Asparagus, Tomato & Avocado Salad

HOWDY my friends...I hope that everyone enjoyed a blessed Easter weekend.  Our weekend was wonderfully busy hosting our annual family reunion BBQ bash (204 in attendance this year!), but Easter Sunday was much more laid back and relaxed as a much smaller group of us attended church and had lunch together to celebrate the resurrection of our precious Lord Jesus!  Then hubby & I enjoyed a nice, S-L-O-W, afternoon watching old movies, and being determined to put off any major party follow-up tasks (cleaning the house and putting away all the stuff, etc.) until later in the week.

It was a very refreshing, uplifting weekend for me, filled with fun, food, family & friends AND a glorious celebration of the resurrection!  Thanks God...I needed that!

Anyway...now that I'm getting back to "real life", I thought I'd share an incredibly yummy recipe I found over on my friend Kathleen's blog last week.  Asparagus and avocado sounded like an interesting combination, so I just had to try it out.  It was so yummy, my hubby didn't even get much (just his initial serving. and he really liked it too), as I promptly cleaned out the entire bowl!  And yes, I even licked out all the good stuff at the end! 

We were busy with our Easter party preparations, so we didn't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen last week.  This recipe was really quick & easy, so it fit the bill perfectly.  I served it with some simple pan-seared pork chops (just plain pork chops seasoned with little seasoned salt).  YUM!  Kathleen served hers with some broiled salmon, which sounds good too.  I also think it would go well with just about any grilled or broiled meat...or just by itself.

Asparagus, Tomato & Avocado Salad

For salad:
1 bunch of fresh asparagus (I prefer to use the small stemmed asparagus)
1 pint of cherry (or grape) tomatoes (halved)
1 Haas avocado, ripe (I think I used 2 small avocados)
Mexican crumbling cheese - optional (I added this, and we really liked it.  I think Feta cheese would be good too.  Heck, if you really want to go crazy, some crumbled bacon would probably be delish!)

 
For dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp whole grain mustard
juice of one medium lemon
kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper & granulated garlic to taste (I added the garlic, 'cause I LOVE garlic...feel free to leave it out if you don't.)

Whisk together dressing ingredients, and let stand to allow the flavors to develop while you assemble the salad.

Trim or snap the tough stem ends of asparagus and discard.  Cut the spears into bite-sized pieces.  In a large skillet (with a lid), bring enough water to cover bottom bottom of pan and a pinch of salt to a boil.  Add asparagus, cover and boil for three minutes.  Quickly remove from heat and rinse in cold water to STOP cooking, and keep it crisp.  Drain well.

Cube avocado, and toss with the asparagus and tomatoes in a large bowl. 

Pour dressing over salad and serve.  (NOTE:  I did NOT use all the dressing...just enough to flavor it all, not drown it.  :-)  The leftover dressing is delicious on a regular green salad, or a tomato/cucumber salad too.  I'm going to have to keep that as a separate recipe for future use as well.)

We'll DEFINITELY be having this again...soon!  Be sure to give it a try, I can't recommend it highly enough.

As a side note, I'm a huge fan of avocados...they taste good, AND they're very nutritious.  I came across this website with all kinds of interesting information about avocados, and tons of recipes.  Can't wait to try some of them.

Okay...enough rambling for today.  TRY THIS RECIPE!!!  (Did I already say that?!)  Then let me know what you think.  And don't forget to stop by and say hello to Kathleen, and thank her for passing it along! 

Blessings,
--Faithy 

Faithy's Spicy Roasted Veggies

Another HOWDY from Zig Zag on this beautiful fall day.  The temps are just starting to cool off a bit, and I'm loving it!  I got to spend the day in worship and fellowship with friends and family.  What could be better.

I thought I'd stop by again to share a recipe I came up with last night, while experimenting with the roasted tomato idea I mentioned in my last post.  I basically just cleaned out my fridge, and threw this together, so you'll have to forgive the lack of measurements.  I think you'll get the idea though.  Feel free to use whatever veggies sound good to you.

Faithy's Spicy Roasted Veggies

sweet red onion, thinly sliced

garlic cloves (whole or halved) (I love garlic, so I used quite a bit!)

zucchini & yellow squash, cut into 1" rounds, then quartered into large chunks

whole grape (or cherry) tomatoes (I used both, because I had them)

Basically, I just tumbled all the veggies into a large bowl and sprayed them with extra virgin olive oil (using my Misto sprayer).  Then I added a little salt & pepper, red pepper flakes (you can leave these out if you don't like it so spicy, but I thought they added a wonderful "zing") and some McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning & Garlic Pepper Seasoning (both come in those neat grinders...I use them all the time!).  I tossed it all together and dumped it into a baking dish. (You could use a 9"x13" cake pan as well.) 

Ready to go into the oven!

Next, I put the whole thing into a preheated 400°F oven, and baked it for an hour, stirring occasionally.  (You can mist it with a little more olive oil if it starts to look too dry.)

Just out of the oven...

