My Favorite Asparagus Dish

ASPARAGUS AND MORE ASPARAGUS...

It's that time of year for this spring veggie!

My hubby doesn't do a lot in the kitchen, but every year he buys a 5 gallon bucket of fresh picked asparagus from a local farmer, and then helps me put it up in the freezer.

I really appreciate his help too, and would hate to do it all myself.

We began by bending the stalks - they break naturally where the tough part begins - then filled the sink with water and washed them.  Then I sorted them by size - blanched a bunch at a time, plunged them into cold water (I didn't do this last year, and they turned out much softer) then let them cool on a cookie sheet like this.

Depending on the size of the stalk, I blanched them in boiling water from

1-1/2 - 3 minutes.

After they cooled, hubby put them in vaccum pack bags.  He loves doing things like that, and I'm so thankful!  He also loves to carve meat.  He'll bring home a big pork loin, cut it into pieces, and freeze them.

HE'S A KEEPER FOR SURE!! 

(For many reasons far beyond this!)

Then I made one of my favorite vegetable dishes for dinner that night.

A friend made this for me many years ago and it was definitely LOVE AT FIRST BITE!

I could eat a plateful of this for my meal!

This recipe can be found on page 32 in my cookbook. *-*

ASPARAGUS CASSEROLE

1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

4 Tb. butter or margarine, melted

2 (15 ozs) cans asparagus spears, drained

(or about 2 cups fresh cooked - el dente)

{I always cut the spears into pieces for easier serving}

1 (8 ozs) can sliced water chestnuts, optional

2 - 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

(I prefer more)

1/2 c. evaporated (or 2%) milk

1 (10 ozs) can cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9" square baking dish.  In small bowl, mix cracker crumbs with butter; place half in bottom of dish. Layer asparagus, water chestnuts and chopped eggs on top of crumbs. In small bowl, mix milk and soup; pour over top.  Sprinkle remaining cracker crumbs on top.  Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly.

YUMMY! YUMMY! YUMMY!

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