Thursday, June 7, 2012

Adios with Asparagus

Krew and I are headed out of town for the next 10 days, leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning.  It's going to be a long road trip to Ohio and Indiana, just the two of us. We have plans to visit my family and lots of my pre-NC friends. (Gosh I miss them all!) Dave is staying in NC to hold down the fort.  Keep us all in your prayers.  For Krew and me on the road, that my 32-week pregnant body handles all that time in the car alright and that Krew doesn't get too crabby, and for Dave that he doesn't get too lonesome without us.  Good thing he has the pups to keep him company for the week. :)



A few recent phone pics to share - because everyone loves phone pics.


And so that I'm not leaving you with a completely boring and pointless blog post, here is an asparagus recipe that Dave and I have now eaten twice and have really enjoyed both times.  It's simple and yummy.  Check it out. :)

Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce
(modified slightly from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-asparagus-with-balsamic-butter-sauce/)

Ingredients
1 bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed
cooking spray (I use olive oil in our oil sprayer)
1 tablespoons butter (*not margarine or any other spread, but BUTTER*)
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free if necessary - I recommend Kikkoman)
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Arrange the asparagus on the sheet. Coat with cooking spray.
3. Bake asparagus 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender.
4. While asparagus is baking, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Continue heating and stirring until the butter has turned light brown. *Make sure you let the butter brown for the best taste.*
5. Remove the butter from heat, and stir in the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.
6. When the asparagus is done baking, add it to the saucepan with the sauce and stir to coat.

A couple of notes:
*It won't look like you have much sauce in your saucepan, but don't be deceived.  This sauce has a very strong flavor and will coat the asparagus well.  If you have an exceptionally large bunch of asparagus, double the sauce recipe.
*The original recipe said to salt and pepper the asparagus before baking, but I found that this made the final dish too salty for my taste.  The most recent time I also used unsalted butter, and it was still plenty salty because of the soy sauce.  Try different variations and see what you like.

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