Roasted Asparagus

The other day, Matt and I were trying to decide what to have for dinner after deciding to bail on our previous plans to go to Epcot's food and wine festival. I realized that I still needed to make something out of mommom's cookbook this week. I had some turkey sausage that needed to be cooked, so I asked Matt to find a side dish out of the cookbook. He picked out the roasted asparagus recipe. 

When I first met Matt, he hated all things vegetables. He would only tolerated broccoli. One of the first vegetables that I re-introduced him to was asparagus and he now loves and requests for it often! Needless to say, I was not surprised that this was the recipe he chose. 

In Mommom's note, she said she got this recipe from Joyce Rice and from further inquiry I found out that Joyce was my mom's Home Economics teacher in Jr. High School. Her note also said that she liked to marinate the asparagus over night or at least from the morning of until supper time. 

I make roasted asparagus (a different recipe) all the time and I'm slightly picky about it. I always want super skinny asparagus and right after washing it, the woody ends need to go. Even if you are not making it that night, you still should cut of the ends and put it in a jar with water just like you would do to any fresh flowers you bring home. I never thought of marinating it in all the goodies for longer than just the time to mix all the ingredients together. I will definitely do that from now on. I was able to marinate it for the hour or so that the main dish was being prepped and cooked since I didn't know I was making it until a few hours before dinner. I also really like that it's all mixed in a baggie. Before, I would always mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then have something else that needs to be cleaned. While Matt and I probably slightly prefer my other recipe for roasting asparagu, I did learn a few new tricks about marinating from this recipe and it provided a good alternate to what we normally have.

Roasted Asparagus 

Ingredients:
Asparagus (1lb)
Olive oil (about 2 tablespoons)
Garlic (about 1 clove minced)
Tarragon (about 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions:
Place above ingredients in baggie. Coat the asparagus well.
Place asparagus in single layer in backing dish.
Place in preheated oven 475 degrees and bake for 3 minutes. Turn the asparagus over and baked an additional 4 minutes.

Polynesian Volcano

I was standing in the middle of my living room the other day just staring at my huge bookshelf of just cookbooks and smiled proudly. I have so many cookbooks it's crazy and I love all of them. They each have a story, but my favorite story is for the one that sits first in line at the very top. A few years ago, my grandma (my mom's mom and will hence forth be referred to as Mommom) asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted all her recipes. All her favorites that she's collect from cookbooks, magazines, friends, etc over the years. Not only did she come through for me with all the recipes, but at the end of most of them was a little note of the history of the recipe and maybe a tidbit of who's favorite it was/is and who makes it best. I was in love! I haven't made most of the recipes in it. I might have been a little intimidated at first, but I'm ready now. I have decided to set off on an adventure of making at least one of her recipes a week until I've made them ALL and to blog about each one! Wish me (and Matt) good luck!

First off the block, Polynesian Volcano! The reason I decided to make this one first is because I hosted "girl's night" this week and I like to theme my meals around the movie we're watching (we happen to be in the middle of watching the top 100 Disney movies). This week's movie was Swiss Family Robinson. While I don't think their ship wrecked anywhere near the Polynesian islands, I still wanted an island feel for the dish.

Mommom didn't have a note for this one, but I do know it's one of my Uncle Joe's favorites. We've had it at least three years for his birthday that I can remember. He probably knows the history of the dish or it might even be his recipe. I don't know. Funny story from his birthday this year, my great-grandmother (Granny) wasn't too thrilled with him or anyone else really (she gave him a tomato for his birthday) and she wouldn't really comment on the dish (she had obviously had it before). She just kept asking who's birthday was next and they better want something "American". She was essentially insulting his choice without actually saying it. Fun fact: The Hawaiian islands are part of Polynesia and therefore their meals would be considered "American". If you are feeling a burger though, don't make this. You'll be disappointed. Granny has since passed, but this was a fun story to remember while prepping the meal.

The recipe doesn't give the quantity for each ingredient, so I kind of just guessed a good amount of each for the number of people that were going to be eating it (the amounts I used in purple below). This would easily serve 4 adults. I hate celery. I felt I needed to keep it in the recipe though. After all, I didn't have to put it on my volcano. Ashleigh and Shannon both loved the meal and even went back for seconds. That's the biggest compliment I think there is!

Polynesian Volcano

Ingredients:

Rice, cooked (2 cups uncooked in my rice cooker)

Chinese noodles

Chicken, cooked, cubed (1lb)

Can crushed pineapple, heated (8oz can)

Celery, chopped (2 stalks)

Green onion, chopped (2)

Shaved coconut (1 cup)

Sliced almonds, toasted (1/2 cup)

Grated cheddar cheese (2 cups)

Chicken gravy made from chicken broth (1/2 cup) and cream of chicken soup (8oz can) 

Directions:

Arrange food on table in given order. Serve to plate in like order.