Grilled Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic (and lemon chicken!)

I REALLY want it to be spring. Our temperatures are starting to warm up. Now, if only the wind would stop blowing and the rain would stop raining, we'd be set. But, it's March (the end of March even!) and so that means I'm itchin' to get grillin.' How about you?

So tomorrow night, rain or shine, here is what I'll be cookin' up outside on the grill. Join me, won't you?

Grilled Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic

recipe courtesy Paula Deen 

Ingredients

• 1 pound asparagus
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Trim asparagus. In a small bowl, combine oil, garlic, zest and paprika and stir with a fork. Lay asparagus side by side and pierce on 2 wooden skewers to form a raft. Place rafts on the grill and brush with oil mixture. Cook to desired tenderness and season with salt and pepper.

**Along with the grilled asparagus, I'll be cooking up my favorite lemon chicken recipe.**

Lemon Pepper Marinade for Chicken

Melanie McDonald

2/3 cup lemon juice (from a bottle is great, but fresh is always better!)

6 tbsp. water

2 tsp. chicken bouillon

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp. pepper

chicken

1.In a shallow dish or ziplock bag, combine all ingredients. 

2. Stir. 

3. Add chicken. 

4. Cover and marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours or over night.

5. Remove chicken from marinade.

6. Grill or broil.

7. Discard leftover marinade

* I love to make these using chicken tenders and skewer them on bamboo skewers. It makes turning them as you grill easy and my kids LOVE to eat them this way.

Aparagus Pesto

image and recipe

Does this not look so delicious?  Trust me, it is!!! 

SO SAD for me though because I have made far too many poor food choices this week to allow myself a helping of pasta and asparagus pesto. Part of the problem is it's so good, I won't want to have just a little portion, so I am better off not making it at all.  Next time!  But just because I made poor food choices doesn't mean the rest of you have to suffer.  You should make this and if you do, please enjoy a bite or 2 for me!

I am just going to link you to the recipe.  It's done so nicely on this website with amazing pictures that will make you want to make this recipe for sure, so click here and please enjoy!!

Baked Penne with Chicken, Broccoli, and Smoked Mozzarella

We had another delicious meal for dinner last night.  I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but it's been a good week of food already!

This meal was a great way to use up three items from this week's basket . . . broccoli, asparagus, and pears!

I made this great pasta dish and served steam asparagus and these delicious and healthy (for muffins, at least) pear muffins on the side. 

Enjoy!

Baked Penne with Chicken, Broccoli, and Smoked Mozzarella

*Note: See the asterisk below the recipe for make-ahead directions.
*Serves 6-8

Topping:
3/4 cup bread crumbs (I made my own in my food processor.)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 bunch broccoli (about 1 ½ pounds), stalks cut off, florets trimmed into 1-inch pieces
12 ounces penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
6 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 teaspoon dried thyme
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3), trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
3 ounces smoked mozzarella, shredded
8 ounce jar oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped into pieces (I didn't use the oil-packed tomatoes. They are way higher in calories and fat and twice the price of plain sun-dried tomatoes.  So that's what I used . . . a 3.5 oz package of ready to use sun-dried tomatoes and chopped them up.)

Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and butter and set aside. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and make sure the oven rack is placed in the middle of the oven. 

In a large pot, bring the water for the pasta to a boil. Stir in one tablespoon salt and the broccoli. The broccoli cooks quickly so stay close! Cook the broccoli for 1 minute, until it is bright green. Quickly remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon to a plate. Return the water to a boil and add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 1-2 minutes less than how you would eat it normally (it will cook a bit more in the oven while baking). Drain the pasta in a colander and toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Leave it in the colander and set it aside.

Wipe the pot dry. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and return to medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the salt, pepper, and flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the broth and cream; bring to a simmer, whisking often. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, about 6-7 minutes. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and smoked mozzarella.

Add the cooked pasta and broccoli to the sauce; stir to combine. Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the bread crumb topping. Bake until the casserole is bubbling and the crumbs are lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

*The casserole can be prepared in advance with the following steps: after the broccoli is removed from the boiling water, plunge it into a bowl of ice water and cool completely. Assemble the casserole following the directions in the recipe. After the casserole is spread in the prepared baking pan, let it cool for 5-10 minutes before covering with plastic wrap and refrigerating for up to 8 hours. To bake, preheat the oven to 375 and bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Lemon Balsamic Roasted Asparagus

Was anyone else SO HAPPY to see two large bundles of asparagus in their basket this morning?  Seeing that made this girl happy!

Here is a perfect recipe to use up some of that delicious asparagus and lemons we got.  

I found this recipe a couple of days ago and was really excited to try it tonight.  I LOVE Balsamic Vinegar and fresh squeezed lemon juice so there was no doubt in my mind about loving it!

Lemon Balsamic Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients:

*I didn't measure anything.  I just used about half of one of the bundles we got and just dumped the other ingredients until it looked good to me.*

asparagus

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

fresh squeezed lemon juice

salt

pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Wash your asparagus and cut 1-1 1/2" off the bottom of the asparagus.  Put the asparagus, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a Ziploc bag.  Shake the bag until the asparagus is evenly coated.  Put on a cookie sheet and cook in the oven for 7-10 minutes, turning the asparagus half way through the time.  ENJOY!

 

Chicken Asparagus Pasta Casserole

A reader, Carrie C. sent us this recipe. It sounds really good and seems like a cozy comfort food. I think I'll try it this week.  Thanks so much, Carrie!

Here is what Carrie had to say:
I would like to share a recipe that we just had for dinner.  Never having served asparagus before I was a little apprehensive about how to cook it in a way that my family would eat it!  I found this recipe on-line from Taste of Home and tweaked it just a little.  Here it is:

Chicken Asparagus Pasta Casserole

Ingredients

• 8 oz. penne pasta
• 2 cups sliced asparagus
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup sour cream (I used French onion dip because it was what I had – it was great)
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese (I left this out and it was still very creamy)
• 1 ½ cups dried seasoned bread crumbs
• ¼ cup melted butter

Directions

·         Cook pasta according to package directions.  Three to four minutes before the pasta is finished, add the asparagus and continue to boil.  When pasta is done and the asparagus is tender, drain and set aside.

·         In the same pan (this saves on dishes!) combine the soup, milk, sour cream, chicken, rosemary and cheese.  Heat on medium heat until hot. 

·         Add the pasta and asparagus.  Mix well and transfer to an oven safe dish. 

·         Mix the bread crumbs with the melted butter.

·         Top the casserole with the bread crumbs and place in the oven on broil to brown (I did not raise my rack because I did not want it to burn).

·         Remove from oven and enjoy!

Note:  I doubled the recipe and it fit into a 9x13 pan.