A sure sign that spring here, and Easter is near is the price of asparagus. Now that the price is manageable and the Asparagus is in season, take this opportunity to use it in many dishes. I will give you a couple of asperagus recipes I use.

My mom was a fabulous cook. But she like many women of her era over cooked their vegetables. Well Asparagus is no execution. My mom used to boil her Asparagus to death! When the asparagus come out it was mussy and limp. My most favorite way to cook asparagus is to roast it. Roasting retains the color, and enhances the flavor.

1 lb Asparagus'

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 Tsp. kosher salt

All the above ingredients are not exact amounts. Preheat oven to 450. Wash Asparagus and trim off hard woody bottoms. Lay asparagus in cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Salt. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. While roasting, shake the pan a few times so asparagus is cooking evenly.

Now you can just munch it down, or I have my all time favorite salad I use asparagus in. It would make a wonderful Easter dinner salad or nice spring salad.

serves 6-8

Dressing

2 cups mayo

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup chopped fresh chives

2 Tbs. water

2 garlic cloves, minced

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Make early in the day so flavors can blend.

1 Lb asparagus (roasted)

Lettuce, I like a nice spring mix

1 lb cooked shrimp

cherry tomatoes halfed

A note about lettuce. I like a nice head of leaf lettuce, so I can wash it my self. I really don't like bagged lettuce. I don't think they are washed well or are fresh. Plus it's alot cheaper to wash your own. One Items you need is a Salad spinner. They are inexpensive and wonderful for spinning dry almost anything. Ok back to the recipe...

Place lettuce on plates. Arrange shrimp, tomatoes and asperagus on top of the lettuce. Drizzle on dressing... It will be a hit.

This week I will post a couple of other asparagus recipes. Plus we will see how my own asparagus patch is doing. I also have to show off my French asparagus dish. No not a recipe, but an actual dish used only for serving asparagus. Got to love the French!

This weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with the grandkids, Max and Mimi. Now when you're at grandmas there is always cooking going on. When I have guest or family over I always ask them what would they like for dinner. Well the grandkids are no exception. When I asked them what they wanted for dinner the reply was "we want to make our own Pizza" So we hurried to Maceys, their favorite grocery store and bought the fixings. The cart had mozzarella, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and basil. You are asking, were is the bottled pizza sauce? Oh, no no no not at the Nelsons we make our own sauce. It's easy, fresh and GOOD! You might think, they are just kids why go through the trouble. Well my grandkids have very sophisticated pallets, they like good food too! for example Mimi, Max and I had a can a sardines and crackers for a snack.