Fresh Asparagus, Quick Meal

Anyone else as in love with FRESH asparagus as I am?

Growing up my sisters and I HATED when the asparagus patches at our house and my grandparents' place (yes, there were two big patches of the stuff) started to grow each spring. It meant asparagus for lunch and supper...my dad probably tried to feed it to us for breakfast too but I've blocked that out.

I even remember watching my older sister put a piece of aspargus in her mouth, take a big drink of milk and swallow...not chewing the aspargus once! I aspired to that.

As we grew older, I started appreciating asparagus for what it is.

These days I'm lucky to have several sources for asparagus. My dad has added MORE asparagus plants to his garden and I have a co-worker whose garden produces a plastic grocery bag full of asparagus a DAY when the weather grows warm each spring.

Usually I just wash it off, cut it in pieces, throw it in the Pampered Chef micro-cooker with a little butter, water and pepper and heat for a minute or two.

Then I burn my tongue because I can’t wait for it to cool!

If I had a grill, I would re-create this meal, including grilled asparagus, over at How Sweet It Is.


And I’m definitely going to fix her Parmesan Asparagus Sticks with my next batch of asparagus.


However, I needed a quick and easy meal the other night and looked in the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients I had on hand. I found a rotisserie chicken from Costco (love ‘em), Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice (so easy), teriyaki and soy sauce and, of course, my asparagus.

I decided to make a quick and easy chicken fried rice with asparagus. Looking back, I wish I fried an egg and added it to the mix. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to make it again.

I simply microwaved the rice according to the directions and added it to a hot skillet with a bit of oil and some of the chicken that was cut into bite-size pieces. To that I added one-fourth cup of the teriyaki sauce and heated it through.


Then I cooked my asparagus with a bit of water in my micro-cooker for just under two minutes; drained it and added it to the skillet.

I made sure everything was heated through and served it up.

It’s not the most exciting meal but it was tasty and something different.

How do you change up the way you use the veggies that you always have on hand?

Farm-raised: Doesn't All Food Start on a Farm?

I'm a bit confused. I keep hearing a certain phrase on television and radio commercials and reading it in magazine ads and articles.

Here it is...

" ____________ (product) includes FARM-RAISED __________ (veggie/fruit/meat)."

Isn't all broccoli grown on a farm or at least in a garden? The photo above is from my sister's garden taken a couple of days ago (before Blogger went on the fritz). She has a row or two of broccoli - not enough to feed too many people but enough to enjoy for a few weeks this summer.

I think all bacon comes from a pig that is raised on a farm...no matter if it's a small, medium or large farm, right?

What exactly makes one soda (or cola or Coke or pop, depending on where you are from) more "natural" than another?

As a girl who grew up on a farm and still works with farmers, I get frustrated by the marketing tactics of some companies that imply that there is something other than farm-raised broccoli (or fill in the blank food) lurking in our grocery stores - in the produce section, canned food aisle or frozen foods cooler.

Sorry for the rant...I just get mad when others try and tell me that I need to be scared about the food on the grocery shelves...especially when I know many of those people have an agenda, even if it's just to get you to buy their frozen microwave meal instead of their competitor's microwave meal.

I'm all for choice...

If you want to buy all your produce from a farmers market, go for it.

If you want to only eat bacon, go for it (and call me).

If you want to buy organic, go for it.

If you want to eat chocolate for every meal, go for it (and call me).

If you want to only buy and eat "raw" foods, go for it.

If you want to be a vegan, vegetarian or whatever, go for it.

Just don't make me feel guilty for going to Aldi's or Kroger's for my broccoli (frozen and fresh) grapes, potatoes, lettuce, bacon, milk and eggs - all of which I KNOW are farm-raised!

I just have one last question for those companies...

If it's not farm-raised broccoli, where does it come from?

I Blame a Certain Person

I looked around my kitchen last night and realized something.

I realized just how influential a certain person in my life has been when it comes to my food-buying habits lately.

I blame her for these (though Dutch dairywoman is not innocent either)...

I blame her for introducing me to Costco (though another coworker and a deal on MyPoints share the blame) that led me to buy these...

On a side note, if you have never tried the Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate brownies, you live a sad, sad life. And the Tostitos Artisan recipes chips (roasted garlic and black bean) are mighty tasty too.

I blame her for the French Martinis made with this (also from Costco)...

