I sort of lost track of the seasons this year, so it was funny to see that spring vegetables like asparagus and rhubarb (soon!) were suddenly available in our grocery store, when I’ve been feeling like it’s been summer for about the past 11 months.  But that little reminder that the rest of the world is just starting spring made me focus on some yummy seasonal recipes!

This is actually part 1 — after eating about half the asparagus in this batch, I took the rest and transformed it into an equally delicious recipe that I’ll share with you guys next week.  Healthy and perfect for springtime!

Simple Roasted Asparagus

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Toss asparagus with olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder and freshly ground pepper, and place it in a roasting pan.  Roast the asparagus for 15-20 minutes, turning the asparagus once, until the asparagus is cooked through and crispy on the edges.  Remove the asparagus, set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Serve with roasted aioli or just plain!

So, some of you already know, but Chad and I got big news yesterday — we both passed the Texas Bar Exam!  Which is very fortunate, because I’m not sure I could have gone through it a second time.  I’m writing this post about two seconds before we meet up with some friends to celebrate, and mostly I’m just happy that the OMG-the-test-is-tomorrow-and-I-haven’t-studied nightmares will now cease.  Hopefully.

But coincidentally, this recipe has something to do with the bar exam (sort of).  A couple days after it ended, Chad and I headed out to the Rodeo, where I was introduced to the phenomenon of food on sticks in a big way.  Like, every food on earth on a stick. 

Like, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough On a Stick.

And once I was done scarfing that down, I thought of this recipe.  Because salad on a stick doesn’t quite have the same ring as fried chocolate chip cookie dough, but this was still really fun to make.  It’s an easy, healthy appetizer to serve for your family or friends — probably mostly with ingredients you already have in your kitchen!

Salad on a Stick

INGREDIENTS
2 bell peppers, yellow and red, cut into 1″ square pieces
3 large ciabatta rolls, cut into 1″ squares and toasted
24 Pitted kalamata olives
Romaine Lettuce
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
24 wooden skewers

DIRECTIONS

Roast the pieces of bell pepper on a sheet of tin foil at 400 degree for 15 minutes.  Allow to cool.

On each skewer, layer pieces of lettuce, pepper, olive, and toasted bread.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar.  Serve.

I’ve recently been on a major breakfast kick — not necessarily a healthy breakfast kick, but at least I eat *something* in the morning, and don’t just wait until 2 pm lunch to try to squeeze (no pun intended) some food in!  (Today it was ice cream… no judgments, ok?)

So I was particularly excited to be asked to work with fabulous and healthy applesauce brand, GoGo squeeZ!  They have the cutest containers of squeezeable applesauce that are all natural, 100% fruit, grown in farms an orchards that care about the environment — oh, and gluten, dairy, and nut free.  Basically, everything that your food should be and rarely is.  If you guys have kids, this is the perfect thing to throw in your bag (or their lunchbox) for a daytime snack!

And even if you’re an adult, applesauce is still deliciousl I used their apple mango flavor for this recipe and it was so good.  They’ve just announced their new packaging over on their Facebook page, so be sure to look for it in your grocery store! 

And once you find it, make this!

Raspberry Mango Applesauce Parfait

INGREDIENTS
1 package GoGo squeeZ Apple Mango
~6 ounces vanilla or plain greek yogurt (I used nonfat)
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 tsp powdered sugar, to garnish

DIRECTIONS

Layer approximately 4 ounces of greek yogurt in the bottom of a single-size serving dish.  Spoon over it about 1/4 cup fresh raspberries, reserving some of the prettiest ones to garnish.  Squeeze one package of GoGo squeeZ Apple Mango over the raspberries, then pour on the remaining yogurt (reserve 1 tbsp) and add the additional 1/4 cup raspberries.  Spoon out 1 tablespoon of additional yogurt and a few raspberries on top, and dust on some powdered sugar.  Serve!