of frozen broccoli cuts
3/4 cup ranch dressing (recipe to follow)
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese

I started by cutting and cooking the chicken in a bit of olive oil.

Then I used the same pan to cook my bacon.

While I was cooking the meat, I was also cooking the broccoli cuts.  Since everything was pre-cooked, I figured it was perfect to give to someone to just heat up and eat.

I put all of that into a baking dish with the minced/or pressed garlic.

To make the ranch dressing I simply mixed:

1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup water
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1/2 teaspoon dill
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Add 3/4 cup of ranch to the casserole.  This gave me some extra, but extra ranch is never a bad thing.  Add half of the two kinds of cheeses and mix everything well.

Then spread the remaning cheese on top.

Bake it at 350*F for about 20 minutes or until it’s hot through.  I can’t share a picture of that because I just covered it, added a cooking label, and delivered it so they only had to heat it up.