I served it with a few chow mein noodles (for crunch), and a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.  This time, I made it as a veggies-only meal, but you could easily add chicken or pasta to stretch it even further.  Just take the basic idea and use your imagination like I did.

Mmmmmmmmm...the roasting really brings out a rich flavor in the veggies.  Delicious!

Have a GREAT week my friends...

Blessings,

--Faithy

Garlic Pasta with Blistered Tomato Sauce

HOWDY friends!  I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but life is busy here in Zig Zag.  I have continued to try new recipes on a regular basis, but I just haven’t had time to stop and blog them.  I hope you are all well and happy, and too busy with good things like family & friends to spend much time on your computers too!

Anyway, I came across this recipe for Garlic Linguini with Blistered Tomato Sauce on Facebook last weekend, and knew I had to try it.  It came from Modern Mrs. Cleaver’s blog, so I knew it had to be good.  If you get a chance, scroll through her blog, you’ll find LOTS of yummy things there.

This recipe is VERY simple and easy, but it takes some time in the oven, so it's not a last-minute dish, but it's absolutely worth the wait!  As you’ll see, I was out of several ingredients, but I didn’t let that stop me.  I just substituted or left things out.  Don’t be afraid to do that my friends.  Wonderful things can be created that way! 

Garlic Pasta with Blistered Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

12 ounces dried linguine (I used fettucine, because I was out of linguine - just use whatever pasta you like)

1/4 cup olive oil  (I used extra virgin)

1/4 cup unsalted butter

6 cloves garlic, minced (I LOVE garlic, so I used an entire head!)

pinch red pepper flakes (I used about 1/4 teaspoon)

2 tablespoons parsley, finely minced (I didn’t have any parsley, so I just left it out)

salt & pepper, to taste

2 ounces shredded parmesan (again, I was out of this, so I just left it out…I really think I need to get to the grocery store!)

24 ounces tri-color sweet cherry tomatoes (I didn’t have the tri-color tomatoes, so I used a combination of grape tomatoes and sweet cherry tomatoes - I used one pkg of each)

1 large onion, sliced medium thick (I used a small sweet red onion - just found these recently, and they are sooooo good - and they add a beautiful color to anything you put them in!  It really adds a nice flavor, so if you have a really small onion use two!)

drizzle olive oil (again, I used extra virgin olive oil, but I misted everything with my Misto sprayer instead of drizzling - I can use less oil that way!)

salt/pepper (I don’t like to use too much salt, so I left this additional seasoning out)

fresh torn basil (the drought has gotten to my herb garden, so I didn’t have this either!  I used chopped, fresh chives instead - VERY good!)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Place tomatoes and onion in a 9x13 baking dish and drizzle (or spray) with olive oil, then sprinkle on a little salt, and pepper.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the tomatoes are blistered and starting to burst. (I actually baked mine for about an hour to get a really yummy caramelization.  It takes some time, but it’s SOOOOO worth it!)  Set aside.

Near the end of the tomato roasting time, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water is at a rapid boil, drop the linguine (or whatever pasta you’re using) in and cook to al dente (according to package directions).

(Tip:  Since this recipe involved a lot of garlic, I made things simple by using my élan garlic peeler.  If you've never tried one of these, it's a "miracle worker".  It makes peeling garlic super quick and easy!)

While the pasta cooks, heat the 1/4 cup olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper to the pan and cook 1 minute.  (I actually cooked this for 5 to 10 minutes over low heat.  Be careful to keep a close eye on it though, you don’t want your garlic to brown and get bitter!) Remove pan from the heat.

Drain pasta and return to the pot. Pour the butter mixture over top of the pasta and add the parmesan, parsley, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the pot. Toss to cover noodles with the butter and herbs.

Place the pasta in a large serving bowl, top with the blistered tomato and onion mixture, scatter torn basil (or chives) over top and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and a grate of fresh parmesan (in my case it was good even without it!).

The rich tomato flavor in this dish is hard to describe, but absolutely delicious!  I think next time, I’ll just leave the garlic in cloves (or half-cloves) and bake it along with the tomatoes instead of cooking it in the olive oil butter mixture.  The whole thing was a bit too oily for me.  Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, but I try to eat a little healthier these days, and that was quite a bit of oil/butter.  I did like the olive oil/butter combination though.  I’ll probably just add a little butter (about 2 Tbsp or so) to my baking pan, and just do it all in the oven instead of on the stove top.  It won’t really have a “sauce” that way, but the flavors are so pronounced and delicious I really don’t think it needs it.  If you pasta is too dry, that can be fixed prior to serving with a quick drizzle (or spray) of olive oil.

Give this recipe a try, and don’t forget to go check out Modern Mrs. Cleaver’s version.

If you’ve never tried roasting tomatoes, DO IT TODAY!!  You’ll be so glad you did.  Now that I’ve tried it, I’m looking forward to experimenting with them more.  Keep your eyes on my blog for more yummy stuff to come!

Happy cooking my friends…

Blessings,

--Faithy