I blame her for the four packages (yes, I added another after this photo) of cheese and tub of butter from Fair Oaks Farms in my fridge that I will devour over the next few days. If you haven't tried their Havarti Onion of Butterkase cheeses, you haven't lived.

Now, I take full responsibility for my eating and buying habits, I really do. However,  I may never have know about some of these items if she hadn't introduced them to me so I blame her on some level!

Maybe I should start a "I blame..." linky party!

Easy Double Chocolate Trifle

Ever need an easy, kid-friendly - yet delicious - dessert?

I was heading to my sister's to celebrate Mom's Day on Sunday evening and I knew three out of four nephews would be there. You know what that meant, right?

This was needed...

My lil' sister is usually the trifle maker in the family but she wasn't going to be there so it was up to me!

Now a co-worker of mine makes a killer trifle with angel food cake, vanilla pudding and strawberries but I was in the mood for some chocolate - lots of chocolate.

Here are the main ingredients.

Bake a pan of brownies - either a 9x9 or 9x13 pan. Maybe add a couple handfuls of chocolate chips. Let them cool and cut them into 1x1 pieces. Put a layer of brownies in a trifle bowl (or any old bowl).

Slice up a clamshell of strawberries and set aside.

Add 3 cups of COLD milk - I used 2 percent - to 2 packages of chocolate pudding (3.9 oz. each) and whisk for 2 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup of whipped topping (Cool Whip or store brand, your choice). Add half of the pudding mix on top of the brownie layer.

Here's where the "double chocolate" comes in to play. Add half a tub of the Cool Whip Chocolate Dips on top of the pudding layer.

Then add half the strawberries. I actually added most of the berries, just because I could.

Isn't that pretty? Now repeat the process until you get this...

Doesn't that look AWESOME? It tasted just as good.

Now, I may have made this trifle so I could use my cool new Pampered Chef trifle bowl (not sure that's the real name, but oh well).

It is very cool. The bowl comes with a lid AND a detached stand to it's easy to transport.

I have to admit that I didn't even take the stand to my sister's. It was just family...they didn't care!

I'm hooking up to Two Maids a Baking. Head over and check out Liz's yummy yeast rolls!

What is Playing in Your Head?

When you say good-bye to someone, what runs through your head?

For me, it is a certain song. Any guesses?

Maybe...Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.

Or...Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane, Don't know when I'll be back again.

How about...You say goodbye, I say hello, Hello, Hello.

Nope, there is only one soundtrack that is usually running through my head. It's a classic. It's unforgettable. It's...

Almost always after telling someone goodbye, the song So Long, Farewell begins to play in my head. Usually it's the chorus...

So long, farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight

I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

or

So long, farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, adieu

Adieu, adieu

To you and you and you

Should I be worried? Seek counseling?

Later this week...guess what I saw when I was in Austria earlier this year?

Celebrating Mom

In celebration of Mother's Day, I just have one thing to say...

Mom, I love you!

Checking a Box off the Bucket List

Last October I created my Bucket List...as well as a short term "to do" list.

Last weekend, one of my gal pals helped me mark one item off this List...

• Bake The Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls. (This should be a to do but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a once in a lifetime event for me.)

We went one (really two) better than the PW's cinnamon rolls. We divided the dough in thirds and also made her Chocolate Chip Rolls and Parker House Rolls! Woo Hoo!

For full disclosure, I have to admit that my friend did most of the heavy lifting. I took a few photos, spread a bit of butter and nursed a Mike's Hard Lemonade during most of the process.

But I did help clean up the ooey gooey butter/cinnamon mixture that was left on the counter...

Even though I did less than my fair share, I'm going to mark it off the List. I also got to take home a pan of the cinnamon rolls, which are waiting in the freezer for a lazy Saturday morning.

Now, the mini pans of frozen unbaked Parker House Rolls didn't make it into my freezer. After the four hour drive home from our girls weekend, the rolls were pretty much thawed so I turned on the oven and baked BOTH pans up. In my defense, there were only 7 rolls total in the mini bread pans.

When I reached in the fridge for the grape jelly, I came up empty-handed.

The horror...warm Parker House rolls with only butter...what was I to do.

Then I remembered a recent purchase at Jungle Jim's thanks to a certain Dutch dairy woman...

Only one word for this combination...YUM!

I wonder which item my friend I will check off next.